Xi in Mao's clothes, former KGB official Putin, and Emmanuel Philibert
of Korea, the last heir to the Kim dynasty: this is the charming trio atthe double event held in China in early September, which also saw the
participation of illustrious international guests, including some of our
Italian prides, such as the reborn Massimo D'Alema. But let's rewind and
try to understand the subtle red thread (never was a saying less
chromatically apt for the characters in question) that ties the
aforementioned trio to the mustachioed former prime minister,
protagonist of one of the wildest periods of privatization of Italy's
public assets.
The 25th summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)
officially opened on August 31st. The summit, which brings together 10
countries (China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Iran, Belarus, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan), received widespread attention
as it represents a further effort by the Chinese government to build a
new world order that will definitively overturn the now fragile US-led
balance of power.
The SCO summit was followed by a military parade in Beijing to celebrate
the 80th anniversary of the People's Republic of China's victory over Japan.
So far, the bare facts, important in themselves, but not surprising:
this is China's attempt to create a new world order that better suits
its needs as an imperialist power.
What is, however, very perplexing, but only at first glance, are the
comments from parts of the Italian left, both the so-called reformist
left (and this is where D'Alema comes in) and those who consider
themselves an alternative to capitalism.
D'Alema hopes and trusts that from Beijing "a message will come for
peace and cooperation and for the return to a spirit of friendship among
all peoples and to put an end to the wars that unfortunately, in such a
tragic way, bloodied several countries around the world." His words are
supported by the secretary of the Communist Refoundation Party, Maurizio
Acerbo, who on his X profile declares that D'Alema "has not aligned
himself with the new cold war with China that the US wants to impose on us."
Instead, he goes much further than the OttolinaTV website, making
statements that, from my point of view, are quite singular: in the
column "Don't call it Tg" of September 3, 2025, it is stated that (it is
worth quoting the entire passage) "the significance of the largest
military parade ever organized in its history[editor's note: China]-
and, even more so, after the extraordinary success of the SCO summit,
where the powers of the multipolar world gave a demonstration of unity
never seen before - is clear: for the first time in centuries, the
Imperialist forces are not the most powerful forces on the planet; the
most technologically, industrially, and militarily advanced country in
the world stands with all those peoples who have endured centuries of
massacres, injustices, and colonizations at the hands of those who
dominated international relations by virtue of their capacity for
domination and violence. For the first time in centuries, the primacy of
force is in the hands of those who are not interested in imposing their
dominion on rogue states through plunder and war, but are instead ready
to support with responsibility and determination the birth of a new
world order and a new governance that truly (and not just in words)
guarantees peace and development: sovereign equality among peoples,
solidarity, international redistribution of resources, a truly
democratic international law that guarantees universal rights for all
peoples, and the security and well-being of the human person as the
ultimate goal of politics. We should certainly not be surprised if the
fascists of the third millennium are panicking, but they will have to
resign themselves. For the first time in history, the most powerful,
organized, and efficient civilization by far is socialist; A terrible
day for the Molinaris and Rampinis of the world, a great day for humanity."
Unlike D'Alema, OttolinaTV has the merit of lowering its veil and
clearly stating that there is a segment of the left for whom China is an
alternative model to capitalism and not marching toward socialism,
simply because... it is already socialist.
In fairness, it must be said that for years, figures of the caliber of
Romano Prodi or Pino Arlacchi, a former PD MEP, have not failed to offer
words of praise for China.
It is not the purpose of this article to analyze China and its
contradictions in detail. What we want to focus on is the consolidation
of an unprecedented alliance, at least an ideal one, between reformist
sectors with past and/or present ties to the Democratic Party, and
sectors attributable to a radical left that has never severed its
umbilical cord with Stalinism and simply cannot imagine an alternative
to capitalism other than failed authoritarian and statist socialism (a
failure to achieve freedom and equality for all human beings on this
planet, because Chinese-style socialism, on the other hand, is proving,
compared to liberal-democratic regimes, to be more effective in
exploiting the workforce and extracting surplus value).
Alongside this pole, there are, of course, those who have always
supported, even sincerely, social-democratic and neo-Keynesian
hypotheses, which we believe are more than legitimate to doubt: the
failures reported even in fairly recent times (Syriza docet) are a clear
demonstration of the impossibility, even from a purely technical
standpoint, of implementing policies of this kind in a non-expansionary
economic cycle like the one we have been stuck in for decades, unless we
"force" the status quo and break with concerted action, with all the
consequences that entails.
Faced with this bleak political landscape, a libertarian project would
have a vast expanse of open space, currently overrun by shady figures
grazing, ruminating on fears and social hatred, ready to dust off their
weapons as a means to overcome the decades-long economic crisis, as well
as using migrants as scapegoats for any problem.
The question is always the same: what to do?
We certainly can't continue to do what we've done up to now: the
libertarian project is increasingly a minority one, and soon it may not
even be able to fulfill its function of mere testimony.
"We'll be talking about communist paradises in a few centuries," said
our comrade Camillo Berneri in a piece titled "For a Communalist Action
Program." "Now it's something to be laughed at and pitied at the same
time[...]Politics is the calculation and creation of forces that bring
reality closer to the ideal system, through formulas of agitation,
polarization, and systematization, designed to be agitating, polarizing,
and systematizing in a given social and political moment." An actualist
anarchism was Berneri's dream: and it is precisely what is needed today,
to ensure the survival not only of the anarchist movement, but also of
the very prospect of a truly alternative society to the current one, one
capable of inspiring and awakening from torpor or indifference the
majority of the population that lives by its own labor.
To do this, it is necessary to develop a minimum program, based on
unifying and concrete proposals, supported by a broad front or a
political-social alliance that has a few but clear differentiating
factors, such as:
* Internationalism: there are no good (or "less bad") bourgeoisies and
imperialisms to side with;
* Anti-capitalism: the rejection of all forms of exploitation, whether
that of the neoliberal market or that of "state socialism," with the
prospect of a self-managed and federal society, in which workers and
communities directly decide on production and resources, without bosses
or bureaucracies. To comprehensively overcome the capitalist system, it
is necessary to combine daily struggles (wages, welfare, social rights)
for concrete and immediate improvements;
* Creation of a new alternative imaginary, capable of pointing to the
concrete possibility of diverse societies, founded on solidarity,
self-governance, and social justice: one could start, for example, by
valorizing those experiences that, despite a thousand difficulties, are
still trying to advance political and social projects based on
grassroots democracy and community self-management, women's leadership,
and social ecology (Rojava and Zapatista Chiapas).
Just as an example, a minimum program could include:
* generalized wage increases: campaign for the introduction of a minimum
wage and/or reintroduction of the sliding wage scale;
* reduction of indirect taxes (VAT, excise duties), i.e., those taxes
that regressively affect the working classes;
* Reintroduction of the pre-1980s personal income tax brackets, to ease
the tax burden on low- and middle-income earners and truly reintroduce
the principle of tax progressivity;
* Taxation of large fortunes to refinance education, healthcare, and the
ecological transition;
* Abolition of current immigration laws and regularization of migrants
so they can assert their rights and avoid constant blackmail;
* Stop military spending, leave NATO, and terminate all military
contracts and agreements with Israel.
We can no longer afford to arrive divided and scattered across a
thousand parishes at such a delicate historical moment: a revolutionary
united front or alliance of the 99% is essential.
Who will have the political courage to take the first step towards this?
https://alternativalibertaria.fdca.it/
_________________________________________
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