John Bellamy Foster

Tag: Bangla

  • The Latin American Revolt

    The Latin American Revolt

    “The Latin American Revolt: An Introduction“, Monthly Review vol. 59, no. 3 (July 2007), pp. 1-8. DOI: 10.14452/MR-059-03-2007-07_1

    The revolt against U.S. hegemony in Latin America in the opening years of the twenty-first century constitutes nothing less than a new historical moment. Latin America, to quote Noam Chomsky, is “reasserting its independence” in an attempt to free itself from centuries of imperialist domination. The gravity of this threat to U.S. power is increasingly drawing the attention of Washington. Julia Sweig, Latin American program director at the Council on Foreign Relations, argues that the twenty-first century is likely to be known as the “Anti-American Century,” marking a growing intolerance of the “waning” U.S. empire. Outweighing even the resistance to the U.S. war machine in Iraq in this respect, Sweig suggests, is the political realignment to the left in Latin America, which, in destabilizing U.S. rule in the Americas, offers a “prophetic microcosm” of what can be expected worldwide.

    Translations:
    • Spanish translation in America Latina en Movimiento, Barcelona.
    • Translated in Monthly Review, Turkish edition, no. 16 (Istanbul: Kalkedon, 2007).
    • Bangla translation in Bangla Monthly Review, no. 4 (September-November 2007. Translated by Protiva Mondol.

     

  • The Financialization of Capitalism

    The Financialization of Capitalism

    “The Financialization of Capitalism“, Monthly Review, vol. 58, no. 11 (April 2007), pp. 1-12. DOI: 10.14452/MR-058-11-2007-04_1

    Changes in capitalism over the last three decades have been commonly characterized using a trio of terms: neoliberalism, globalization, and financialization. Although a lot has been written on the first two of these, much less attention has been given to the third. Yet, financialization is now increasingly seen as the dominant force in this triad. The financialization of capitalism-the shift in gravity of economic activity from production (and even from much of the growing service sector) to finance—is thus one of the key issues of our time. More than any other phenomenon it raises the question: has capitalism entered a new stage?

    Translations:
    • Chinese Translations by Wang Nianyong and Chen Jiali Foreign Theoretical Trends (China), no. 7 (2007) and Wu Wei, Marxism and Reality (2008).
    • Translated in Monthly Review, Turkish edition, August 2007.
    • Spanish translation in Monthly Review, Selecciones en Castellano, no. 8 (March 2008).
    • Bangla translation in Bangla Monthly Review, no. 4 (September-November, 2007). Translated by Arindam Bandopaddhay.

     

  • The Ecology of Destruction

    The Ecology of Destruction

    “The Ecology of Destruction“, Monthly Review vol. 58, no. 9 (February 2007), pp.1-14. DOI: 10.14452/MR-058-09-2007-02_1

    I would like to begin my analysis of what I am calling here “the ecology of destruction” by referring to Gillo Pontecorvo’s 1969 film Burn!. Pontecorvo’s epic film can be seen as a political and ecological allegory intended for our time. It is set in the early nineteenth century on an imaginary Caribbean island called “Burn.” Burn is a Portuguese slave colony with a sugar production monoculture dependent on the export of sugar as a cash crop to the world economy. In the opening scene we are informed that the island got its name from the fact that the only way that the original Portuguese colonizers were able to vanquish the indigenous population was by setting fire to the entire island and killing everyone on it, after which slaves were imported from Africa to cut the newly planted sugar cane.

    Reprints:
    • Reprinted and published in Norwegian in Torstein Dahle (and to artikler av John Bellamy Foster, Ødeleggelsens Økonomi (Tidsskrifter Rødt!, 2008), 100-16.
    Translations:
    • Chinese translation by Dong Jinyu, Foreign Theoretical Trends (China), no. 6, 2008, and translated separately by Liang Yongqiant, Internet Fortune (China), no. 4, 2009.
    • Persian translation in Paul M. Sweezy, et. al., Capitalism and the Environment (Tehran: Digar Publishing House, 2008.
    • French translation in La Brèche-Carré Rouge, December 2007-January February 2008, pp. 46-53.
    • German translation in Perspectiven: Magazin Für Linke Tehoerie Und Praxis, 2007, no. 2 (Vienna);
    • Portuguese translation in O Comuneiro, no. 4, 2007, www.ocomuneiro.com.
    • Norwegian translation in Rødt–special edition in Norwegian daily Klassekampen (Class Struggle), June 2007.
    • Translated in Monthly Review, Turkish edition, 2007.
    • Korean translation October 15, 2009, at http://programto.net/wordpress/.
    • Bangla translation in Bangla Monthly Review, no. 3 (June 2007). Translated by Tushar Chakrabarty.

     

  • The Optimism of the Heart

    The Optimism of the Heart

    “The Optimism of the Heart“, (memorial to Harry Magdoff), Monthly Review, vol. 58, no. 5 (October 2006), pp. 10-26. DOI: 10.14452/MR-058-05-2006-09_2

    The following intellectual biography of Harry Magdoff is a slightly revised and expanded version of a piece that was posted on MRzine a few days after Harry’s death on January 1, 2006. It evolved out of an earlier biography I wrote for the Biographical Dictionary of Dissenting Economists in 2000. Since the aim of this biography was to present the basic facts of Harry’s intellectual career, personal feelings and observations were largely excluded. A brief word on Harry’s character and the warm emotions he engendered within those who knew him therefore seems essential here.

    Online draft, placed on www.monthlyreview.org

    Translations:
    • Translated in Monthly Review, Turkish edition, no. 2 (2006), pp. 9-22.
    • Bangla translation included in in the Rank of the Wretched: A collection of Short Biographies of Albert Einstein, Paul M. Sweezy, and Harry Magdoff. Dhaka, Bangladesh: Shrabon Prokashoni, 2006.
    • Chinese translation by Shoutao Sun in Foreign Theory Dynamics, 3 (2006).

     

  • Naked Imperialism

    Naked Imperialism

    Buy at Monthly Review Press

    “Naked Imperialism: The U.S. Pursuit of Global Dominance,” (New York: Monthly Review Press, 2006), 192 pp.

    (Consists of previously published articles/chapters from Monthly Review between 2000 and 2005 with a new preface by the author.)

    During the Cold War years, mainstream commentators were quick to dismiss the idea that the United States was an imperialist power. Even when U.S. interventions led to the overthrow of popular governments, as in Iran, Guatemala, or the Congo, or wholesale war, as in Vietnam, this fiction remained intact. During the 1990s and especially since September 11, 2001, however, it has crumbled. Today, the need for American empire is openly proclaimed and defended by mainstream analysts and commentators.

    Editions:

    • Indian edition (Delhi:Aakar Books, 2006).
    Translations:
    • Japanese translation by Watanabe Keiko, published by arrangement through Sakai Agency, 2009.
    • Korean translation, Renaissance Publishing Co. Korea, 2008.
    • Preface translated into Bangla in Bangla Monthly Review, no. 1 (December 2006). Translated by Indrani Nandi.
  • Ecology Against Capitalism

    Ecology Against Capitalism

    Buy at Monthly Review Press

    “Ecology Against Capitalism,” (New York: Monthly Review Press 2002), 176 pp.

    (Consists of previously published articles/chapters on ecology and capitalism written between 1992 and 2002.)

    Within these debates on the politics of ecology, Foster’s work develops an important and distinctive perspective. Where many of these debates assume a basic divergence of “red” and “green” issues, and are concerned with the exact terms of a trade-off between them, Foster argues that Marxism — properly understood — already provides the framework within which ecological questions are best approached. This perspective is advanced here in accessible and concrete form, taking account of the major positions in contemporary ecological debate.

    Foster’s introduction sets out the unifying themes of these essays to present a consolidated approach to a rapidly-expanding field of debate which is of critical importance in our time.

    Editions:

    • Indian edition (Kharagpur, India: Cornerstone Publications, 2003).
    • Korean edition by Chaekalpi Publishers, 2007 (contains new preface to Korean edition by author).
    • Bangla edition, (Dhaka, Bangladesh: Shrabon Prokoshani, 2008).
    Translations:
    • Portuguese translation forthcoming from Expressao Popular, 2015.
    • German translation, Hamburg: Laika-Verlag, 2013.
    • Chinese translation by Geng Jianxin and Song Xingwu, (Shanghai: Shanghai Translation Publishing House, 2006).
    • Greek translation, Metaixmio Editions.