The socio-ecological crisis of capitalism has given rise to right-wing populism in various parts of the world, including South Africa. Invoking Rick Turner’s ‘necessity of Utopian thinking’, this article assesses the limits of statist twentieth-century Marxist-Leninism and considers the democratic-humanist alternative that inspired the re-emerging South African trade union movement in the 1970s. It then looks at the rise of various social-ecological perspectives and the transformation of Marxist-Leninist parties in Rojava, north-east Syria, as well as Kerala, India. It argues that South Africa, like most parts of the world, desperately needs to build a democratic-humanist, ecological and feminist political centre that can harness the various social-ecological struggles being waged in order to provide a viable counter-hegemonic alternative to the moribund politics of the country. If it does not, the forces of reactionary populism, of various kinds, will gather strength.

The GDP growth paradigm has come under increased scrutiny in recent years, with the rising threats of global social inequality, poverty, and environmental degradation. New thinking around ecosocialism, degrowth, happiness and the wellbeing economy insist on keeping alive the utopian imagination. It seeks to break through the constraints of traditional state-or-market development debates, by searching for ways to subordinate both the state and market to society, in harmony with non-human nature. Pioneering work on alternative development indicators has been done in recent times, the most notable being the Gross National Happiness Index, currently in practice within the small Buddhist mountain state of Bhutan. The happiness/wellbeing perspectives do not have an explicit critique of capitalism, and avoid any mention of 'socialism' or 'ecosocialism'. Is there a Chinese Wall between the Buddha and Marx - or can these perspectives be harmonized, as part of building a broader counter-hegemonic movement?

Despite the transition from apartheid to democracy, South Africa is the most unequal country in the world. Its extremes of wealth and poverty undermine intensifying struggles for a better life for all. The wide-ranging essays in this sixth volume of the New South African Review demonstrate how the consequences of inequality extend throughout society and the political economy, crippling the quest for social justice, polarising the politics, skewing economic outcomes and bringing devastating environmental consequences in their wake. Contributors survey the extent and consequences of inequality across fields as diverse as education, disability, agrarian reform, nuclear geography and small towns, and tackle some of the most difficult social, political and economic issues. How has the quest for greater equality affected progressive political discourse? How has inequality reproduced itself, despite best intentions in social policy, to the detriment of the poor and the historically disadvantaged? How have shifts in mining and the financialisation of the economy reshaped the contours of inequality? How does inequality reach into the daily social life of South Africans, and shape the way in which they interact? How does the extent and shape of inequality in South Africa compare with that of other major countries of the global South which themselves are notorious for their extremes of wealth and poverty? South African extremes of inequality reflect increasing inequality globally, and The Crisis of Inequality will speak to all those – general readers, policy makers, researchers and students – who are demanding a more equal world.

Bibliographie: Pillay, Devan: Alternativen zu „Entwicklung“. Antike Erbschaften, moderne Neuaufbruche, PERIPHERIE, 2-2018, S. 261-272. https://doi.org/10.3224/peripherie.v38i2.07

As seductive as the Africa rising narrative is, this article argues that it is misleading. It draws the people of Africa into a false sense of promise – of ‘development’ and ‘decent’ jobs for all – that can never be delivered by the current economic growth paradigm. A radical rethink is needed to break out of the cycle of deepening inequality, dispossession and ecological devastation. The ‘modernisation’ paradigm based on incessant production and consumption can only meet the needs of an enclave within a sea of poverty, pollution and plunder. Africa is regarded by transnational corporations and their governments as the last piece of virgin territory left to exploit for maximum returns. This search for new avenues of accumulation must be understood in the context of the intertwined global socio-economic as well as ecological crisis, where capital acts as a spreading virus. It develops but also destroys; if left to its own devices, its destructive power is incalculable.This article situates the Africa rising narrative, and the challenges of growth and development, within the context of the global poly-crisis. It examines the economic and ecological dimensions of this continuing crisis, and asks whether Africa’s future prospects lie with mimicking the industrial development paths of Europe and North America, which leads to enclave development, or in forging a new holistic developmental path that avoids the pitfalls of dispossession, environmental injustice and rising social inequality.