Crony capitalism crippling world economies

• Intellectuals and academics from across world share their thoughts and experiences on democracy and socialism
• The new State of Telangana can learn a lot from the experiences of Africa and Latin America, say the speakers

Hyderabad: “Uncontrolled markets lead to disasters. Predatory forms of capitalism around the world create space for themselves. The alliance between corporate and political bosses results in crony capitalism and eventually leads to legitimisation of their ideas. Markets can be inimical to social justice,” former SC Judge B Sudershan Reddy remarked, referring to the rise of capitalist class across the world, in his inaugural address at the four-day international seminar on ‘Democracy, Socialism and Visions for 21st Century’ here on Friday.

Chairing the seminar organised by Telangana Vidyavantula Vedika (TVV), Centre for Dalit Studies and Delhi-based Democracy Ideologues, S Jaipal Reddy, Union Minister for Science and Technology, reflected on the ideals of socialism as espoused by Robert Owen and otherthinkers. “Without individual liberty it is difficult to build socialist democracy and non-violence as a moral doctrine is inescapable. Concentration of wealth leads to militaristic tendencies. Every year, around $1,000 billion is spent on defence budget by various governments,” he said. The first day witnessed a cross-section of intellectuals and academics from across the world sharing their experiences. The debates emphasised that every country and region have their own unique issues, and it is necessary to adopt different models of socialism.

Marta Harnecker, a sociologist from Chile and author of the popular book ‘Bolivia’s movement for Socialism-Political Instrument for the Sovereignty of the Peoples’, said, “It is necessary to build socialism that suits each country. The 21st century socialism or new socialism cannot be a copy of one single model as espoused by Chavez.”

Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat traced the course of socialism; several debates ensued on what went wrong after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 90s and how it veered towards 21st century socialism. “A multi-party system under socialism could be the way forward. The experiment with decentralised planning at the panchayat level, as was implemented in Kerala was worth it,” he pointed out. Socialism as a philosophy has grown over the decades and is a dynamic process.

Speaking on the topic through his experiences in Bolivia, Katu Arkonda, a political scientist, threw light on the living conditions of the people of Bolivia, and how after the people’s movement the government nationalised the gas - the only major resource in Bolivia. Participatory democracy had made it possible for stopping the capitalist class from usurping power, he added. The march of capitalism has had its effect on the ecology across the world resulting in climate change and natural disasters. Free markets and globalisation have had its effects, opined speakers during the day’s sessions.

Justice Sudershan Reddy said natural resources, forests, rivers and oceans were being exploited and lakhs of indigenous people were being displaced.

The neo-liberal agenda perpetuated by the capitalist class renders the state to function like a market rather than a welfare State, he added. Amiya Bagchi, emeritus professor at the Institute of Development Studies, Kolkata, said, “The premise on which capitalism functions is to aquire natural resources by any means, including war and violence. Several people in island nations such as Maldives and Pacific Ocean face a bleak future due to global warming and plundering of natural resources.” Earlier, HMTV and The Hans India Editor-in-Chief, K Ramachandra Murthy said the seminar had great significance as the State was at the crossroads and was at a historical juncture. He raised pertinent points on whether there could be socialism through democracy and if they were compatible. Eminent educationist and MLC Chukka Ramaiah gave a call for a blueprint to be drawn for the new State and said that the seminar would help in learning from the experiences of Latin American and African countries. If there could be a better model that could be adopted in the new realities. Mallepalli Lakshmaiah of Centre for Dalit Studies hoped that the seminar would be useful in bringing out new insights that would help in governance.