DEMOCRATIC MARXISM DEMOCRATIC MARXISM SERIES Series Editor: Vishwas Satgar The crisis of Marxism in the late twentieth century was the crisis of orthodox and vanguard- ist Marxism associated mainly with hierarchical communist parties, and imposed, even as state ideo logy, as the ‘correct’ Marxism. The Stalinisation of the Soviet Union and its eventual collapse exposed the inherent weaknesses and authoritarian mould of vanguardist Marxism. More funda- mentally, vanguardist Marxism was rendered obsolete but for its residual existence in a few parts of the world, including within authoritarian national liberation movements in Africa and in China. With the deepening crises of capitalism, a new democratic Marxism (or democratic historical materialism) is coming to the fore. Such a democratic Marxism is characterised by the following: • Its sources span non-vanguardist grassroots movements, unions, political fronts, mass parties, radical intellectuals, transnational activist networks and parts of the progres- sive academy; • It seeks to ensure that the inherent categories of Marxism are theorised within constantly changing historical conditions to find meaning; • Marxism is understood as a body of social thought that is unfinished and hence challenged by the need to explain the dynamics of a globalising capitalism and the futures of social change; • It is open to other forms of anti-capitalist thought and practice, including currents within radical ecology, feminism, emancipatory utopianism and indigenous thought; • It does not seek to be a monolithic and singular school of thought but engenders contending perspectives; • Democracy, as part of the heritage of people’s struggles, is understood as the basis for articulating alternatives to capitalism and as the primary means for constituting a transformative subject of historical change. This series seeks to elaborate the social theorising and politics of democratic Marxism. Published in the series and available: Michelle Williams and Vishwas Satgar (eds). 2013. Marxisms in the 21st Century: Crisis, Critique and Struggle. Johannesburg: Wits University Press. Vishwas Satgar (ed.). 2015. Capitalism’s Crises: Class Struggles in South Africa and the World. Johannesburg: Wits University Press. Vishwas Satgar (ed.). 2018. The Climate Crisis: South African and Global Democratic Eco-Socialist Alternatives. Johannesburg: Wits University Press. Vishwas Satgar (ed.). 2019. Racism after Apartheid: Challenges for Marxism and Anti-Racism. Johannesburg: Wits University Press. BRICS and the New American Imperialism Global Rivalry and Resistance Edited by Vishwas Satgar Published in South Africa by: Wits University Press 1 Jan Smuts Avenue Johannesburg 2001 www.witspress.co.za Compilation © Vishwas Satgar 2020 Chapters © Individual contributors 2020 Published edition © Wits University Press 2020 First published 2020 http://dx.doi.org.10.18772/22020035287 978-1-77614-528-7 (Print) 978-1-77614-566-9 (Hardback) 978-1-77614-563-8 (PDF) 978-1-77614-564-5 (EPUB) 978-1-77614-565-2 (Mobi) 978-1-77614-576-8 (Open Access PDF) All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher, except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act, Act 98 of 1978. This book is freely available through the OAPEN library (www.oapen.org) under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 Creative Commons License. (https://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). The publication of this volume was made possible by funding from the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung and through a grant received from the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences. Project manager: Inga Norenius Copyeditor: Inga Norenius Proofreader: Tessa Botha Indexer: Margaret Ramsay Cover design: Hothouse, South Africa Typesetter: MPS Typeset in 10 point Minion Pro CONTENTS TABLES AND FIGURES vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ix ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS xi Chapter 1: Old and New Imperialism: The End of US Domination? 1 Vishwas Satgar PART ONE: GLOBAL CRISIS, BRICS AND RIVALRY 29 CHAPTER 2: Fossil Capital, Imperialism and the Global Corporate Elite 30 William K. Carroll CHAPTER 3: Water Wars in the World and South Africa 58 Ferrial Adam CHAPTER 4: Subimperial BRICS Enter the Bolsonaro-Putin-Modi-Xi-Ramaphosa Era 76 Patrick Bond CHAPTER 5: A Road to Development? The Nacala Corridor at the Intersection Between Brazilian and Global Investments 105 Ana Garcia and Karina Kato PART TWO: GLOBAL RESISTANCE 125 Chapter 6: The Vessel: An Alternative Strategy for the Global Left 126 Chris Chase-Dunn CHAPTER 7: Towards the Fifth International? 148 Samir Amin CHAPTER 8: The Campaign to Dismantle Corporate Power 167 Keamogetswe Seipato CHAPTER 9: Mass Strikes in a Global Conjuncture of Crisis: A Luxemburgian Analysis 182 Alexander Gallas CHAPTER 10: The Novel in a Time of Neoliberalism 203 Nivedita Majumdar CONCLUSION: Vishwas Satgar 219 CONTRIBUTORS 225 INDEX 227 TABLES AND FIGURES Table 2.1 Historical eras of imperialism 33 Table 2.2 Composition of the Top 50 fossil corporations, 2018 39 Table 2.3 The most central fossil corporations in the global interlock network 40 Table 4.1 Changes in the IMF top ten owner-countries’ voting shares, 2010–2019 91 Figure 1.1 US cycles of hegemony and crisis 14 Figure 2.1 Twelve minor components in the network 42 Figure 2.2 Three communities in the fossil-capital network 44 Figure 2.3 Interlocks among eight major fossils and 23 financial institutions, 2018 46 Figure 3.1 The increasing water conflicts at a subnational level, 1931–2011 64 Figure 4.1 Steel overaccumulation driven by China 82 Figure 4.2 Producer price index for iron and steel, 2002–2019 83 Figure 4.3 Profit flows, 2015–2017 (average dividend receipts as a per cent of dividend payments) 87 Figure 5.1 Vale’s business units in Mozambique 108 Figure 5.2 World Bank’s spatial development initiatives and growth poles 115 vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS his volume owes a special debt to the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation. TWithout their support it would have been impossible to hold a con- tributors’ workshop in South Africa and to ensure the manuscript was prepared for publication. The use of the conferencing space at their office provided a conducive space for engagement during the contributors’ workshop. We are also grateful for the support given by the Co-operative and Policy Centre (COPAC), which played a central role in organising the workshop convened with contributors and activists from various social movements and community organisations. The support given by the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences has enabled the digitisation of this volume. Moreover, it is important to acknowledge the editorial assistance provided by Jane Cherry from COPAC. Her efforts were crucial for keeping things on track. The efforts of Courtney Morgan and Aaisha Domingo, working with Jane Cherry, are also appreciated. Special thanks to Professor Michelle Williams for her supportive feedback during this project. Finally, our sincerest appreciation to the team at Wits University Press, particularly Veronica Klipp, Roshan Cader and Corina van der Spoel, for supporting this volume and the Democratic Marxism series. ix ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ACFI Agreement on Cooperation and Facilitation of Investment AfDB African Development Bank ANC African National Congress BNDES Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Economico e Social (Brazilian Economic and Social Development Bank) BRICS Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa CFM Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique CRA Contingent Reserve Arrangement CSIR Council for Scientific and Industrial Research GATT General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs IMF International Monetary Fund IOCs international oil companies JICA Japan International Cooperation Agency MNC multinational corporation NAM Non-Alignment Movement NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization NIEO New International Economic Order NOCs national oil companies OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ONGC Oil and Natural Gas Corporation SDI Spatial Development Initiative TNC transnational corporation TTIP Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership UNCTAD United Nations Conference on Trade and Development UNCTC United Nations Commission on Transnational Corporations UNFCCC United Nations Convention on Climate Change Veja Vaal Environmental Justice Alliance WSF World Social Forum WTO World Trade Organization xi For Rosa Luxemburg who was murdered on 15 January 1919. CHAPTER 1 OLD AND NEW IMPERIALISM: THE END OF US DOMINATION? Vishwas Satgar or over three decades the main buzzword of development, international rela- Ftions and policy making has been ‘globalisation’. It is a descriptive concept used to characterise processes underway in the global political economy related to pro- duction, trade, finance, technology and labour. It has been an overworked term, sometimes evoking the metaphor of a happy ‘global village’ in which all countries are equal and in which there is smooth mobility not just of finance and goods, but also of labour and technology. The embrace of globalisation has also promised that all ships will rise as the tides of competition and winds of integration but- tress the engines of national economies. Inequality and poverty will all be history in this global market utopia according to the promises and rhetoric of globalisation discourse. Or more poignantly, we would all be Americans