Author: max lane

From afar: ideological offensive in the US – liberalism, imperialism

In my June 20 post on the escalation of ideological warfare in the United States, I argued that the propaganda offensive by the Trump alliance in defense of their policy of separation of children from parents crossing into the US without documents was aimed at achieving a “we win, you lose” outcome: a decisive victory. I observed that the only resistance to this was from the left of the Democratic Party. The most recent developments need to be explained with some further elaboration of these propositions.

Continue reading “From afar: ideological offensive in the US – liberalism, imperialism”

Reflections from afar on the escalation of ideological warfare in the United States. by Max Lane.

The United States, under Trump and likely for the foreseeable future, is on a dominate-the-world-totally (and space) trajectory. This is a consequence of the economic situation where imperialism (as the highest stage of capitalism) is now confronted with intensifying contradictions, whose symptoms are the various crisis on the imperial periphery of Southern Europe and the two temporary collapses since 1997. The capitalists at the center of contemporary imperialism, in the USA, need to achieve the most intense monopoly conditions for themselves possible. This requires maximum political dominance worldwide, both vis-a-vis the 3rd world, including the large 3rd world countries as well as the other imperialist countries (the EU, Japan, Australia, New Zealand) and also Russia.

Continue reading “Reflections from afar on the escalation of ideological warfare in the United States. by Max Lane.”

Why Australia is an imperialist country by Max Lane

Australia is a small country of 25 million people. It ranks between 12th to 14th in the world in terms of the overall size of its economy. Although the gap between it and the large population, industrialised countries is substantial. Its military spending, ranking also around 12th in the world, therefore matches its ranking in size of economy. However, while the US economy is almost 20 times larger than the Australian economy, Australian defence spending per capita is very high at about 65% of that of the United States. Australia spends high on the armed forces for its small population. Military spending rose by 29 percent in inflation-adjusted terms between 2007 and 2016 and is projected to grow from $35 billion in 2017-18 to $42 billion by 2021.

us navy

Continue reading “Why Australia is an imperialist country by Max Lane”

Minke yang menceritakan ceritera BUMI MANUSIA?

Silahkan membaca kembali halaman pertama BUMI MANUSIA. Membaca kembali dan merenungkannya. Ada rahasianya. Mau tahu rahasianya: terpaksa anda mencari lewat membaca RUMAH KACA.  (Disini tidak saya pasang spoiler.)

Rahasia lainnya bisa ditemukan di buku INDONESIA TIDAK HADIR DI BUMI MANUSIA.

BTW: Versi bahasa Inggeris BUMI MANUSIA – yaitu THIS EARTH OF MANKIND bisa didapat di Indonesia di toko buku Periplus di berbagai kota Indonesia.

Naluri Pramoedya Ananta Toer sebagai pengarang roman sejarah

Dengan mengedit sedikit kata-kata filosof dan kritikus sastera, Georgi Lukacs ketika dia menulis tentang roman sejarah sebagai sebuah genre sastera, saya mau komentar thdp novel P.A.T. Bumi Manusia, yaitu bahwa novelnya adalah sebuah “product of realistic instinct and [and also] a  clear understanding of history as a process, of history as the concrete precondition of the present.” Yaitu Bumi Manusia adalah sebuah produk naluri realistis pengarangnya sekaligus pengertian jelas bahwa sejarah adalah sebuah proses, sejarah adalah pra-syarat konkrit yang menyiapkan situasi kondisi sekarang.”

Bumi Manusia dan ketiga novel berikutnya adalah bacaan wajib untuk bisa mengerti Indonesia sekarang.

 

Cover Pram 1

Menulis mencipta Indonesia dan Pramoedya Ananta Toer

““Banyak pesan yang terdapat dalam karya-karya Pramoedya yang terinspirasi dari RA Kartini. Pramoedya melihat Kartini sebagai pemikir zaman pencerahan Indonesia. Dalam karya-karya Pramoedya, terkandung pesan-pesan seperti kebangkitan nasional Indonesia di era 1920-an,” kata Max Lane.”

Baca disini.

Max and Pramoedya 1981