The Tragic Failure of "Post-Communism" in Eastern Europe
There is a great disillusionment with the failed promises of the 1989 revolutions, which have brought a rapid decline in living standards for the majority of former Communist citizens.
The widespread exasperation with the impoverishment, corruption, street crime and general social chaos that have accompanied the transition to market-oriented capitalism and Western-style democracy has produced a growing nostalgia for the Communist past among many ordinary people (who are not part of their countries’ new cosmopolitan and pro-Western elites), as they look back with increasing fondness to the “good old times” of Communism—a disturbing trend across the region popularly known as the “Soviet chic.”
With the attention of Western governments and publics now focused on the tumultuous tensions and conflicts in the Arab world, people tend to ignore or forget the crises gripping the ex-Communist nations. Given the rampant inequality, immiseration, government corruption, and organized crime that have characterized the post-Communist order, the situation in these formerly Communist lands is no less combustible than in North Africa and the Middle East, and one of these days it could turn out to be far shakier than is now imagined.
Is Tunisia, Egypt or even Libya a likely future scenario for this troubled region?
For now, the long-suffering but very patient citizens of these transition countries are clenching their teeth in the hope that the very next election will bring to power a messianic savior on a white horse who—along with far more generous assistance from the West’s supposedly bottomless pockets—will at long last extricate their bankrupt, poverty-stricken societies from the abyss into which they have fallen.
Only time will tell if the answered prayers of the ex-Communist nations will ultimately prove to be a punishment from above. On the other hand, it may open up new vistas for these struggling nations to resist the crushing power of international banks and multinational corporations by adopting progressive reforms aimed at creating a democratic world order not controlled by the overlords of globalization and the local comprador elites that serve them.
Text extracted from Global Research, “The Tragic Failure of ‘Post-Communism’ in Eastern Europe” by Dr. Rossen Vassilev, http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23616
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As I live in Eastern Europe and am a witness to such, I agree that even the “Soviet chic” is better than the every-year-worse decadence, corruption,
The most compelling case of corrupt business behaviour is epitomized by public projects. The government holds an auction for the building of a new motorway that attracts a number of private corporations and independent contractors seeking to obtain the job, or the Holy Grail of fraudulent earnings as it is.
The auction is managed by a number of high ranking officials whose main duty is to accurately and impartially assess a project and denote a contractor on the basis of its merits, which needless to say is naively idealistic when taking into account that most government officials are driven solely by the prospect of profits.
What happens next is anyone’s guess. Company A wins the auction thanks to its ability to outbid privately all the other aspirants through bribery or the promise of a bulky commission for the parties involved and then proceeds with the building.
The government pays the contractor using money that most likely originated from foreign funding or loans that citizens will have to pay back at some point, but nothing seems to be particularly abnormal so far, since lobbyism is as present in Eastern Europe as it is in other more developed regions of the world. However, the same officials who secured the deal and the contractors will acquire cheap low-quality materials from a selected group of providers that are marginally involved in the process, whilst making sure that the figures on papers match the amount invested.
This forgery of official documents sets in motion an entire apparatus of bribery for all the parties involved, which in the end brings millions of Euros every year to companies and officials.
Both the materials used and the faulty structure are responsible for the slow decay that most motorways in Eastern Europe face within a year of construction, which in turn creates an endless source of illegal profit for the original contractors to tap into each time a road needs to be repaired.
Impoverishment and general social chaos, brought by the 1989 revolutions with its demagogue pro-west Democratic (or better said “Autocratic” – people not only have no rule, as they are the direct victims of the) governments.
Democracy is a form of political organization in which all people, through consensus (consensus democracy), direct referendum (direct democracy), or elected representatives (representative democracy) exercise equal control over the matters which affect their interests.
There is no equal control over the matters which affect their interests; there has never been.
Elections will solve little, if nothing at all, and will force no one to make major progressive reforms.
Any European Union grants thrown at countries in the block is publicly known as wide open to corruption.
Because it is in the ex-communist bloc however, it does not, and will get no international attention nor coverage until things turn ugly, as in out of control; which is visibly not that far off in all honesty – even very patient citizens do get fed up.
To clarify the matter for people living far away from Europe, the situation is similar to America; namely having in account that the countries in the post-communist block, in the post-communist “era”, try desperately to get rid of its own identity in pro of a,
America as the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow
desperate idealism.
The United States of America have no Democracy, and the United States of America spreads no Democracy.
The United States of America have Corporatocracy, and the United States of America spreads Corporatocracy, Corporative Autocracy.
An autocracy is a form of government in which one person possesses unlimited power. An autocrat is a person (such as a monarch) ruling with unlimited authority. The term autocrat is derived from the Greek word autokratōr (αὐτοκράτωρ, lit. “self-ruler”, or “one who rules by himself”). It is distinct from oligarchy (“rule by the few”) and democracy (“rule by the people”). The term autocrat is similar to despot, tyrant and dictator.
Corporatocracy, in social theories that focus on conflicts and opposing interests within society, denotes a system of government that serves the interest of, and may be run by, corporations and involves ties between government and business. Where corporations, conglomerates, and/or government entities with private components, control the direction and governance of a country, including carrying out economic planning notwithstanding the ‘free market’ label.
Quality contribution, good page template, carry on the great work
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