[Podcast] Communists answer your toughest questions Share TweetWhat will Israel, the Gulf, the Middle East and Asia look like after the Iran War? This was the starting point for this week’s special Q&A episode of Against the Stream, in which Hamid Alizadeh and Jorge Martín worked through the best and toughest questions from our comment section.Starting with the crisis in the Middle East, Hamid and Jorge explain that any end to the war would be a compromise for America, not Iran. Iran has achieved all of its aims, while the United States has achieved none. The Gulf states are quietly making their own arrangements with Tehran, and Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan, and Egypt are moving away from the American camp. China is positioned to broker the new regional order.Next, they dug into one of the most common theoretical questions asked in our comment section: is China capitalist? For Marxists, this is a concrete question that can only be answered by looking at the real development of China. The past thirty years paint a clear picture: privatisation, industrial capacity sitting idle, hundreds of millions in precarious work, youth unemployment, and more billionaires than any country on earth, besides the USA. Understanding why and how this happened is key to putting forward a programme for socialism in China and internationally.From there, the episode turns to Venezuela, and to a common kind of argument that circulates on the left – that Western Marxists are too dogmatic, too Eurocentric, too theoretical to understand developments taking place in other continents. The answer lies in the facts. Since the kidnapping of Maduro, Venezuela has become a US protectorate. Its oil income goes into a Washington-controlled bank account. Chávez himself said in 2012 that the greatest mistake of the revolution was not taking it to its final conclusion. Unlike identity politics, which explains nothing at all, only Marxist theory, and an honest appraisal of events, can give us the foresight to act.Finally, Hamid and Jorge answer whether international revolution is actually on the agenda – and whether there is any point in joining a union today.New episodes of Against the Stream every Thursday at 6pm GMT on YouTube.Recommended readingRevolution and counter-revolution in Venezuela – Alan WoodsChina's long march to capitalism – International Marxist TendencyTrade Unions in the Epoch of Imperialist Decay – Leon Trotsky, 1940What is to be Done? How Lenin built a battle organisation – In Defence of Marxism
