The 8th Forum of the World Association for Political Economy Held in Brazil

From May 25 to 27, 2013, the "Inequality and World Capitalism: Analysis, Countermeasures and Action—The 8th Forum of the World Association for Political Economy" was grandly held at the Federal University of Santa Catarina in Brazil. More than one hundred scholars from over 20 countries, including China, Japan, South Korea, India, Mexico, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, attended the meeting. On the morning of May 25, Professor Cheng Enfu, President of the World Association for Political Economy (WAPE) and President of the Institute of Marxism Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), delivered the opening remarks. Roselane Neckel, Rector of the Federal University of Santa Catarina, gave the welcoming speech. At the opening ceremony, the Association presented the 2013 (3rd) "World Marxian Economics Award." Theotonio dos Santos, an outstanding world Marxist economist, founder of Dependency Theory ^[1], and professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and Wei Xinghua, Honorary First-Class Professor at Renmin University of China, received this honor. The Association also presented the 5th "Distinguished Achievement Award of World Political Economy for the 21st Century" to nine professors. Participants took part in a commemorative tree-planting activity and jointly held an unveiling ceremony for a bronze plaque of Karl Marx engraved at the university's Academic Exchange Center.

Participating scholars conducted in-depth discussions on topics such as the "Inequality in the Production and Distribution of World Wealth and Its Root Causes."

In his speech, Cheng Enfu pointed out that research on the distribution of global wealth and income reveals that the gap in global household wealth distribution is even wider than that of income distribution. Compared to affluent countries, the ratio of the wealth gap to the income gap is larger in poor countries. The concentration of global wealth is extremely high and significantly exceeds the concentration of income. If official exchange rates are used for international comparisons, the estimated degree of inequality in wealth distribution is even higher. Furthermore, wealth distribution not only shows a high degree of concentration on a global scale but also varies significantly between different countries. He argued that since Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher joined forces to promote neoliberalism across various nations, accompanied by the frequent outbreaks of financial and economic crises in the West, global and national inequalities and the gap between rich and poor have continuously intensified. This has exposed the "American Dream" mentioned by Obama and the so-called "Japanese Dream" as being, in essence, the dreams of monopoly oligarchies rather than the dreams of the people; dreams of crisis and terror rather than stability and security; and dreams of force and blackmail rather than peaceful development. This is qualitatively different from the socialist "Chinese Dream" ^[2] currently discussed in China.

The closing ceremony of the forum was presided over by Professor Niemeyer Almeida Filho of the Federal University of Uberlândia, Vice President of the World Association for Political Economy. Professor Nildo Ouriques, Director of the Institute of Latin American Economic Research at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, read the consensus declaration of the 8th Forum. The declaration pointed out that the capitalist economic and political system is the primary root cause of global and national inequality. Although capitalism still possesses a tremendous capacity to adjust in the face of various adverse environments, it lacks the capacity to harmonize with human potential, regarding it only as a basis for the infinite desire for capital value. This dogmatic approach is imposed solely to maintain the interests of imperialist states under the hegemony of the financial capitalist class. Inequality among regions, countries, and social classes worldwide is inherent to capitalist development and must be overcome through political reconstruction within a social alternative order based on alternative ideas and transformative practical policies. The union of Marxists worldwide is highly necessary. The World Association for Political Economy provides an important space for activity, making the exchange of ideas, research, and proposals for action possible. Without global political action, however, the replacement of capitalism cannot be achieved. The 9th Forum of the World Association for Political Economy will be held from May 23 to 25, 2014, at the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, with the theme "Growth, Development, and Social Justice."