Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
We are in the throes of a transition to a qualitatively new stage of world capitalism. Its essence is the emergence of truly transnational capital, a transnational capitalist class (TCC) made up of the owners and managers of transnational corporations, and transnational state apparatuses through which the TCC attempts to exercise global political authority.
Can you feel capitalism dying around you? There is a mental disease of late-stage capitalism causing deep worry and anxiety, prompting feelings of severe isolation and humiliation, combined with a profound sense of powerlessness for millions of people around the world. The question I ask today is What are YOU going to do about it?
In a world that is falling apart (no further elaboration needed), how shall we understand the dynamics of survival and collaboration? How does life persist and flourish in a world that is hellbent on commodifying and privatizing every aspect of human relations and the natural world? For anthropologist Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, the answer is to study the strange life of the humble matsutake mushroom…
Naomi Klein: “We are told that selfishness and short-sightedness is part of human nature, which prevents us acting. This is not true and it steers us away from an analysis of our [capitalist] system. In fact, the fight for survival is human nature.”
The Ford Foundation believes we have an obligation to strengthen capitalism. In fact we have a duty to transform it.
That brings me to my main point:…actually, when it comes to a lot of things – if we want to talk about ‘the elephant in the room’, it isn’t human population. It’s capitalism.
The conflict between capitalism and the environment is the fight of the century.
If you frequent mainstream right-libertarian publications on anything like a regular basis, you’ve probably seen more than one of those breathless articles about how capitalism is making the ordinary poor person richer than a medieval king.
I think about capitalism as a moment. A blink in time.
There are many parallels between the period of the two world wars and the current period, Alexander Nievas excellent account of this prior period provides any insights useful to the present.
Degrowth aims at undoing growth.
‘The pain we feel is capitalism dying.’ The words left an impression on me I think because they describe that strange, existential ache that we probably have all felt at some time or another, when contemplating how we should live our lives in a world that seems so tragically off track.
