Category: Capitalism

Barry Commoner: The systems we depend on are upside down

Leave a comment

25 June 2019 — Climate & Capitalism

Ecosocialist Notebook

An Ecosocialist classic

Decades ago, he showed that environmental, energy and economic crises had a common cause: a system that demands increased profits at all costs

Martin Empson, a frequent C&C contributor, regularly reviews new and old books on his blog, Resolute Reader. Recently, he reviewed Barry Commoner’s 1971 classic The Closing Circle, calling it “an important contribution to our understanding of the struggle we need.” He says he wishes he had read it years ago.

Continue reading →

Strikes in the Long Depression By michael roberts

Leave a comment

18 June 2019 — Michael Roberts Blog

Jorg Nowak, a fellow at the University of Nottingham, UK has just published Mass Strikes and Social Movements in Brazil and India:: popular mobilisation in the Long Depression.  Nowak argues that in the 21st century and in this current long depression in the major economies, industrial action is no longer led by organised labour ie trade unions, and now takes the form of wider ‘mass strikes’ that involve unorganised workers and wider social forces in the community.  This popular mobilisation is closer to Rosa Luxemburg’s concept of mass strikes than the conventional ’eurocentric’ formation of trade unions.

PANIC, WHAT PANIC?

Leave a comment

16 June 2019 — theplanningmotive.com

Download the PDF: panic-what-panic

What distinguishes the Crash of 2019 from the Crash of 2008 is the messianic belief that the Central Banks will pre-empt a credit emergency. This is based on an assessment of the interventions by Central Banks post-2008 and the lessons learnt from 2008. This post argues this belief maybe misplaced.

Continue reading →

Campaigners Launch Legal Challenge over UK’s ‘Secret Trade Talks’ with United States

Leave a comment

14 June 2019 — Global Research – Global Justice Now

Global Justice Now has launched a legal challenge at the Information Rights Tribunal over the Department for International Trade’s failure to release details of numerous trade meetings it has held with the United States and other countries since the EU referendum in 2016.

Continue reading →

The heroes of finance and Powell’s put by michael roberts

1 Comment

10 June 2019 — Michael Roberts Blog

At the weekend G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bankers in Japan, the world’s finance leaders tried to put a brave face on the situation. Tension over the intensifying trade war between China and the US was the biggest talking point at the meetings. Officials also wrangled over wording for a final communique on how to describe their concerns for world growth. While they flagged that it appears to be ‘stabilizing’, they also warned that the risks were tilted to the downside. “Most importantly, trade and geopolitical tensions have intensified. We will continue to address these risks, and stand ready to take further action”, the communiqué said.

Continue reading →

North American, European Public: Finally Wake Up, Damn It! By Andre Vltchek

1 Comment

6 June 2019 — New Eastern Outlook

LW423421

Year after year, month after month, I see two sides of the world; two extremes which are getting more and more disconnected:

I see great cities like Homs in Syria, reduced to horrifying ruins. I see Kabul and Jalalabad in Afghanistan, fragmented by enormous concrete walls intended to protect NATO occupation armies and their local puppets. I see monstrous environmental devastation in places such as Indonesian Borneo, Peruvian gold mining towns, or the by now almost uninhabitable atoll island-nations of Oceania: Tuvalu, Kiribati or Marshall Islands.

Continue reading →

Books: Environment, Labor, and Capitalism at Sea

Leave a comment

5 June 2019 — Climate & Capitalism
Book Review

A compelling first-hand study shows that fishing is a deadly occupation because capitalism forces workers to take terrible risks in order to survive. 

Penny McCall Howard
ENVIRONMENT, LABOUR AND CAPITALISM AT SEA
‘Working the ground’ in Scotland
Manchester University Press, 2018

reviewed by Martin Empson

Working at sea in the fishing industry is 115 times more dangerous than the UK average. It’s a startling statistic, that is usually explained by the idea that the sea is “dangerous.” Penny McCall Howard’s important book is a detailed examination of why this explanation is incorrect .

Continue reading →

Zizek: Only a pan-European left can defeat ‘populism’

Leave a comment

6 June 2019 — RT

Slavoj ZizekSlavoj Zizek is a cultural philosopher. He’s a senior researcher at the Institute for Sociology and Philosophy at the University of Ljubljana and Global Distinguished Professor of German at New York University.

After last week’s European Parliament elections has everything changed or has absolutely nothing changed?

There were some spectacular details, such as the crushing defeat of both main parties in the United Kingdom. However, these should not blind us to the basic fact that nothing really big and surprising happened. Yes, the populist new right did make progress, but it remains far from a prevailing trend.

Continue reading →

Don’t Despair Because Of The Climate Collapse. Use It As A Motivator For Revolution

1 Comment

5 June 2019 — Revolution Dispatch

To confront the climate crisis, we all need to reassess how we view our place in life. As we head for a future where the water levels could be raised seven feet by 2100, where large parts of the planet will become uninhabitable because of how hot they’ll be, and where fascism and violence proliferate as a consequence of this catastrophe, people are trying to find ways to accept the reality before us and find inner healing. As a scientific report came out this week showing that climate feedback loops, refugee influxes, and armed conflicts over resources will perhaps result in “the end of human global civilization as we know it” by 2050, this shift in consciousness is essential for our sanity and our survival.

Continue reading →

Court Docs: Monsanto Paid Chemical Industry Front Group To Claim Cancer-Causing Weedkiller ‘Safe’ and Attack Its Critics

Leave a comment

29 May 2019 — EWG News & Analysis

By Bill Walker, Vice President and Editor in Chief

Monsanto paid a shadowy chemical industry front group to help push back against the mounting scientific evidence that the company’s signature Roundup weedkiller causes cancer, court documents reveal.

Continue reading →