Capitalism
-
Chris Hedges: “Dying for an iPhone”
The suffering of the working class, within and outside the United States, is ignored by our corporatized media, and yet, it is one of the most important human rights issues of our era. Continue reading
-
Ecosocialist Bookshelf, June 2021
1 June 2021 — Origin: Climate & Capitalism Reading for Reds and Greens New books on Food, Military Science, Nature, Forest Communication, Covid Failure, and Deadly Phones Ecosocialist Bookshelf is a monthly column, hosted by Ian Angus. Books described here may be reviewed at length in future. Inclusion of a book does not imply endorsement,… Continue reading
-
The productivity crisis
It has been the historic mission of the capitalist mode of production to develop the “productive forces” (namely the technology and labour necessary to increase the output of things and services that human society needs or wants). Indeed, it is the main claim of supporters of capitalism that it is the best (even only) system… Continue reading
-
The Paris Commune: Marx, Mao, Tomorrow
In 1871, Karl Marx proposed an account of the Paris Commune that is wholly inscribed in the question of the state. For him, it comprises the first historical case in which the proletariat assumes its transitory function of the direction, or administration, of the entire society. From the Commune’s initiatives and impasses, he is led… Continue reading
-
Watch: Big Pharma’s Fraudulent ‘Clinical Trials’
As much of the world rushes to receive a lightly-tested pharmaceutical product, we thought it was high time to look again at the (very) big business of medicine. Leemon McHenry, PhD, guides us to the fraudulent core of ghostwritten studies, captured legislators, revolving-door regulatory agencies, pay-to-play medical journals, and the “key opinion leaders” who lend… Continue reading
-
UK Crony Capitalism: High Court: Day 4
Today in the High Court, Government’s lawyers set out their defence to our legal challenge over PPE contracts handed to “VIP” companies. Government claims that companies in the VIP Lane did not materially benefit from their special treatment, and that it was simply a different route by which they could win contracts. Continue reading
-
We should all be worried about the United Nations Food Systems Summit
Since Ms. Kalibata [Agnes Kalibata, president of the Alliance for a Green Revolution for Africa (AGRA)] was named special envoy [to the UN Food Systems Summit], there has been a public outcry over this clear conflict of interest. 176 civil society organizations from 83 countries sent a letter to the UN Secretary General António Guterres… Continue reading
-
Watch: The Real Mission to Mars
Apparently — and entirely predictably — low-Earth-orbit is now firmly within the widening tides of corporate capitalism’s great waste ocean. The communications satellites our overclass uses to maintain its web of ever-expending commercialism is now creating a real crisis of off-planet clutter: Continue reading
-
Microsoft vs Indian Farmers: Agri-Stacking the System
In April, the Indian government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Microsoft, allowing its local partner CropData to leverage a master database of farmers. The MoU seems to be part of the AgriStack policy initiative, which involves the roll out of ‘disruptive’ technologies and digital databases in the agricultural sector. Continue reading
-
UK Crony Capitalism: Tuesday in Court
On Tuesday, our legal challenge to the PPE procurement scandal will be heard in the High Court. It’s the first day of a mammoth five day hearing. Continue reading
-
Modern Marxist Monetary Theory or MMMT
MMMT has to solve two issues. Firstly, how can token money, that is money without any intrinsic value, circulate valuable commodities. Secondly, why do prices not fall in line with the cheapening of production in terms of labour time when circulated by this symbolic money. This article briefly addresses these two questions. Continue reading
-
Some notes on the world economy now
The IMF foresees a strong economic recovery. The assumption is that the virus can be controlled to such an extent that lockdowns and social distancing are no longer necessary. This is mainly due to the vaccination campaigns. Continue reading
-
G7 or failed colonial powers telling the world what to do
G7 are a bunch of western countries—the US, UK, France, Germany, Japan, Italy and Canada—who believe that they have the “civilizational” mandate to tell the world how it should be run Continue reading
-
South Africa: Blame for May Day’s bare whimper
May Day 2021 has come and gone, without much of a whimper, let alone a bang. And it is the novel coronavirus that is only marginally responsible. Because there would not have been much of a bang even without the pandemic. Continue reading
-
UK Crony Capitalism: It never stops
Good Law Project has uncovered remarkable evidence that a Tory Minister brought a former Chair of the Tory Party, a man who now runs a lobbying firm, into the heart of Government to work on the massive multi-billion PPE procurement process. Having got his feet under the table that former Chair lobbied to win PPE… Continue reading
-
Dr. Romeo F. Quijano [series]: Covid-19: Militarism & Big Money Trampling Humanity [Part 3]
12 May 2021 — Wrong Kind of Green By Romeo F. Quijano, M.D., Professor (Ret.), Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Medicine, University of the Philippines Manila Romeo F. Quijano, M.D. “The Covid-19 spectre, vaccine mania, deceptive remedial schemes and brutal, anti-people pandemic responses created by militarism and big money have shoved by the… Continue reading
-
Dr. Romeo F. Quijano [series]: Should We Take the Vaccine Against Covid-19 [Part 2]
“The credibility of the CDC, WHO, public health authorities and mainstream health professionals have been seriously eroded because of corporatization, conflicts of interests, dishonesty, corruption and misrepresentation. People have good reasons to be wary of vaccines. Too much reliance on vaccines to address infectious diseases is not congruent with the current body of scientific knowledge… Continue reading
-
Dr. Romeo F. Quijano [series]: Beware the Vaccine for Covid-19 [Part 1]
There seems to be a strong presumption that the ultimate answer to the Covid-19 pandemic is a vaccine. People are made to believe that a magical vaccine is in the offing and the world will be saved from the pandemic. Bill Gates and Big Pharma push hard to hasten vaccine development. The WHO and most… Continue reading
-
Identity politics is blind to property relations
A minority can only rule a majority using two conscious levers. To co-opt and corrupt the leadership and thinkers of the working class. To divide the working class. What is breath taking over the last thirty years is how this corruption and these divisions have fused together in the form of the pervasive ideology of… Continue reading
-
Marx on technology
The longest chapter in Capital is the fifteenth, on “Machinery and Large-Scale Industry.” At almost 150-pages, it’s really a book in itself, a staggeringly dense and expansive discussion that could easily standalone—not only as a brilliant exegesis of capitalist machinery, but also as a sweeping social history of technology. At its broadest reach, the chapter… Continue reading
The New Dark Age 