Capitalism
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1% own 45% of the world’s personal wealth while nearly 3bn people have little or no wealth at all
Just 56m or 1% of adults out of 5.3bn globally are millionaires in net wealth terms. And they own 45% of all global personal wealth. The other 99% own the rest and there are nearly 3bn people in the world that have little or no wealth at all (after debts are deducted). Continue reading
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On Paul Kingsnorth and Unruly Nature
7 May 2021 — MROnline by Anthony Galluzzo In a 2010 essay entitled “Confessions of a Recovering Environmentalist,” the English émigré environmental writer Paul Kingsnorth recounts his journey into and out of the environmental movement. The essay appeared in the inaugural issue of Dark Mountain, the journal attached to the Dark Mountain group—inaugurated by Kingsnorth… Continue reading
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The Double Deformation
Economic exploitation is only one aspect of capitalism. The crisis of humanity and the crisis of the earth system are inseparable Continue reading
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Solidarity with Resistance to Extraction
People the world over are opposing fossil fuel extraction in an incalculable number of ways. It is now clear that burning fossil fuels threatens millions of Life forms and could be laying the foundation for the extermination of Humanity. But what about “alternative” energy? As progressives stand shoulder-to-shoulder with those rejecting fossil fuels and nuclear… Continue reading
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Profits call the tune
I have argued in many posts that ‘profits call the tune’ in capitalist accumulation. What I mean by that is that any change in business profits (and profitability) will lead to changes in business investment – and not vice versa over time. Continue reading
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Inequality & tax dodging. Heaven for the rich, hell for the poor
11 June 2021 — theplanningmotivedotcom Hell has been described in a number of ways. It takes place after death and is reserved for non-believers or those who disobey “our” religious instruction. There are at least 20,000 Christian churches and sects who all claim they are the true followers of Jesus. Tens of thousands of different… Continue reading
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‘Net zero’ emissions is a dangerous hoax
A new report published Wednesday by a trio of progressive advocacy groups lifts the veil on so-called “net zero” climate pledges, which are often touted by corporations and governments as solutions to the climate emergency, but which the paper’s authors argue are merely a dangerous form of greenwashing that should be eschewed in favor of Real… Continue reading
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UK Crony Capitalism: We Won!
Michael Gove broke the law by giving a contract to a communications agency run by long time associates of him and Dominic Cummings, the High Court has decided. Continue reading
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Everyday Life and the Ecological Crisis of Capitalism
When it was first published in German in 2017, Ulrich Brand’s and Markus Wissen’s book The Imperial Mode of Living attracted widespread attention and was discussed in mainstream media, while, at the same time, fueling an intense debate within the German academic left. The multiple reactions were not by chance; they were the result of… Continue reading
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Ecosocialist Alliance Statement on G7 Meeting
Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US (and the EU) have a great part of the immense wealth of the richest countries in the world in 2021. This wealth is more than sufficient to provide for the needs for food, water, health, housing and education of the global population. Continue reading
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“Viruses of Mass Destruction”
The war of words between China and the USA took a turn for the worst, when the neo-con loaded Biden Administration tasked the CIA with the verification of the origins of the Covid virus by insinuating it could have escaped from a Chinese laboratory where it had been modified. This is not a question of… Continue reading
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Old Normal vs New: From 1980s Neoliberalism to the ‘Great Reset’
Sold under the pretence of a quest for optimising well-being and ‘happiness’, capitalism thrives on the exploitation of peoples and the environment. What really matters is the strive to maintain viable profit margins. Continue reading
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UK gene editing public consultation announcement expected mid-June
This month the UK government is expected to follow through on Boris Johnson’s promise to “liberate the UK’s extraordinary bioscience sector from anti–genetic modification rules” by removing safety checks and (probably) GMO labelling and traceability from some crops and livestock made with experimental new genetic engineering techniques. It comes after a public consultation that… Continue reading
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Four competing views on how to save the Earth
You could be forgiven for thinking that the only book on climate change published recently is Bill Gates’ self-serving How to Avoid a Climate Disaster. Gates’ book is a political intervention into the debates around climate change. He and his class get nervous when thousands of young people demand system change on mass protests. Instead,… Continue reading
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Anti-Anti-Imperialism: Gilbert Achcar’s Leftist Imperialism with Caveats
Behind Achcar’s leftish rhetoric is a flawed belief that somehow the imperialist actions of the U.S. and its allies may be truly humanitarian. Academic Gilbert Achcar, in an article appearing originally in The Nation and picked up by New Politics, proves by his own example that what he calls “progressive democratic anti-imperialists” are not progressive.… Continue reading
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
The New Dark Age 