Capitalism
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Capitalism: The fantasy world continues
The fantasy world continues. In the US and Europe, stock market index levels are hitting new all-time highs. Bond prices are also near all-time highs. Investment in both stocks and bonds are delivering massive profits for the financial institutions and companies. Conversely, in the ‘real’ economy, particularly in the productive sectors of industry and transport, the… Continue reading
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A system that steals from our future
A major report on human health in the Anthropocene, published in the British medical journal The Lancet, begins by noting an apparent paradox, that global human health has been improving even while environmental destruction is undermining it. The explanation, the authors say, is “straightforward and sobering.” Continue reading
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Green Strategy: To beat climate change, humanity needs socialism
Humans may not survive. Reports from the UN’s Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change provoke images of land masses drowning, fleeing populations, starvation, terrible droughts, terrible storms, migrating diseases, new deserts, and intolerable heat. It’s an “ecological Armageddon,” says one expert. We hear about “the sixth extinction,” the geologic epoch that is our own. It’s called the “Anthropocene.” The… Continue reading
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Hunger Games: Food Abundance and Twisted Truths
The world already produces enough food to feed 10 billion people but over two billion are experiencing micronutrient deficiencies (of which 821 million were classed as chronically undernourished in 2018). However, supporters of genetic engineering (GE) crops continually push the narrative that GE technology is required if we are to feed the world and properly support farmers. Continue reading
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UK: Labour’s economic policy: the challenge ahead
Whatever government is formed in the UK after the 12 December election, it faces an immense challenge. The British economy is in a mess and its society is riven with division. Continue reading
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Europe’s Economy Today & Tomorrow, Part 2: Artificial Intelligence, Uberization, & Capitalist ‘Sharing Economy’ Ideology
The Wall St. Journal page one article of November 18, 2019 broadcast: “Europe’s New Jobs Stoke Discontent”. It asked: ‘why are workers so angry’, when millions more jobs have been created since Europe’s last recessions (2008-09 and 2011-13), when millions more job openings remain, and when minimum wages have been raised in most countries’? Continue reading
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Lawyers launch $500M class-action lawsuit against Roundup makers
Darryl Singer, the head of commercial and civil litigation at Diamond & Diamond, said the plaintiffs involved in this class-action lawsuit are looking not only for financial compensation, but also what he calls “behaviour modification” so that the same thing doesn’t happen again in the future with other products in Canada. Continue reading
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Capitalism’s suicidal trajectory can’t be ignored
If we make it out of the climate emergency, we may come to view the few decades usually described simply as the Cold War that followed the Second World War as halcyon days – at least relative to what we are facing now. Continue reading
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Capitalism versus Life on Earth
Environmental destruction isn’t driven by human nature or mistaken ideas. It is an inevitable consequence of a system built on capital accumulation. Continue reading
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Challenges of Internationalism, Solidarity and Integration of Peoples
Thank you Programme Director. May I take this opportunity to thank the International Secretariat for creating this space for us. I see this space as an instrument full of possibilities and hope for a better world, a world that we want and for which we are all prepared to fight. May I also thank all… Continue reading
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Roger and me – a socialist view on Extinction Rebellion
Around 7am on the fourth day of Extinction Rebellion’s (XR) “Spring Rebellion” in Melbourne in early October the clouds to the east cleared enough for the first bright rays of sun to penetrate through to a city centre still shrouded in a cold, misty rain. A dazzling rainbow appeared above the skyline – arching over… Continue reading
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Ecosocialist Bookshelf, November 2019
4 November 2019 — Climate & Capitalism The red and green shelf is overflowing! Nine important new books address topics ranging from ecosocialism and rising seas to trees, growth and global poverty. Ecosocialist Bookshelf is an occasional feature. We can’t review every book we receive, but we will list and link to any that seem relevant… Continue reading
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Dammed Good Question about the Green New Deal
Hydroelectric power from dams might be the thorniest question that proponents of the Green New Deal (GND) have to grapple with. Providing more energy than solar and wind combined, dams could well become the backup for energy if it proves impossible to get off of fossil fuels fast enough. Continue reading
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GLYPHOSATE: DESTRUCTOR OF HUMAN HEALTH AND BIODIVERSITY
An increase in the incidence of Type 2 diabetes, obesity and autism has been reported in Scotland. Similar increases have been seen globally. The herbicide glyphosate was introduced in 1974 and its use is accelerating. The manufacturers claim it to be safe, but none of the Regulatory Agencies are monitoring glyphosate levels in groundwater. Continue reading
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WATCH: Banking Nature How the Financial Elite are Commodifying “Conservation”
This film explores the truly insane & disturbing world of ‘nature commodification’ in all its warped dystopian horror. Continue reading
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The Incredible Shrinking Overton Window by Caitlin Johnstone
The plutocrat-owned narrative managers of the political/media class work constantly to shrink the Overton window, the spectrum of debate that is considered socially acceptable. They do this by framing more and more debates in terms of how the oligarchic empire should be sustained and supported, steering them away from debates about whether that empire should be permitted to exist at… Continue reading
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Limits: Why Malthus Was Wrong and Why Environmentalists Should Care
This short, readable and stimulating book begins with the author overturning perceived knowledge about the 18th century economist Robert Malthus. Malthus is best know for his extended work An Essay on the Principle of Population, an influential book that has rarely been read by those who claim to extend his ideas. Giorgos Kallis argues that… Continue reading
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XR: A Socialist perspective
With Extinction Rebellion growing rapidly across the world in the fight against climate change, John Molyneux gives his perspective on how socialists should respond to this phenomenon. Continue reading
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Here’s How Much Worse Things Will Get If Capitalism Isn’t Overthrown
In his novel The Man in the High Castle, which depicts a Nazi-dominated world, Philip K. Dick describes a dynamic where the Reich, despite holding enormous power, makes itself progressively more volatile and reactive. At one point in the book, a character observes that “most high-placed Nazis are refusing to face facts vis-a-vis their economic plight.… Continue reading
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“Let Them Eat Cotton” : Genetically Modified Cotton as a “Solution to Human Hunger”? Approved by FDA
US Government regulators have approved a genetically modified cotton variety as a “potential solution to human hunger.” The radical decision is to permit consumption by humans, in addition to animals, of seeds of a GMO cotton developed at Texas A&M University, with no independent long-term testing. It opens grave new concerns about the safety of… Continue reading
The New Dark Age 