Capitalism

‘Capitalism, colonialism, and ecological devastation are all cause and effect of each other, and they coevolved together.’ Capitalism is the virus. I present this as both a literal and metaphorical statement. My aim is to supplant the “humans are the virus” claim. Let’s begin then with a very brief… »

Prof. Vandana Shiva | Navdanya International– Message for World Environment Day, 5th June 2020   On 31st May, while people were dying during the Corona Pandemic, while millions had lost their livelihoods and were going hungry during the “lockdown”, while millions were marching in city after city in… »

Brendan Montague The environmental campaigner and journalist argues we need to abandon capitalism as we recover from coronavirus and establish a new economy of private sufficiency and public luxury. The environmental journalist and campaigner George Monbiot has called for a complete transformation of the global economy away from capitalism towards… »

Now is the moment to transition away from an economic system that thrives on exploitation. The Covid-19 pandemic is tearing the neoliberal playbook apart as politicians and citizens realise that, in times of pandemic, markets won’t save the day. The privatisation-deregulation-austerity recipe is becoming obsolete, leaving ways for a diversity of interventionist… »

By Richard D. Wolff The desperate policies of panic-driven governments involve throwing huge amounts of money at the economies collapsed in response to the coronavirus threat. Monetary authorities create money and lend it at extremely low interest rates to the major corporations and especially big banks “to get them through… »

There is much debate about what the world will be like after the pandemic, and we really don’t even know when that will be. It may be that in some countries contagion will peak in a few weeks and then decline, but simultaneously contagion may advance in other nations. We… »

Nick Hanauer is a rich guy, an unrepentant capitalist — and he has something to say to his fellow plutocrats: Wake up! Growing inequality is about to push our societies into conditions resembling pre-revolutionary France. Hear his argument about why a dramatic increase in minimum wage could grow the middle… »

At the International Social Forum organised by the UK Labour Party on the 13th and 14th of July 2019 a host of international speakers attended to give talks on subjects from global economics, climate crisis, global finance and accountability, movement of people and trade protectionism.  We publish here the transcript… »

At an international conference in New York City, a new group of scholars is studying alternatives to capitalism. Lara Monticelli  & Torsten Geelan for openDemocracy (image by Liz MC, CC by 2.0) In an historical moment when governments and citizens around the world are called on to take… »

The economic system is incompatible with the survival of life on Earth. It is time to design a new one By George Monbiot  for The Guardian For most of my adult life I’ve railed against “corporate capitalism”, “consumer capitalism” and “crony capitalism”. It took me a long time… »