Legendary Cuban revolutionary and former president Fidel Castro passed away on November 25 aged 90 (having survived hundreds of failed CIA assassination attempts). An internationalist dedicated to a fairer and sustainable planet, Castro long warned that capitalism was threatening to destroy human civlisation through ecological destruction, with the poor of the global South its first victims.
Ian Angus and John Riddell argue that using the Leap Manifesto as the basis for building a new socialist movement in Canada must include confronting the climate crisis and the power of Big Oil.
It is my contention that we are not facing the root cause of our problems, and until we do, there is no hope of solving the social and ecological problems confronting the world....the primary problem is the inner moving force of capitalism—its Achilles heel regarding the environment—the unending accumulation of capital, which means perpetual “creative destruction.”
Often the best way to begin to understand something is to consider what it is not. Socialism for the twenty-first century is not a society in which people sell their ability to work and are directed from above by others whose goal is profits rather than the satisfaction of human needs. It is not a society where the owners of the means of production benefit by dividing workers and communities in order to drive down wages and intensify work—i.e., gain by increasing exploitation. Socialism for the twenty-first century, in short, is not capitalism.
[Editor: While the authors choose, rather confusingly in our opinion, to use the term Green Social Democracy they are talking about something very similar to what we mean by Ecosocialism.]
We'd like to introduce to you a new working paper that we prepared as an invited contribution to the “After Fossil Fuels: The New Economy” conference taking place in Oberlin, Ohio from October 6-8, 2016.
Mobility and class are deeply entangled. Not only because one's potential for mobility often has to do with one's economic position, but also because a society built on today's mobility paradigm – automobility – directly contributes to growing economic and social differences.
The authors of this book have very little to say about the Anthropocene, the crisis of the Earth System, or the new global epoch, and most of what they do say is misleading or wrong.
I submitted my review of Anthropocene or Capitalocene?” to International Socialist Review in July, but publication was unavoidably delayed until now. These are some thoughts I had after I submitted my manuscript. There’s a link to my review at the end.
[Editors: to see Angus' slides check out the video of his talk in Australia here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJMjvZaNDJA But don't miss the interesting questions and answers at the end of the Canadian launch.]
Published on Sep 19, 2016
Ian Angus speaks at the Canadian launch of his new book @ SFU Woodward's on September 15th.
Human activity has transformed the Earth, accelerating climate change in just a few decades. Author Ian Angus talks to Socialist Review about facing up to the new reality.
Can you explain the concept of the Anthropocene and its importance for understanding the current climate crisis?
