Kohei Saito’s book Capital in the Anthropocene has become an unlikely hit among young people and is about to be translated into English
he climate crisis will spiral out of control unless the world applies “emergency brakes” to capitalism and devises a “new way of living”, according to a Japanese academic whose book on Marxism and the environment has become a surprise bestseller.
A hard-nosed look at our choice of futures. Lots of fact and lots of feeling! Great new (relatively) publication based in Winnipeg!
-- Gene McGuckin
Jun 29, 2022
I.
What could plenty mean, in a finite planet?
Traditionally, socialist utopias envisioned a society based on a superabundance of essential goods which could be treated as though they were free. Thus, markets would be eroded, and the compulsion of work would be reduced.
Kohei Saito has improbably managed to write a Marxist bestseller in Japan, one of capitalism’s bastions. His Hitoshinsei no Shihonron [Capital in the Anthropocene] has sold almost half a million copies since its publication in September 2020. It has won numerous prizes and has been discussed extensively in Japanese media. As a result, Saito has gone from being a relatively obscure academic to becoming something of a Marxist superstar in Japan.
The 51-year-old agency has been losing both power and credibility over recent decades, and SCOTUS’s recent ruling undermines it even more.
West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency completes a trifecta of long-sought court victories for the right. What New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v Bruen did to gun control and Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization to reproductive rights, West Virginia v EPA has done to climate.
Editor: One left group's point of view on the war in Ukraine.
May 24, 2022
1. State of the war
. Today, three months have passed since the invasion of Ukraine by Putin’s troops. The Russian army has occupied parts of the territory, particularly in the East and South of the country, while suffering a serious defeat in the region of Kiev.