Unearthing The Capitalocene: Towards A Reparations Ecology



Dear Friend,


Jason W. Moore & Raj Patel coins  digs into the "Capitalocene" and suggests some solutions. They write, we argue that what changed is capitalism, that modern history has, since the 1400s, unfolded in what is better termed the Capitalocene. Using this name means taking capitalism seriously, understanding it not just as an economic system but as a way of organizing the relations between humans and the rest of nature. There is hope in world-ecology. To recognize the webs of life-making on which capitalism depends is also to find new conceptual tools with which to face the Capitalocene. As justice movements develop strategies for confronting planetary crisis — and alternatives to our present way of organizing nature — we need to think about the creative and expanded reproduction of democratic forms of life.

Peer Møller Christensen writes about chinese politics after the 19th Party Congress.

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It has been said that what is required in dealing with the Trump administration is less an army of diplomats than keen and attentive psychiatrists.  Those psychiatrists would have had dreams of splendour contemplating how a statement about having access to a nuclear button could quite become this.




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The 19th party congress thus further strengthened Xi Jinping’s position and gave him the opportunity to remain in office as secretary general after the next and perhaps more following party congresses. In addition, the leading position of the communist party has been cemented, especially in relation to state institutions, central as well as local, and neoconservatism is about to become the dominant ideology of the Chinese leadership, although Marxism will continue to be part of official ritual liturgy.




Unearthing The Capitalocene: Towards A Reparations Ecology
Co-Written by Jason W. Moore & Raj Patel


We argue that what changed is capitalism, that modern history has, since the 1400s, unfolded in what is better termed the Capitalocene. Using this name means taking capitalism seriously, understanding it not just as an economic system but as a way of organizing the relations between humans and the rest of nature. There is hope in world-ecology. To recognize the webs of life-making on which capitalism depends is also to find new conceptual tools with which to face the Capitalocene. As justice movements develop strategies for confronting planetary crisis — and alternatives to our present way of organizing nature — we need to think about the creative and expanded reproduction of democratic forms of life.




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To Honor Albert Camus On The Day He Died: January 4, 1960
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Whatever the cause of Albert Camus’ death, however, it is clear that we could use his voice today.  I believe we should honor and remember him on this day that he died, for as an artist of his time, an artist for our time and all time, he tried to serve both beauty and suffering, to defend the innocent in this murderous world. 




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Whether we are aware of it or not, we stand to witness now what will be history tomorrow. A history that will do its provenance proud, in fact, leaving it a lot more glorious. Even the xenophobic right who asked for this new chapter in the first place, are left with no ‘foreign conspiracy’ theory to tout. For ‘Bhima Koregaon II’ is being scripted entirely for, of, and by the Dalits of an independent India.




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In my own engagement with rural projects, I saw villages that enjoyed a dramatic increase in crop yield and incomes after agricultural scientists advised farmers on watershed techniques—a fancy term for digging ditches so good that soil is not washed away. While it will not solve India’s deep-rooted agriculture problems, better information can significantly boost food production and rural incomes. We now have the techniques and resources to get rid of poverty. The real question is whether we have the will








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