Just to share two separate-but-related-feeling recent essays analysing the "big picture" in terms of capital's crisis, possible solutions, the contradictions of global neoliberal capitalism vs the new wave of nationalist populism, the danger of revolutionaries getting caught up in popular fronts with the centre, and all that fun stuff. Would be good to add both to the library at some point, but they're long so it'd be fiddly, so just posting these links for now. Neither are five-minute hot takes, both worth taking your time over imo.
"In this in-depth analysis, Peter Gelderloos explores the technological and geopolitical changes that movements for liberation will face over the next several decades. How will those who hold power today attempt to weather the economic and political crises ahead? Will artificial intelligence and bioeconomics save capitalism? What’s more dangerous—governments refusing to address climate change, or the technocratic solutions they will propose? Will we see the rise of fascism, or the regeneration of democracy? If we study the challenges that capitalism and the state will confront, we can prepare to make the most of them to put forward another way of life."
New Stuff From An Old Guy - parts 1, 2, and 3 (Don Hamerquist)
"In this essay, Hamerquist addresses the conflict between transnational capitalism and populist nationalist movements, conceptions of fascism, and some pitfalls facing the radical left. The essay is divided into three parts.
Part 1 argues that the transnational section of the capitalist ruling class is looking for a new basis of stability. Transnational capitalism is still recovering from the 2008 economic crisis and faces widespread populist oppositional movements (left-wing and right-wing), which are fueled by neoliberalism’s massive increases in inequality and other problems. In this context, restabilization requires transnational capitalists to seek a “renewed foundation of mass legitimacy and popular acquiescence.”
Part 2 critiques various leftist responses to the current situation. In particular, Hamerquist criticizes a widespread leftist tendency to see fascism, right-wing populist movements, and capitalist interests as all aligned together. Often this implies a division of capital into “good” and “bad” sectors (or “authoritarian” versus “democratic”). He argues instead that transnational capitalists are “strategically hostile” to both left-wing and right-wing populisms, that all of capitalism (including its more liberal elements) tends toward repression, and that fascism is best understood as “an array of emerging reactionary anti-capitalisms” – a right-wing revolutionary tendency that is real but distinct from “reformist” right-wing populisms.
Part 3 argues that transnational capitalists are manipulating anti-fascism to help them build a new mass legitimacy. Hamerquist posits a new popular front that conflates right-wing nationalist populist movements with fascism, and that corrals leftists into supporting capitalism in the name of defending “democracy.” If leftists go along with this and fail to offer a radical anti-capitalist response to the real grievances that are fueling populism, they will help restabilize transnational capitalism and may help push right-wing populist movements into genuinely fascist politics."
Those look interesting,
Those look interesting, cheers
Quote: "Will we see the rise
I really hate to say it, but I'm anticipating a rise of fascism, as global warming creates waves of refugees that make the current refugee crisis seem like a trickle.
Of course, such a crisis could also be met with solidarity... but I feel pessimistic about that. :(
This seems plausible.
Some kind-of-related
Some kind-of-related follow-up:
Trump’s shaky capitalist support: Business conflict and the 2016 election
Trump’s election and capitalist power – an exchange