anti capitalist musings

The rest of the blog

Malcolm X graphic

The Many Lives of Malcolm X

Malcolm X was not just a man but an ongoing process. A revolutionary for us all—even children—his journey from rage to clarity shows how radical truth is learned, lived, and handed down.

Kill Zone Realism, Ideology on Mute

Warfare looks and sounds like war, but says nothing about it. Iraqis are reduced to bullet magnets, the mission is never named, and behind the realism lies a vacuum: of politics, of purpose, of meaning.

England, Unrecognisable

Nicolas Padamsee’s autofictional state-of-the-nation novel confronts the vacuum left behind by liberalism’s collapse. David Peace gave us the ghosts; Padamsee gives us the afterparty, the silence, the scroll.

The screws tighten written in white on blue background

The Screws Tighten

Capitalism hasn’t repented by bringing the jobs back; it’s rearmed, turning screws at home under the banner of patriotic sacrifice.

Snip of the Wired article

A Nation of Private Cities

The push for “freedom cities” in the US is the logical endpoint of a tech oligarchy determined to replace democracy with a network of private, corporate-run enclaves where the wealthy rule and the rest are left behind.

(9P78-1 TEL of 9K720 Iskander-M SRBM system with 9M723K5 missiles

The Defence Question

In a world where Trump’s transactional imperialism jeopardises peace, NATO’s legitimacy is in crisis, and Britain’s dominant class chooses arms over welfare, can workers forge a genuine alternative? This article explores why confronting militarism demands international solidarity and socialist transformation.

Review of ‘Reclaiming the Future: A Beginner’s Guide to Planning the Economy’ by Simon Hannah

Simon Hannah’s Reclaiming the Future: A Beginner’s Guide to Planning the Economy is a searing indictment of capitalism’s failures and a powerful call for a democratically planned socialist future. In an era of crisis, this book is essential reading for anyone who refuses to accept that the chaos of the market is the best we can hope for. As capitalist crisis deepens, bringing with it ecological catastrophe, resurgent reactionary politics, and growing inequality, Simon lays out an uncompromising case for a planned economy as the only viable alternative. This is not a work of dry economism or abstract theory; it is a call to arms, a rallying cry against capitalist realism and its false sense of inevitability.

Donald Trump wearing a "Make America Great Again" cap during his 2016 presidential campaign

Tariffs, Tyranny, and Tech

Trump’s tariff war is not about economic nationalism, it’s a desperate attempt to prop up a failing system through class warfare, digital authoritarianism, and mass repression. As capitalism stumbles deeper into crisis, the dominant class turns to protectionism, billionaire governance, and algorithmic control to maintain its grip, ensuring that workers, migrants, and the global precariat bear the cost.

Memorex Mini-Disc

Choice

Choice is meant to liberate us, but what if it does the opposite? In the shift from physical to digital media, the promise of having everything at our fingertips has eroded the way we engage with culture itself.

The Inevitable Decline

As the American empire stumbles towards decline, Mark Fisher’s analysis of capitalist realism, the slow cancellation of the future, where crisis is managed rather than solved, finds its ultimate expression in Trumpism, the rise of the billionaire tech elite, and the ruling class’s increasing reliance on authoritarianism and reactionary culture wars to sustain its grip. This article traces the roots of US decline back to the 1970s, when Nixon and Reagan dismantled the post-war social contract, paving the way for financial speculation, deindustrialisation, and the monopolisation of power by tech oligarchs, before examining how today’s political and economic landscape is setting the stage for fascism.

doge.gov home page as it appeared in early February 2025

Algorithmic Authoritarianism

The age of algorithmic authoritarianism is here: governance has been outsourced to billionaire-controlled social media and AI systems that manipulate reality, suppress dissent, and enforce ideological obedience through predictive algorithms and digital surveillance.