anti capitalist musings

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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.

Neil Faulkner: The Historian as Revolutionary

I knew the late Neil Faulkner, and I have always meant to review his last book; he was a storyteller, a fighter, and one of the great Marxist historians, someone who could hold a room and remind you that history is not past but struggle.

Front cover of Cybernetic Circulation Complex: Big Tech and Planetary Crisis by Nick Dyer-Witheford and Alessandra Mularoni

The DOGE Days Are Here

Nick Dyer-Witheford and Alessandra Mularoni’s Cybernetic Circulation Complex: Big Tech and Planetary Crisis, recently published by Verso, is more than a critique, it’s an intellectual war machine. They chart how the CCC has reshaped the global economy, from Amazon’s AI-driven logistics empire to the speculative bubbles propping up Tesla and Google. They expose how Big Tech’s far-right accelerationists, from Andreessen to Thiel, are using crisis to rewire the state itself. The choice, they argue, is stark: biocommunism or extinction.

Dystopian global war.

A Critique of “A Global War Regime”

Michael Hardt and Sandro Mezzadra’s article “A Global War Regime” examines the interplay between militarisation and capitalist structures, yet, from a Marxist perspective, it overlooks crucial aspects like class struggle, the state’s role, and the ideological mechanisms underpinning militarisation.

"fighting for rights in the gig economy" by davide.alberani is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/?ref=openverse.

Reclaiming the Language of Class

Simon Pearson argues that Marxists must revive class-based language and analysis of capitalism’s exploitation to connect today’s diverse struggles against inequality and build mass working class power.

Statue of Karl Marx

Redeeming Marx’s “Jewish Question”?

Karl Marx’s controversial 1844 essay “On the Jewish Question” has sparked heated debate over whether it reflects antisemitism or offers insights into capitalism’s exploitative nature. This essay examines Marx’s inflammatory rhetoric and problematic stereotypes while also considering the enduring relevance of his critique of commodification and alienation.

The Capitalist Roots of the Climate Crisis: The Imperative for System Change

With the climate crisis intensifying, net zero emissions by 2050 has emerged as a key policy goal to limit global warming, but its feasibility and fairness are contested across the political spectrum. This post argues for ambitious climate action to reach net zero, situating the debate within broader capitalist critiques and speculative futures.

A portrait of Karl Marx as if painted by Roy Lichtenstein

Althusser’s Theory of History Today

In this post, I look at Althusser’s theory of history, why it’s still important and how it can help us understand the complicated social structures of today. By looking at modern examples like the rise of tech giants, the debate over climate change, and the rise of populism, we can see how Althusser’s ideas still give us important insights into how economic, political, and ideological forces work together to shape our world.