Archive | November, 2021

Has COP26, which has wound up in Glasgow after two weeks of political showboating and grassroots protest, been a failure?

Tracing the rise and the politics of asset manager capitalism.

Marx and Engels were witnesses to and keen analysts of the environmental problems inherent in nineteenth-century capitalism. They wrote about the depletion of coal reserves, the destruction of forests, and, especially, about diminishing soil fertility, which Foster recognizes was the most pressing issue of the day.

The U.S., EU, and OAS are launching a new coup attempt against Nicaragua’s Sandinista government, refusing to recognize its 2021 elections. The Grayzone observed the vote on the ground, and dispels myths aimed at discrediting the process.

Nicaragua has been a target of U.S. aggressions since the 1850s. The Biden administration’s attack on the newly elected government is the latest chapter in a long and sordid history. Eyewitness accounts of the electoral process reveal the manipulations and lies concocted by the U.S. and its corporate media partners in this latest regime change effort.

This session is a discussion of the Deutscher Prize Winning Book 2020 ‘The Return of the Dialectics of Nature: Marxian Ecology and the Struggle for Freedom as Necessity’ – John Bellamy Foster

The Canadian military seem willing, even eager, to work with neo-Nazis in the Ukraine in order to weaken Russia, something the U.S., NATO and Ukrainian–Canadian groups support.

Nothing useful seemed to emerge from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at COP26 this week. The leaders of developed countries made tired speeches about their commitment to reversing the climate catastrophe.

Intellectual property, industrial organization, and economic growth.

The most powerful private financial interests in the world, under the cover of COP26, have developed a plan to transform the global financial system by fusing with institutions like the World Bank and using them to further erode national sovereignty in the developing world.

The Vietnam War (1955-1975) is known to the Vietnamese as the “American War,” or the “War Against the Americans to Save the Nation.”

Why do Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela pose such an existential threat to the U.S.? The promise of socialism and their resistance to U.S. class warfare.

Sekhar Kammula’s new film deftly highlights the contradictions of living in neo-liberal India.

Wall Street investors have hit the jackpot. Soon they’ll be able to buy, own, and dictate The Commons, public lands, the world of Mother Nature.

Addressing global warming requires cutting carbon emissions by almost half by 2030! For the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, emissions must fall by 45% below 2010 levels by 2030 to limit warming to 1.5°C, instead of the 2.7°C now expected.

On Monday, the results of the election were announced: the FSLN won by a landslide with 75.92% of the vote. Voter turnout was 65.23% of all eligible voters, higher than in the last U.S. election where voter turnout is measured by registered, not eligible voters.

John Bellamy Foster – Deutscher Memorial Lecture

It’s been a rough time for German media giant Axel Springer. The company ousted the top editor at Bild, one of its most influential right-wing newspapers, over sexual harassment charges (New York Times, 10/18/21).

The popularity of “build back better” as a slogan reflects that no-one in their right mind would be overly enthused by the idea of “building back the same”.

Leaders at the COP26 summit have no intention of tackling the growing environmental impacts caused by their ‘defence’ spending.