“The nationalists to be effective must harness the nation into action, into revolt.… The nation will stir itself to action only on assurance of nationalization. i.e.… Freedom from slavery of Imperialist—capitalists.” —Bhagat Singh
Subjects Archives: Ecology
Marxist Ecology, Environmental Science and Ecological Crisis
Why are people going hungry in India despite a massive grain surplus?
The peasants gathered on the Delhi border understand all these issues much more clearly than either Modi or the intelligentsia advocating a shift away from food grains. Ironically, it is the latter group who are suggesting that the peasants are ignoramuses!
We are living in an emergency that requires urgent action (a note written with Noam Chomsky)
The first newsletter of the new year is written in collaboration with our friend, the great linguist and prophetic voice, Noam Chomsky. What follows is a statement by Noam and me.
“Too late to be pessimist! Ecosocialism or collapse”
From the analysis of the struggle between the great powers for a lesser dependence on fossil fuels (which can shape their rivalries or push towards convergence between them), to the reminder of the need for every subject of oppression to develop its own ecological reflection. Daniel Tanuro gives us illuminating and pedagogical tools to confront […]
Capitalism and catastrophe
The 2020 crisis we’ve endured isn’t an aberration of the system but, as Alex Callinicos argues, an aspect of its permanent crisis.
Chomsky and Prashad: Three major threats to life on Earth that we must address in 2021
Large parts of the world—outside of China and a few other countries—face a runaway virus, which has not been stopped because of criminal incompetence by governments.
You don’t want to imagine an ocean without coral reefs—but you might have to
The reefs will die. That seems certain. The UNEP report will not circulate. That seems equally certain. The Marshall Islands and Rwanda will file their updates. That has already happened. Meanwhile, the United States and its allies will sit on the sidelines, expanding fracking with a “who cares” attitude.
The environment movement we have, and the one we need
The ecological crisis—the disasters of earth, water, air and fire that are afflicting the global environment and the human society that depends on it—is a crisis of capitalism’s making. Karl Marx famously described capital as coming into the world “dripping from head to foot, from every pore, with blood and dirt”.
More important than gold, water should not be traded on Wall Street
Water is essential for life, access to fresh water is a human right, and most importantly, water is sacred. Water is life.
The Global angle to the Farmer protests
The farmers’ movement for the repeal of the three farm laws which affect them closely but have been rammed through without consulting them, has now entered its second month.
As South African climate justice veterans fall, consciousness begins reviving, from below and across
On three days last week–December 23-25–South Africa’s east coast province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) lost three of its clearest voices for social justice and environmental sanity: rural women’s leader Sizani Ngubane (74), trade unionist Patrick Mkhize (60) and progressive activist Faith ka-Manzi (52).
These indigenous women are leading a land struggle against the wealthiest people in the U.S.
While the United States shudders in the shambles of another election year, whether from a collective sigh of relief or fear of what’s to come, a different system of governance blooms in a swath of woodlands jutting into the Atlantic Ocean.
How the fracking revolution is killing the U.S. oil and gas industry
After over a decade of the much-hyped U.S. fracking miracle, the U.S. oil and gas industry is having to deal with years of losses and falling asset values which has dealt the industry a serious financial blow. This is despite the fracking revolution delivering record oil and gas production for the past decade, peaking in 2019.
Engels’ struggle for a dialectical concept of nature
To prevent climate catastrophe, revolutionary decisions are needed based on a widespread understanding of the “dialectics of nature”, which Friedrich Engels, on his joint mission with Karl Marx, sought to explain.
Climate and environmental crisis: Sorcerer’s apprentices at the World Bank and the IMF
In December 2020, on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the signature of the Paris Agreement on Climate, the UN General Secretary sounded the alarm because the situation has fundamentally worsened. In this article we analyze what the World Bank and the IMF have done in connection with the environmental crisis and climate change.
Joe Biden wants racist servant of big business in charge of U.S. agriculture
President-elect Joe Biden’s recent nomination of Tom Vilsack to serve as the next Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is causing widespread outrage among food justice activists and Black farmers.
We can’t bank on climate action
Bank of England forced to deny taking basic climate actions after hoax from laughtervists, the Yes Men.
Secret Amazon reports expose the company’s surveillance of labor and environmental groups
Dozens of leaked documents from Amazon reveal the company’s use of Pinkerton operatives to spy on warehouse workers, labor unions and social movements.
UN climate report calls out global elite as cause of the crisis
The UN Emissions Gap Report released on Dec. 9, shows how far off the mark we are for averting complete climate catastrophe. Current global emissions reduction policies have us on track for 3.5 C warming by 2100, which would be catastrophic for life on Earth.
The planning and politics of conversion: World War II lessons for a Green New Deal—Part 1
This post highlights the successful government directed wartime reorientation of the U.S. economy from civilian to military production, an achievement that both demonstrates the feasibility of a rapid Green New Deal transformation of the U.S. economy and points to the kinds of organizational capacities we will need to develop.
