Drowning Capitalism

How could a system emerge that ends capitalism? If that is at all possible, what would it take, and what might that system look like?” Jason W. Moore, David Whyte, Sandro Mezzadra & Brett Neilson responded with three essays offering a decisive and detailed analysis of capitalism, clearing the path for what to do next.

Contents

Sjoerd van Tuinen and Ryan Kopaitich: Drowning Capitalism: Introductory Notes on Capitalism in Transition
David Whyte: How to Defeat the Monster
Jason W. Moore: Cultures of Fear, Ecologies of Hope
Sandro Mezzadra and Brett Neilson: Rethinking Transition in the Multiple Times of the Present

From the introduction:

‘After years of stagnation, global capitalism now presents us with a reality that is catching up with the impasses of the imagination. Free markets and liberal democracy are not the last words of history. Ours is a world defined by declining growth, ecological devastation, oligarchic rule, wars over attention and natural resources, institutional corruption, international anarchy, and genocides – the creation of wastelands. If, for a long time, it was easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism, as Fredric Jameson once quipped, the social disorder that lies ahead for lack of alternatives is now palpable.’

‘What remains is not simply to fight against the ongoing degradations the capitalist system imposes, although this is of utmost significance. It is also incumbent on the political or social thinker to capture and articulate practical anti-capitalist possibilities, stripping them of their latency and invigorating a more revolutionary sense of transition.’

‘It is only in a true ‘world politics’ that a transition from capital can be taken seriously, since the overcoming of national constraints is obligatory to any project that seeks the eradication of private property. As there is no one clean break to be accomplished, any transition beyond capital must occur in the wholesale reimagining of relations – from international to interpersonal – in order to come to terms with the heterogeneity and multipolarity of world politics.’