Irene Zugasti“War-Effort” is one of the most twisted pieces of wartime language which, though it has been a while since we have heard it used in Europe, has withstood the test of time It means, essentially, that the State can call on its people to make sacrifices and mobilise their resources—their bodies, time, work, and even their lives—in the name of victory and national interest. This concept is devious because effort is, in and of itself, a dangerous idea, pertaining as it often does to...
Steve Keen
(The only way to) Stop Wars and Save the World
David VineWhile millions have suffered due to Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, some have profited. Oil companies and major weapons manufacturers have been among those to benefit most. As the main suppliers of the Ukrainian military, the United States’ arms makers, in particular, have profited mightily. Beyond arms sent to Ukraine, U.S. weapons manufacturers and their allies in and around the U.S. Congress have taken advantage of the war to boost total U.S. military spending—having nothing to...
A Tale of Two Utopias: Musk and Bezos in Outer Space
Mary-Jane RubensteinI. Meet the astropreneurs I first realized something was up when Elon Musk launched a car into orbit. It was January of 2018 and SpaceX was looking to test its Falcon Heavy rocket, woo the U.S. military, and make sure everyone was watching. So rather than display the Falcon’s carrying capacity with, say, slabs of concrete or steel, Musk decided to strap a blazing red Tesla Roadster to its back. A perfectly good, even exquisite, car. One hundred thousand dollars’ worth of...
The future of human rights and overcoming anthropocentrism
Eduardo BarcesatIn our current climate, between the aftershocks of a pandemic that seems to have no end and a growing wave of militarism resurrecting dangerous ghosts from the past, the notion of humanity itself has become a topic of debate. Natural disasters are becoming more frequent and intense, resulting from global warming caused by extreme, extractivist and predatory policies that are upending the natural harmony between living creatures and their environment. All of this serves as the...
Beyond the “Interregnum”: Is a Non-Hegemonic World Possible?
Ramzy Baroud | Romana RubeoThe letter “Z”, which has been linked to the Russian war in Ukraine, has morphed to represent something bigger than a mere military symbol. Many people, especially in the Global South, are proudly donning this letter on their clothes and other accessories. The phenomenon has been reported in the Middle East and South America, as well as other countries. [1][1] Al Mayadeen, “Venezuela stands in solidarity with Russia”, April 3, 2022,...
A new political imagination: creating realistic utopias (part II)
Patricio Cabello | Andrés LomeñaEvery day new challenges arise and grow in severity against the backdrop of a globalised world: war, inflation and supply chain crises are new flare-ups in a system that has failed at its core. If anything ties all these events together it is the complex relationship between the kind of energy needed to survive and the kind of energy that threatens to destroy the planet. For political economics professor Helen Thompson, the root of our precarious and...
The power of dissident solidarity in the rise of ultraliberal authoritarianism
Jean Wyllys | Judith ButlerOver the last decade we have witnessed a global resurgence of authoritarianism and the far right. The rise of Trumpism in the United States, Bolsonarism in Brazil, as well as Orbanism in Hungary and the consolidation of Putin’s power in Russia all show that the period of liberal politics following the fall of the Berlin Wall is drawing to a close. This period has brought with it two significant cultural transformations. On the one hand, there has been a growing and...
Medieval imaginary and Black Death: pandemic, medicine and religion
Mariano Gómez ArandaThe current pandemic will have a direct effect on how we view and think about politics for years to come. It seems difficult to predict exactly how, but if we look back at the medieval Black Death, one of the largest pandemic humanity has experienced to date, it may impart some points of comparison and help us to reflect on how exactly our collective trauma from this experience may unfold. Throughout history, humanity has experienced many pandemics like coronavirus. The...
Imagination and Action: Movements between Immanence and Transcendence
Romualdo DiasDreaming of the impossible to achieve what is possible. Embodying the connections between actions and dreams as different instances overlap with each other. Taking action and dreaming are both needed to forge our way through the world and take our place in history. In the dynamics of dreamspace, meaning is produced by our power to navigate different areas of reality, as well as our ability to stand up to the obstacles presented by reality. When we become involved in transformative...
Cultural mediation for social change in pandemic times
Sofía Coca“Navigating a communal geography differs from reading a text, purchasing a commodity, or from the self-consciousness of social media. You navigate a material place in the time of your body, rather than emitting dispatches into a dematerialized zone of no context. You are public, but not displayed, surveilled, and archived. You relate to others spontaneously, without any obligation to perform or expose yourself. Your self can stretch to its full social mobility, rather than indexing...