For anyone concerned with the fate of the planet (Capitalism in the Anthropocene reviewed in ‘International Affairs’)
…Foster believes that only a fundamental change in the logic of value addition can completely heal the metabolic rift…. | more…
Hierarchies leveled by solidarity around a shared hatred of fascism (International Brigade Memorial Trust on !Brigadistas!)
May 03, 2023
The simplicity of the story, as well as the excellent historical summary provided in Fraser Ottanelli’s foreword, also make it a useful, accessible introduction to the International Brigades. There is, as the afterword by Paul Buhle suggests, something inherently comic-book-worthy about the anti-fascists who volunteered for Spain. Theirs is a story of ordinary – not invincible – people pushed into performing heroic and terrifying feats of bravery for no gain but the greater good. It is to Ferguson and Timmons’ credit that they really do capture this truth in the book. | more…
The undaunted I.F. Stone (The Hidden History of The Korean War reviewed in ‘The Progressive’)
May 02, 2023
To this day, memories of cities flattened by U.S. bombers—a scale of technological devastation almost unthinkable even after the atomic bombs of 1945—resonate among Koreans on both sides of the border. | more…
Register: Kohei Saito to speak at Ecosocialism 2023
May 02, 2023
Japanese Marxist academic Kohei Saito will be a keynote speaker at the Ecosocialism 2023, being organised by Green Left — and supported by LINKS International Journal of Socialist Renewal — in Naarm/Melbourne over July 1–2. | more…
A slim book with profound impact (The Dialectics of Dependency reviewed in ‘Marx & Philosophy Review of Books’)
May 02, 2023
Dependency theory emerged in the 1960s and 1970s to explain the development of Latin America in its dependent relationship with advanced capitalist economies, the US in particular. It served a practical purpose of orienting Latin American Marxists in the revolutionary struggles of that period, following the inspiration of the Cuban revolution and the crises across the region in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Chile, amongst others. | more…
Theory that brings us closer to a world that places “capitalism” firmly in the past (The Dialectics of Dependency reviewed in ‘Systemic Disorder’)
Apr 26, 2023
Rather than believe in Santa Claus or fairy tales, far better that the dynamics of capitalism be grasped in their full dimensions. Only by understanding how and why, and drawing appropriate conclusions, rather than simply observing, can the world’s exploited — the vast majority of humanity — hope to see a better world come into being, a world that will have put capitalism into the history books. | more…
“Book of the year, and the next year…and the year after that” (The Return of Nature reviewed in ‘Science and Society’)
Apr 26, 2023
Book of the year? A very bold “yes!” But it is also the book of the next year, and the year after that, and the year after that. | more…
“Highly original in…its narration of intercolonial processes” (The Dawning of the Apocalypse reviewed in ‘Journal of African-American History’)
Apr 17, 2023
Horne’s book is primarily a synthesis of information found in secondary sources, but it is a masterful blend of the interrelated events happening in Europe, Africa, West Asia, North, Central, and South America, and the Caribbean in the critical centuries before and after 1492. | more…
An ever-revolving, revolting war machine (Washington’s New Cold War in ‘Counterpunch’)
Apr 14, 2023
John Bellamy Foster reminds us that there are powerful people who spend their days seeking to justify the use of nuclear weapons and trying to morally justify that use. | more…
If the U.S. can’t boss the world, it will spitefully destroy it (Washington’s New Cold War in ‘CovertAction’ magazine)
Apr 14, 2023
U.S. leaders appear increasingly willing to unleash the military because they cannot accept a new multipolar world order in which the U.S. is not the pre-eminent economic power. | more…
Human destiny in Ukraine (Washington’s New Cold War, in ‘Counterpunch’)
…Russian leaders believe, probably correctly, that this is a fight for their survival. Ukrainian leaders, ditto – except there’s no “probably” about it; it’s definitely. And it is pointless to attempt to judge those leaders under such circumstances. But for American leadership, this is a proxy war. It is not existential. It is a proxy war of choice. | more…
Listen: Foster on the future of so-called “civilization” (The “Old Mole Variety Hour”)
Apr 10, 2023
Bill Resnick, host of KBOO’s “Old Mole Variety Hour,” recently talked to John Bellamy Foster about the future of the planet and what we call “civilization.” Foster is convinced that humanity possesses the resources and technologies to succeed in limiting climate change to manageable levels while building authentic democracies. They discussed several issues: the time remaining to reduce greenhouse gas concentrations and stop global roasting; the risks of thinking in terms of decades; and whether capitalism and its exponential growth can continue on a finite planet.
Listen at KBOO- Portland | more…
“A skillful, researched warning against the blind acceptance of wartime propaganda” (The Hidden History of the Korean War to appear in ‘Foreword Reviews’)
Mar 28, 2023
The presentation is novelistic: there is a rising action as tensions build before the war begins. Once the conflict starts, there’s gripping escalation, then brief falling action as the war concludes. Questions posed throughout keep engagement high while also allowing time for contemplating new pieces of information. The result is illuminating… | more…