New Fascism, Mass Psychology & Financialization: Part 3

Psychoanalytic resources for (anti-) fascist mobilization

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koK79g4O-qQ&feature=youtu.be Organized by Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou (University College London) and Chiara Bottici (New School) What do the worlds of global finance and nationalist populism have in common? How can we understand the rise of today’s 'new fascisms' through the prism of financialization? This one-day workshop brought together scholars from across disciplines to ...
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New Fascism, Mass Psychology & Financialization: Part 3

Artist-as-debtor, Debt-as-Creator

The unseen debt sustaining the art market

This article is part of a series of texts published on Public Seminar in the lead-up to the Digital/Debt/Empire symposium in Vancouver in late April 2019, convened by Benjamin Anderson, Enda Brophy and Max Haiven. Is there a better place to glimpse the logic of capitalism than at art fairs, those ultra luxury trade shows ...
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Artist-as-debtor, Debt-as-Creator

In Defense of Do What You Love

Rejoining alienated critiques of capitalism

But where did this “most elegant anti-worker ideology,” as Tokumitsu calls it, come from? Tokumitsu suggests that it is a bourgeois culture foisted upon the working masses by the ruling class. One New York Times opinion piece credits “neoliberal masterminds,” while another points the finger at WeWork. What these critics agree on is that the ...
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In Defense of Do What You Love

Art, Research and Action Against Debt’s Digital Empire

An introduction

This article is the introduction to a series of texts published on Public Seminar in the lead-up to the Digital/Debt/Empire symposium in Vancouver in late April 2019, convened by Benjamin Anderson, Enda Brophy and Max Haiven. Throughout the history of capitalism, debt has been a key weapon of colonialism and imperialism. Examples include the ruinous ...
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Art, Research and Action Against Debt’s Digital Empire

Political Economy and Unintended Consequences

A letter to the Central High Guys

I graduated from Philadelphia’s Central High School in 1960 in the 214th class. One of the great pleasures of my life has been my ongoing contact with a group of Central alumni, which in recent years has taken the form of an email list. In even more recent years the ...
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Political Economy and Unintended Consequences

On Socialism / Against Ideology

Goodbye Gray Friday, joining Democracy Seminar 2.0

It’s frustrating. I see this clearly. I want you to see it. But you just can’t, or is it you won’t? I know my judgment goes against the grain of the prevailing social science and popular opinion. It requires a specific understanding of ideology that comes out of bitter experience, ...
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On Socialism / Against Ideology

What ‘Off The Rails’ Capitalism Really Means

Have we entered the final phase of our economy’s long unwind?

In recent years, observers from the worlds of politics, the media, academia, finance, and think-tanks have described the current political and economic moment as unprecedented, marked by “broken guardrails” and a sense that things are “unhinged.” Recourse to these analogies has only intensified since November 2016, as the actions and statements associated with the Trump administration ...
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What ‘Off The Rails’ Capitalism Really Means

Kamala Harris Is Not a Red-Baiter, She’s Just Not a Socialist (Like Most Americans)

Defeating Trump Politically, Part 4

In recent columns I have celebrated the energy and ideas brought into the Democratic party by newly-elected young leftists, defended them from criticism, condemned the red-baiting of the left, and explained how and why “socialism” has played an important role in the history of American democracy, and ought not to ...
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Kamala Harris Is Not a Red-Baiter, She’s Just Not a Socialist (Like Most Americans)

American Socialism Is Nothing to Be Afraid About

Defeating Trump Politically, Part 3

Note: A shorter version of this piece was published yesterday at The Daily Beast here. Thanks to Michael Tomasky for his help. Socialism has captured the attention of American elites in a big way. On the right, it is clear that Donald Trump and his Republican followers are intent on using Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ...
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American Socialism Is Nothing to Be Afraid About

What to Expect When You Are Expecting Exploitation

An excerpt from ‘Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism’

In a witty, irreverent op-ed piece that went viral, Kristen Ghodsee argued that women had better sex under socialism. The response was tremendous -- clearly, she articulated something many women had sensed for years: the problem is with capitalism, not with us. Ghodsee, an acclaimed ethnographer and professor of Russian and ...
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What to Expect When You Are Expecting Exploitation

Socialism and the Future of Gender Justice: Part 2

A Dialogue about Feminism in the Marketplace of Ideas

On August 12, 2017, Kristen Ghodsee published an op-ed in the New York Times, titled “Why Women Had Better Sex under Socialism.” The piece was due to appear in print a few days later, but the editors published the online version on that date. Coincidentally, the late night of August 11th and the morning of August ...
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Socialism and the Future of Gender Justice: Part 2

Socialism and the Future of Gender Justice

A Dialogue about Feminism in the Marketplace of Ideas

On August 12, 2017, Kristen Ghodsee published an op-ed in the New York Times, titled “Why Women Had Better Sex under Socialism.” The piece was due to appear in print a few days later, but the editors published the online version on that date. Coincidentally, the late night of August 11th and the morning ...
Read More
Socialism and the Future of Gender Justice