Discussions

  • Is capitalism over, or is it too early to tell? 

    In his Nation review, Joshua Clover said that the financial bailout showed "that the price signal is dead," and that we should return to Marx to get an account of where "value actually comes from ... people laboring to produce stuff that gets sold." Given the contraction of America's economic base, and the end of the tech, credit and property bubbles, are we now facing "the possibility of an unhappy ending for capitalism?"

    8 responses

  • Communism, A New Beginning?


    Slavoj Žižek hosts a conference at Cooper Union in New York, to discuss the continued relevance of the communist idea.

    “The long night of the Left is coming to a close” wrote Slavoj Žižek and Costas Douzinas in their introduction to The Idea of Communism. The continuing economic crisis, the shift away from a unipolar world defined by American hegemony, and the ecological crisis mean that growing numbers of people are keen to explore an alternative, and to rediscover the idea of communism. With the advent of the Arab Revolts, millions have sought new ways to overcome corruption and dictatorship—and they've now been joined by the wave of occupations in the US, challenging runaway inequality and the power of corporations and the super-rich.

    Friday, Oct 14, 6–9pm EDT: Slavoj Žižek, Frank Ruda, and Alain Badiou read by Bruno Bosteels. 

    Saturday, Oct 15, 10am–1pm EDT: Bruno Bosteels and Susan Buck-Morss. 

    Saturday, Oct 15, 3–7pm EDT: Adrian Johnston and Etienne Balibar.

    Sunday, Oct 16, 10am–1pm EDT: Jodi Dean and Slavoj Žižek. 

    137 responses

    • Comments and responses

    Agreed—Joshua's was a great, provocative piece, especially on the shortcomings of even the best narratives of the financial crisis (like Lanchester's), and on where to look for structural explanations. And of course it is in Harvey's other works, as well as Brenner, Gowan and Arrighi, that we get fuller accounts of how capitalism addresses and overcomes periodic crises. Though I think Joshua was right in one of his final asides: some of the Obama administration (including Summers?), and many commentators, think that a likely and possibly sufficient solution would be a revaluation of the renminbi. Many European countries are locked into a serious battle over who should suffer most as their economies contract or stagnate, but that debate hasn't happened to the same extent in the US—apart from the question of extending Bush's tax cuts. 
    Jacob Stevens / 23 September 2010 0 people think so
    Good suggestions Nic, thank you! And here's Nicholas Lezard from the Guardian review:

    "Unsurprisingly, if a little disappointingly, it's heavily weighted towards the modern era: it takes a mere 40 pages to get to the 19th century, and there are still 320 pages to go. One may usefully ask oneself why this is the case; and why there is nothing from the Bible, which, unless I have completely missed the point, contains an enormous amount of dissent."

    And on the other side of the balance sheet: "... we have a quotation from Valerie Solanas's 'Scum Manifesto', the only entry in the book I've found that really shouldn't be there."

    Jacob Stevens / 01 November 2010 0 people think so
    Thanks Marco! Slavoj's book on Hegel will be April 2012 ... We're excited about the live stream - perhaps it's the launch of Verso TV ... Please tell all your friends! 
    Jacob Stevens / 14 October 2011 0 people think so
    Hi - the broadcast will start at 6pm tonight! The timetable is below the video player ... 
    Jacob Stevens / 14 October 2011 0 people think so
    Ok, I've made it clearer that it's Eastern Daylight Time ... Sadly no, Alain had to cancel due to illness, but his statement in the first panel will be read by Bruno Bosteels ... 
    Jacob Stevens / 14 October 2011 0 people think so
    We will post up all sessions after the conference, but it may take a week or two ... And we'll try and monitor the sounds more carefully tomorrow ... 
    Jacob Stevens / 15 October 2011 0 people think so
    Hi everyone! I'll be keeping an eye on this discussion from the conference room, so if there are any good questions for the speakers I can try and relay one or two of them at the end of the session. If you agree with someone's else's question, please mark it as 'interesting' ... And we'll be posting all of these videos once we've edited the footage - please just give us a few days!
    Jacob Stevens / 15 October 2011 0 people think so
    Yes, I can relay questions from this discussion ... 
    Jacob Stevens / 15 October 2011 0 people think so
    The video is working for me, and many others - perhaps just reload it? 
    Jacob Stevens / 16 October 2011 1 person thinks so
    Three Skies: we will! 
    Jacob Stevens / 16 October 2011 0 people think so