Showing papers in "Monthly Review in 2022"
TL;DR: In this article , the origins and historic significance of the concept of ecological civilization and its relation to ecological Marxism are discussed, and how all of this relates to the worldwide revolutionary struggle aimed at transcending our current planetary emergency and protecting what Karl Marx called "the chain of human generations.
Abstract: How are we to understand the origins and historic significance of the concept of ecological civilization? What is its relation to ecological Marxism? And how does all of this relate to the worldwide revolutionary struggle aimed at transcending our current planetary emergency and protecting what Karl Marx called "the chain of human generations"—along with life in general?
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TL;DR: In this paper , the authors argue that workplaces are the sites where profits are extracted from our labor, and that control is most critical in these sites, since they are here that profits are being extracted from us.
Abstract: Capitalism's two main underpinnings are control and exploitation/expropriation. While there are many sites of control they are all generally supportive of the interests of capital, namely, the endless drive to accumulate wealth. They all help to ensure that we behave so that the system continues to reproduce itself. Since workplaces are the sites where profits are extracted from our labor, it is here that control is most critical.
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TL;DR: Not a day has gone by that the United States has not tried to overturn the Cuban Revolution, through the assassination of its leaders, invasions by proxy forces, preventing it from normal commercial and diplomatic relations, and encouraging social distress in the island to become a counterrevolutionary force as discussed by the authors .
Abstract: Not a day has gone by that the United States has not tried to overturn the Cuban Revolution, through the assassination of its leaders, invasions by proxy forces, preventing it from normal commercial and diplomatic relations, and encouraging social distress in the island to become a counterrevolutionary force.
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TL;DR: The Eighth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba (CPCP) will be held from April 16 to 19, 2019 as mentioned in this paper , with a focus on salient questions, issues, and themes of the current reality of Cuba from the view of revolutionary militants.
Abstract: The Eighth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba—held from April 16 to 19, 2021—offers salient questions, issues, and other themes of the current reality of Cuba from the view of revolutionary militants. Let us take heed.
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TL;DR: Two years after the peak of the 2020 street protests for reproductive rights in Poland, Magdalena Muszel and Grzegorz Piotrowski explore the movement's effects on Polish society as mentioned in this paper .
Abstract: Two years after the peak of the 2020 street protests for reproductive rights in Poland, Magdalena Muszel and Grzegorz Piotrowski explore the movement's effects on Polish society. Despite the dissipating energy of the participants and continued intransigence of most major parties, this cycle of protests shifted the values and political preferences of specific gender and age groups, as well as affecting the common perception of protest movements in Poland.
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TL;DR: Despite Cuba's advantages due to its free, universal public health system and its capacity for rapid scientific development, which put us at the forefront in research and vaccine production globally, we were unable to escape the pandemic's blows as mentioned in this paper .
Abstract: Despite Cuba's advantages—due to its free, universal public health system and its capacity for rapid scientific development, which put us at the forefront in research and vaccine production globally—we were unable to escape the pandemic's blows.
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TL;DR: Vasudevan et al. as mentioned in this paper argue that cryptocurrency, far from being a democratizing force in finance, has led to only further concentrations of wealth and power and increased precarity within the financial sector.
Abstract: The crypto winter, Ramaa Vasudevan writes, is here. Cryptocurrency, far from being a democratizing force in finance, has led to only further concentrations of wealth and power and increased precarity within the financial sector. The recent fall of Sam Bankman-Fried is only the beginning.
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TL;DR: On Sunday, July 11, 2021, demonstrations occurred in various parts of Cuba to protest the frequent prolonged power outages in various locations, shortages of food and medicine, and the general precariousness of daily life as discussed by the authors .
Abstract: On Sunday, July 11, 2021, demonstrations occurred in various parts of Cuba. Many of the demonstrators went onto the streets to protest the frequent prolonged power outages in various locations, shortages of food and medicine, and the general precariousness of daily life. A variety of different perspectives are putting their own spin on these events.
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TL;DR: The U.S. industrial-military-congressional complex is made up of the interdependent dynamics of military contractor corporations, military forces, intelligence agencies, and the civilian national security state as mentioned in this paper .
Abstract: The U.S. industrial-military-congressional complex is made up of the interdependent dynamics of military contractor corporations, military forces, intelligence agencies, and the civilian national security state, which take form as strategy, political-economy factors, and international affairs shift.
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TL;DR: From September to November 2021, overlapping with the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference negotiations in Glasgow, three major interrelated developments occurred in global finance as discussed by the authors , which marked a turning point in the financial expropriation of the earth and the culmination of a theoretical shift in the dominant economic paradigm aimed at the unlimited accumulation of total capital, which is now seen as including "natural capital."
Abstract: From September to November 2021, overlapping with the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference negotiations in Glasgow, three major interrelated developments occurred in global finance. Taken together, these changes mark a turning point in the financial expropriation of the earth and the culmination of a theoretical shift in the dominant economic paradigm aimed at the unlimited accumulation of total capital, which is now seen as including "natural capital."
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TL;DR: The most important characteristics of the second half of the 20th century have been discussed in this article , where the authors discuss the most important features of the last half century of publication.
Abstract: Monthly Review was started in 1949 and is now in its forty-fourth year of publication, so you could say that MR's existence is pretty much coterminous with the second half of the twentieth century. What have been the most important characteristics of this half century?
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TL;DR: The Strategy of Denial (2021) as mentioned in this paper is the latest book to come out of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) orbit, which provides an opportunity to concretely observe how the monopoly capitalist ruling class is preparing the people of the United States for what could be a catastrophic world war.
Abstract: The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is the ultimate agenda-setting, strategic planning, and consensus-forming organization of the U.S. capitalist ruling class. The latest book to come out of the CFR orbit, Strategy of Denial (2021), thus provides an opportunity to concretely observe how the monopoly capitalist ruling class is preparing the people of the United States for what could be a catastrophic world war.
TL;DR: The COVID-19 pandemic as mentioned in this paper showed that even though we know what to do, as a society, there are many instances in which we did not do it, which is the most serious and still ongoing example of the science-practice gap.
Abstract: The scientific development of humanity—that is, the ability to investigate the planet collectively, integrating reason and empirical data—allowed humans to understand the world with increasing precision and transform it powerfully. The COVID-19 pandemic showed this when we were able to discover its origin quickly, sequence the SARS-CoV-2 genome, evaluate its variations and evolutionary process, understand its global dispersion, and develop immunizing treatments and vaccines. Despite this, attitudes against this knowledge have been widespread, both individually and collectively. Even though we know what to do, as a society, there are many instances in which we did not do it. The COVID-19 pandemic is the most serious and still ongoing example of the science-practice gap.
TL;DR: The origins of the New Cold War and the onset of the current Russian entry into the Ukrainian civil war are discussed in this article , where it is necessary to go back to decisions associated with the creation of the new World Order made in Washington when the previous Cold War ended in 1991.
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As we write these notes at the beginning of March 2022, the eight-year limited civil war in Ukraine has turned into a full-scale war. This represents a turning point in the New Cold War and a great human tragedy. By threatening global nuclear holocaust, these events are also now endangering the entire world. To understand the origins of the New Cold War and the onset of the current Russian entry into the Ukrainian civil war, it is necessary to go back to decisions associated with the creation of the New World Order made in Washington when the previous Cold War ended in 1991.
TL;DR: For instance, between 1949 and 1980, over a hundred articles in Monthly Review dealt with the Soviet Union directly, with many more addressing it indirectly as mentioned in this paper . But, after 1993, treatments of post-Soviet Russia in the magazine largely ceased.
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Between 1949 and 1980, over a hundred articles in Monthly Review dealt with the Soviet Union directly, with many more addressing it indirectly. But, after 1993, treatments of post-Soviet Russia in the magazine largely ceased.
TL;DR: As climate change and the deforestation of the Amazon alters conditions of life across Latin America, it is clear that planetary defense will require an organized mass movement of all working people against the levers of global capital as discussed by the authors .
Abstract: As climate change and the deforestation of the Amazon alters conditions of life across Latin America, it is clear that planetary defense will require an organized mass movement of all working people against the levers of global capital.
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TL;DR: Backiel as mentioned in this paper proposed a new poem by Linda Backiel, "A New Poetry by Backiel", which is a paraphrase of Backiel's poem "Backiel".
Abstract: A new poem by Linda Backiel.
TL;DR: The most optimistic scenario currently provided by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) describes a pathway in which the increase in temperature will not rise to 1.5°C until 2040, peaking at 1.6°C, and then falling back to 2°C by the end of this century as discussed by the authors .
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Time is running out for the world to carry out the social transformations necessary to avert irreversible climate catastrophe, keeping the increase in global average temperatures below 1.5°C (or below 2°C). The most optimistic scenario currently provided by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) describes a pathway in which the increase in temperature will not rise to 1.5°C until 2040, peaking at 1.6°C, and then falling back to 1.4°C by the end of this century. But to achieve this will require revolutionary scale transformational change in global social relations affecting the human relation to the climate and the planetary environment as a whole.
TL;DR: Bevins's The Jakarta Method as discussed by the authors describes how imperialist expansion destroyed revolutionary struggles in the third world and describes how the United States against peoples' struggles for self-determination in the so-called postcolonial era.
Abstract: Vincent Bevins, The Jakarta Method (New York: Public Affairs, 2020), 429 pages, $28, paperback.
Increasing numbers of left-wing activists around the world are turning to Vincent Bevins's The Jakarta Method to learn more about the horrific atrocities committed by the United States against peoples' struggles for the right to self-determination in the so-called postcolonial era. In particular, the book describes how imperialist expansion destroyed revolutionary struggles in the third world.
TL;DR: The nonhuman turn as discussed by the authors is a movement that is largely described as the non-human turn in the humanities and social sciences, where critical attention is being given to the nonhuman as an ecological, philosophical, and political problem.
Abstract: Across the humanities and the social sciences, critical attention is being given to the nonhuman as an ecological, philosophical, and political problem—the nonhuman here meaning anything from animals and plants to manufactured objects. Going under names as various as new materialism, political ecology, and object-oriented ontology, these studies comprise a movement that is largely described as the nonhuman turn.
TL;DR: In this paper , Brazilian popular movements came together to propose measures to defend life on Earth, out of the dissatisfaction with the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Brazilian popular movement.
Abstract: Out of the dissatisfaction with the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Brazilian popular movements came together to propose measures to defend life on Earth.
TL;DR: The U.S. government of that time encouraged and financially supported much of this art and not only art: the Depression was one of the few times that the federal government ever stepped in to help ordinary people get on their feet as mentioned in this paper .
Abstract: The Great Depression is almost one century old. Today in the United States we remember this international economic collapse, and the suffering it engendered, by reading novels and essays about it, watching plays, viewing paintings—often forgetting that the U.S. government of that time encouraged and financially supported much of this art. Not only art: the Depression was one of the few times that the federal government ever stepped in to help ordinary people get on their feet.
TL;DR: The South African climate justice movement presented a model for popular revolt against the eco-fascist project as discussed by the authors , which was used by the South African Climate Justice Movement (SJMC).
Abstract: The South African climate justice movement presents a model for popular revolt against the ecofascist project.
TL;DR: The struggle over schools today requires battles over both the privatization of education and the current attempts to limit its social content and meaning as mentioned in this paper , and those fighting against this changing totality must align themselves with the embattled radical teachers in the trenches.
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The struggle over schools today requires battles over both the privatization of education and the current attempts to limit its social content and meaning. Those fighting against this changing totality must align themselves with the embattled radical teachers in the trenches. In the famous words of Grace Lee Boggs, more than a half-century ago, it is necessary to create "a new system of education that will have as its means and its end the development of the great masses of people to govern over themselves and administer over things."
TL;DR: New York City is facing a crisis in its urban ecosystem as wealthy developers and real estate mega-projects rupture the connections between people and the social and spatial webs making up the city's once-rich undergrowth as discussed by the authors .
Abstract: New York City is facing a crisis in its urban ecosystem. As wealthy developers and real estate mega-projects rupture the connections between people and the social and spatial webs making up the city's once-rich undergrowth, how can city-dwellers nurture and restore their metropolitan habitat?
TL;DR: The COVID-19 pandemic shows no signs of going away, with a new wave of SARS-CoV-2 now occurring in the form of the more readily transmittable Omicron variant as mentioned in this paper .
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The COVID-19 pandemic shows no signs of going away, with a new wave of SARS-CoV-2 now occurring in the form of the more readily transmittable Omicron variant. In these circumstances, the issue of vaccine imperialism, dividing the Global North and the Global South, has taken on new significance.
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TL;DR: A new poem by Marge Piercy as mentioned in this paper is a new poem written by Piercy, and it is based on the following lines of the poem "A New Poetry":
Abstract: A new poem by Marge Piercy.
TL;DR: The most pronounced and remarkable contradiction between what ecosocialist Ian Angus calls "capital's time" and nature's time was identified by as mentioned in this paper , who argued that "a series of intertwined ecological and social crises have come together, posing existential threats to life on the planet."
Abstract: We are facing today the most pronounced and remarkable of all contradictions: that between what ecosocialist Ian Angus calls "capital's time" and "nature's time." As a result, a series of intertwined ecological and social crises have come together, posing existential threats to life on the planet. Everywhere, life, both human and nonhuman, is threatened, and the dangers of the imposition of capital's time on nature's time accelerate decade by decade at levels scarcely imaginable.
TL;DR: Not a day has gone by that the United States has not tried to overturn the Cuban Revolution, through the assassination of its leaders, invasions by proxy forces, preventing it from normal commercial and diplomatic relations, and encouraging social distress in the island to become a counterrevolutionary force as discussed by the authors .
Abstract: Not a day has gone by that the United States has not tried to overturn the Cuban Revolution, through the assassination of its leaders, invasions by proxy forces, preventing it from normal commercial and diplomatic relations, and encouraging social distress in the island to become a counterrevolutionary force.
TL;DR: In 1980, the great English historian and Marxist theorist E. P. Thompson as discussed by the authors wrote the essay "Notes on Exterminism, the Last Stage of Civilization." Although the world has undergone a number of significant changes since, Thompson's essay remains a useful starting point in approaching the central contradictions of our times.
Abstract: In 1980, the great English historian and Marxist theorist E. P. Thompson wrote the pathbreaking essay "Notes on Exterminism, the Last Stage of Civilization." Although the world has undergone a number of significant changes since, Thompson's essay remains a useful starting point in approaching the central contradictions of our times, characterized by the planetary ecological crisis, COVID-19 pandemic, New Cold War, and current "empire of chaos"—all arising from features deeply embedded in the contemporary capitalist political economy.