Somewhere along the line, we’ve all heard these arguments in favour of capitalism: progress is based on competition, risk taking and innovation – capitalism encourages risk takers and rewards them; we might need state ‘enterprise’ for essential infrastructure like water and electricity but, in the area of new technology, the dynamism of the private sector will always […]
Continue Reading
Naomi Klein’s book is a welcome and much needed addition to the debates on how to tackle global warming. Klein not only outlines its enormous threat to humanity, but shows the need for a fundamental change of strategy to avoid disaster and instead seize the opportunity to “dramatically improve lives, close the gap between rich […]
Continue Reading
Engels and women’s liberation It is 130 years since the publication of The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, by Friedrich Engels. Long considered by Marxists an important text regarding the origin of women’s oppression, it has been criticized by those promoting alternative explanations of women’s second-class status in society. In the […]
Continue Reading
Review of Too Many People? By Ian Angus and Simon Butler, Haymarket Books, 2011 ONE OF the major divisions within environmentalists is on the issue of population and ‘overpopulation’, with many claiming that a key cause of environmental damage is too many people. The British Royal Society recently released a report, People and the Planet, […]
Continue Reading
Review of The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone, by Wilkinson R & Pickett K, Penguin 2010 “It is a remarkable paradox that, at the pinnacle of human material and technical achievement, we find ourselves anxiety-ridden, prone to depression, worried about how others see us, unsure of our friendships, driven to consume and […]
Continue Reading