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Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? explores Fisher's concept of "capitalist realism," which he takes …
Classic due to his ability to distill the modern essence of the inanities of capitalism
"Le titre du livre : La Conquête du Pain doit être pris dans le sens …
A classic, of course. Clear-eyed and practical, yet visionary; a a re-envisioning of a post-revolutionary society serving the needs of people from the bottom (of Maslow’s) up: first food, then shelter, then clothing, then everything else. Without the twin coercive expropriators of the capitalist and the state, there will be more than enough to create a pleasant society for all with minimal work and maximal leisure and pleasure. As a bonus, the lure of the above expropriators will be castrated because you can’t coerce and subjugate a populace whose needs are met.
Won't bother to finish this. Tedious, preachy, uninsightful.
I’m torn on this one. She mentions early on that it’s meant to be descriptive, rather than prescriptive, in terms of actually ending or putting a dent in the racist status quo.
But then she offers again and again the prescription of raising awareness and/or whites accepting criticism from POC.
Her description of the phenomena of fragility is unbelievably clear-eyed; any POC will immediately recognize everything she points out. I want to give 5 stars based on this alone, but it seems like a misguided book in terms of actually addressing the problem considering the material conditions of racialized, autocratic institutions that control life in the US today.
Is simply trying to get whites to understand the substance of racism going to get them to renege their material benefits in the zero-sum game of power in these inegalitarian institutions? I feel like they’ll just revert back to overt racism. Power …
I’m torn on this one. She mentions early on that it’s meant to be descriptive, rather than prescriptive, in terms of actually ending or putting a dent in the racist status quo.
But then she offers again and again the prescription of raising awareness and/or whites accepting criticism from POC.
Her description of the phenomena of fragility is unbelievably clear-eyed; any POC will immediately recognize everything she points out. I want to give 5 stars based on this alone, but it seems like a misguided book in terms of actually addressing the problem considering the material conditions of racialized, autocratic institutions that control life in the US today.
Is simply trying to get whites to understand the substance of racism going to get them to renege their material benefits in the zero-sum game of power in these inegalitarian institutions? I feel like they’ll just revert back to overt racism. Power needs to be taken from the racist elites by force with mass, cooperative action.
Baldwin's haunting and controversial second novel is his most sustained treatment of sexuality, and a classic of gay literature. In …
This is a book about the oppression of women by men.Men in a society have more rights than women and …
A good mix of engaging and informative.
Very unique account of one woman’s unbelievably daring immersion into the October revolution. There are many insights into human behavior that can hopefully be applied to the next attempt at a Proletarian uprising, and specifics to Russia’s context.
The complete and unceremonious decline of antisemitism, having been revealed as a mere rough pretext of anti authoritarianism.
The surprisingly magnanimous behavior of those who underwent centuries of oppression to their former oppressors.
The obvious bias of the supposedly free press being the mouthpiece of a few capitalists, and how that’s not any better than an explicitly controlled press that at least has an obvious agenda.
One of the most notorious and influential works of modern times, Capital is an incisive …
Obligatory 5 stars because how could I not?
Very, very detailed and data-driven, plus humanistic. Will need to reread several times to fully grasp (especially by audio, where it’s especially hard to tell when one is in a footnote or not).
Makes it abundantly clear, though: there is no profit possible without worker exploitation, due to power differentials of the capitalist (owning means of production) versus the workers (possessing only their labor to sell).
And there is no economic activity without profit. And there is little human life without economic activity, meaning this exploitation is an undercurrent to nearly everything.
"The phenomenon of identity politics represents one of the primary impasses of the left, and …
Crucial, important, pithy.
Crystal-clear-eyed analysis of the consistent ruse of the capitalists to divide-and-conquer via identity: maintaining their exploitation by using race, gender, sexuality, and ethnicity to confuse and frustrate attempts to organize.
Reminds us that in oder to free ourselves, we must free all others thus imprisoned.
Exposes the shameful hypocrisy of neoliberal, double-speaking, bad-faith buffoons such as Clinton(s), Obama, and Blair.
Will be reading several more times, at least yearly, to remind myself of the key points.
