I've got this little pamphlet on the subject, signed by one N. Lenin. Might at least be worth considering.
/P On 07 November, 2024 - Keith Sanborn via nettime-l wrote: > A cogent summary. Now the perennial question: What is to be done? > > > On Nov 7, 2024, at 8:14 AM, Felix Stalder via nettime-l > > <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > What a time to be alive! > > > > In the US, Trump is re-elected and in Europe, the governments are > > collapsing (Germany), tethering at the edge of collapse (France), headed > > towards a last ditch centrist coalition that nobody believes in (Austria), > > or have already flipped to the far-right (Hungary, Slovakia, Italy, > > Netherlands). > > > > It's clear, the liberal world order has collapsed and will not recover. Not > > only at the periphery, where it was always fragile and embroiled in wars > > (hence the easy alignment of Harris and Cheney [1]), but also at the > > center. At the periphery, which no longer accepts the status of periphery > > had has become present in many forms in the center, few will shed tears, > > except the Ukrainians and, possibly, the Taiwanese. The pious bromides > > about human rights and a rules-based order cannot provide justification and > > soft-power, with the genocide in Gaza the final nail in the coffin. > > > > At the center, the order collapsed because of its own contradictions. Since > > there are many, they manifest themselves in different ways, but I think > > they boil down to the neoliberal state being unable to manage the two > > really deep transformations. > > > > One is digitization, where market forces created extreme concentration of > > wealth and power while threatening everyone else with redundancy (most > > recently even artists, long presented as neoliberal role models). It > > destroyed the public sphere (a problematic construct to begin with) > > replacing it with a system of chaotic volatility. > > > > The other is climate change, where the weakened state has been unable to > > overcome the resistance of the fossil interests. Instead of strong > > policies, "market incentives" were used, which made life under stagnating > > wages even harder, while having no impact on the structural dependencies. > > Hence, the clean energy built-out did not reduce the amount of carbon > > emissions. That might change in the medium term, simply for economic > > efficiency reasons, but likely too little, too late. All of this made a > > mockery of expertise and rationality, which acknowledged the problem while > > coming up with a long list of reasons why not to act on it. Against this > > background, the argument that climate change is not a big deal because we > > can fix it later once AI has delivered a miracle solution, is that least > > internally consistent. > > > > While Trump and the far right are, well, fascists in a political science > > sense, their support is not because people became fascists (well, some have > > always been, and it has become OK to say so openly). As Brian Holmes as > > argued for a long time now, the popularity of the far right is better seen > > a Polaynian double movement, people turning to fascism as a way of seeking > > protection against the ravages of unconstrained capitalism (trumps to main > > points, lower prices and closed borders). It's quite striking that in six > > out of seven out of ten states, abortion protection measures won with > > strong popular support. Even in Florida, 57% of voters backed the measure > > (but failed to reach the 60% threshold required for adaption). it's quite > > telling that even asked in isolation, the key point of Harris's campaign > > was widely supported, but the overall project of the continuation of the > > liberal project was rejected. > > > > The left has been completely unprepared for this collapse. 50 years of > > neoliberalism has undermined ideas and practices of solidarity and replaced > > it with a cynical, game-theory view of social interaction of endless > > competition in zero-sum games. On what new basis solidarity could be > > rebuilt, is entirely unclear to me. > > > > We are off the charts now and many vulnerable people will suffer. There is > > a tidal wave of ugliness coming. While liberal wars might be pursued less > > vigorously now that the Cheneys are in the wilderness for good, neocolonial > > exploitation will not, creating its own incentives for war. Musk made this > > very clear in relation to the need to have access to cheap lithium. > > > > But, there is no reason to be nostalgic. It's precise the charts we had > > that created the mess we are will. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > [1] For a fuller view of the background of this alignment, see the recent > > discussion of John Mearsheimer and Jeffrey Sachs > > (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvFtyDy_Bt0) > > > > > > -- > > | |||||||||||||||| http://felix.openflows.com | > > | for secure communication, please use signal | > > > > -- > > # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission > > # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, > > # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets > > # more info: https://www.nettime.org > > # contact: [email protected] > -- > # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission > # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, > # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets > # more info: https://www.nettime.org > # contact: [email protected] -- Petter Ericson ([email protected]) -- # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: https://www.nettime.org # contact: [email protected]
