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Futurus Interruptus
Futurus Interruptus Most of the time, in writing these essays, I try to treat the decline of industrial society with the seriousness that it deserves. Sometimes, though, the plain raw absurdity of our current situation rises to a point that only raucous laughter can address. I ran into another of those points a few days […]
Micro utopias for an inclusive future
Micro utopias for an inclusive future When Gijsbert Huijink, a Dutch national living in Banyoles, in the Catalan province of Girona, set out to install solar panels in his home he stumbled upon a legal labyrinth that criminalized energy self-consumption. “If I wanted to connect to the grid to recharge my batteries and supply my […]
The Great Rehash, Part One: The Best and the Brightest
The Great Rehash, Part One: The Best and the Brightest July seems to be a good time for explosions, and not just in Fourth of July fireworks displays in the US. Already this month, a bomb blew up a controversial monument in rural Georgia, while on the other side of the world in Sri Lanka […]
Myth of Utopian energy
Myth of Utopian energy
End Game for Green Utopia
End Game for Green Utopia Wind Turbines, Tehachapi Pass. Photo: Jeffrey St. Clair. On these two opposing types of responses to the movie “Planet Of The Humans”: PRO: “The key, however, is that all these [‘greenish’] energy policies have to be carried out after capitalism has been wiped out and under conditions where production is […]
Degrowth as a concrete utopia
Degrowth as a concrete utopia Economic growth can’t reduce inequalities; it merely postpones confronting exploitation. Español “My Visit to the Mountain Homestead.” Credit: Flickr/Eli Duke. CC BY 2.0. The emergence of interest in degrowth can be traced back to the 1st International Degrowth Conference organized in Paris in 2008. At this conference, degrowth was defined […]
Pulling the magical lever
Pulling the magical lever A critical analysis of techno-utopian imaginaries Image: Pixabay Ideas about the importance of the imagination in an age of political and ecological crisis are popping up everywhere: in the arts, in activism and other forms of politics, and in a wide range of academic disciplines and fields. This blog is one […]
Is Libertarianism Utopian?
Is Libertarianism Utopian? Libertarianism – and any political position that leans towards a greater degree of freedom from the state – is opposed both ethically and economically on a number of substantive grounds. The proposition that without the state we would have inequality, destitution for the masses, rampant greed, and so on is a familiar […]
A small farm utopia
A small farm utopia When I made a case for a small farm future somewhere or other a while back, I got a tweeted reply “Your utopia is my dystopia”. I found this slightly odd since the case I try to make for small-scale farming isn’t that it’s the best of all possible worlds – […]
I May Be a Radical, But I’m Definitely Not a Utopian
I May Be a Radical, But I’m Definitely Not a Utopian I don’t have a grand, sweeping plan. I just want peace. I become a very fun party guest when the topic turns to politics. My Mundane Radicalism RE: Politics I come at questions about policy from a different angle than most. I don’t believe […]
The Tools Collectivists Use To Gain Power
The Tools Collectivists Use To Gain Power While many divisions within our society are arbitrary or engineered, there is one division that represents perhaps the most pervasive and important conflict of our time; the division between collectivists and individualists. Now, people who do not understand the nature of collectivism will often argue that individualism and […]
Alternatives to Capitalism
Alternatives to Capitalism It is said that capitalism believes in competition but hates competitors. With this thoughtful book, Robin Hahnel and Erik Olin Wright aim to strengthen the resources of anti-capitalist politics against the charge that ‘there is no alternative’. While there is a debate on the left over the value of engaging in utopian […]
