Tag Archives: political economy

Serve the People, Seize the Land: Prospects for Revolutionary Struggle Around Affordable Housing

Posted on July 24, 2016 by

The crisis around affordable housing in the United States resembles situations in rural areas of the Global South where land inequalities have fueled revolutionary anti-capitalist movements.     

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Imperialism and the Construction of Saudi Arabia

Posted on April 17, 2016 by

Western imperialism played a decisive role in shaping Middle Eastern politics and society by protecting the conservative monarchy of Saudi Arabia against left-wing revolutionaries in the 1950s and 1960s, and paving the way for Saudi elites to finance the rise of modern Islamic fundamentalism. … Continue reading →

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The Political Economy of Revolutionary Struggle: Lessons from the Black Panthers

Posted on July 26, 2015 by

The way the Black Panther Party was influenced by its sources of funding should inform modern revolutionaries on the importance of being in control of productive assets, and taking seriously the basic Marxist arguments on how economic power informs socio-political power.  

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Industrialization Has Always Sucked–But Does It Have To?

Posted on June 5, 2014 by

Historically, industrialization has always been a painful process whose benefits are not immediately accessible to the masses.  But this has less to do with some kind of iron-clad economic law, and more to do with the distribution of power in … Continue reading →

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PlayStations, Commodity Fetishism, and Violence in the Congo

Posted on May 31, 2014 by

Examining the relationship between the release of the PlayStation 2 in 2000 and the subsequent spike in violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo demonstrates both the way that global capitalism perpetuates violent exploitation, as well as the continued relevance … Continue reading →

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Decarbonization as Decolonization: The Case of the Northern Bay Area

Posted on January 12, 2014 by

The fossil-fuel industry has historically developed in tandem with colonialism; therefore, it stands to reason that the anti-carbon movement is, at its core, an anti-colonial struggle.    

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Possible Signs of World-Capitalism’s Deteriorating Productivity

Posted on June 23, 2013 by

Two articles caught my attention today, both from the New York Times.  The first is an article by Tyler Cowen, one of the two editors of the blog Marginal Revolution.  Cowen posits that the explosive growth of the developing economies … Continue reading →

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