by Pepe Escobar – crossposted with Strategic Culture Foundation
With the specter of a New Great Depression hovering over most of the planet, realpolitik perspectives for a radical change of the political economy framework we live in are not exactly encouraging.
Western ruling elites will be deploying myriad tactics to perpetuate the passivity of populations barely emerging from de facto house arrest, including a massive disciplinary – in a Foucault sense – drive by states and business/finance circles.
In his latest book, La Desaparicion de los Rituales, Byung-Chul Han shows how total communication, especially in a time of pandemic, now coincides with total vigilance: “Domination impersonates freedom. Big Data generates a domineering knowledge that allows the possibility of intervening in the human psyche, and manipulating it. Considering it this way, the data-ist imperative of transparency is not a continuation of the Enlightenment, but its ending.”
This revamping of Foucault’s Discipline and Punish coincides with reports about the demise of the neoliberal era being vastly overstated. Instead of a simplistic plunge into populist nationalism, what is on the horizon points mostly to a Neoliberalism Restoration – massively spun as a novelty, and incorporating some Keynesian elements: after all, in the post-Lockdown era, to “save” the markets and private initiative the state must not only intervene but also facilitate a possible ecological transition.
The bottom line: we may be facing a mere cosmetic approach, in which the deep structural crisis of zombie capitalism – barely moving under unpopular “reforms” and infinite debt – still is not addressed.
Meanwhile, what is going to happen to assorted fascisms? Eric Hobsbawm showed us in Age of Extremes how the key to the fascist right was always mass mobilization: “Fascists were the revolutionaries of the counter-revolution”.
We may be heading further than mere, crude neofascism. Call it Hybrid Neofascism. Their political stars bow to global market imperatives while switching political competition to the cultural arena.
That’s what true “illiberalism” is all about: the mix between neoliberalism – unrestricted capital mobility, Central Bank diktats – and political authoritarianism. Here’s where we find Trump, Modi and Bolsonaro.
From Anthropocene to Capitalocene
To counterpunch zombie neoliberalism, those believing another world is possible dream of a social-democratic revival; wealth redistribution; or at least neoliberalism with a human face.
That’s where eco-socialism jumps in: a radical rupture with the diktats of the Goddess of the Market, the product of a healthy rebellion against ultra-authoritarian neoliberalism and illiberalism.
In sum, that could be seen as a soft adaptation of Thomas Piketty’s analyses: to break the domination of capital by economic democracy, in the spirit of mid-19th century social democracy.
It’s quite interesting, in this aspect, to consider Fully Automated Luxury Communism, by Aaron Bastani, a refreshing utopian manifesto where we see that once society is stripped off everything superfluous linked to alienation, it’s still possible for everyone to find all the necessary technical means to live “in luxury” without recourse to infinity growth imposed by Capital.
And that brings us to the direct link between the Anthropocene and what has been conceptualized by French economist Benjamin Coriat as the Capitalocene.
Capitalocene means that our current state of appalling planetary degradation should not be linked to an undefined “humanity” but “to a very defined humanity organized by a predatory economic system.”
The state of the planet under the Anthropocene must be imperatively linked to the hegemonic economic system of the past two centuries: the way we developed our system of production and legitimized indiscriminate predatory practices.
The bottom line: to go beyond it, the economy must be reoriented and rebuilt, part of a “big bang in public and economic policies.”
In the Anthropocene, Promethean humanity must be contained so the rape of Mother Earth can be properly tackled.
Capitalocene for its part describes Capital as the crucial root and conditioner of the current world-system. The result of the struggle against the ravaging effects of Capital will determine the possible future of eco-socialism.
And that refocuses the importance of the commons – way beyond the opposition between private property and public property.
Coriat has shown how Covid-19 laid bare the necessity of the commons and the incapacity of neoliberalism to address it.
But how to build eco-socialism? Should it start as eco-socialism in one country (somewhere in Scandinavia)? How to coordinate it across Europe? How to fight ossified EU structures from the inside?
After all both Restored Neoliberalism and illiberalism already count on powerful states and networks. A good example is Hungary and Poland continuing to function as cogs of the German industrial supply chain.
How to prevent someone like Bill Gates to take control of a UN organization, the WHO, thus forcing it to invest in programs that fit his own personal agenda?
How to change the WTO’s free market rules, according to which buying palm oil and transgenic soya contributes to the de facto deforestation of large tracts of Africa, Asia and South America? This is a state of affairs that allows wealthy nations to actually buy the destruction of ecosystems.
Revolution, not reform
Even if neoliberalism was dead, and it’s not, the world is still encumbered with its corpse – to paraphrase Nietzsche a propos of God.
And even as a triple catastrophe – sanitary, social and climatic – is now unequivocal, the ruling matrix – starring the Masters of the Universe managing the financial casino – won’t stop resisting any drive towards change.
Diversionist tactics supporting an “ecological transition” fool no one.
Financial capitalism is an expert in adapting to – and profiting from – the serial crises it provokes or unleashes.
To update May 1968, what’s needed is L’Imagination au Pouvoir. Yet it’s idle to expect imagination from mere puppets such as Trump, Merkel, Macron or BoJo.
Realpolitik once again points to a post-Lockdown turbo-capitalist framework, where the illiberalism of the 1% – with fascistic elements – and naked turbo-financialization are boosted by reinforced exploitation of an exhausted and now largely unemployed workforce.
Post-Lockdown turbo-capitalism is once again reasserting itself after four decades of Thatcherization, or – to be polite – hardcore neoliberalism. Progressive forces still don’t have the ammunition to revert the logic of extremely high profits for the ruling classes – EU governance included – and for large global corporations as well.
Economist and philosopher Frederic Lordon, a researcher at the French CNRS, cuts to the inevitable chase: the only solution would be a revolutionary insurrection. And he knows exactly how the financial markets-corporate media combo would never allow it. Big Capital is capable of co-opting and sabotaging anything.
So this is our choice: it’s either Neoliberal Restoration or a revolutionary rupture. And nothing in between. It takes someone of Marx’s caliber to build a full-fledged, 21st century eco-socialist ideology, and capable of long-term, sustained mobilization. Aux armes, citoyens.
“Restored Neoliberalism or Hybrid Neofascism”
As far as i am concerned those are different sides of the same coin, and it is not neo for any of them since a ton off the people is the grand kids off nazis that got transferred to anglo countries after ww2.
I do believe i understand what you tried to communicate tho.
Per
Norway
Regular reader of your writings
“Neo” in these cases means “back again”. Nothing much is really “new” under the sun.
What you say about them being the blood relatives of the nazis is the important point.
Canada, US and some Latin American havens have nourished these scum.
Up your way, too, the Scandinavian governments have a strong relationship with these deviants, don’t they?
Larchmonter445
What is fascism ? It is the union of the state with private banks and corporations, who end up controlling the state, both directly and indirectly, depending on the situation. This is the basis of the liberal political and economic order. Both Hitler and Mussolini were financed by private bankers and supported by big business. And yes, it would be an exaggeration to state that liberal political and economic policies are disappearing and that some sort of populist movement is taking over. Populist movements do exist, but at the moment they are just making a lot of noise. The elites still hold power, although they are not foolish enough to think that this power is full proof. For at least ten years we have had Internet articles on the elites and their preparations for getaways if things turn nasty, with New Zealand and Tasmania being the two top favorites when it comes to real estate purchases. Is something going to happen ? The answer is yes, except that it remains to be seen what exactly will happen.
Eco socialismo? A tal esquerda pós fim da URSS é uma verdadeira piada. Essa esquerda inútil e irrelevante no hemisfério sul vive luxuosamente dando esmolas aos pobres e acusando os seus comparsas “fascistas” de não darem valor aos pobres. Esses pensadores adoram ler e passam tanto tempo lendo que não se dão conta de que o individualismo permite as pessoas serem o que seus instintos almejam. Um pobre na Suécia é como um rico na Somália? Greta, a ativista de estimação dos bilionários do “bem” é a nova Joana D’arc dos eco socialistas? Os servos livres e bem alimentados do Ocidente acreditam que sim. A tal esquerda é tão mutável quanto o Covid-19 mas eco socialismo é definitivamente uma pa de cal do que um dia foi a esquerda. A tal esquerda progressista é simplesmente um grupo de pequenos burgueses domesticados pelos imperialistas malvadões e imensamente bem remunerados pela seita kosher. Os pobres? Eu como pobre trabalhador não deixo de tomar cerveja mesmo em um mundo infestado de fascistas e nazistas malvadões. Mesmo com tantos distúrbios e o Covid-19 hoje irei degustar um suculento hambúrguer artesanal com queijo, maionese, ovo e mostarda. Nada mal para um pobre que trabalha? O medo é fábrica de histéricos. Gosto muito dos textos de Escobar mas ultimamente anda muito ansioso.
Google translate,MOD:
Eco socialism? This post-end left of the USSR is a real joke. This useless and irrelevant left in the southern hemisphere lives luxuriously giving alms to the poor and accusing its “fascist” cronies of not giving value to the poor. These thinkers love to read and spend so much time reading that they don’t realize that individualism allows people to be what their instincts crave. Is a poor man in Sweden like a rich man in Somalia? Greta, the pet activist of the “good” billionaires, is the new Joana D’arc of the socialist echoes? The free and well-fed servants of the West believe so. Such a left is as changeable as Covid-19 but eco-socialism is definitely a step closer to what the left was once. Such a progressive left is simply a group of petty bourgeois domesticated by the evil imperialists and immensely well paid by the kosher sect. The poor? As a poor worker, I don’t stop drinking beer even in a world infested with evil fascists and Nazis. Even with so many disturbances and Covid-19 today I will taste a juicy handmade hamburger with cheese, mayonnaise, egg and mustard. Not bad for a working poor? Fear is a hysterics factory. I really like Escobar’s texts but lately I’ve been very anxious.
“Here’s where we find Trump, Modi and Bolsonaro.”
No, I don’t find them here, together in one group, at all.
Bolsonaro may be the complete sellout, that much is granted.
Modi may have some desire to improve life for many Indians, but he’s a weak reed first and foremost concerned with not getting flattened by contrary strategic winds by seeking to balance himself between them.
Trump a compete puppet??? If he were there would not be any coordinated riots in US cities the past few days. The Usual Puppet Masters are NOT happy with him! At ALL.
Everyone wants him to do what they want yesterday (2017 and 2018……2019 is too late and lateness will not be forgiven) but I will still be patient another year or so (or maybe til Hell Freezes Over…lol) before joining Greta and Pepe under the Bogus Banner Of Climate Change…and Carbon Credits ….bought and paid for by the Euro-Feudalists.
Where does the Capital financing One Belt One Road fit in with THAT?
Even with all the Marxist Ideology in the world trying to lubricate things…the two seem incompatible, incommensurable, insoluble.
The latter is one element of the solution. The former, a Cannabis Cloud from some College Campus Cafe.
“Modi may have some desire to improve life for many Indians”
Like these ones https://www.anti-empire.com/hunger-misery-chaos-brutality-and-humiliation-the-nightmare-that-is-indias-lockdown/
D (Adelson Funded) T, fantasy figure billionaire, is indeed the archetypal complete zionazi puppet.
You know that Trump could’ve ended this long time ago when he had pressed to prosecure all of the police men involved?
” …. before joining Greta and Pepe under the Bogus Banner Of Climate Change…and Carbon Credits ….bought and paid for by the Euro-Feudalists.”
That is not what Pepe is talking about. What he is talking about is very far removed from Greta and is the right kind of green. He is talking about sustainability supported by the system, not poverty as in capitalism boom bust.
Capital financing of Belt and Road is not capital financing as practiced by capitalists. It is a method to use combined capital strength for a combined growth, not only in capital, but on 5 different axis, one of them social good – not just riches for the oligarchs. Social and sustainable use of capital is whole other story.
Trump clearly fits in the Modi Bolsonaro mode.
Strange but I was struck by the difference in two world leaders,Trump who handed out trillions to the wall street bankers and the stock market (to protect the wealth of the 1%) buying up everything in sight,with little regard for the people Mitch up in congress his front man whining that they can’t give another stimulus to the people because it cost to much.
Meanwhile reading Putin’s address to the regions he states that the top priority is the people which is the country and list the increases of payments to the people,he also included small business in that.it struck me because hearing the people being top priority is not something we hear in the U.S. where the people came last in the pecking orded,if at all.>>>>r
“So this is our choice: it’s either Neoliberal Restoration or a revolutionary rupture. And nothing in between.”
Hmm…there is something in between. How about local socialism and communities banding together to form co-ops and credit unions like what sprang up in many parts of the country during the so-called Great Depression? Milwaukee had socialist mayors for close to thirty years and “sewer socialism” worked! Wisconsin was also a hotbed for agricultural cooperatives where farmers voluntarily shared machinery and sold their dairy products without interference from the big agricultural corpse.
That day is long gone, but in the present circumstance change on the local level has a much better chance of actually happening than state socialism does. Get down to that local farmer’s market and get your hands dirty, folks.
If such a thing could have happened, it would have already. All those local co-ops and communities are essential for the working of the global economy. That can never be allowed in any country that fashions itself as part of the global economy, which they pretty much all do – by choice or by necessity – at this point. Russia seems to be giving it a go on a limited scale these days thanks to the assistance of US sanctions no doubt, but just try to implement anything that even faintly reeks of the s-word here in the USA or any of its vassal states and see how fast the invisible hand of the market – never mind the quite tangible hand of the national police state – will shut you down. Neoliberalism / neoconservatism ain’t going anywhere anytime soon, a minor annoyance like a debt crisis notwithstanding. The rapidly approaching digital currency – no dead beats allowed – will settle all that in a jiffy, and all will be right in the globalist world once again. Any resistance will simply be defunded and, yes, drowned like the proverbial baby in a bathtub. After that, as we’re seeing in the news today, the velvet glove comes off and the ever-present iron fist emerges. “For our own good,” of course. We can all run, but there’s no place to hide anymore. All is going exactly as planned. Resistance will be utterly futile.
This is the key, the nugget, the core of the dilemma we all face: “Financial capitalism is an expert in adapting to – and profiting from – the serial crises it provokes or unleashes.”
They always have a trapdoor, an escape route, a change of costumes, control of the story, transformation at midnight, a diversion, but most of all they have their hands on levers of power and, thus, they will adapt and profit even from collapse.
I would agree with you if it was stated 5 years ago. They have trapdoors,change of costumes and all those tricks. Situation they face now is that they chased away almost all capable men and replaced them with proper ones. Capable might have pulled these things before, but capable were not needed anymore when the USSR collapsed so they were replaced with those who know how to be pleasant to the ear and not to anger the boss.
Not that they will not try same tactics. It might even work if the Empire had not fallen so low and still had some capability to coordinate it, for might to destroy they still have.
More on my mind are things coming to replace them. For example, how will the future UN conduct itself when faced with a non compliant member? Sanctions will just make ordinary citizens suffer. War? I do hope that we will find solutions for these and would be interested if someone had an interesting links to point me a bit regarding this topic and the topic of state and church, first christian values in government but not just them.
Financial capitalism will go into hiding to resurface later for sure but i do not see them skipping boats. For that you would need the capability to properly assess the situation and implement the measures. But, either from ideological or religious reasons (it is debatable which view we take but ultimately irrelevant) they do not see the need to enact these measures. In the moment of their greatest triumph? /sarc off
Regarding this train of thought, when i talk to my friends about these ( rare occasion where i was given permission to broach the subject) they point how all these things require belief in people. Actually if you look closer all you need is greed as main ingredient and all the rest follows. Just our luck that greed is nowhere to be seen. Hard at work dismantling the system they rode to death into their sundown.
The neoliberal system we had is toxic to all but the elite who use it to squeeze more from the working and middle class. But I see no evidence of anything better coming, more likely a more restrictive version that accommodates the crafted corona paranoia as an excuse for more fascism…to keep us safe.
However I for one do not look to China’s Orwellian system as our savior, when did replacing one totalitarian system for another ever benefit the people, the same unelected elite still lurk behind the curtain pulling the levers. Marxism may be fine fine in theory but doesn’t account for human nature, we simply exchange oppressive capitalists with oppressive bureaucrats. What matters whose snout is in the trough to those that have no place at the table.
I find this use of “fascism” somewhat inaccurate (and Pepe is hardly the only one). Fascism nationalized the banks in 1926. It started public pensions and other social projects (such as support for single mothers) which did not exist before. The oligarchs were 100% italian. Are we really going to nationalize the banks in the West? Or expanding the social net?
I hate to make a somewhat off topic comment, but I found a piece of news that ought to be very interesting to this site’s readers. The truck driver (Bogdan Vechirko), who yesterday drove his tuck into a large group of protesters in Minneapolis, is a Banderite and former participant in Washington’s brutal proxy war against the Donbass. I read it on Colonel Cassad’s site. The chickens are coming home to roost. Check it out:
https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/5912043.html
Ukies went to Hong Kong during those riots also. Plenty of photos available. US uses the Maidan as a prototype for others to use as inspiration and training.
CIA and State Dept move radicals all around the globe.
“Give me control of a nation’s money supply and I care not who makes its laws.”
At the apex of the power pyramid are the private banking cabal, who issue the US money supply as interest bearing debt. From this all else flows. The military are beholden to them to fund all their adventures abroad. As Eisenhower noted “Beware the military industrial complex”, but he failed to acknowledge the supremacy of the banks, who control their funding directly or indirectly via their minions in government. Their wars are about imposing a debt based currency on their victims and control of energy sources and raw materials.
China is a holdout on the currency issue, that explains their ability to expand their economy at over 6% per year and why it is ringed by US military bases.
The industrial capitalists are now largely beholden to the banking cabal to fund their operations. The exceptions are the high tech international corporations such as Apple Computer, Facebook and Amazon, that do not need bank financing, since they have $billions per month in profits that funds their operations. This is why for example, Soros, who is the front man for the faceless international bankers, wants to get rid of Zuckerberg, so that they can loot his company and remove a freedom of speech platform, that can be an impediment to their ambitions of total world domination.