The year 2020 was marked by two events that revealed, once again, the limits of the capitalist system. First, the CoViD-19 pandemic caused by the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, responsible for the deaths of several hundred thousand people and counting, highlighted the vulnerability of human societies in the absence of adequately funded public health services. It also served to highlight which activities are essential to the existence of human societies. Second, the pandemic precipitated the greatest economic crisis since the 1930s. By revealing the fragility of societies where exchanges are extremely rapid and production chains are internationalized, the pandemic also revealed the most irrational aspects of the economic system that governs and structures social relations in almost all parts of the world. Thus, capitalism appears to be incapable not only of providing for basic human needs but also of reproducing its own functioning. All governments that initially try to protect both the law of profit and their citizens’ lives inevitably find themselves tempted to defend the former against the latter.
Globally, the pandemic hits women
9 September 2020, byIn his article, “C’est la lutte finale“, Mike Davis argues: “The current pandemic on a global scale exposes and widens the existential divides within and between societies, and reminds us that the survival of the poorest fifth of humanity is increasingly at question.” It’s an important piece in many regards, but there is a significant omission – the word women does not appear in almost 9,000 words
Lebanon’s neoliberal and confessional political system in question
8 September 2020, byOn 4 August a new tragedy struck Lebanon. An explosion of unprecedented magnitude in the country’s history left more than 180 dead (Lebanese, Syrians and other nationalities), more than 7,000 injured and 300,000 homeless. It is the entire neoliberal and denominational political system that is called into question.
For an internationalist anti-war movement against national myths
7 September 2020, byOn the ongoing Greco-Turkish rivalry in the Mediterranean.
Behind Lebanon’s Catastrophe
6 September 2020, bySuzi Weissman interviewed Gilbert Achcar for her program on Jacobin Radio, August 8, 2020 on the massive August 4 chemical explosion and subsequent political upheaval in Lebanon. The discussion took place on 8 August shortly before the Lebanese government resigned. This is an abridged version of his recorded remarks, transcribed by Meleiza Figueroa.
The Fires Currently Raging in California, and Climate Change
5 September 2020, byRecord wildfires in the San Francisco Bay Area rapidly erupted in less than two weeks, in the midst of a scorching heat wave.
Women’s Agenda in Turkey: Top Issue Is Gender Based Violence
4 September 2020, byIt is not an exaggeration to say that the year 2020 has been a very challenging year for the women’s movement in Turkey, even without the severe consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, which added to the everyday problems of women in terms of social reproduction work, gender based violence and poverty.
Cost of potato vs cost of a bullet
3 September 2020, byIt would not be too wrong to suggest that there was a strong workers’ movement in Turkey in the last decade. Especially while the economy was growing fast, workers’ demands for better wages and working conditions were also present. This can be observed through some major spontaneous workers uprisings such as the one in the auto industry in May 2015 or airport construction workers from 2018. But actually it is a general trend much more than a few random major uprisings, over last 10 years, (...)
Working Women in Lebanon
2 September 2020, byIt has been known since the early days that women’s emancipation starts with achieving financial independence, and women nowadays work hard for this. In Eastern societies like Lebanon where patriarchal values still persist, women find it even more essential that they find jobs that could give them financial independence, but this need in most cases consumes the woman’s identity, making her even more aware of the reality of her sexist environment which is constantly undermining her. The idea of working as means of independence existed before capitalism, but the free market regime has turned this liberating experience into a nightmare, especially for women.
Athletes Making Sports Matter
1 September 2020, byApril 5, 1968 — the night after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. — was the opening of a crucial playoff series between the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers. Reluctantly, the players from both teams went ahead with the game, although their hearts weren’t in it in an atmosphere that sportswriter Leonard Koppett called “subdued.” It’s never been clear to me how much pressure they may have been under, but evidently those players, some of whom were civil rights fighters, felt they couldn’t refuse to take the floor.