CAPITALISING ON CRISIS: BILLIONAIRES, PATENT WARS AND SURVEILLANCE IN THE WAKE OF COVID-19

Posted on May 28, 2020 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged amazon, antivax, austerity, Big Pharma, billionaires, capitalism, coronavirus, Covid-19, crisis, cuts, David Harevy, disaster, economy, featured, health, Naomi Klein, neoliberalism, patents, privatisation, revolving door, speculation, surveillance, tax the rich, tech, vaccines.

by Tesni Clare

It’s not an original idea: opportunistic, peripatetic capitalism works by capitalising on its own crises. The idea rings even truer for neoliberal capitalism.

It’s what Naomi Klein has dubbed ‘disaster capitalism’. Amidst public disorientation following a crisis, control is achieved by the imposition of economic shock therapy, or in other words, economic liberalisation – public spending is withdrawn, large scale privatisation occurs, and disaster is transformed into a shiny new investment. Private contractors move in, gobble up funding for their efforts to ‘clean up’, and billions get cut from government budgets.

THE WOMEN’S MARCHES: FOURTH WAVE FEMINISM & A WORRYING, WAYWARD TREND – PART 3 (OF 3)

Posted on February 28, 2019 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged #balanceforbetter, #metoo, austerity, Bladerunner, Cambridge Analytica, conformism, demo, endorsement, equality, featured, feminism, gender rights, germaine greer, left, liberalism, Luce Irigaray, media, Naomi Klein, Nicola Rivers, populism, rally, Rashida Tlaib, speech, uk, womens march, work.

by Sunetra Senior

Part Three (of Three): An Ideological Ambush and Choosing Utopia. Read Part One here and part Two here.

Here, another sinister aspect of the Trump campaign, now verified by the recent Cambridge Analytica scandal, was the invasive, online method through which I proposed that an amoral moneyed elite was not only manipulating, but also forcibly hijacking the public’s trust. I will again emphasise another, so far unacknowledged, caveat: this method of manufacturing investment not only cheats people short-term – including those vacuous nutjobs at the top- but sustains a deceptive, distinctly digital control well into the destructive future. Once removed and shiny, the technological medium of devices and social media is the perfect way to distract from the escalation of political inequality by cunningly feigning advancement.Continue Reading

THE GREEN PARTY LEADERSHIP ELECTIONS 2018: LESLIE ROWE

Posted on July 25, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged #GPLE2018, #greenleadership, Amelia Womack, Andrew Cooper, british politics, caroline lucas, climate change, deputy, election, featured, grassroots, Green, Green Party, Jonathan Bartley, Labour, labour party, leader, leslie rowe, lgbtqia, maggie chapman, Naomi Klein, natalie bennett, politics, privatisation, radical, Sian Berry.

The Norwich Radical aims to offer wide and fair coverage of both national and international politics, including elections, campaigns, and movements affecting local and wider scale policies. In light of this, we have contacted all the candidates standing in both the Leadership and Deputy Leadership elections for The Green Party of England and Wales, asking them to explain their vision for the Party and the country. We will be publishing their responses over the week leading up to the elections.

by Leslie Rowe

I am deeply disappointed at the current state of British politics. For too long we have allowed a Tory minority to undermine our NHS, social services, local government, emergency services and indeed the full plethora of public services. The Conservative policy of forcing up the costs of services by privatisation and then cutting those services in the name of austerity, is a fraud being perpetrated on the British people, which the mass media have singularly failed to call out.Continue Reading

AGAINST POPULAR ENVIRONMENTALISM

Posted on February 7, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged canada, capitalism, climate change, coffee cups, corporate, ecology, economy, environment, environmentalism, Erik Solheim, Europe, featured, grassroots, India, levy, Mark Fisher, Michael Gove, Naomi Klein, Narmada, Narmada Bachao Andolan, NGO, non profit, Paris Climate Agreement, policy, private sector, profit, science, South Africa, Tar Sands, uk, UN.

by Scott McLaughlan

The earth is facing major – and quite possibly irreversible – environmental catastrophe and ecological breakdown. No need to panic. The Paris climate agreement was a resounding success, was it not?

On the one hand, one set of researchers estimate that at our current trajectory, we have about a 5% chance of remaining below the 2C threshold set out in the Paris agreement in 2015. On the other, a recent audit of the agreement conducted by the United Nations (UN) made it clear that even if the Paris agreement was to be met in full, it won’t be enough of a shift to avoid a total planetary clusterfuck of epic proportions. In his statement on the matter, head of UN Environment Erik Solheim suggested that “if we invest in the right technologies, ensuring that the private sector is involved, we can still meet the promise we made to our children to protect their future”.

What if the “private sector” is the problem? In order to decode the question we need to be clear what the private sector is, what its objectives are, and the kind of power it has over environmental policy.Continue Reading

“I LIKE MY REVOLUTIONS TO BE FUN” – AN INTERVIEW WITH BEANS ON TOAST

Posted on December 1, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Arts, Music That Matters and tagged activism, alternative, anti-capitalism, Beans on Toast, Bobby Banjo, Brexit, capitalism, Cushty, DIY, Donald Trump, Essex, festivals, folk, Frank Turner, free party, Giant Wafer Studios, Glastonbury, Independent Venue Week, inequality, interview, Jenna Jones, jeremy corbyn, Labour, live music, london, Manchester attacks, Matt Millership, music, music venues, musicians, Naomi Klein, No Logo, Norwich Waterfront, poverty, protests, renewable energy, royal wedding, She Drew The Gun, Skinny Lister, social media, songwriting, squats, tony blair, Tristan Ivemy, Wales, Will Varley, Xtra Mile.

by Rowan Gavin

Today, Essex-born folk singer Beans On Toast releases his ninth album, ‘Cushty’. Last night, I saw Beans play live for the ninth-ish time (if I’m honest, I’ve lost count, but the symmetry is pleasing). If you’ve been to a British festival in the past decade you’ve probably run into Beans as well – he’s the kind of musician who pops up everywhere. With a new album out every year since 2009, he’s perpetually turning up in your town on tour, or supporting one of his many musical friends, or appearing at festivals you didn’t know he was on the bill for.

SELF EDUCATION, NEW SOLUTIONS

Posted on September 26, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged adulthood, books, Brexit, capitalism, ChildLine, collective action, connectivity, consumerism, conversation, coping, corporations, democracy, disaster, education, environment, environmentalism, events, facts, free thought, globalisation, government, hope, ideology, individualism, information, information overload, knowledge, knowledge is power, learning, local groups, mental health, Naomi Klein, news, No Is Not Enough: Resisting The New Shock Politics, politicians, politics, power, reading, resistance, schools, security, self education, social consciousness, society, sociopolitical situation, This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs The Climate, Trump, truth, voters, voting, young people.

by Laura Potts

Schools stand as institutions of education, aiming to enhance and aid growth in various forms. Children growing through the school system will eventually leave as adults. However, in my generation, there is a trend away from exploring a key part of adulthood: continued self education.

THE FAILINGS OF MODERN SCHOOLS AND THE IMPORTANCE OF CREATIVE EDUCATION

Posted on February 8, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Arts, Student and tagged academies, art, capitalism, climate change, corruption, creative education, creativity, crisis, education, John Dewey, Mark Fisher, Naomi Klein, school, teaching.

by Laura Potts

Forget statistics, results and score tables – how much does the modern school system genuinely guide young minds toward a progressive and fulfilling future?

John Dewey, often called the father of modern western education, argued that raising children as obedient conformists, rather than individuals who think for themselves, is very dangerous for democratic society. In recent decades, generations of people have been brought up at a midpoint between these two extremes, raised to conform to individualism. This has provided support for dangerous social, environmental and political power structures which do not provide for the vital collectivist needs of our ever-more-globalised world.

THE BLIND SPOTS OF THE GERMAN ENERGY TRANSITION — 2ND ROUND FOR ENDE GELÄNDE

Posted on April 13, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged #breakfree2016, #breakfreefromfossilfuels, #keepitintheground, activists, break free, break free from fossil fuels, civil disobedience, climate change, climate crisis, climate negotiations, co2, coalfields, ecologist, economist, ecosystems, emissions, Ende Gelände, Energiewende, energy transition, environment, EU, exploitation, Ffos y fran, fossil fuel, germany, Germany energy, global warming, good life, green economy, keep it in the ground, lignite, Lusatia, Naomi Klein, natural destruction, Nigeria, open cast mines, people power, profit, reclaim the power, renewable energy, resistance, rhineland, social exclusion, system change, this changes everything, turkey, Vattenfall, Wales, welcome2stay.

by Dorothee Häussermann

Last August, more than 1000 people rushed into one of Germany’s biggest open-cast lignite mines and stopped mining operations for a day. This action of civil disobedience went under the slogan ‘Ende Gelände — stop the diggers — protect the climate’; ‘Ende Gelände’ translates as ‘here and no further’. The campaign called for an immediate coal phase-out, emphasizing the urgency for DIY solutions to the climate crisis in the face of governmental inaction.

What is the problem? Isn’t Germany the paragon of energy transition? Aren’t ecologists and economists alike inspired by progressive policies such as the feed-in tariff that supported the rapid expansion of renewable energy sources? Even Naomi Klein’s film This Changes Everything depicts the German ‘Energiewende’ as a way to go forward. So what are these activists complaining about?Continue Reading

ECONOMICS AFTER CAPITALISM

Posted on August 22, 2015 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged amartya sen, anti capitalist, arab spring, babylon and beyond, banking crisis, book review, capitalism, derek wall, e f schumacher, economics, elinor ostrom, eurozone, feminist economics, green economics, Green Party, Naomi Klein, occupy, occupy movement, pluto press, review.

by Colin Hynson

Derek Wall Economics After Capitalism: A Guide to the Ruins and a Road to the Future.
Pluto Press, 2015. £13.00

In the last months of 2011 countries across the world witnessed an explosion of protest under the banner of ‘Occupy’. Inspired by uprisings of the Arab Spring and the Indignant movement in Spain and angered by the effects of the financial crisis of 2008–2009, large groups of anti-capitalist and anti-corporatist demonstrators took over public spaces and set up camp. The Occupy protests in New York and in London were the ones that occupied most public attention although there were Occupy protests in many cities across the world, including on Norwich’s Hay Hill.

The Occupy protestors were subject to all of the usual attacks and criticisms from conservative commentators and pundits and there was one thing that they all agreed on. It was easy to see what the protestors were against but much more difficult to find out exactly what they were for. There was no list of demands, no manifesto and no programme of action. Yet for many supporters of the Occupy movement this wasn’t a weakness but a sign of strength. It allowed diverse groups from environmentalists to socialists and anarchists to come together and draw attention to a problem that needed fixing, i.e. capitalism, whilst agreeing that there were many ways that could solve that problem.Continue Reading

Naomi Klein

CAPITALISING ON CRISIS: BILLIONAIRES, PATENT WARS AND SURVEILLANCE IN THE WAKE OF COVID-19

THE WOMEN’S MARCHES: FOURTH WAVE FEMINISM & A WORRYING, WAYWARD TREND – PART 3 (OF 3)

Part Three (of Three): An Ideological Ambush and Choosing Utopia. Read Part One here and part Two here.

THE GREEN PARTY LEADERSHIP ELECTIONS 2018: LESLIE ROWE

AGAINST POPULAR ENVIRONMENTALISM

THE FAILINGS OF MODERN SCHOOLS AND THE IMPORTANCE OF CREATIVE EDUCATION

ECONOMICS AFTER CAPITALISM

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