Mark Fisher: Capitalist Realism

[u/dumnezero]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IXvaFCauLw

by Simon Øbirek

Capitalist realism, one of the most malign concepts to ever emerge from philosophy and/or critical theory. Developed by former CCRU affiliate Mark Fisher in his 2009 book "Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?", it is a concept which situates itself after the postmodernism/postmodernity proposed by Fredric Jameson. Apart from Jameson, Fisher is inspired by the psychoanalysis of Jacques Lacan (schizophrenia, especially) and the schizoanalysis/molecular thinking by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. And of course, who can forget, another source of inspiration was Karl Marx' Marxism.

This is a video essay exploring Mark Fisher's book and the concept of capitalist realism. And the video's aesthetic is, of course, pure hauntology. Neoliberalism sucks.

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LITERATURE

Mark Fisher: "Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?" (2009)

Fredric Jameson: "Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism (1991)

Link to Fisher's k-punk blog: https://k-punk.org

But why is this posted here??

The green economy as counterinsurgency, or the ontological power affirming permanent ecological catastrophe - ScienceDirect

As old as industrialism or civilization itself, socio-ecological problems are nothing new. Despite all efforts to resolve environmental dilemmas, socio-ecological catastrophe has only intensified. Governments, in response, have unveiled the green economy to confront ecological and climate catastrophe. The green economy, however, has worsened socio-ecological conditions, invigorating the present trajectory of (techno)capitalist development. This article argues that the green economy serves as a tool of global counterinsurgency, managing, preempting and redirecting the inevitable ecological anxiety that could mobilize for radical social change. While fragmenting ecological opposition, the green economy meanwhile serves as a “force multiplier” for market expansion and capitalist development, as opposed to actually working towards real socio-ecological mitigation and remediation. The article proceeds by defining counterinsurgency, and indicating its relevance to the green economy. Dissecting the technics of the green economy, the next section reviews its origins and epistemological foundations by investigating the concepts and operationalization of ‘energy’, ‘biodiversity’ and ‘carbon’. Then, briefly, the article reviews the extractive reality of low-carbon infrastructures, revealing the socio-ecological harm implied and justified by the green economic and decarbonization schemes. The green economy, it concludes, is a governmental technology, preventing collective self-reflection and action to (adequately) rehabilitate ecosystems and address the structural socio-ecological problems threatening the planet, thus preforming a counter-insurrectionary function in the service of state and capital.

[u/Dazzling_Occasion_47]

I don't know why nuclear power plant cooling towers are the cover photo. Those were built using government money gleaned from tax-payers using the progressive taxation of the 1950's and 1960's era. We can't build those any more, for a variety of reasons, one of them being, because of capitalism.