Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

Is he really trying to redistribute wealth to workers? ‘Redistribute’, not ‘distribute’ implies that wealth was once distributed to workers. No, what happened between 1945 until the ascent of the neoliberal form of capitalism was a social contract based on compromise between the state, capital and trade unions.  Are the profits too high? I don’t think so. One of the reasons we are in an “era of anaemic economic growth” is that the low rate of profit/of return to capital is not high enough to incentivise the capitalists to invest. Thus some governments are intervening and pouring money into the economy and corporations as well as giving financial support to families and individuals, especially because of the pandemic. As Cédric Duran put it: “  Is this shift sufficient to tackle the century’s social and ecological crises? Not nearly. Does it alter essential class relations? On the contrary: it strives to re-legitimize the social order. Is it unambiguous? No: while private finan...

The Erasure of Anti-Colonial Resistance and Social Theory

Showcasing the Best of Working-Class Cinema

Hyper-capitalist development, privatisation, affordable housing, “surprising poverty.” That’s the opinion the Financial Times nowadays publishes from time to time. You don’t find such a language on the FT a few years ago. When I started reading the paper in early 2000s it was all about “liberal democracy” and “free market democracy.” Even after 2008/09 crisis columnists such Martin Wolf continued his defence of “free market liberal democracy” while other pages of FT were evoking Karl Marx. The word ‘capitalism’ is now everywhere. Now some, the FT for example, think that such a form of capitalism has to be put on a leash, especially after the pandemic and the disaster, the cronyism, the corruption, etc. that have become too obvious and even worrying for some liberals. London’s Sky Pool Related Here is what the  Financial Times , a supporter of neoliberal capitalism of last 40 years is suggesting to reform a system in a deep crisis and thus preserve it: "Radical reforms — revers...

These Muslims coming to our country, provoking us in killing them. These Muslims really hate us, for they want to take what is ours: our property, freedom, values and culture.  Will four Muslims living in a Western city get at least the same media coverage of one white person from France? Muslim family killed in premeditated truck attack

Via Michael Roberts Notice that the two leading states of the neoliberal form of capitalism, US and UK, have the lowest corporate income tax.

Google search results suggest Palestinian keffiyeh ‘a symbol of terrorism’

The German philosopher Jürgen  Habermas is right to reject the UAE’s prize. But, like the German establishment – Merkel’s and Heiko Mass’ support of the last Israeli warfare on Gaza – Habermas has been complicit. It’s a German value, not different from the American or the British historical values. This article , for example, does  not refer to the hypocrisy of Habermas who has been  in Israel, spoke there publicly and kept silent on Israeli occupation and the state’s crimes .

New Atheism, Old Empire

The Women of Raqqa Are Building Their Future

“Because good causes do not sell themselves but rather have to be sold, aid agencies have developed considerable marketing prowess…they will advertise if not embellish the tragedy in order to tap into the guilt of the rich.”  Agency self-promotion is part of the humanitarian aid business model, although there is a fine line between utilitarianism and exploitation. Benefiting from the Misery of Others

“Foreign policy=imperialism” Foreign policy, who cares?

 A review of The Perfect Fascist

A ‘democracy’ that condemns the Chinese dictatorship  Remains of 215 children found in indigenous school Update 751 unmarked graves found

Marx’s Law of Value

Vekuii Rukoro, a Herero paramount chief who tried to sue Germany for compensation in US courts, said the deal is not enough to cover the "irreversible harm" suffered at the hands of colonial forces.   "We have a problem with that kind of an agreement, which we feel constitutes a complete sell-out on the part of the Namibian government," he told Reuters. Germany acknowledges colonial era Namibia genocide Related Link between the Herero genocide and the Holocaust

How Israel Went From Helping Create Hamas to Bombing it Related My interview with Khaled Hrub , author of A Beginner’s Guide to Hamas

It will exceed $600 billion in the next decade

  We’re Loving Our Favourite Cities to Death

Interesting, but how to create the alternative is not convincing. Some main pillars of big agriculture are not tackled in the article: the big corporation, the profit system and productivity. Big Agriculture is Leading to Ecological Collapse