The critique of capital, then and now: Why the ‘right’ is the new left, and Ye is the new Roosevelt

‘A Trump campaign with Bernie Sanders principles.’ Ye’s presidential platform ‘If the poor people all unite, then it’s much harder to control us.’ Andrew Tate, who grew up in extremely impoverished circumstances ‘Capitalists posin’ as compassionate be offendin’ me.’ Kendrick Lamar, ‘Savior’ ‘I’ve got to formulate a plot / Or end up in jail or … Continue reading The critique of capital, then and now: Why the ‘right’ is the new left, and Ye is the new Roosevelt →

The realist school: An emerging paradigm

First published on 14 June 2022. Sometimes, intellectual thought undergoes a rupture that cannot be stopped. It does not matter how much you resist the conceptual tsunami, or how far you run. It will tear down what you know, and force any remaining ideas to cluster around the victorious Noah’s ark of the God-given intellectual … Continue reading The realist school: An emerging paradigm →

Word of the Day: Fanon

First published on my legacy blog, Principia Politica, adapted from an essay submitted while studying as a first-year undergraduate student at University of Cambridge, 2018-19. The essay was awarded the mark of first. Frantz Fanon believed in Third-World Marxism. Marxism teaches that big changes of society are, at the end of the day, the result … Continue reading Word of the Day: Fanon →

Ultrapredators: The demonisation of the working class and the new Jim Crow

I have previously compared class hierarchy to slave systems of times gone by. Indeed, the master/slave dialectic of many societies is the archetypical class division. It denotes a complete asymmetry of power between two classes of people: the rulers, and the ruled. It is no surprise that the ancient concept of tyranny is adapted in … Continue reading Ultrapredators: The demonisation of the working class and the new Jim Crow →

Stuck in the middle: A class analysis of J. Cole’s ‘G.O.M.D.’ music video

Is hip hop just a euphemism for a new religion The soul music of the slaves that the youth is missing? — Kanye West, ‘Gorgeous’, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy ‘Middle Child.’ This is one of J. Cole’s song titles, but it applies to the music video to ‘G.O.M.D.’ in an economic rather than a … Continue reading Stuck in the middle: A class analysis of J. Cole’s ‘G.O.M.D.’ music video →

Mask Off: The demonisation of Kanye West — a very provisional, tentative thought piece

Disclaimer 1: Please have sympathy on my soul, dear reader. I know this world is unkind to heretics to whatever is fashionable nowadays, but I am not exactly fashionable, and I care not for the ‘views’ of media gurus or well-spoken sophists. I am an ex-student, a lonely soul, and — much more importantly, my … Continue reading Mask Off: The demonisation of Kanye West — a very provisional, tentative thought piece →

How capitalism ends

First published on 14 September 2020. There are several dimensions to the supposed demise of capitalism. There are two developments and two critical contradictions behind the system’s present afflictions. Capitalism may end, however, in two different ways—one of which less an end to capitalism than a return to a different form of capitalism. Lastly, if … Continue reading How capitalism ends →

Tenet, trade, and time

I have previously analysed the film Tenet from two angles: political economy, and philosophy. I have viewed the film through the lens of István Hont’s Jealousy of Trade, on the one hand, and the prism of Martin Heidegger’s Being and Time, on the other. Now I would like to consider Tenet as a totality: through … Continue reading Tenet, trade, and time →

Gender is completely meaningless. That’s why we need it.

A lot of critiques of existing divisions of gender roles take for granted the meaningfulness of the term 'gender'. The critiques merely inflate or deflate the meaning, but take for granted the idea that gender can have any meaning at all. Even 'post-gender' accounts seem to take for granted the substantial character of gender performance. … Continue reading Gender is completely meaningless. That’s why we need it. →

Trade makes war: A social theory of violence

War and violence are words that denote extreme forms of social behaviour, even referred to as asocial or antisocial behaviour, in keeping with the immoral and dehumanising acts they accompany. But this was not always the case. War and violence were once seen as far more normal parts of the human conditions than they are … Continue reading Trade makes war: A social theory of violence →