"There is very good reason to believe that, in a generation or so, capitalism itself will no longer exist—most obviously, as ecologists keep reminding us, because it's impossible to maintain an engine of perpetual growth forever on a finite planet, and the current form of capitalism doesn't seem to be capable of generating the kind of vast technological breakthroughs and mobilizations that would be required for us to start finding and colonizing any other planets. Yet faced with the prospect of capitalism actually ending, the most common reaction—even from those who call themselves "progressives"—is simply fear. We cling to what exists because we can no longer imagine an alternative that wouldn't be even worse."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Academics from the United StatesPolitical authors from the United StatesJews from the United StatesPeople from New York CityAnthropologists from the United States
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Chapter Twelve, "1971–The Beginning…", pp. 381–382
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Graeber
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
David Graeber
David Rolfe Graeber (February 12, 1961 β September 2, 2020) was an American anthropologist and anarchist who was a Reader in Social Anthropology at Goldsmiths. In addition to his academic work, Graeber has a history of both direct and indirect involvement in political activism, including membership in the labor union Industrial Workers of the World, a role in protests against the World Economic Forum in New York City in 2002, and support for the 2010 UK student protests movement. He is co-founde
79 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by David Graeber β
Related Quotes
"Direct action is the insistence, when faced with structures of unjust authority, on acting as if one is already free."
"One could well argue that if there is any human essence, it is precisely our capacity to imagine that we have one."
"The reason that economic textbooks now begin with imaginary villages is because it has been impossible to talk about β¦"
"At their very simplest, anarchist beliefs turn on to two elementary assumptions. The first is that human beings are, β¦"
"Most of all, anarchism is just a matter of having the courage to take the simple principles of common decency that weβ¦"
"Every time you reach an agreement by consensus, rather than threats, every time you make a voluntary arrangement withβ¦"
"Anarchism is just the way people act when they are free to do as they choose, and when they deal with others who are β¦"
"Every time you treat another human with consideration and respect, you are being an anarchist. Every time you work ouβ¦"
"No anarchist claims to have a perfect blueprint. The last thing we want is to impose prefab models on society anyway.β¦"
"Many people seem to think that anarchists are proponents of violence, chaos, and destruction, that they are against aβ¦"