The world is entering a new age of catastrophe. The exceptional is becoming normal. The last
such crisis between 1914 and 1945 witnessed two world wars the Great Depression and the
Holocaust. Now humankind faces fresh existential threats - the COVID-19 pandemic wildfires
floods and other extreme weather events caused by accelerating climate change and the danger
of nuclear war in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. These threats argues Alex
Callinicos have their common source in a multidimensional crisis of the capitalist system
which is hitting the buffers hurling us towards societal collapse. It embraces the increasing
destruction of nature and the degradation of labour a world economy stagnant since the global
financial crisis and escalating inter-imperialist conflicts between the United States China
and Russia. So far the main political beneficiary has been the far right which may capture
the White House again. But the new age of catastrophe is also an age of revolt. Following on
from Black Lives Matter the #MeToo protests and the revolts in Sudan Sri Lanka and Iran
multiple faultlines in the system will provoke still more mass movements that can challenge
myriad forms of oppression and open the way to a just and sustainable world.
