Peter Linebaugh interviewed by Mahdi Ganjavi
Socialist Project
Peter Linebaugh was in Toronto in May 13-16, 2016. An internationally known historian, Professor Linebaugh is considered one of the most important Marxist historians of our time. He is a historian of class struggles in Britain and the colonial Atlantic. A former student of E. P. Thompson, Linebaugh has taught in New York University, Harvard University and the University of Toledo.
Something strange and ominous is happening in the oil industry, and the “peak oil” debate, whether oil production has hit its peak, rages anew. There is still oil in the ground, but the cost of extracting it is increasingly prohibitive. Some ecologists had long argued for investment in renewable energy sources while energy profitability was still high, now they fear we must build “a bridge to the energy future, while the highway we’re on is crumbling beneath us.”
The alt-right is a fringe bolstered by decades of Republican politicians—yes, even those that Clinton has extended a helping hand to—engaging in dog-whistle politics, cozying up to nativist movements, and guilt-tripping the poor and downtrodden.
The real choice in the future is either a hugely expensive for-profit oligopoly with the market power to charge high prices even to healthy people and stop insuring sick people. Or else a government-run single payer system.
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