This month, UNC-Chapel Hill is hosting four events decrying the ills of capitalism.
The first is John Komlos’ “Capitalism with a Human Face,” on October 8. In the presentation, Komlos will take “a critical look at some assumptions undergirding our free market.” He will also “advocate a new perspective on economics [to] provide the basis for a just socio-economic system, ensure a fair distribution of income, care about the environment, and not be indifferent to the welfare of future generations.” Welcome the new utopia! (Ironically, the event costs $18 to attend.)
The second event, on October 9, is “How I Found the Origins of American Capitalism in the Southern Historical Collection” by Ed Baptist. Baptist will discuss his forthcoming book The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism. The book claims that America’s prosperity and capitalist system are rooted in (and tainted by) the legacy of slavery.
On the 15th, UNC-CH economics professor Stanley W. Black will discuss “Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century.” In particular, he will look at the “stunning claim that income inequality is an intrinsic outcome of capitalist markets.” (Black recently made headlines in the N&O by accusing the Republican General Assembly of taking North Carolina, “all the way back to the 19th century!”)
And on October 21, the Critical Speaker Series of the Department of English and Comparative Literature is hosting a seminar on “The Humanities, the Undercommons, and Post-Capitalist Society.” The Undercommons, a book by Stefano Harney and Fred Moten, casts “the proliferation of capitalist logistics” as a “mechanism of control” and also criticizes the modern “neoliberal” university for betraying “its own liberal commitment to bring about emancipation.”
During the same month, no pro-market events are taking place on campus. So much for diversity of thought!
