We’re all through with the matching funds. My thanks to all who gave. Further donations, while appreciated, will not be matched.
Tag: 2021 Fundraiser
A generous reader has offered to match donations up to a total of $600. So, if you value my writing and can…
When the matching funds are used up, I’ll put up a quick post.
We’re at $9,535.18 raised. The next tier is at $10K, and is:
A longish look at the theory of revolutions: How, when and why do they happen? I’ll be drawing on people like Randall Collins and Michael Mann. Most of what they have is based on the experience of Agrarian empires, so I’ll try and extend it a bit to industrial nations, and also look at what it means for a world system to collapse. World systems prior to capitalism didn’t include the entire world (and capitalism didn’t till the mid-19th century), so we can see what comes thinking about it.
If we hit 11.5K, the last tier is:
An essay on the effect of computer and telecom technology on humanity. Back in the 1990s, in his book Technopoly, Neil Postman predicted it would be bad for most people. I would argue it has, or will be, but we’ll take a look at the ups and downs, the effects on economics, geopolitics, and daily life. As with the advents of writing, printing, and firearms, the early results may not be the same as those in the longer term, so we’ll try and figure out some of those.
I’ll shut the fundraiser down next week (I’ll write one last update before I do.) I deeply appreciate everyone who’s given this year; it’s been a tough year.
We’ve raised $5,820. I am grateful to everyone who has given. The fundraiser is, however, going the slowest of any I’ve ever done, which I expect is because of Covid.
We’ve reached the first tier:
A longer article on the collapse of the USSR, putting everything I’m aware of together. In particular, I want to discuss the steps Gorbachev took which seem like either gross stupidity or intentional destruction. The fall of the Soviet Union was studied in great detail by the Chinese Communist Party, and has informed their actions since.
If you can afford to give, I’d definitely appreciate it. If you’re short on rent/food or medicine money, though, please don’t.
The next tier is $2,180 from here. That one is one I think is especially useful, and will build on the collapse of the USSR article.
A summary of world system analysis as practiced mainly by Immanuel Wallerstein, with a look at what it means for the future. World system analysis takes capitalism as a world system, and looks at how it has re-ordered the entire relationship of nations, subordinating them to its needs, though about five centuries. We can see clearly that most countries today are not sovereign, but subject to the system as a whole — this is true to some extent even of the hegemonic power, the US. Wallerstein thinks this world system is played out, and we’ll look at why. (Wallerstein, like Randall Collins, predicted the collapse of the USSR in advance, using his model, when almost all specialists in the USSR did not see it coming.)
After that, at $10K, is a look at the theory of revolutions, something rather…timely for us today, and which will grow even more so as climate change causes conditions to further deteriorate and populations and elite factions lose patience with the fumbling of elite consensus.
If you value my writing, please do give. It makes a big difference, both to me, and to my calculation of how much I should write in the future. Subscriptions count for 3X as much as donations, for reaching the various tiers.
Be well, and if you aren’t giving I hope it’s not because you can’t afford to.