Kohei Saito to speak at Ecosocialism 2023

Japanese Marxist academic Kohei Saito, author of Capital in the Anthropocene, will be a keynote speaker at the Ecosocialism 2023, being organised by Green Left — and supported by LINKS International Journal of Socialist Renewal — in Naarm/Melbourne over July 1–2.

When Saito’s Capital in the Anthropocene was published in Japan in September 2020, it became very popular among young people and quickly sold more than half a million copies. The English version is about to be published.

Saito, an associate professor at Tokyo University, built on the pioneering work on Karl Marx’s early ecological insights by other Marxist scholars, such as John Bellamy Foster.

His work is also based on extensive new research on Marx's previously untranslated and unpublished notebooks. This research is being published in English as Marx in the Anthropocene: Towards the idea of Degrowth Communism.

Saito argues that the world needs to break from capitalism and its pursuit of unlimited growth and profits if it is going to have any chance of returning to a more ecologically sustainable path.

The Ecosocialism 2023 conference will bring together ecosocialists from around the world and particularly the Asia-Pacific region.

It will also focus on the intersection between the ecological, economic and political crises of this time. It will aim to draw activists from various progressive social movements together into what will hopefully be a rich and mutually empowering discussion.

The conference be held over the weekend of July 1–2. Details of other keynote speakers, venue and registration will be announced shortly.

Tickets can be purchased at: https://www.trybooking.com/CGSPF