The Imperialist Way of Life: Exploitation of Man and Nature in Global Capitalism

The Center for Arab Unity Studies published the book The Imperialist Way of Life: Exploitation of Man and Nature in Global Capitalism by Ulrich Brand and Markus Wissen.
This book deals with the multiple crises of global capitalism, especially economic, environmental, and democratic, and their relationship to lifestyles in the countries of the North and the countries of the South. The authors argue that the current prevailing way of living bears the label “imperialist”, because it requires disproportionate and unlimited access to resources, carbon sinks, and labor. The authors analyze the imperial lifestyle as a structural limitation of opportunities for people in the countries of the North and the countries of the South. The main contradiction of this way of life is that it is expanding towards the countries of the south, although it cannot be generalized for social and environmental reasons.
Researchers Ulrich Brand and Markus Wissen call for the adoption of a “solidary lifestyle” based on justice and environmental protection instead of the “imperialist lifestyle” based on exploitation and destruction of the environment, and they call to struggle for energy democracy, green transition, food sovereignty and paving the way for a vital socio-environmental transformation that serves everyone, primarily the poor countries. This book reflects the researchers’ keenness and interest in the fundamental social, environmental, economic and political issues that many people are ignorant of. It is an explicit and urgent call for a comprehensive and just “social-environmental transformation” and for the establishment of a sustainable lifestyle based on solidarity, that is fair to humans and the environment alike.