The Dig Death and Life Under Capitalism w/ Sarah Jaffe
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Aug 16, 2025 Join Sarah Jaffe, an insightful author and columnist, as she delves into her book 'From the Ashes: Grief and Revolution in a World on Fire.' She passionately discusses how grief intertwines with capitalism, examining personal losses amidst systemic injustices. Jaffe shares her experience with grief and its political implications, the impact of deindustrialization, and the urgent need for compassionate activism. The conversation highlights the importance of community support in healing and addressing societal challenges, especially post-pandemic.
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Disposability Is A Core Capitalist Drive
- Contemporary capitalism increases disposability through automation and policies that valorize dead labor over living workers.
- Jaffe stresses the system wants us to behave like machines, not necessarily replace us immediately with them.
Make Mourning Public To Interrupt Power
- Turn private mourning into public action by making grief visible through protests, die-ins, and public memorials.
- Use collective mourning to interrupt circulation and force public attention on violence and disposability.
Deindustrialization Creates Collective Haunting
- Deindustrialization produces living 'ghosts' who mourn lost stable livelihoods and social worlds.
- The nostalgia often targets a unionized, dignified life rather than the brutalities of past industrial labor.
