Ika Makimaki reviewed Slow Down by Kōhei Saitō
Essential reading
5 stars
It has been a while since a book so accurately responded to my deepest worries. I had heard the name of Kohei Saito but never approached his writing before. This book is amazing, clear and easy to read but also profound and dare I say it, truly revolutionary. Saito is a Marxist scholar, and in this book he approaches the climate and environmental crisis through Marxism and proposes Degrowth Communism as the solution for human civilisation to survive. His argument is cogent. He starts out by debunking the myth of green growth and argues why capitalism is ill suited to respond to the needs of our time. He then writes how Marx himself had arrived to the idea of degrowth communism (although likely never actually called it that way) as he got older and his unpublished notes and research prove this evolution in his thought. The book closes by showing …
It has been a while since a book so accurately responded to my deepest worries. I had heard the name of Kohei Saito but never approached his writing before. This book is amazing, clear and easy to read but also profound and dare I say it, truly revolutionary. Saito is a Marxist scholar, and in this book he approaches the climate and environmental crisis through Marxism and proposes Degrowth Communism as the solution for human civilisation to survive. His argument is cogent. He starts out by debunking the myth of green growth and argues why capitalism is ill suited to respond to the needs of our time. He then writes how Marx himself had arrived to the idea of degrowth communism (although likely never actually called it that way) as he got older and his unpublished notes and research prove this evolution in his thought. The book closes by showing paths away from capitalism, form simple actions like building cooperative associations of workers and consumers and banning private jets, to more systemic changes like municipalism and the elimination of things like advertising. I was blown away by the clarity of his ideas. Many times while reading I had to take a little break and sit with the concepts, because it is a plausible solution for the biggest crises we face. I consider it essential reading and will certainly be returning to it in the future.