We are in an age of polycrisis, one that is characterised by a barrage of images of catastrophic environmental collapse, vast and mind-boggling wealth inequality, brutal and unrelenting genocidal campaigns and so much more. These images, projected to us through screens daily, have become the background noise to which we move through our daily lives. Stopping every now and then to consume, protest, or take a break on a sunny beach somewhere in search of a respite. When we think about this contemporary period we find ourselves in, critics often lay the blame squarely at the feet of modern capitalism.

But such critique often does not actively interrogate the idea of how our era has come to be defined by such catastrophic conditions. And though there isn’t such a thing as a single cause or solution to problems in an increasingly complex and interconnected world, a critical analysis of the methods and armature of modern capitalism demonstrates a harrowing realisation that this all par for the course, rather than the hijacking of an inherently benevolent system.

In her new book Vulture Capitalism: Corporate Crimes, Backdoor Bailouts and the Death of Freedom Blakeley takes on the world’s most powerful corporations by showing how the causes of our modern crises are the intended result of our capitalist system. It’s not broken, it’s working exactly as planned.


Part of an ongoing collaboration with Dutch platform DeDependance,  we invited Grace Blakeley to speak about her book Vulture Capitalism: Corporate Crimes, Backdoor Bailouts and the Death of Freedom.

For this event, I curated and moderated the discussion in collaboration with DeDependance. 

PRAISE FOR VULTURE CAPITALISM