In her talk at the BG conference “Pluriverse of Peace,” Debora Darabi argued that war and climate crisis are not independent but are expressions of a single total social relation: capitalism as the self-movement of value. Drawing on Karl Marx’s analysis of alienation and subject formation, Darabi demonstrated how individuals are compelled to participate in capitalist dynamics that transcend conscious intention and influence every aspect of life, from basic needs to global crises and war. Her talk challenged common assumptions about agency, responsibility, and social causation. She explored what the climate crisis and contemporary wars reveal about the imperatives of capitalist society and the possibilities for collective, conscious transformation that emerge when we rethink the foundations of our social world.
The talk was created for and presented at the “Pluriverse of Peace” conference on Thursday, October 16. The talk expanded on her argument at the BG conference “Kin City,” where Debora Darabi examined how environmental stressors, including air and noise pollution, lack of green space, and elevated heat levels, interact with mental health issues and shorter life expectancies in marginalized communities. The opening day of the BG conference “Pluriverse of Peace” was held in cooperation with the ICI Berlin.