Slavoj Žižek famously said that it is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism. Others claim we are now in a post-political era, in the sense that the neoliberal world view and agenda are so embedded in our background assumptions and common sense that what passes for political discussion and argument takes place within the neoliberal framework. As Mark Fisher puts it in his book, Capitalist Realism (2009 Zero Books), “Capitalism seamlessly occupies the horizons of the thinkable”. Fisher claims that capitalism, as an economic system, far from being threatened by current anti-capitalist sentiments and movements, feeds on and exploits them both ideologically and commercially. They are no threat as, to all intents and purposes, “capitalism is the only show in town”. It may not be perfect but it is the best we can hope for.
