Can we expect the End of Capitalism? And… can we hope that this most radical incarnation of the ruling economic and political regime in the history of class antagonism – between those who rule and those who are ruled – will one day reach its (desirable!) end?
“Capitalism does not work – but it still rules,” reads the cover of the publication appearing before us precisely hic et nunc. Before whom? Well, before us, who still care about a better, truer, more real, more just and, ultimately… more beautiful world. Or at least a more bearable one, we might say with a certain cynical restraint. The subtitle of Katarina Peović’s book itself introduces a certain reservation regarding the context in which the publication’s central question appears. Namely, “While the old is dying and the new cannot be born,” an age of monsters begins (as Antonio Gramsci puts it in his Prison Notebooks). How are we to deal with all of this while what we call the “world” plunges into the abysses of war, poverty and hunger? All because of the unquestioned rule of the only subject-substance of the present – Capitalism.
Katarina Peović, professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Rijeka, is an ideal interlocutor for a discussion on this topic. In addition to her university vocation, her other Beruf is activism and a constant struggle for the rights of the most vulnerable in society (or what remains of it). Katarina was also a member of the Croatian Parliament from 2020 to 2024. However, her intellectual habitus is not exhausted by formal positions, but is reflected in her continuous presence in the public sphere and her persistent commitment and STRUGGLE for improvement in the society in which we live.
The End of Capitalism? While the Old Is Dying and the New Cannot Be Born is a collection of texts published in Obzor, a supplement to Večernji list, from June 2024 to July 2025. Adapted into the form of a scholarly study, the texts are not only intellectually stimulating reading, but much more than that. “As a successful blend of journalism and theory, Katarina Peović’s book is above all an advocacy of libertarian disobedience, of a spirit that refuses to submit to the prevailing order.” This is how the book was described by one of the most important guests in EstLab’s five-year history – Viktor Ivančić.
In Croatia, following the final entry included in the book, things have only grown worse. Especially after the epochal(!?) turning point and the “spectacle” at the Hippodrome on 5 July 2025.
In conversation with Katarina Peović, we will attempt to awaken a “call… (to) wake up from social apathy… for those who feel that the system is bursting at the seams and are looking for a clear political… answer”: Что делать??
What can we – here and now – still do about it? Find out at the panel discussion, in EstLab’s dialogue with Katarina on 28 April 2026 at 6:30 p.m. in Room 54 at FFOS. Come, listen, ask questions… let’s talk!
mk
