Recently, the book “Digital Solidarity. On Overcoming of Capitalist Technology” (original German title: “Digitale Solidarität. Zur Überwindung kapitalistischer Technologie) has been published in German by Dietz Berlin. The book has been written by applied economist Aline Blankertz and legal professional Malte Engeler, both of which are part of the collective “Structural Integrity“. The book also goes into questions of the socialization of digital infrastructure as well as its potential role in democratic economic planning and a postcapitalist society more broadly.
Here is the translated description of the book from the publisher’s website:
“Today, digital technologies are at the forefront of capitalist accumulation and destruction. Digital platforms, data centers, and artificial intelligence intensify existing forms of exploitation and technological domination. Leftist responses to this often remain confined to the realm of regulation and individualistic adoption of technology. “Digital Solidarity” addresses this issue and asks: How can we overcome the logics of capitalist digitalization in order to consistently align technologies with people’s needs?
Aline Blankertz and Malte Engeler show how techno-libertarian ideologies shape and distort even progressive visions of digitalization. They analyze the ambivalence of bourgeois concepts such as privacy, open source, and digital sovereignty, and subject them to a fundamental critique. Building on this, they advocate for the convergence of left-wing struggles—from hacking and socialization to the use of digital technology in alternative economic systems. In this way, they outline the vision of a radically different, anti-capitalist, technology-critical, and solidarity-based digitalization.”
You can order the book here.