Silvia Federici, Paul Mellon Distinguished Fellow Lecture 2019

Silvia Federici gives a lecture talking about the exploitative nature of Capitalism through a historical and feminist lens. Federici talks about the period of the Witch-Hunt in the middle ages, linking it to the rise of the capitalist system, the start of the slave trade, and the beginning of peasants having their lands taken away from them. Federici reflects on the importance of re-appropriating wealth so societies can reorganize the way they reproduce themselves based on cooperation and community, and not through the exploitation of human labor for wealth which has led to isolation, fragmentation, and alienation. Federici comments on how the US is the leading country in the world on how to separate people, and how this can be resisted by documenting and building a collective memory of past struggles. For Federici, the importance to re-appropriate history from below can lead to one coming to terms with the past and develop solidarity with the living and the dead.