Professor Alex Callinicos delivered the Eighth Annual Ibn Rushd Lecture to a well-attended gathering of fellows and friends of the Muslim Institute in central London in early July.
The meeting, held in the handsome setting of the Art Workers’ Guild in Bloomsbury, was opened by a beautiful Quranic recitation by Qari’ah Madinah Javed from Glasgow. Professor Callinicos then addressed the topic: 'The Muslim World in the New Age of Catastrophe’
Alex Callinicos argued that “the driving force of catastrophe today is biological. I would argue the capitalist economic system is increasingly destroying nature. And the most obvious way in which that is true is, of course, when it comes to climate change. The pandemic has to be really seen as part of this this biological dimension to the to the crisis that we're confronting, because the roots of the pandemic lie in the capitalist industrialization of agriculture, which is now on a global scale. The second dimension is economic. The global financial crisis of 2007 to two 2009 produced a long period of slow growth in the capitalist economy. There's also a geopolitical dimension to this this crisis, in the increasing imperial rivalry between the USA and China”.
Professor Callinicos’s lecture was followed by a lively wide-ranging discussion that touched on the many issues rapidly confronting humanity on a global scale, as well as the profound challenge to Muslims everywhere to open up dialogues and initiatives that can lead to positive change.
The meeting also heard from the inaugural recipients of the new Community Empowerment Fund, launched jointly by the Muslim Institute and the Halal Food Authority. This year’s Ibn Rushd lecture was closed with words of thanks by Muslim Institute chair of Trustees Mufti Barkatulla, followed by a hot buffet laid on for all our guests.
You can watch Alex Callinicos's lecture below.