James Plested
It's estimated there are around 1.5 billion cars in the world today. Of the ten largest corporations of the world, three are car manufacturers and six are oil companies. There's no doubt about it – capitalism loves cars. Cars burden working-class people with debt, they mean we spend hours stuck in traffic just trying to get to work, they devour public space and poison the air. This isn't the fault of working-class people – private car ownership is promoted aggressively by the capitalist class, and cities are constructed to make cars necessary. This talk will look at the relationship of cars to industry, urban planning and social control.