The world’s gone a bit crazy the last decade or so. It can feel like the result of capitalism reaching its inevitable conclusion — crony capitalism. The tempting fix is to imagine we could keep the “capitalism” and lose the “crony.” Get rid of the corruption, keep the system.
We don’t think that works. As long as there is deep inequality, there will be problems — problems that compound, and that eventually reach everyone, no matter how insulated they think they are.
So, are we lefties?
We might have been, once. But that label means less than it used to. It used to mean caring about social justice, war, oppression, and inequality. Today it’s often tangled up in identity politics and tribalism, more interested in who said what than in who’s hungry, homeless, or caught in a war zone.
In terms of economic left and right, we’re on the left — sceptical of concentrated corporate power and the idea that fewer restrictions on monopolies is good for anyone but the monopolies. But we’re not interested in the culture-war version of “left” that’s traded solidarity for sorting people into camps.
Are we pro-socialism?
Socialism has good aspects — even the most market-driven economies run plenty of programs that would be called “socialist” elsewhere. We understand the risks of removing incentive and fostering entitlement. But we believe society can do better than it currently does. Helping people isn’t just the right thing to do — it benefits everyone. When people aren’t consumed by the stress of survival, they can actually contribute.
Finding common ground
There’s a middle ground emerging that isn’t the neoliberal “centre” that got us here. It recognises the importance of individual rights, that authority is corrupt more often than not, that the middle class has been stripped of wealth like never before, and that our current system isn’t sustainable — environmentally or socially. It’s a return to mutual respect, to dignity, to actually listening to each other.
Meanwhile, politically we’re more polarised than ever, but the corporations don’t care about any of it. They keep exploiting us, spying on us, raising prices, buying governments, and distracting us with technology — while we’re busy fighting each other.
That’s what Social Rebirth is for: a space to think through what a fairer, more cooperative world could look like, and to write about it honestly, without pretending the old tribal labels still fit. We’ll be publishing articles, sharing videos, and pointing to resources worth your time. Eventually, we’d like to build a small shop to help fund the work.
If any of this resonates, read the full manifesto or get in touch — this is meant to be collaborative.