Interview with Saitō Kōhei
Saitō Kōhei is a Japanese philosopher and scholar, born in Tokyo on 31st January 1987. After a brief period at the University of Tokyo, he continued his studies in the United States at Wesleyan University, before earning a doctorate in philosophy at Humboldt University in Berlin. He is currently an associate professor at the University of Tokyo and is known for his ecological reinterpretation of Karl Marx's thought. His book Slow Down (2020) has sold over 500,000 copies in Japan, contributing to a renewed interest in Marxism in the context of the climate crisis. Saitō received the Deutscher Memorial Prize in 2018 and the JSPS Prize in 2020 for his contribution to Marxist research.
Slow Down is an socio-economic and political essay that addresses the global ecological crisis through a radical reinterpretation of Karl Marx, proposing an alternative to capitalism to confront the Anthropocene, the geological era marked by humanity's destructive impact on Earth.
The Fondazione Capellino is interested, among other things, in Saitō Kōhei due to the shared analysis between both regarding the causes of the possible or even /probable decline of the human species and of biodiversity, to which we are intrinsically connected.
At the root of the potential decline lies the unsustainability of unlimited economic growth. Even so-called ‘sustainable’ economic models often serve, in practice, to accelerate negative environmental impacts, becoming levers that increase rather than reduce harm.
When it comes to practical solutions, the paths diverge. Saitō Kōhei proposes ecological and democratic communism, based on Degrowth, as a possible forward. In contraste, Fondazione Capellino proposes and actively implements the Reintegration Economy: retaining the market but using all company dividends, for as long as necessary, to reintegrate the Biodiversity consumed by economic activity. This form of economic growth aims not only to extract but also to give back, transforming dividends into Natural Capital that belongs to everyone and all life, rather than creating Financial Wealth for the few. In this way, it challenges the ideological myth of wealth that defines our historical moment. Fondazione Capellino, and the company it owns, Almo Nature, embody this approach through our All Profits to the Planet, that is, the Reintegration Economy in action.
In this interview collected by Pier Giovanni Capellino during Saitō’s appearance at Palazzo Ducale in Genova for the event series "An elephant in the city" organised by the Fondazione Capellino and Almo Nature, Saitō summarises the key tenets of his vision and his proposals for a more sustainable future.
The interview will be available from Friday 13th June on the website www.reintegrationeconomy.org
