Re: Evolution

The worst ever crisis of the capitalist system in 2008 inevitably raised serious questions about the long-term viability of the neoliberal economic model. Thanks to technology and social media people around the world organized themselves in newly formed communities, which began to fight the dominance of capitalism as the core of globalized politics. By focusing on problems like the increasing wealth inequality, the culture of bonuses of the financial sector, or the influence of corporations on government, such communities and movements succeeded in bringing capitalism's morality back into public debates. As a result, they provided a fertile ground for the reemergence of leftist thought in the political spectrum; namely, a trend bearing considerable revolutionary potential, which before the global financial crisis, and without the catalytic function of new media, would have seemed unimaginable. Yet, despite the rigour of post-crisis movements like "Occupy Wall Street", real political change in the Western world has proved much more challenging than what many people had initially envisioned. Furthermore, as the outcomes of the "Arab Spring" revolutions in the Middle East have largely demonstrated, the replacement of a regime or a government does not automatically bring about progress. Within this context of turmoil, social media continue to grow stronger as multinational corporations that control and exploit the content generated by their users. 'Re: Evolution' synopsizes such conflicts and contradictions in the ideologically charged form of a flag that combines the Soviet flag and the design of a computer. In an attempt to connect the past with the future, the work appears to be asking: could, despite all difficulties, the politics of tomorrow be the result of the seemingly paradox combination of capitalism's products (in the form of new media techologies) and socialism's visions?