The ouroboros is a snake that bites its own tail. This symbol is found not only in ancient Greek texts, but also in Chinese and Southeast Asian depictions. And nowadays, strangely enough, also in criticism of capitalism. The symbol, which usually represents cyclical ideas about time, is highlighted by the American professor and feminist Nancy Fraser, who teaches at the New School in New York, as an image of the supposedly infinite growth of capitalism. In “The Omnivore,” the German translation of “Cannibal Capitalism,” published by Suhrkamp-Verlag in 2023, she writes that the capitalist system, like the snake, “is designed to destroy the social, political and natural foundations of its own to devour existence – and with it the foundations of our existence”.
Nancy Fraser from the University of Cologne disinvited for commenting on Israel culture
