This essay is envisioned as an ideal logbook for these stormy times, aiming to provide an organic, albeit broad, framework to interpret the significant and rapid changes shaping the present. Its primary goal is to offer a compass to help understand the historical period we are living through. However, an analytical effort is necessary to pave the way for reflecting on possible paths to break free from the dominant ideology of the past 40 years: the “there is no alternative” mantra of all-against-all competition reminiscent of Thatcherism. In the current context, seeking an alternative has become both necessary and urgent.

Our approach is to present a general overview of major contemporary issues, striving to highlight connections and relationships between topics that may initially seem distant but are, in our view, intrinsically linked. We will particularly aim to analyze events in their historical context, aware that what happens today results from trajectories developed over the past half-century, with roots extending even further into the past. Industrialization, colonization, and the establishment of a world dominated by the West as its center and ruler are products of centuries of history, while the current crisis has been accelerated since the end of the Cold War. Our attempt at historical contextualization clashes with a dominant public narrative that considers everything occurring as isolated in the “here and now,” disregarding its connections to the past as irrelevant.

Understanding what is unfolding before our eyes is challenging, not only because news from major media outlets is often influenced by particular interests but also because a period of such vast changes as the one we are experiencing demands new conceptual tools to interpret the present and envision the future. This is our task, for the current crisis—comprising what we identify as three interconnected aspects: hegemonic, climatic, and inequality crises—arises from and corresponds to a situation of traumatic political and cultural change, laden with dangerous social and economic instability. The onset of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, marks an epochal event, a watershed moment that delineates a “before” and “after.” Yet, it is by no means an isolated occurrence and must be understood within its historical trajectory beginning in the early 1990s.

It is unsurprising that the transition from a U.S.-led unipolar world to a multipolar, multicentric, and multicultural one is accompanied by political crises and armed conflicts. Underpinning these tensions is the competition among great powers to achieve economic, energy, and political independence from one another. This entails not just military confrontation but also competition for control over raw materials, essential technologies for economic development, and, crucially, the currencies used in international trade. However, while a new world order is far from established, the profound uncertainties associated with the transformation of the international political and economic framework are exacerbated by two global emergencies: the climate crisis and vast concentrations of capital accompanied by deep inequalities.

In these tumultuous times, Antonio Gramsci’s famous maxim remains ever relevant:
“The old world is dying. The new one struggles to be born. In this twilight, monsters emerge.”