The alternative is not based on stale ideas of a massive overthrow of the system. A process of systematic rejection of capitalism allows for gradual and non-violent transition to non-capitalism

One of the core claims of this book is that we should replace the dominant anti-capitalist imaginary according to which capitalism is a system that should be overthrown, with the image of capitalism as a set of interrelated practices that need to pulled out from the tapestry that is our social world. Capitalist elements of the social fabric need to be pulled out and replaced with other social forms. The pulling, cutting and reweaving that need to take place, must happen at many social locations. Pulling threads on one place, causes holes on other places, and as we reweave society we need to attend to the short term problem our actions can create, and we need to build a better world from within the fabric of the one we want to challenge. We are constantly making and remaking society though our everyday interactions. The image of reweaving a tapestry is intended to bring to mind the idea, of a constant remaking, of the intimate nature of capitalist processes, and of the ways that change on a macro scale is made up of changes on a micro scale. I follow the ideas outlined in Pierre Bourdieu's The Logic of Practice, where he claims that social structures are something we live through, and which are constructed by the every day practices of those who inhabit those structures. Overthrowing a system brings to mind the image of solid and distinct thing, standing on its own, that can be knocked down. I will argue that this way of looking at capitalism is not very helpful. Rather, we should see capitalism as a set of practices, implicated into and structuring an immense variety of aspects of life. And destroying it will be more a matter of transforming all of those networks than of overturning a structure. The image of overthrow encourages a politics that looks for fulcrums and tipping points. I would like to replace that image with one of a set of projects before us that take place on a variety of completely different social locations all at the same time, with an undetermined sense of how all of those operations will come together to achieve their ultimate goal. We can push back against the devastations caused by capitalism from where we are right now. As capitalism is pushed back, life can become better in the short term as we build toward a total elimination of the practices we call capitalism. Sometimes political movements involve creative thought. There are marvelous moments when people challenging systems of power spend all night talking about what they’re doing and, with their friends in struggle, come up with concepts that capture the meaning of what they’re doing. When people are actively thinking about what they’re doing, the concepts they use are likely to be expressive of what they are trying to accomplish. The desires and intentions of the movement come to have a focus and richness that inspires and guides. Movements often then go into periods of elaboration, where the foundations and pathways forged in those crucible moments come to be accepted as given. In those times, people often shun ideas, and carry on using the ideas that were formed in the crucible. For a while the ideas usually work just fine. Later they can come to weigh a movement down and keep it from responding in new ways to new circumstances. Those advocating for a world free from the devastations caused by capitalism are working in a time of incredible ferment, after many years of dormancy. Possibilities for making a difference and making connections are developing at an unprecedented rate. And yet, the categories we are using remain deeply fossilized. This book attempts to break that fossilization in order to facilitate deeper forms of praxis, where our theory resonates with and helps inform our practice, and where our practice informs our theory. With a fresh understanding of what we are doing we are much more likely to be able to build a politics that is effective at eradicating capitalism