Austerity and life are in a deadly opposition. The social capacities with which we make life, and the institutions with which we maintain life and satisfy our needs, are increasingly under threat. From birth (reproductive rights, access to health care) to old age (pensions, social security), most people’s lives are now punctuated by a ghoulish metronome of food shortage, poisoned water, and school closures.

Capitalism’s relentless productivist drive has now triggered climate change, threatening all life as we know it. Life-making increasingly conflicts with the imperatives of profit-making. We are confronted with the question of whether life-making will even be possible for our grandchildren.

How, then, do we take “our lives back”? Here are three starting points.