Voracious capitalism

Contemporary capitalism is no longer a framework for generating wealth but a machine that devours territories, communities and ecosystems without stopping to consider natural or social limits. What was once justified by the promise of progress and the common good today turns into dynamics that put immediate profit before any other consideration, consolidating an economic model that assumes an infinite supply of resources and lives.

This approach shows itself on many fronts. Mass touristification turns cities and neighbourhoods into stages for global consumption, pushing out residents and making housing more expensive. Cuts in investment in health and other public services reveal how economic interest prevails even over fundamental rights, weakening social cohesion and leaving millions of people unprotected.

At the same time, attempts to exploit natural areas for extractive or development projects show how far market logic is willing to trample the environmental balances that guarantee long-term survival. The destruction of ecosystems, the overexploitation of resources and the occupation of protected areas become visible symptoms of a model that puts profitability before sustainability.

The systematisation of these practices is not the sum of isolated decisions, but the consequence of a web that makes profitability the only measure of value. In this scenario, the social fabric erodes, the environment degrades and collective rights are subordinated to the logic of accumulation. So-called voracious capitalism thus not only threatens the planet’s sustainability, but steers life towards an ever more unequal and fragile horizon.