Oil, Capitalism, and Climate /w Adam Hanieh

We are honoured to welcome author and academic Adam Hanieh back to Toronto to deliver this year’s talk. This event marks the fourth edition of the school’s annual lecture, held in the memory of the late Leo Panitch. Adam Hanieh discusses how understanding oil’s place in world capitalism is key to grasping geopolitical dynamics and global finance, reviving vital climate struggles, and challenging the structural interests underpinning the system itself. He explores the connections between our fossil-fuel centred world and the contemporary politics of Palestine and the wider Middle East. At a time when the world’s attention is being pulled in myriad directions by ongoing genocide, threats of war, economic instability, and rising authoritarianism, the role that resources such as oil play in global politics often go under-noticed. Amidst this chaos, governments and capital are massively expanding fossil fuel investment, leaving us to face a worldwide ecological crisis that is set to only hasten in the coming years. 0:00 Introduction by Chris Little 2:15 Melanie Panitch 8:25 Adam Hanieh 1:00:27 Questions with Audience Recorded 27 February 2026, in Toronto.