(This post may not reflect 100% my view, however it comes pretty close and I love the way he puts his case. The message is loud and clear. Which side are you on?) JS
Photo credit: Mickey Z.
While anyone
paying an iota of attention could recognize that “separation of church
of state” is more honored in the breach here in the Home of the Brave™,
I’d further submit that the good ol’ U S of A is a genuine theocracy --
with the myth of capitalism firmly entrenched on the throne.
Even most activists willingly and counterproductively genuflect at the altar of profit margins.
Just like mainstream folks they deride,
so-called radicals parrot homilies passed down to them by their
corporate commissars. Capitalism, we’re conditioned to believe, may need
the occasional tweak and sometimes an overhaul but hey, it’s better
than anything else out there!
Define “Inefficiency”
All of the above came to my mind as I
re-read a pamphlet called “The Inefficiency of Capitalism: An Anarchist
View.” The author (Brian Oliver Sheppard) opted to eschew the “usual,
moralistic leftist critique of capitalism.” Instead, he tackled it “head
on, on its own turf -- economics.”
While I’d question how “anarchist” his
pamphlet is, Sheppard does highlight ten of the “most outstanding
inefficiencies of capitalism”: product duplication, systemic
unemployment, cost-shifting, waste of unsold goods, the inefficiency of
hierarchies, planned obsolescence, price gouging, creation of false
desires, parasitic “jobs,” and inefficient distribution patterns.
I’m not here to debate the usefulness of
this list, however. Instead, I’m asking all of you to see past the
economic subterfuge because such myopic critiques inherently imply that
capitalism can be reformed.
Prices may be controlled, wages raised,
products made to last longer, etc. etc. etc. -- but what all this
ignores is that capitalism = ecocide.
Understanding capitalism and explaining
its destructiveness to others does not require an advanced degree or
superior insight. This isn't about vague, inapplicable concepts like
"good" or "evil” and it certainly has nothing to do with the fantasies
bandied about by deluded economics professors.
It's all about design.
Until There’s Nothing Left
Capitalism is an economic system based on
perpetual growth and the relentless exploitation of what we've come to
call "natural resources." By definition, such an approach is
unsustainable, cannot be reformed, and is thus, anti-life.
To gain access to and control of
resources, capitalism requires brutal, sustained military interventions
(or the threat thereof). The U.S. Department of Defense, for example, is
the world’s largest military power and the planet's worst polluter and
eats up 54 percent of U.S. taxpayer dollars.
Military interventions (or the threat
thereof) lead to wars, war crimes, the propping up of authoritarian
regimes, poverty and repression, environmental devastation, and
eventually… corporate dominion over resources.
Capitalism -- in its predatory pursuit of
profit -- requires humans to dominate humans and humans to dominate
non-humans and humans to dominate the landscape… until there's nothing
left.
Resources are finite. They cannot/will
not be replicated in a laboratory. Exploiting, poisoning, and consuming
the ecosystem alters the delicate and symbiotic balance of the natural
world -- which only leads to further devastation of our shared landbase.
Capitalism requires constant consumption.
Hence, humans are re-programmed into compliant, ill-informed consumers.
Pervasive propaganda/public relations keep consumers consuming, workers
working, and repressors repressing (explaining why middle class cops
pepper spray activists instead of joining up with them).
Which Side Are You On?
While other economic systems may address
some of the vast human inequalities inherent in a capitalist society,
unless such a system is designed in synchronicity with our shared
ecosystem, it will do nothing to prevent the looming
economic/social/environmental collapse, thus…
To be anti-capitalist is to look beyond
the next fiscal quarter, beyond national boundaries, and beyond the
corporate propaganda.
To be capitalist is to ignore reality. To
be capitalist is to pretend that technology is neutral, humans can
"control" nature, and the playing field is even.
To be anti-capitalist is to see past skin
color, gender, ethnicity, sexual preference, ability/disability, age,
“class,” or species.
To be capitalist is to prize shareholders over sharing, commodities over communities.
To be an anti-capitalista is to
comprehend that a system based on growth at all costs is anti-life. To
be anti-capitalist is to be anti-ecocide.
To be capitalist is to voice support for a
toxic, poisoned, clear-cut landbase ravaged by unremitting war,
disease, inequality, repression, incarceration, and discrimination.
To be anti-capitalist is to bravely see
past the façade, own up to the myriad global crises, and have a bold new
vision for the future -- a future that extends well beyond today's
closing bell on Wall Street.
To be anti-capitalist is to recognize the
urgent need to begin the process of creating a new system -- a system
not for sale to the highest bidder; not based on celebrity, material
consumption, physical beauty, or military conquest; a system that
promotes unity and collective action while maintaining individuality and
independence; a system that challenges us to think for ourselves and
about others; a system that understands the connection between human
behavior and non-human life.
To be a capitalista is to act as if we are the last generation of humans.
To be an anti-capitalista is to re-imagine our relationship with the natural world.
Which side are you on, comrades? The future is waiting on your decision.
from here
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