The web of life – everything linked
and interdependent. From the tiniest particle of soil to the African
elephant; from plankton to whales and consumers of sea food; from the
rice seeds germinating in Asian paddy fields to the plates on western
tables. It's easy to recognise the links in the chain, links which if
broken can disrupt the natural order and create problems throughout
the web.
On a purely physiological level what,
to be a part of this web of life, does humankind require?
Sun. Air. Water. Food. The fundamentals
for sustaining life of all forms. As far as shelter is required
organisms have evolved and developed according to climate and
discrete circumstances. Molluscs and turtles have shells, many animal
species dig holes in the ground or make nests of varying intricacy
and humankind gradually developed structures until we reached the
current wide variety of living spaces found today.
Considering the many centuries that
humankind has existed on this planet (how long?) it is within a
relatively short period of time that these four basic needs – sun,
air, water, food – have come to have a very different emphasis,
have come to be seen as something other than a basic necessity for
all, even though being deprived of any of them puts life in general
at great risk.
Since developing beyond the early form
when all lived 'close to the earth' to where humanity is now somehow
it has come to be accepted in certain circles that these four basics
are not to be assumed to be freely available to all who require them.
The need for life's basics has become limited by the ability to
access them. We are not expected to take them for granted and are
being separated from the very basics of the commons without our
consent.
This can be seen most clearly where
food deprivation is concerned. Malnutrition and hunger are widespread
and include millions. Subsistence farmers around the world have been
forcibly removed from their land and livelihoods in their hundreds of
thousands by agribusinesses and compliant governments. Wars, too,
have seen millions uprooted and displaced. Water deprivation and
pollution is affecting millions of individuals and thousands of
communities negatively. Air pollution is a serious and growing health
problem for the whole world's population.
(These three areas have been covered
extensively in many articles – posted on this blog and
published in Socialist Standard in print and online here )
As for the sun, who knows what plans
lie ahead to restrict our access to that shared resource?
Let's turn now to a 'web of living' and
see how our communities, both local and global, are linked and
interdependent in ways similar to the 'web of life' by looking beyond
the purely physiological level to how we might choose to organise our
lives for the benefit of all – in stark contrast to how everything
is ordered now which is to benefit the few and restrict or deny the
majority.
Assuming that we prioritise the four
basic necessities and also have some basic accommodation for the time
being how can we envisage a 'web of living' within our smaller, local
communities and also within and between our much larger regional and
global communities that will amply satisfy the multiplicity of our
wants, incorporating everything to give a well-balanced and healthy
life for all without fear or favour?
Starter List:
Basic services – electricity, energy,
water, sewage, communications, transport
Health care - lifelong
Food supply and Distribution - from
farm to table
General Supply and Distribution-
Infrastructure – planning, roads,
transport,
Manufacturing – local, regional,
global,
Building – planning, housing,
community facilities,
Sports and Training Facilities -
Entertainment -
Arts facilities- galleries, concert
halls,
Environmental care and services-
Administration – included in and
linked to all above, incorporating organisation, communication
systems, logistics,
This is far from a complete list but is
there to be added to. The point being is how we access the services
of any of the agencies or individuals above currently. If a trades
person's services are required we ask around for recommendations or
look online. Problems with one of the utilities ? Make a phone call.
We shop in town or online, register with a gym, a health centre or
golf club. We eat at home or get a take-away and now and then go to a
favourite restaurant.
Who are the people we have contact with
in these various activities or transactions? - People who are
specifically engaged in the area of work or expertise we are looking
for. People not much different from ourselves, who go out on a
regular basis to what we call work, or job or profession. Who runs
these places of work, manages the transport system, deals with
patients on a daily basis, stocks the shelves of the shops,
entertains us at the theatre, draws the designs and plans for new
housing and then builds them and fits them out, fixes the electrical
grid in a storm, takes out that sore tooth, picks the tomatoes or
potatoes, collects the trash, cuts your hair, services the car,
delivers the post? People like us. We do. We are the ones who
keep the whole thing running. Between us we manage the whole affair
from start to finish. - And we have access to all of this and more
but only if we have the magic password.
We are restricted in our choices by
lack of the necessary cash or credit. And the vast majority of the
world's population falls into this category – highly restricted
choice for severe lack of money.
In the system currently are many
inequalities of access both within local communities and between
different areas of the world. This manifests itself in many ways and
one would need to be both blind and deaf to be unaware of much of it.
Money has come to be an essential part of life, in fact of mere
existence. Without it you can do almost nothing. It is not a
physiological necessity but a false 'need', a manufactured need
adding an unnecessary layer to our everyday and lifelong
transactions.
There is no way that the current
system, capitalism, can be inclusive and offer equal access to all.
Full employment and 'fair' wages are a hopeless cause which must
surely be widely recognised. Nationalism and its call for manufacturing to stay
at home won't fix the problem. Calls like these are red herrings
which serve to stop us focussing on the real problem, the elephant in
the room, which is the system. The system of profit before
people or planet that runs very well for those few at the top of the
pyramid. For the rest of us, the ones running the show all around the
world, why don't we just expand operations to include all those who
currently find themselves surplus to requirements and get on with our
organising and managing and doing, - without the money?
Object
The establishment of a system of society based upon the
common ownership and democratic control of the means and instruments
for producing and distributing wealth by and in the interest of the
whole community.http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/our-object-and-declaration-principles
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