The current state of global capitalism is remarkably strong. To loosely reference Slavoj Zizek, perhaps the best example of this can be seen in the retreat of the term itself from common usage. Capitalism is no longer seen as an economic system, one among many possible methods of organizing society, it is instead taken as a complete given. It is the white of the page rather than the text itself.
The Olympics provided a wonderful example of this op ache nature of capitalist relations. Even as they have been a time of civic celebration at no time has the City of Vancouver been less "public" and more private/capitalist than it was during the Olympics.
VANOC and the IOC managed to exerted near complete control of the public space. Through an immense police presence and strong armed legal tactics they managed to turn Vancouver into one large advertisement for Olympic sponsors . Even the air space has been privatized, as VANOC has managed to fine people for projecting unwanted advertising through air that they "own." Additionally, how much was the security presence necessary to protect us from terrorist threats, or was it designed to keep "undesirable" people out of what was once public space.
However, during the event itself it was remarkably easy to forget these facts. Glossed over by so much nationalist fervor and good time spirit the last thought on any ones mind was the capitalist accumulation and the reinforcement of capital social relations taking place all around them.
We have a long way to go if we hope to enact positive social change in this world. However, step one remains recognizing the world for what it is, and the capitalism system for just that a system; created by people, temporal, and subject to change. The world we live in was created by human beings and can only by changed by human beings. Every day our daily ritual works to reinforce capitalist social relations and until a larger group of people realise this we have no hope of changing it.
So what would you replace the system with ?
ReplyDeleteI have answered this question in previous posts, but in short the answer is something better. A society whose aim is first and foremost to meet human need rather than capitalist accumulation.
ReplyDeleteThe first question to ask is what are we defending, why must we know the details of the "replacement system" before we work to pursue something better. The current system we have results in daily death and misery for the majority the worlds population while a few control societal wealth for the benefit of themselves.
I could say I want communist society or a socialist society but these are just words, and loaded words at that given history and the current political discourse. Ultimately this is meaningless compared to the daily misery that capitalism creates.
The important fact is to understand that the problems capitalism creates are systemic and can not be solved, in any real sense, but by the eradication of the system and its replacement by something radically different.
I totally agree, the cop-out response to criticism of the current system is exactly that "what would you replace the system with ?".
ReplyDeleteKnowing that no system is perfect, we should constantly be asking ourselves "how can we improve our system".
By labeling systems, with hopelessly vague and misunderstood titles such as capitalism and communism, we divide ourselves and buy into the values of competition that underlie the current system. We should instead focus on cooperation, and consensus building to create a system which works for us collectively.