Surviving Capitalism (Not) : At The Point of No Return

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

At The Point of No Return

Click here to access article by Julian Rose from Uncommon Thought Journal.

This piece is a desperate plea for action calling for the non-ruling inhabitants of the earth to stop "planetary ecocide". Like many short-sighted critics, especially liberal critics, he makes vague reference to "post industrial 'civilisation'" as having something to do with crisis. The author more specifically targets people as responsible: those who are addicted to wealth and power and they seem to be "generals, headmasters, corporate executives, CEO's of banks, media moguls, ministers or prime ministers or just about any big bosses". However, his plea is totally lacking in awareness that these culprits or sociopaths are merely the logical products as well as maintainers of a system called capitalism.

Such critics are in elementary school of their political education; whereas we need college graduates right now. To be sure, these critics are far ahead of the great mass of people who gullibly believe what mainstream pundits tell them: that a technology is being developed to capture carbon from the atmosphere, that we can geo-engineer a safer climate, and we can develop alternative sources of clean unlimited energy such as fusion energy that our capitalist economy requires, and we can do this in time to prevent climate destabilization. Until people move to an understanding that the system of capitalism is totally incompatible with a finite planet, nothing will stop these profit and power addicts from destroying a planetary habitat that can support human life regardless of which individuals occupy positions of power within it.

Anyway, to the author's credit, he passionately expresses a growing awareness that something must be done to stop "the systematic degradation of planet Earth." This we agree on, but what is the system that is doing this? Post industrial civilization? Bosses and other people in positions of power? Such answers are ridiculous and have nothing to do with a system. Such people are like fish who are totally unaware of the sea.