Surviving Capitalism (Not) : When water is a commodity instead of a human right

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

Monday, August 18, 2014

When water is a commodity instead of a human right

Click here to access article by Pete Dolack from his blog Systemic Disorder.

I am posting this article because it is representative of a an attack on capitalist rule that is frequently seen in left-wing media sources, and I believe that it falls short as an explanation of what is currently happening in Western capitalist countries. I do this in a spirit of respect for this outstanding blogger in the higher interest of understanding the system that is increasingly crushing the life out of all of us in the Ninety-Nine Percent.

It has long been recognized by anti-capitalists that the system has an inherent tendency to transform everything into a commodity which, of course, it does. Therefore, to secure the legitimacy of their rule and to weaken opposition, capitalist elites have long recognized the need to provide monetary and other supports to those who cannot, for any reason, purchase their fundamental needs. As the system of capitalism with its voracious appetite for resources, particularly relatively cheap supplies of fossil fuels, comes up against the limits of a finite planet, the failure of capitalism to supply the needs of a large part of humanity has become dramatic.

We have now entered into an era in which the cost of mining fossil fuels is becoming increasingly expensive. Also, the scramble by capitalist gangs to secure the cheapest sources of these fuels has forced them to resort to military violence against any competitors or people who resist their incursions on their territory to access these fuels. (Hints: think Iraq, think Afghanistan, think Libya, think Syria, think Iran, think Ukraine.) The costs of military violence is also a growing burden for capitalist rulers. So, something must give. Guess what that is?

The best way to understand the predicament that capitalists are now in and what is now threatening us in the global Ninety-Nine Percent is a theory recently resurrected by Camille Barbagallo and Nicholas Beuret first formulated by African philosopher Achille Mmembe called "necropolitics" in which death assumes an important function of elite governance. Rather than repeating myself, I refer you to my commentary in an article I posted last week to explain this theory.