From May 3rd through the 9th Zapatistas held a seminar at the University of Chiapas Land in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico to which many foreign activist and intellectual guests were invited. One of them, John Holloway, spoke at the seminar. This is a text of his talk.
Holloway introduces his main theme by referring to the plague of debt ("storm") that is placing enormous burdens on the workers of the world while enriching the holders of the debt-- creditors who are mostly capitalists.
...if we cannot extract the profit we need, then we shall pretend that it exists, we shall create a monetary representation for value that has not been produced, we are going to expand debt in order to survive and also try to use it to impose the discipline that is necessary. This expansion of debt is at the same time the expansion of finance capital, expression of the violent weakness of capital as a social relation.He then puts into an interesting perspective what the struggles of those in attendance is all about.
Capital depends on us, because if we do not create profit (surplus value) directly or indirectly, then capital cannot exist. We create capital and if capital is in crisis, it is because we are not creating the profit necessary for capital’s existence: that is why they are attacking us with such violence.
In this situation there are really two options of struggle. We can say “Yes, all right, we shall carry on producing capital, we shall continue to promote the accumulation of capital, but we need better living conditions for everybody.” ....
The other possibility is to say “Goodbye, capital, time for you to go, we are going to create other ways of living, other ways of relating to one another, both among humans and between humans and other forms of life, ways of living that are not determined by money and the pursuit of profit, but by our own collective decisions.”
Here in this seminar we are at the very center of this second option.
