HOW DID WE GET HERE?(a thread of threads, quotes, and links)
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Here is @KevinCarson1 on the Victims of Capitalism (note this was published in May 2020, if written now it would also include millions more deaths due to capitalism's failure to prioritize human safety and well-being, throwing us under the bus of the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic in favor of an imaginary entity "the economy"):
Victims of Capitalism Day
At Reason Ilya Somin, in keeping with his annual practice since 2007, has chosen May 1 — May Day — as his date for observing “Victims of Communism Day.” Somin cites the “authoritative” Black Book of Communism as his source for a death toll of 80-100 million in the 20th century. To put that “authoritative”...
Center for a Stateless Society (c4ss.org)
23/30
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To go off on a tangent for just a moment: we should be clear that we are not going to be rescued by converting our cars to electricity or by switching our current insane energy "needs" to "renewable" sources. Technology will not save us. We are not going to be able to have our cake and eat it too:
The Rising Chorus of Renewable Energy Skeptics
The green techno-dream is so vastly destructive, they say, ‘we have to come up with a different plan.’Do I report what I’ve learned about solar PVs - or live with it, privately?
Do I report what I’ve learned about solar PVs— or live with it, privately?
Years ago, I told an engineer that I want to cause minimal ecological harm.
(katiesinger.substack.com)
24/30
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Enclosure continues, in the name of "green capitalism":
"‘They Will Die’: Tesla-Linked Mining Project Is Devastating One of the World’s Uncontacted Peoples"
https://www.vice.com/en/article/wxj8wm/uncontacted-tribe-threatened-indonesia
25/30
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How is it that we are not all rising up against all these horrors? How are so many fooled for so long, scammed into supporting a system that treats us as a resource to be consumed? This is a huge subject worthy of it's own project. Investigate the term "capitalist realism" and Gramsci's concept of "cultural hegemony":
26/30
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Think about the stories and characters we are presented with in popular fiction, examine the many assumptions built-into every aspect of our lives, planted there by institutions both of control and recreation (interesting word that: our engaging in "recreation" can *re-create* the capitalist program).
For now we'll just touch on this with some thought-provoking examples.
From @AdrianRiskin - Why Are Children Forced To Study Mathematics At Gunpoint?
27/30
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Capital is served by various institutions (property rights and legal codes, corporations, the system of wage labor, law enforcement, military, other religions, education systems, media, white supremacy, colonialism, imperialism, etc), by the billionaires and oligarchs who are its priests and the rulers and politicians who are their henchmen. As Albert Einstein wrote in Monthly Review, May 1949:
"...private capitalists inevitably control, directly or indirectly, the main sources of information (press, radio, education). It is thus extremely difficult, and indeed in most cases quite impossible, for the individual citizen to come to objective conclusions and to make intelligent use of his political rights."
As a result we have unwittingly internalized Capital's demands, to our great detriment. Capital's narrative is deeply embedded into every aspect of our lives.
Note how this quote from the speech "The Three Evils of Society" by Martin Luther King Jr. assumes the Protestant work ethic is a good thing and not itself part of the implanted narrative that serves Capital. Instead of calling it out, MLK tried to distance it from capitalism. So while the second sentence of this quote is very true, the first sentence is an example of the deep conditioning of the narrative of capitalism and its precursors:
"We have deluded ourselves into believing the myth that capitalism grew and prospered out of the Protestant ethic of hard work and sacrifice. The fact is that capitalism was built on the exploitation and suffering of black slaves and continues to thrive on the exploitation of the poor, both black and white, both here and abroad."
Even "Democratic Socialist" Bernie Sanders sadly equates dignity and security with wage slavery:
"This is the United States. We are the richest country on the planet. One job should be enough to live with security and dignity."
David Graeber, from “Debt: The First 5,000 Years”:
"For me, this is exactly what's so pernicious about the morality of debt: the way that financial imperatives constantly try to reduce us all, despite ourselves, to the equivalent of pillagers, eyeing the world simply for what can be turned into money - and then tell us that it's only those who are willing to see the world as pillagers who deserve access to the resources required to pursue anything in life other than money. It introduces moral perversions on almost every level. ("Cancel all student loan debt? But that would be unfair to all those people who struggled for years to pay back their student loans!" Let me assure the reader that, as someone who struggled for years to pay back his student loans and finally did so, this argument makes about as much sense as saying it would be "unfair" to a mugging victim not to mug their neighbors too.)
"The argument might perhaps make sense if one agreed with the underlying assumption - that work is by definition virtuous, since the ultimate measure of humanity's success as a species is its ability to increase the overall global output of goods and services by at least 5 percent per year. The problem is that it is becoming increasingly obvious that if we continue along these lines much longer, we're likely to destroy everything."As @HeavenlyPossum has commented: "capitalism depends on ignorance of history for its ideological survival". It is the intent of this project to do what we can to remove some of this ignorance, to share the debunking of some of the lies we've been told; to encourage *unlearning the lesson* that has been forced upon us.
28/30
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So, if capitalism, state, and other heirarchical power structures are existential threats to humanity and to the biosphere and therefore must be removed, what does that leave us with?
Anarchy??!
Yes.
From @AdrianRiskin - "Anarchism isn’t a fantasy and it’s not a political theory — it’s a collective name for whatever forms of society can exist without murder as a political tool"
29/30
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If you're not already a student of anarchism, then you probably have some very negative ideas about "anarchy" or anarchism. It is beyond the scope of this project to mount a comprehensive defense or explanation of anarchism, but we also don't want to leave you hanging without some guideposts towards further understanding.
Here are a couple popular introductions:
"Are You An Anarchist? The Answer May Surprise You!" by David Graeber
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/david-graeber-are-you-an-anarchist-the-answer-may-surprise-you"To Change Everything"
https://crimethinc.com/tceHere are some pieces dealing with specific common concerns about anarchism:
Anarchists Are Not Naive About Human Nature
https://anarchopac.com/2022/02/28/anarchists-are-not-naive-about-human-nature/(edited 26 Aug 2023 to add this classic piece from Howard Zinn on the rule of law):
The Conspiracy of Law
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/howard-zinn-the-conspiracy-of-lawAnarchism and Democracy
https://anarchopac.com/2022/04/15/anarchism-and-democracy/(edited 29 May 2023 to add this definitive essay on democracy by David Graeber):
There Never Was a West
Or, Democracy Emerges From the Spaces In Between
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/david-graeber-there-never-was-a-westHere is a rich survey of anarchistic principles and practices in action in the real world, past and present: "Anarchy Works"
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/peter-gelderloos-anarchy-worksFor further research here is a very good reading list ranging from basic introductions to specialized aspects and history of anarchism:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KDEM4AzinLVFQZGDljFriiMwWFn73IIIlp26LwEasK0/edit30/end
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Appendix: EcOnOmIcS!!1!!
If you have ever been told to "go learn some economics!", this post is for you. Here are links to a surplus of valuable thoughts on the subject, starting with the @blair_fix piece that was excerpted in the fifth post of this thread, in case you didn't read the whole thing then:
Can the World Get Along Without Natural Resources?
https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2020/06/18/can-the-world-get-along-without-natural-resources/A mathematician on the "free market" economic model, excellent thread from @magitweeter
https://mastodon.social/@magitweeter/111653879323307502David Graeber: Against Economics
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/david-graeber-against-economicsInteresting piece about what supply and demand misses, with important insights about value and market power, poverty and inequality:
Bargaining Power and Prices: A Response to Sanyazi and Carson
https://c4ss.org/content/58918Exponential Economist Meets Finite Physicist
https://dothemath.ucsd.edu/2012/04/economist-meets-physicist/Free Market Genocides: The Real History of Trade
https://evonomics.com/free-market-genocide-the-real-history-of-trade/GDP and the Idolatry of Growth from @dsdamato https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/05/25/gdp-and-the-idolatry-of-growth/
The Lie At The Heart Of Consumer Society
https://indica.medium.com/the-lie-at-the-heart-of-consumer-society-1a6fe24d832fThe Problem With Economic Models from @pluralistic https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/03/all-models-are-wrong/#some-are-useful
David Graeber: What is the meaning of money?
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/david-graeber-note-worthy-what-is-the-meaning-of-moneyHere's another article from @blair_fix that really belongs here:
The Ritual of Capitalization
https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2021/06/02/the-ritual-of-capitalization/For an extensive deep dive into capitalist economics, here is a very thorough examination from An Anarchist FAQ, very much worth your time:
What are the myths of capitalist economics?
https://anarchistfaq.org/afaq/sectionC.html"State Capitalism: The Wages System Under New Management" by Adam Buick and John Crump
https://files.libcom.org/files/State%20Capitalism.pdf
The focus of this short book is to argue (very successfully IMO) that individual private ownership is not a defining feature of capitalism and that countries such as China, The Soviet Union (this was published in 1986), Cuba, Vietnam, etc, though they may identify as "socialist" and are called "communist" by many are in fact simply another form of capitalism called "state capitalism". In the process of making this argument, this book also became an excellent general reference for understanding what capitalism really is, how capitalist economics work, what socialism really is and isn't, and plenty of fascinating and clarifying historic context.I would be remiss not to mention:
"Debt: The First 5,000 Years" by David Graeber, an absolute must-read to better understand the history of debt and money.
https://we.riseup.net/assets/393727/David+Graeber+Debt+The+First+5+000+Years.pdf -
Appendix 2: Prefiguring Degrowth
Confronting Power, Accumulation, and EcocideI found this essay to be an excellent overview bringing together many of the same themes presented in this thread, explaining the necessity of an anarchist approach to #degrowth and clearly describing the continuum of hierarchical power structures, #state, #colonialism, #capitalism, #ClimateCrisis and #ecocide. Features solid basic info on #anarchism and #democracy
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Appendix 2b:
The Climate Movement is Making a Huge Mistake"Judged by their actions rather than their words, many environmental organizations put more emphasis on sustaining a modern western lifestyle than on sustaining the planet.
They’ve become more focused on what is politically feasible than what is ecologically necessary."
I wish this link wasn't on substack, but I thought it important info and perspective to share!
The Climate Movement is Making a Huge Mistake
With major indicators of environmental health in the red, mainstream climate organizations have abandoned the grassroots, biocentric radicalism that made environmentalism a revolutionary movement in favor of advocating for industrial energy sudsidies and more mining. Our movement has been co-opted.
(maxwilbert.substack.com)
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Appendix 3: Human Nature
Many claims about human nature have been trotted out in defense of the idea that we must be managed or controlled by some higher authority (God, state, rule of law, capital, "the market", so-called "democracy") because we are inevitably violent and selfish, perpetually prone to being oppressed by the ever-present potential tyrants among us, condemned to reproduce hierarchy forever everywhere.
To dispel these non-innocent narratives, here are some @HeavenlyPossum threads that are bursting at the seams with history, archeology and anthropology:
A survey of some of the ways in which people sustain egalitarian societies against would-be tyrants.
https://kolektiva.social/@HeavenlyPossum/111290743792188200Neither violent conflict nor peaceful cooperation are inevitable products of human nature, but rather deliberate social choices we can make.
https://kolektiva.social/@HeavenlyPossum/111025312476874870On the social construction of altruism and egoism.
https://kolektiva.social/@HeavenlyPossum/111466874348514976An exploration of some of the ways non-state societies deter power-seeking and aggression.
https://kolektiva.social/@HeavenlyPossum/110683095773219652The state is not necessary for preventing violent aggression, such as murder, and indeed may be worse for that purpose than its absence.
https://kolektiva.social/@HeavenlyPossum/111198577601193102“Tribal” societies were often more civilized than capitalist modernity is.
https://kolektiva.social/@HeavenlyPossum/110916353874829458Do people really like living under state rule?
https://kolektiva.social/@HeavenlyPossum/110685130975554822Some introductory thoughts on the state, hierarchy, and statelessness.
https://kolektiva.social/@HeavenlyPossum/111053356612723637 -
Appendix 4: One attempt to tell a new story
An area in northeast Syria that’s populated by around five million people and is roughly the size of Belgium, Rojava (Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria) is a vision of hope and a daily struggle full of paradoxes. We have much to learn from this experiment and it's history.
Rojava Revolution: Women’s Liberation, Democracy and Ecology in North-East Syria
https://bioneers.org/rojava-revolution-womens-liberation-democracy-and-ecology-in-north-east-syria-ztvz2406/Hope and Contradictions: My Year in Rojava
https://www.defendrojava.org/news/hope-and-contradictions-my-year-in-rojava -
Appendix 5: More discoveries challenging conventional ideas about human cultural evolution
Essay by David Wengrow: Beyond Kingdoms and Empires
A revolution in archaeology is transforming our picture of past populations and the scope of human freedoms
https://aeon.co/essays/an-archeological-revolution-transforms-our-image-of-human-freedoms@HeavenlyPossum thread on the spread of agriculture and the rise of the state:
https://kolektiva.social/@HeavenlyPossum/112864320248967445@HeavenlyPossum thread on humans' relationship with "wilderness":
https://kolektiva.social/@HeavenlyPossum/112785679516359170How ghost cities in the Amazon are rewriting the story of civilization
Remote sensing, including lidar, reveals that the Amazon was once home to millions of people. The emerging picture of how they lived challenges ideas of human cultural evolution
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg26334980-500-how-ghost-cities-in-the-amazon-are-rewriting-the-story-of-civilisation/@HeavenlyPossum thread: The City Without the State—complex urban infrastructure at the Pingliantai Neolithic site
https://kolektiva.social/@HeavenlyPossum/111079324770420934@HeavenlyPossum thread: The City Without the State—political revolution and social leveling at the Taosi Neolithic site
https://kolektiva.social/@HeavenlyPossum/111098000190597587 -
"Scholars have long debated whether early agropastoralism was intrinsically associated with the “origins of inequality,” seeking the roots of current cultural practices or problems and largely presenting social developments as the byproducts of sedentism and/or crop agriculture. Many now reject any inherent linkage between agriculture and inequality as teleological and materialist, and there is no longer a consensus that either sedentism or food production automatically entails the rise of inequality greater than exists in hunting and gathering societies."
"Our results [exploring the ways in which residents of Neolithic Çatalhöyük in Anatolia differentiated themselves as well as the ways in which they did not] indicate no unified trajectory of inequality through time... and no evidence for institutionalized or lasting economic or social inequality."
“But some were more equal than others:” Exploring inequality at Neolithic Çatalhöyük
We explore the ways in which residents of Neolithic Çatalhöyük in Anatolia differentiated themselves as well as the ways in which they did not. We integrate numerous data sets in order to assess patterns of inequality (A) across buildings with contemporaneous occupations, (B) between buildings that did or did not burn at abandonment, and (C) through time. We use Gini coefficients so as to maximize comparability with other studies of inequality in the ancient and modern worlds, discussing the underlying data and our results to clarify and enhance the value of the quantitative analyses. We evaluate whether or not trajectories of inequality align across data sets in order to determine how far success in one realm correlated with success in another. Our results indicate no unified trajectory of inequality through time. We perceive broadly similar access to staple foods, but not to goods less directly related to survival; relatively elevated income inequality during the middle portion of the site’s occupation, plausibly deliberately tamped down; and no evidence for institutionalized or lasting economic or social inequality. These findings shed light on Neolithic social dynamics and also contribute to broader discussions of inequality and the social ramifications of early agropastoralism.
(journals.plos.org)
"Çatalhöyük has strong evidence of an egalitarian society, as no houses with distinctive features (belonging to royalty or religious hierarchy for example) have been found so far. The most recent investigations also reveal little social distinction based on gender, with men and women receiving equivalent nutrition and seeming to have equal social status, as typically found in Paleolithic cultures."
"Noting the lack of hierarchy and economic inequality, historian and anti-capitalist author Murray Bookchin has argued that Çatalhöyük was an early example of anarcho-communism."