As they stagger from (self-made)
crisis to crisis, invoking all manner of ‘evil forces’ as the cause,
they dig an even deeper hole for all of us. They may rule our lives by
dint of force and the control exercised by the ruling political classes
but they too are swept along by forces they only dimly perceive (if at
all).
Indeed, it can be argued that at this point in our social
evolution, the ruling elites are the dumbest, the most stupid, the most
short-sighted we’ve ever had. In deceiving us they first have to
deceive themselves and unfortunately there are millions of ‘managers’
only too willing to carry out the deception for them.
But the
reality is that it’s been this way for literally centuries, until the
20th century came along that is, when for the first time in our history
we saw the opportunity to usher in a new era, where rather than being
at the mercy of forces over which we, the people, had no control it was
possible to envisage a society that cared more about the common good
than the greed of the minority. All that’s changed is that the crisis
of capital is now severe and with such immense ramifications that all
but the self-delusional cannot avoid the truth.
Some contend
that the period these gangster idiots have propelled us into is
comparable to the 1930s — economic meltdown, the rise of Fascism and
impending world war — but I contend that today the situation is far
worse, for at least back then there was a real left opposition and some
sense that the future could belong to us (if we played the right cards
which obviously we didn’t but then that’s how we hopefully learn from
the errors and crimes of the past).
And to add to our woes, two
centuries of industrial capitalism have finally caught up with us that
now threatens the entire planet. Amazing, it took four billion years
for Nature to create a homeostatic (in balance) environment within
which all of life could co-exist and only the blink of an eye to bring
it all crashing down.
At this point, I suppose I could be
forgiven for throwing in the towel, after all three generations of my
family (along with millions of other progressives over the past
century) have struggled to bring about a better world only to see the
entire project come crashing down around our ears.
But before I
metaphorically head for the hills, it’s worth noting that even now all
is not lost and coincidentally, along comes a book by Cuban communist
Roberto Regalado ‘Latin America at the Crossroads’ which succinctly
unpacks the issues,
Capitalism,
- “After having wagered
everything on the welfare state”, … “the bankruptcy of that ideological
construction today places … [social democracy] in the public pillory”.
Unwilling to consider a perspective of superseding capitalism, its only
course is total surrender.
- “As a result, the outcome of the
great reformist experiment in imperialist countries is that “it was not
social democracy that reformed capitalism, but capitalism that reformed
social democracy”.”
What we now call neoliberalism. Now those of
us in the so-called advanced countries are surely aware of this, after
all, haven’t we seen the systematic dismantling, that is to say,
privatisation of the public sector, health, education, housing,
transport and communications, the penal system, social security etc,
all in the name of the ‘market’, that fantasy land that only exists in
the editorial offices of the BBC and the corporate media and of course
the apparatchiks who have sold their souls to the system and (try) to
make it work.
And of course the poor of the planet have seen
their countries razed to the ground, have been slaughtered in their
millions, driven from their homes and starved, all in the name of
‘defending the free market’. The events in Pakistan and now Kenya are
the direct result of the past thirty years of neoliberalism as are the
disasters which are Iraq, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, Palestine, Lebanon
and Haiti. And now with gasoline at $100 a barrel, the poorest
countries will be even more impoverished than they already are.
And
unless we take drastic steps now, we will see many more Pakistans and
Kenyas littering the landscape as the effects of the oil cartels and
Bush’s mad dog gangsters increase the contradictions, contradictions
that impact most severely on the poor first.
Predictably, the
mass media pile on the headlines about ‘tribal conflict’, ‘ethnic
cleansing’, ‘failed states’ and the like just as they have always done
but Kenya, just like Pakistan is the result of colonial rule, after
all, who propped up Daniel Arap Moi of Kenya for decades? The West,
especially the UK and the UK.
Meanwhile, back in the belly of the beast, we can see the effects of capitalism attempting to ‘reform’ social democracy.
Ironically,
our ruling elites, in their attempts to build a database-driven,
corporate security state, have revealed not only their real intentions
but thankful for small mercies, their total incompetence (not that it
makes them any the less dangerous but at least it exposes them as a
bunch of incompetent crooks). It makes you yearn for the gangsters of
yore, like Churchill, at least they had a plan and a functioning
bureaucracy and some sense of their place in the scheme of things.
And
it’s not difficult to get inside the minds of these corporate geeks
(I’ve been there). Obsessed with the alleged omnipotence of technology
and the lure of easy money (ours) they sit in plush offices ogling
Powerpoint presentations, flow charts and the like, making it all look
like a stroll in the park. And if they fuck-up (which they do all the
time), they pick up their bonuses and simply wash their hands of the
entire enterprise, leaving it some other bunch of shysters to try and
make it work (and pick up yet more millions). And we’re talking here
about billions of pounds/dollars/euros of the public’s money pissed
down the toilet. Our ruling classes are truly a disaster area of global
proportions.
But these hi-tec con men are barely educated (in
the traditional sense) as are most of the people they work for. We’re
ruled by a bunch of ill-educated barbarians folks, who, if we are to
have a future of any kind worth having, have to be swept from office
before it’s too late.
Regalado’s call for a world revolution may
seem impractical but what choice do we have given the circumstances?
Regalado advocates
- “A political system … based on mechanisms of
popular participation and representation capable of establishing a
consensus that guarantees unity of thought and action on the key points
of socialist construction and of mutually reinforcing this unity
through the free and constructive flow of all ideas and proposals that
reflect the diverse interests of the sectors of society for whose
benefit such an effort is being undertaken.
- “And this, Regalado
specifies, requires nothing less than “the seizure of political power”
under conditions where “those holding power in the world will cling to
it to the very end”.”
And this is the scary bit, that those who
hold power might well see the planet destroyed rather than relinquish
their power and privilege.
Writings 
I have to admit to a feeling of being totally overwhelmed by the state of our planet even though I know the chaos that threatens to drown us all is the direct result of an economic system —capitalism— being nothing more than the anarchic addiction of capital accumulation now run riot (the profits that are being made are obscene and the pain of the victims, numbering in the millions, indescribable). 
Subscribe to this comment's feed
