Libertarians and conservatives talk a lot about freedom, but the most important kind of freedom is freedom from domination — and if you take that seriously, you should oppose capitalism.
Category: Socialism
Thinking beyond what you experience and simply take for granted might just help
The Marxist writer and activist Mike Davis died yesterday at the age of 76. His astonishing body of work will be impossible for anyone to replicate — but all of us can emulate his example of how to live and fight as an “old-school socialist.”
Source: Mike Davis Showed Us What “Old-School Socialism” Looked Like
Some leftists imagine a postcapitalist society will free everyone from the need to work. But the only realistic and fair way to manage production under socialism is to democratically distribute and share in the burdens of labor.
Source: Socialism Won’t Get Rid of Work. But It Will Allow Us to Work Less Under Better Conditions.
Barbara Ehrenreich was driven by both her undying anger at the profound injustices of life under capitalism and a fervent hope that the world doesn’t have to be this way.
Source: Barbara Ehrenreich Made Socialist Ideas Sound Like Common Sense
The task of socialists in 2022 is the same as it’s always been, says sociologist Vivek Chibber: to build working-class organization. That requires clarity about the central political role of the working class.
No major US poll has asked if respondents identify as socialist, much less what they actually think. A new survey finds that socialists aren’t just more pro-redistribution and class-conscious than liberals — they’re also far less racist and xenophobic.
When socialists talk about creating a more equal society, we don’t mean a society where everyone has an exactly equal share of everything. We mean a society where power has been equalized by extending democracy into the economy.
Source: The Equality That Socialists Care About Most Is Equality of Power
Can we do the same in 2022?
With 97% of 46,887 polling stations reporting Sunday, Gabriel Boric had 56% of the votes, compared to 44% for his opponent
Source: ‘Historically Large Win’: Chile Votes for Socialism over Fascism
Educated, and critical of a political system doesn’t require one to stand outside and be some sort of role model or be inside of it and symbolically be a victim to it. The question is the naval-gazing problem.
Look, if you’re making a living through socialist politics then you shouldn’t be surprised if people raise an eyebrow when you shell out millions of dollars on property. That said, I don’t really care about Piker’s fancy new house. There is a strain of purity politics on the left that means that nobody seems to be able to do anything correctly. Had Piker bought a more modest house in a cheap neighbourhood, for example, he would probably have been accused of being a gentrifier. Instead of wasting all its time in-fighting, the left really ought to exert its energy building a broader base and trying to actually get into power. Let Piker enjoy his fancy new pool. There are bigger fish to fry.
Source: Can a socialist live in a $2.7m mansion? | Arwa Mahdawi | The Guardian
The leftist Democratic Socialists of America, which helped congressional star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez get elected in 2018, looks to be a big political player again in New York City’s 2021 municipal elections. The group has not yet endorsed anyone for mayor – the top prize in New York’s June 22 Democratic primaries. But all 51 city council seats are up for grabs this year, and the DSA has members running for six of them – including Queens public defender Tiffany Cabán and Brooklyn tenant activist Michael Hollingsworth. With two state senators and five representatives out of 213 lawmakers, the New York State Legislature already has the country’s largest DSA legislative caucus. These Democrats share a leftist platform that includes guaranteeing housing as a human right and ending mass incarceration The DSA has upended local politics in this Democratic stronghold, and its wins extend well beyond New York – into Virginia, Nevada and beyond. How did socialism jump from the fringes of American politics into its very center?
In summing up, the only way out of poverty and joblessness is for the public sector to work again and to regulate the worst excesses of private capital… which even pre COVID-19 had driven us to the point of extreme hardship, transferring wealth to the very rich, while making it harder for every day folks to survive let alone thrive. Scandinavian countries are an excellent example of what could be achieved with the political will. So far, the only major party that has touched on creating a New deal is the Greens, who are advocating a Green New Deal. Under this radical new approach, we could eliminate poverty, create an abundance of well-paying jobs, and in turn kick start a very moribund economy. Be bold and be visionary, people! We can do this if we embrace Modern Monetary Theory. Of course that would mean the wealthy job creators would have to compete with the public sector and provide decent wages, full-time jobs, and good conditions… which is exactly what they have been avoiding for the past 30 plus years!
Creating the Australian New Deal – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Are we expected to protect the unprofitable? Was the ‘free market ever really ‘free’ or rigged to trickle up ? Suddenly the term Socialism for the rich comes into focus. How about mobilising forces for clean energy? Are ordinary Australians expected to insure the profits of the extraordinary few? Particularly those who continue to invest in the unwanted? We have done that for the past 20 years and flatlined wages, issued company tax cuts and a variety of other economic decisions favouring the ever growing unequal share of GDP in this country. Particularly clean air, water and public health. We have seen the family of one working to survive become two, three and even families merging to survive.
The cry to “mobilise” forces has always been at the expense of “work forces”. Insurance companies are about to take a hit Scott is about to insure all Australia is to bear the cost easing the burden on the only “some”. Needless to say who will benefit the most. (ODT)
The Reserve Bank has been warned it may have to buy up coal mines and fossil-fuel power stations as part of extraordinary actions to save the economy from climate change-induced financial disaster.
The BIS said climate change events that severely affected the financial health of the banking and insurance sectors could force central banks to intervene and “buy a large set of carbon-intensive assets”.
via RBA told to ‘mobilise all forces’ to save the economy from climate change
Sweden and Norway, for example, both experienced a major power shift in the 1930s after prolonged nonviolent struggle. They “fired” the top 1 percent of people who set the direction for society and created the basis for something different.
via How Swedes and Norwegians Broke the Power of the ‘1 Percent’ | Common Dreams Views
Australians have known this for years it’s why the ALP lost an election that Abbott didn’t win. (ODT)
Jeremy Corbyn leads the British Labour Party. Bernie Sanders came close to winning the Democratic Party’s nomination for the US presidency describing himself as a “democratic socialist”.
And the 2018 US midterm elections saw a surge of enthusiasm for Democratic candidates running on policy platforms at least as leftist as Mr Sanders espoused in 2016.
That the young are thought to lead the revival for socialism is not surprising.
At a Thursday night party hosted by Turning Point USA, a far-right youth group most known for filming its members wearing diapers on a college campus, people took pictures with a cardboard cut-out of Ocasio-Cortez that had “pendeja,” a Spanish slang word that translates loosely to “dumbass,” written in pen on her face. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex., who attended along with Donald Trump, Jr., and Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw, led the partygoers in a chant that was, by that point, predictable: “Socialism sucks!”
You may have noticed that the word socialist and its related terms are tossed around a lot as political insults. Typically, the right-wing does this to place their opponents in a political phylum for ease of dismissal. They make no attempt to engage with the actual arguments of their opponents. The mere application of a label is supposed to make them go away. Such a tactic is, of course, a red herring. A shiny thing designed to distract from the actual issue.
The reality is that politicians do not actually hate socialism. In reality, they hate socialism for the wrong people. Socialism itself is not the problem, it is the recipients.
There is never any talk of cutting politicians’ pensions or pay. There is never talk of ending corporate subsidies in an allegedly capitalist system. The idea of ‘how will we pay for this?’ is only ever applied to social programmes such as medicare (and its counterpart in the US Medicare4All) but never to corporate subsidies or the military or any other corporate or rich priority. For those sectors of society, the treasury is their plaything. But when it comes to social programmes for the peasants (even if that term is never used) suddenly politicians evolve into deficit hawks. This hypocrisy must stop.
An essay by none other than Albert Einstein titled, “Why Socialism?”
“The economic anarchy of capitalist society as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of the evil.” Einstein. This is the sort of thing that earned him 1,000 plus pages in his FBI file.
His genius ability to see things clearly did not make him immune from criticism when it came to his secular views. He was regarded as naïve. Upon close examination, a charge of naiveté rendered against a person may mean they have not exhibited the expected deference to established norms. This lack of conformity, when conformity is so easy, makes them the object of curiosity at best, or the object of law enforcement, at worst.
An economic system such as capitalism, based on profit competition, brings out the worst, predatory instincts. In contrast, socialism, based on cooperation in fulfilling society’s basic needs, brings out the best, ethical instincts. If it’s as simple as this, why is socialism so far off in the distance, and what can be done about it?
Support for socialism is particularly strong among those under 30, whose economic experience has been dominated by the global financial crisis (GFC) and the subsequent decade of economic stagnation and rising inequality. The most striking example is the recent UK election where Jeremy Corbyn received over 60% of the votes of those aged 18-25. Similarly in the US, Bernie Sanders drew his most enthusiastic support from the young.
Source: Socialism with a spine: the only 21st century alternative | John Quiggin | Business | The Guardian
Young Americans blame capitalism for crises in housing, healthcare and falling wages. Once demonised, the word ‘socialism’ is back as a new political movement takes root
Source: ‘The S-word’: how young Americans fell in love with socialism | US news | The Guardian
The Democratic Socialists of America are fighting the president—and the liberals they blame for his win.
Source: Donald Trump Has Made Socialism Cool Again | Mother Jones
Letting someone else own a share of your house means you’re not putting all your eggs in one basket.
Source: A shared home equity scheme will put roofs over more people’s heads
With young people now ready as ever to align with an ideology once stigmatised, and the GOP now having nowhere to go in the face of rapidly growing anti-establishment sentiment, what’s the next step for the political establishment? Martin Andersen explains. Bernie Sanders’ rise and rise looks set to continue, but no-one could have expectedMore
Posted 8 days ago8 days
Conservatives have long wielded “socialism” as a pejorative — but Sanders owns it and is transforming politics
Cuban leader says his country will not give up its socialist principles as Havana works to restore ties with US.
| President Raul Castro has demanded that the United States respect Cuba’s communist rule as the two countries work to restore diplomatic ties, and warned that Cuban-American exiles might try to sabotage the rapprochement.Obama and this week reset Washington’s Cold War-era policy on Cuba and the two countries swapped prisoners in a historic deal after 18 months of secret talks.
Castro said he is open to discussing a wide range of issues but that they should also cover the US and he insisted Cuba would not give up its socialist principles. “In the same way that we have never demanded that the United States change its political system, we will demand respect for ours,” Castro told the National Assembly on Saturday. Castro’s speech was a sharp counterpoint to the message US President Barack Obama gave in his year-end news conference the day before. Obama reiterated that by engaging directly with the Cuban people, Americans are more likely to encourage reform in Cuba’s one-party system and centrally planned economy. US officials will visit Havana in January to start talks on normalising relations and Obama has said his government will push Cuba on issues of human and political rights as they negotiate over the coming months. Trade embargo Despite the markedly improved tone in relations, Castro said Cuba faces a “long and difficult struggle” before the US removes a decades-old economic embargo against the Caribbean island, in part because influential Cuban-American exiles will attempt to “sabotage the process”. Obama has pledged to remove economic sanctions against Cuba but he still needs the Republican-controlled Congress to lift the embargo. Gabriel Elizondo, reporting from the capital, Havana, said there was a real sense of enthusiasm among Cubans for rapprochment with the US and what it could mean in everyday life for people. “But what Castro and others really want is the complete ending of the embargo altogether,” our correspondent said. ” That is deeply opposed by some in the US, but the view here is that any opposition is unwarranted.” Castro confirmed he will take part in a Summit of the Americas in Panama in April, potentially setting up a first meeting with Obama since they shook hands at Nelson Mandela’s funeral a year ago. That brief encounter drew wide attention. Unbeknownst to the world at the time, the US and Cuba were already six month into secret talks set up with the help Pope Francis and the Canadian government.
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