Quote:
Originally Posted by Sparrow
I have some sympathy with the philosophy of anarchy (what little I know of it) - but then it occurs to me that we live in societies that were spawned from anarchy, and something similar would re-emerge if anarchy came to pass again.
Was it Proudhon (?) who said "Once all men were free, until a fool said 'This is mine', and a bigger fool believed him." It'd happen again.
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There is always a risk, but then what options do we have left? We have to move forward in all things or we die. Capitalism is dying, the only change that's occurred is that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer over time. And no form of communism has worked because again, it's another hierarchy that is open to too much top down abuse. So you ask yourself a few questions:
What is fair for all? What should be fair for all? Is this achievable?
For me there are three cornerstones of this that are doable right now and I don't think anybody, whether they think it is achievable or not, would not want this for everyone else:
1. Shelter for everyone.
2. Food and water for all.
3. Education for all.
When you don't have to worry about food or shelter and you're educated, then anything is possible. As communities we can grow foods, care for each other, manufacture goods (with the workers owning everything whichever stage of manufacture they happen to be), exchange goods for services or swap out goods. The system won't have the same abundance of material goods as capitalism, but then again no kid will ever starve or be homeless...fair trade as far as I'm concerned.
As communities what we do will affect everyone else and so we'll take pride in our achievements, whether that's as a teacher or someone who fixes the drains (each job might be swappable depending on the need of the community). Money will still be around, business will still run, but the bottom line won't be profits...it will be people. Your neighbours good health will be your concern. The plants, the ecology of your town or city or the plant where you manufacture goods, will concern all around you.
We stand now inactive, voiceless, in a system that is resistant to any change for the better and produces excess and damage in the pursuit of profits (BP Oil spill). A system so corrupt that children in the biggest Empire still go hungry while a war machine continues to eat into Trillions of dollars worth of taxpayer money. A war that cannot be won against an enemy that can never be defeated because they are a fiction created by the war machine itself.
So I ask then what is real? The pittance the machine pays you so that you may pay it back into the machine only for it to crush you in the end? Or will you choose the well being of your friends and neighbours, your community, the world? The choice is stark, but I believe it will be made very soon.