Contemporary Solutions

In The ABCs of the Economic Crisis, contemporary Marxists Magdoff and Yates also express the view that capitalism is on its last legs. They, like Strachey, propose “socialism” as the solution to a failed capitalist system. However they are even less prescriptive than he is as to what this should look like and exactly how it ought to come about.

At the end their book they simply suggest that Americans come together to decide if our current system is worth fighting for (which is after all why we are at war in the Middle East). They then itemize some of the human costs of our current way of life:

• increasing exploitation at work (all the lay-offs mean workers who remain are doing the work of 1.5 – 2 people)
• increased stress accompanied by poorer health
• rising consumption that has polluted our planet and filled our homes with junk, impelling us to move into ever bigger houses, fuelling the growth of suburbs and exurbs that waste gasoline, power and water and destroy our natural habitat

They then offer some alternative priorities that are worth fighting for: adequate food, decent housing, full employment, quality education, adequate income in old age for everyone; true universal health care, enhanced public transportation, a commitment to a sustainable environment, progressive taxation which reverses the process of taxing the middle class and poor to enrich a wealthy elite, a non-imperialist government and labor- and environment- friendly trade.

End of Capitalism Theory

In laying out End of Capitalism Theory on his website www.endofcapitalism.com, Alex Knight is the most specific of the doomsayers in describing what the alternative to capitalism should look like. He also stresses the need to begin working to build this new form of social organization now – and gives examples (in my view the most exciting section of his website) of hundreds of community efforts around the US that have already begun.

Knight lists five guideposts he considers essential to bringing about real change: freedom, democracy, justice, sustainability and love. The essence of his vision lies in how he defines these terms.

• Freedom – in the sense of self-determination, ordinary people controlling their own destinies instead of huge corporations and corrupt politicians. He advocates strongly for local communities to guarantee their residents access to land and food security and indicates some have begun to do so.
• Democracy – in the sense of “participatory democracy.” At present this takes the form of non-violent civil disobedience – taking back rights we should have but don’t. Knight gives the example of Taking Back the Land, which supports the homeless in squatting in foreclosed homes in Miami.
• Justice – eliminating systems of oppression that benefit one group, like whites, at the expense of another group and guaranteeing everyone access to resources like food, housing, education, health care, transportation, clean water and air, and a decent livelihood.
• Sustainability – learning to meet human needs without sacrificing the ecosystem. Knight indicates this is where the most progress has been made, with the boom in organic agriculture, permaculture and the renewal energy industry.
• Love – learning to value life over profit and money, recognizing the immense emotional isolation the current system has imposed on all of us and the healing (learning to love ourselves) that must occur. Knight stresses that capitalism, after all is system founded on and centered in abuse – and war.

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The Most Revolutionary Act on Radio:

Gorilla Radio – Chris Cook, Victoria British Columbia

(click on link)

Chris and I discuss how I was first targeted, following my decision to support the occupation (of an abandoned school)  that led to the formation of Seattle’s first African American Heritage Museum – as an alternative to the crack cocaine epidemic among the city’s African American teenagers. We also talk about my research into HIV AIDS, my hospitalization and the Veterans Administration psychologist I worked with who also helped GIs illegally stationed in Cambodia in the sixties and seventies (and terrorized into keeping quiet about it).

XZone Interview with Rob McConnell

(click on link  – show is syndicated – fast forward the music to hear interview)

Rob and Dr Bramhall discuss the phone harassment, break-ins, attempts to run her down – and her psychiatric hospitalization. They also talk about the political activities that seemed to lead the government to target her – including her research into HIV AIDS – and her inability to get help from the Seattle police. Then they cover the whole area of conspiracies in general, which are more accurately called State Crimes Against Democracy (SCADS)

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