We won’t overthrow capitalism by recycling the crap we buy every day, nor by controlling our consumption. The capitalist system knows how to benefit from enviroment-conscious consumers, and no great change has ever been achieved by giving away and re-using old stuff (interesting that a common practice of survival in days of war/poverty has now acquired radical status).
Actually it is more radical to spend and stop saving, since saving is a poor person’s self-denial, effectively enriching banks, and reducing the value of labour by showing that it’s possible to get on with less money.
And by the way overthrowing capitalism doesn’t mean you have to live in scarcity like a Chinese peasant. It’s about recognising that any existing scarcity is entirely artificial.
The whole point is that most of us, and especially the poorest, are completely dependent on being employed, or on the state (if it happens to reluctantly provide for those who can’t work), to survive, while there is a ruling class minority that is excessively enriched by our work and dependence and obviously wants us to stay in that condition indefinitely.
Some of us in the “western world” may not feel the problem so directly, since the general standard of living is somewhat higher, and the idea of ‘equality of opportunity’ is sold to us constantly despite the fact that only those with capital (or loaned capital) can be enriched.
We consume on our credit cards and keep the world financial system afloat on bubbles and debts upon debts (ours, the state’s, corporations’) and when the crash/catastrophe comes the poorest of us are crushed. Meanwhile neighbourhoods all over the world are being class-cleansed to make space for the influx of yuppies. The state then focuses on teen petty crime and surveillance to control the intransigent scapegoats and dissenters. Look at what happened in New Orleans. And that’s only the surface. I could go on stating the obvious…
I don’t know how we can get out of this situation, but all revolutions in history merely reproduced this structure and most currently fashionable methods of resistance are just easy ways to make ourselves feel better. International organising is slowy dying with police repression after 9-11. Not to mention political parties trying to prey on each and every emerging opposition.
While cooperatives are commendable, again, they are like canoes in a capitalist hurricane: if they cannot compete in the market, they may sink, and competing means the cooperative members will have to effectively exploit themselves…
Despite all this I still think there’s a way out of this…
