Friday, April 24, 2020

Capitalism Is a Crime Against Nature

My daily after-work zen routine used to be to retreat to my own little backyard nature sanctuary and sit as still as a statue in order to get as close as possible to the birds flocking to the multiple feeders I'd placed on the branches of our overgrown pussywillow tree.

One particularly fine afternoon as I was sitting and contemplating, a sudden shadow streaked across my peripheral vision. A hawk,with deadly and surgical and absolute lightning-speed silence, had swooped down and captured one of the hectoring bluejays fighting over sunflower seeds that had fallen to the ground. The  multiple species congregating in the tree in varying degrees of peace - finches, chickadees, nuthatches, other blue jays - did not fly away home in fright. To the contrary. They immediately sounded a deafening mutual alarm while pursuing the hawk back and forth across the yard for a good 10 minutes before at last settling back down in the feasting tree.

This memory has come back to haunt me as I've witnessed the predators of neoliberal capitalism and their political lackeys swoop down on the worst human catastrophe of our lifetimes, perhaps one of the worst of all time. But unlike the perfectly evolved hawk, our 21st century Ruling Class Raptors are nothing but grotesque, clumsy mutations. They destroy and they kill far more than they can ever personally consume in a million of their lifetimes. They seem to have lost the evolutionary ability to sneak up on their prey, as they did with varying degrees of success before this pandemic and economic collapse.

Now we can see and hear them coming from miles away in a toxic cloud as they screech out their greed and unsheathe their talons, in gross anticipation of wiping out entire flocks and destroying their homes and food supplies in the process. How long do we let this happen before we regular humans put aside our differences and rise up in solidarity to attack our mutual enemy in order to save ourselves?

As Russian polymath Pyotr Kropotkin argued in Mutual Aid, his 1902 treatise against the pseudo-science of Social Darwinism espoused by the likes of Herbert Spencer, the response of the multiple bird species in my backyard is the rule of all life on earth, rather than the exception. Far from what Thomas Hobbes called a constant war of all against all for bare survival, it is cooperation, not cutthroat competition, which really has enabled species to thrive.

Kropotkin:
In The Descent of Man he (Charles Darwin) gave some powerful pages to illustrate its proper, wide sense. He pointed out how, in numberless animal societies, the struggle between separate individuals for the means of existence disappears, how struggle is replaced by co-operation, and how that substitution results in the development of intellectual and moral faculties which secure to the species the best conditions for survival.
Then came Late Stage Capitalism, or free market neoliberalism, or corporatism, or the class war, or Social Darwinism on steroids and crack.

Kropotkin laid out in Mutual Aid the case that "we" were far more advanced and psychologically healthy in the Middle Ages. Nowadays, the neoliberal dogmas of personal responsibility, personal entrepreneurship and competition have been drummed into most of us right from birth. The medieval guilds, on the other hand, ensured justice for most, if not all, and protection from the feudal lords who ruled for centuries before they, too,  were finally destroyed by capitalism. Even the lowly serfs had their own guilds. So did virtually every trade and profession.

Fast forward to 2020, and Amazon warehouse workers organizing unions and wildcat strikes are fired by Jeff Bezos, who has personally accumulated an additional $24 billion since the Covid-19 pandemic began. Meanwhile,his vast monopoly engages in Orwellian surveillance of its workers in an effort to quash any incipient mutual aid and solidarity.

Fast forward to 2020, and President Trump insanely suggests that we inject ourselves with household disinfectant as a prelude to "re-opening" the country while building more walls to keep invisible enemies out.

Fast forward to 2020, and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo blames the jobless for their own plights because they didn't choose careers in "essential fields" - such as Amazon fulfillment and treating Covid-19 patients while denied face masks and forced to dress in plastic garbage bags because of a dearth of pandemic gear.

Fast forward to 2020, and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden joins Trump in senile xenophobic rhetoric against our fellow human beings in China.

Fast forward to 2020, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell advises states to declare bankruptcy in lieu of helping their residents...and make it "legal" to loot public pension funds. 

Fast forward to 2020, and Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, in calling for the plutonomy to be reopened, states "there are more important things than living."

Fast forward to 2020, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi goes Marie Antoinette one better and brags on national TV about all the boutique ice cream she has stashed in her $24,000 freezer - before returning to Washington to give more aid and succor to billionaires in the cynically named Paycheck Protection Act. (And no, Marie Antoinette did not actually say "let them eat cake" before tumbrelling to her own ultimate reward.)

 "There is no alternative" and "there is no such thing as society" - the infamous quips uttered by Maggie Thatcher before her own devolutionary descent into drooling senility -  have become the official twin anthems of the Ruling Class Racketeers. They are being blared out of a bullhorn heard 'round the world.

George Carlin famously said you'd have to be asleep to actually believe in the American Dream.

Fast forward to the nightmare of 2020, and you'd also have to be deaf and blind and drugged and comatose not to be aware of the regressive mutated raptors swooping down upon you.

Kropotkin wrote, a mere 15 years before the French Revolution-inspired Russian Revolution:
More than that; not only many aspirations of our modern radicals were already realized in the middle ages, but much of what is described now as Utopian was accepted then as a matter of fact.; We are laughed at when we say that work must be pleasant, but "everyone must be pleased with his work, a medieval Kuttenberg (Germany) ordinance says, "and no one shall, while doing nothing, appropriate for himself what others have produced by application and work, because laws must be a shield for application and work."
There was actually once a law on the books that decreed happiness and forbade plunder and inequality! So isn't it long past time we all went medieval on Trump, Pelosi, McConnell, Cuomo and the whole perverted, mutated lot of them? We might not permanently defeat them, but like the multiple species of smaller birds in my one little backyard, we do have the innate power to annoy and harass them into beating one of their historical, cyclical retreats.

It's a law of nature. It's how we not only survive, it's how we thrive against all odds and against all predatory political oddities.



13 comments:

Anonymous said...


I actually saw a gang of crows chase a hawk away. It was such a racket I ran out of the house to see what was up. First I saw the hawk swoop onto a tree, followed closely by a crow who was yelling to high heaven. Then another crow showed up and positioned herself to the left of the hawk, opposite the other crow who was on the right. Then a third crow swept in and positioned directly in front of the hawk. The hawk saw himself surrounded and lit out of there and stayed gone until spring of the following year.

That's not really on point, but I just wanted to share the story.

Will said...

I'm gonna link to a couple of Australian voices today. Yayyy!

First, writer Caitlin Johnstone's surgical evisceration of the pathetic blame-the-Russians-and-Chinese narrative being foisted upon us:

https://medium.com/@caityjohnstone/the-russians-and-the-chinese-are-your-enemy-b07f7b961408

Then comedian Greta Lee Jackson and friends thanking all the courageous Aussie celebrities (and the universally despised Ellen!) for their strength and guidance in these difficult times:

https://twitter.com/gretaleejackson/status/1253507484305637376?s=19

POE said...

The sports program that was developed in China during the time of Mao and Zhou Enlai was based on the principle of "Friendship First, Competition Second".

It was more than a slogan, rather a way of life that was nurtured through the sports program. As conditions developed, the concept was also used to promote friendly relations with the rest of the world that had been denied the People's Republic through the US policy of containment and isolation.

This has all changed now and I won't go into how and why but for a good period of time the Chinese were able to incorporate a principle into their society that is the antithesis of neoliberal "competition" -- which is really just a ruse for maintenance of a cruel system of corporate rule. Perhaps we are now in the synthesis phase of the dialectical materialist triad. Friendship and cooperation (also known as Peace) are not only the ultimate goal we should strive toward, they also provide the means to get there.

Anonymous said...

"There are more important things than living" Not too many choices there.

Erik Roth said...

“If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin.”
~ Charles Darwin, "Voyage of the Beagle"

Annie said...

Speaking of crimes, I wonder if 2008's Savior of Capitalism, St. Barack Obama, made it his mission to ensure a Biden victory not just to protect his legacy but more importantly protect him from the fallout from his illegal intelligence operation we know as 'Russiagate'. President Hillary Clinton and intelligence holdovers were supposed to have given him cover, but we all know how that went.

John Durham is the investigator looking into the origins of Russiagate and Obama is squarely in the crosshairs of the deep dive into Operation Crossfire Hurricane. The wind is picking up and storm clouds are forming...

That would explain the stealthy intercession by St. Barack during the Night of Long Knives when he made phone calls to Biden's rivals to coordinate their campaign suspensions/endorsements for Biden, knifing Bernie out of the picture, and reversing Biden's electoral fortunes on Super Tuesday - effectively performing the miracle of raising Biden's campaign from the dead.

It seems unlikely that Michelle Obama would want or accept the VP spot, but if St. Barack can talk her into it "for the sake of the children" (their own heirs to the family fortune and power), he'd have insurance for when Zombie Joe bows out. The VP has to be someone who's already solidly Team Obama. Good thing Joe promised it would be a black woman.

Erik Roth said...

Annie,
Again, you make a compellingly convincing case. But Biden only pledged to pick a woman, not necessarily one who is black. However, other analysts have argued, with likewise keen intuition and solid logic, that for "balance" and "base expansion" Joe's campaign needs a running mate such as Stacey Abrams or Kamala Harris. Yet, to any extent that Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton influence the choice the Democrats are doomed. Obama is at the peak of his influence, and Michele would no doubt be enormously popular, however arranged by the-powers-that-be this hole thing (aka fiasco) obviously appears. But how do you think Hillary feels about a different President's spouse succeeding to the office she believes is her entitlement?

Will said...

Since nothing matters and we're all gonna die fairly soon I hope we get a President Michelle so we can see Hillary absolutely lose her shit over it. (I was so excited to post this that no commas were even considered let alone used lol)

chuck said...

And now today New York's Board of Elections have twisted the knife in Bernie's supporters. And along the way, they threw off the Assembly challenger in my district in a nakedly racist maneuver. They have negated the whole point to my changing my party affiliation to vote in the primary. I changed it back today.

Somebody remind me why I bother to vote.

Erik Roth said...

Michele, Joe's belle --

Netflix announces surprise Michelle Obama documentary —
“Becoming", which drops in May, follows the former first lady on her 34-city book tour, will offer a ‘rare and up-close’ look at her life.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/apr/27/michelle-obama-documentary-becoming-netflix
27 Apr 2020 ~ by Benjamin Lee

Obama’s memoir "Becoming" became an instant bestseller upon release in 2018 and has since sold over 10m copies. According to Gallup polling, Obama was voted the most admired woman in the US for the last two years. When recently asked about her suitability as vice-president, the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate, Joe Biden, said he would pick her “in a heartbeat”.

The surprise launch of "Becoming" next month arrives soon after Hulu’s four-part docuseries Hillary which told the story of Hillary Clinton.


https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/biden-says-he-d-pick-michelle-obama-vice-president-heartbeat-n1192071

It's becoming clear what's coming: the Empire strikes back.
And Hillary will be fuming and melting like the wicked witch of the west.
It'll be a tiny consolation, be sweet nonetheless.

Annie said...

Anita Hill for VP!

The Joker said...

@Erik Roth

You asked: "But how do you think Hillary feels about a different President's spouse succeeding to the office she believes is her entitlement?"

I expect Hillary to any day now break off her hubby's favorite body part and throw it out the window. Because once she realizes that she will never become president, also will come the realization that she put up with his philandering pickle for naught.

voice-in-wilderness said...

The human population is headed for disaster regardless of the economic systems that dominate the globe. Our population is already way out of whack with the sustainable capacity of the planet and we continue to explode in numbers.

Of course demographers don't use terms like "whack" and "explode," but talk about fertility rates, etc., without changing the reality. Another way to express our impact, is that we are causing the Sixth Great Extinction in the history of life on the planet. In lay terms, this can't end well -- there is no economic system that knows how to halt the increase and then gracefully lower our numbers.

Our routine wars and diseases are not sufficient to reduce our numbers either. The last substantial reduction was the European import of diseases and murder to the Americas, which Charles Mann in his book "1491" says may have wiped out one-fifth of the people then living on the planet. But it was not even noticed outside of the Americas. We don't want to be here when the global rebalancing finally occurs.