February | 2012 | The End of Capitalism

Yesterday I had the honor of speaking alongside George Caffentzis to answer the question, “What is Capitalism?” Certainly this is one of the core questions of our era, as millions of people are becoming politicized during the unending economic crisis and looking for an analysis that can explain what is happening to them. In order to make a better world, we first need to define the system that dominates the current one, and that is capitalism.

Yesterday’s packed event was the first in Occupy Philadelphia‘s ten-part educational series “Dissecting Capitalism.” It was audio and video recorded, the audio is already online HERE. Listen in!

[update 2/13: and here is the video of the talk, in two parts!]

Part 2:

Below is the outline I created for my talk (downloadable HERE). I tried to bring a holistic analysis of the system that could be understandable by the average person, but still contain a nuanced perspective of all the ways capitalism has screwed us over and screwed over our planet. I’ll be fleshing this out over the next several days to revamp the “What is Capitalism?” section of the website. [alex]

What is Capitalism?

“Know Your Enemy” – Rage Against the Machine

2/1/2012 – LAVA

Alex Knight, endofcapitalism.com

Capitalism is a Global System of Abuse
1. Common Sense Radicalism – speak to the core issue in a way everyone can emotionally understand
2. How does it feel to live in a capitalist system? Like an abusive relationship.
  1. “The problem that has no name.”
3. Social and ecological trauma
4. BP Oil Disaster demonstrates system’s logic: profit over all, total lack of accountability

Power, Abuse, Resistance
1. Power-Over and Power-With
2. Internalized Oppression vs. Inherent Need for Self-determination
3. Systems of Abuse/Oppression: Patriarchy, White Supremacy, Class
4. Some Features of Class Societies:
  1. Inequality – the few benefit at the expense of the many
  2. Economic production disconnected from human need
  3. Forced labor – slavery, wage slavery
  4. State violence – punishment, repression
  5. Warfare, Conquest
  6. Propaganda
  7. Unsustainable ecological abuse
  8. Popular resistance
5. Capitalism is the most advanced Class Society

Capitalism: Pyramid of Accumulation
1. Financial Speculation
2. Commodity Trading, Commodities
3. Wage Labor, Wage Labor, Wage Labor
4. Enclosures: the largest, but invisible part of the iceberg
  1. any energy, resources or labor taken by force or without just compensation