A-Infos (en) France, Socialisme-Libertaire: CAPITALISM IS NOT INEVITABLE (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

It always seems impossible until it's actually true. -- Nelson Mandela 
---- "Certainly, the political system holds all the levers of power to 
perpetuate the system of physical and intellectual exploitation... It 
manipulates minds through the means of communication at its disposal. It 
steers our consumer choices according to political, financial, 
commercial, and industrial interests." It shapes our way of thinking on 
all important social issues: nuclear power, pensions, the fight for 
environmental protection, inflation, rising food prices, healthcare, 
Covid-19, wars, immigration... It justifies their lies by calling on 
experts (military personnel, economists, psychologists, sociologists, 
historians, professors-all generals, colonels, commanders, or PhDs with 
30 years of post-secondary education). God knows there are a whole lot 
of them parading across the TV screens, talking about all these things 
that are supposed to be beyond the grasp of the average person. Thank 
goodness they dedicate themselves to explaining the whys and wherefores. 
As if we were ignorant, incapable of understanding for ourselves. Their 
interventions, their analyses, are delivered like lectures. They 
discourse and exchange ideas amongst themselves, without any dissenting 
voices. With a few minor differences, they all agree. You just have to 
listen to them and repeat them endlessly on the airwaves every day for 
weeks on end. Months and years and on all television channels to 
understand that this disinformation strategy is orchestrated at the 
highest level of the State.

All these experts, serving the political establishment, sell themselves 
shamefully for a few thousand euros. They are propagandists for the 
capitalist system and contribute to its perpetuation. Because, according 
to them, there is no salvation outside of capitalism.

Capitalism is using every available resource

There's the labor market, as they say, where the worker sells their 
commodity, "labor power," at the lowest price, while the manager, the 
engineer, etc., sell their intellectual knowledge for a slightly higher 
sum. This is what's called capitalist exploitation.

Then, the financial market continues to wreak havoc (speculation, 
speculative bubbles, inflation, etc.). This yields immediate returns and 
requires no large material investments (factories, machinery, or hiring 
employees). A few clicks on the computer in a matter of seconds can 
translate into fabulous profits.

The system is constantly evolving

With the health crisis, the scientific and research market has become a 
colossal commodity. It has expanded rapidly, and the profits reaped by 
pharmaceutical companies were immediately substantial (vaccines). The 
three major pharmaceutical companies-Pfizer, BioNTech, and Moderna-are 
generating $65,000 in profit per minute thanks to their COVID-19 vaccines.

The knowledge market has become a highly sought-after commodity. You 
should see all those eggheads crowding into television studios to 
dispense their analyses with emphasis and arrogance.

Admittedly, the return isn't immediate. But it's a long-term investment. 
The brainwashing has effectively shaped our minds, making us completely 
dependent. It's leading us down paths that will inexorably result in the 
destruction of the planet and the end of all human life on Earth.

Those in power always have two irons in the fire

First of all, excessive consumption.

They have advertising at their disposal. It invades our daily lives; in 
the supermarkets of consumerism, the incentives to buy are constant: two 
or even three products for the price of one. Buy today, pay in a month! 
Credit companies are springing up like mushrooms. All these benefactors 
of humanity think only of our happiness and saving the planet. They 
provide us with financial aid that will never compensate for the cost of 
the purchases and renovations required for us to buy electric cars and 
electric bikes at astronomical prices; to undertake insulation work on 
our houses and apartments, which are veritable energy sieves; and to 
install solar panels, made in China, one of the world's biggest polluters.

Then, in the same breath, they ask us to reduce our consumption and be 
frugal. They try to make us feel guilty for not being eco-responsible. 
As if we hadn't understood that we've entered a period where frugality 
must be a civic duty and that everyone must do their part to save the 
planet. Progress has its limits, they say!

And they gave us plenty of advice on how to cope with rising gas and 
electricity prices, to rethink our old consumption habits, to heat to 19 
degrees Celsius, they even recommended lowering the temperature to 17 
degrees Celsius in bedrooms, and if you're cold, just put on a sweater 
and add one or two blankets. As soon as night falls, close the shutters 
to ensure better insulation against the cold.

Taking a shower uses on average between 60 and 75 liters of water every 
three days, while a bath uses between 150 and 200 liters of water, so 
you get the idea...

Check the settings of refrigerators and freezers, and maintain them 
(defrost, clean). Turn off standby power on non-essential electrical 
appliances. Only use the washing machine or dishwasher when they are 
fully loaded. Use LED light bulbs; while more expensive to buy, they 
consume 6 to 10 times less electricity.

Clearly, the market economy tries to capture everything that is 
profitable, always with the aim of maximizing profits and paying 
dividends to shareholders. It's their moral compass to serve the 
interests of a minority at the expense of the majority.

Capitalism is not inevitable, so let's reason in the opposite direction: 
to hell with work and money!

Let us make our priority not exploitation, not consumption, not work, 
and let us manage our own social, economic and political life.

Let's organize happiness. Work isn't the most important thing in life, 
especially since it oppresses us and degrades our physical, moral, and 
health. Let's put an end to this society driven by "money." Nothing is 
free, yet we create wealth; it belongs to us. Let's end this organized 
theft. Let's break free from this increasingly deadly old capitalist 
system and establish a mutual aid, egalitarian, self-governing society 
based on cooperation-a society where everyone's freedom serves everyone.

Towards an egalitarian and self-governing society is possible

A society where free access is the guiding principle, whose functioning 
is based on local, municipal, departmental, regional, and national 
resources and exchanges, would eliminate the circulation of money, the 
medium of exchange, which corrupts human relationships because it is 
based on profit. Free access could be established in many areas of 
social and economic life and would be nothing less than justice, as with 
transportation (SNCF, RATP, air, departmental, regional, etc.), 
healthcare (hospitals, pharmacies, general practitioners, and all 
specialized medical services such as cancer or cardiology), education 
(from preschool to university), and food retail, from medium-sized to 
large supermarkets, where the workers of each company would decide how 
to share the profits according to everyone's needs.

Banks, which are the symbol of the triumph of capitalism, would no 
longer have a reason to exist.

Capitalism is not an end in itself. One simply needs to reason in the 
opposite direction to the dominant discourse.

It is possible to get rid of the old habits that the political system 
has helped to instill in our brains for thousands of years, habits that 
instill ignorance, stupidity, and literally suffocate us.

It is also possible to put an end to the reign of money, synonymous with 
power, injustice and exploitation.

It is possible to demystify the role of "work," which is neither a means 
of fulfillment nor essential to life, as politicians would have us 
believe. For those in power, it's about subjugating human beings to the 
status of slaves. As Grandpa Justhom used to say: " Have you ever seen a 
worker become a billionaire and make a fortune through their labor?! "

It's no picnic having to go out every day to sell that particular 
commodity, "labor power," which makes the exploiters rich. Moreover, 
there's no shortage of expressions rejecting work: it's not uncommon to 
hear, regarding work, "we have to go to the grind" or "I have to go to 
the sorrow."

The concept of work comes from the Latin word tripalium , which means 
instrument of torture. Historically, work has signified suffering and pain.

Possibilities exist and are emerging to build, to construct another 
society and to liberate people from their chains.

The beginnings exist within the capitalist consumer society. Workers 
have this capacity to adapt and create structures to circumvent 
capitalist rules such as: bartering, exchange, mutual aid, cooperatives, 
AMAPs, SCOPs, SCICs, mutuals, short supply chains in agriculture, market 
gardening, livestock farming... would already be favoured in terms of 
operation.

At the national level, this system would be federated into 
self-governing structures where representatives would be tasked with 
representing us (with one or two binding mandates). They would be 
mandated for one or two missions. They would be accountable and could be 
dismissed if they exceeded or deviated from their mission.

SOURCE:  Justhom - anarchist expression blog

https://www.socialisme-libertaire.fr/2026/08/le-capitalisme-n-est-pas-ineluctable.html
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