Notes on Capitalism (from last night)

TITLE: Capitalism: A Love Story ( this title might be used because it guarentees more viewers, knowing that my critique is deeper than Michael Moore’s)

PRELIMINARY NOTES -

The attack on capitalism is certainly nothing new. In fact, by its very nature, capitalism has warranted response from those it depends upon from the get-go, namely, those unnamed victims of the work force especially required in early capitalist-conditions. Since then, the criticism has spread out from those who are its immediate victims to intellectuals, politicians and philosophers. Attacks come from very different groups with different agendas, and range from the mild criticism of capitalism who simply disagree with specific points within capitalism (conservatives and libertarians), to rigid anti-capitalist positions – those who would like to replace capitalism with something else, or, more extreme, simply not replace it with anything.
Why another video on capitalism? Because none contain the anarchist critique fully and broadly … and most lack any language that matches the intensity through which we struggle against capitalism. Not only that, but most critiques lack any depth, lack any response to anything more than the superficial elements of capitalism.

In other words, there is a failure to address capitalism both in its essence (authority and hierarchy) and in its systemic interdependence (state, private property, colonialism, globalization, domination et cetera).
IN other words, the anarchist critique of capitalism, I think, is lacking …

Thus, what is in great need is a deep and systematic critique of capitalism – both in its very heart and in all of its effects. That is my goal here. However, a broader goal of mine is to show that capitalism is only one small part of the larger totality. It is not merely capitalism that must be destroyed – it is the totality itself, which embraces capitalism, a totality that perpetuates the mindset necessary for production. So these videos are intended to extend the critique – to carve it deep and broad. Then there are those who don’t believe anything is wrong with capitalism – you know, the majority of people. This video is for them also.

Anarchism represents anti-capitalism in its extreme – i.e. not mere criticism of capitalism, and not even a mere anti-capitalist position. Anarchists, as I’ve said again and again, don’t just want to end capitalism or replace it with something else – anarchists see capitalism as a part of an interdependent totality that must end – this totality includes private property, corporations, the state, government, church et cetera. And even within that, there is an extreme – typically known as Anarcho-primitivism, or anti-civ, which see’s the enemy as civilization itself (i.e. it wants to end division of labor, domestication, and even symbolic-thinking).

In these videos I will restrict myself to a representation of the ‘classical-anarchist’ opposition to capitalism. These videos will be self-enclosed, but I will be tying it to other topics (private property, the state et cetera), something you cannot avoid. This is also known as social-anarchism, Anarcho-syndicalism, left-anarchism and Anarcho-capitalism. [or – Within anarchism there is a group of people- and I hate to say this – who call themselves Anarcho-capitalist or market-anarchist, such as Murray Rothbard. I am not representing this view.]

Any discussion of anarchists opposition to capitalism must consider the ways the anarchist position has evolved since the early 19th century. Current anarchists opposition is much different than many of the views I’m presenting here – but nonetheless, I think the spirit is the same.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarchism_and_capitalism

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TERMS [perhaps ‘The Capitalist Lexicon’ or ‘A Lexicon for the Critique of Capitalism’] Capital, Capitalism, Free-Market,

INTRODUCTION TO THE CRITIQUE

FIRST, let me just say that here I will not be explaining what exactly capitalism is. Instead, I will be assuming that you have a good grasp of the economic features of capitalism. [Not really – it will be in another video]
Ideology, Economics and Democracy …. (Define all in the lexicon)

Although I’ve only seen the trailer, the only thing I really like about Moore’s “Capitalism a love story” is precisely that: the title. Capitalism is not just a horrible reality, it is a story, a tale, a narrative, it is also something much more than that: it is the story we tell ourselves to keep the reality going. What does this mean? My first point is that capitalism only survives because of the things we tell ourselves about it. This is called ‘ideology,’ – a collection of narratives that, although they aren’t true, justify the desires of a group of people. I believe those in favor of current capitalism suffer from ideological sickness.

In discussing capitalism – especially in critiquing it – we need to first develop our capacity to perceive ideology, in ourselves and in the system surrounding us. I mean ideology in the Marxist sense: that there are a collection of general ideas that serve not as representations of the ‘truth,’ but as tools for the reproduction of the current order. A small example is the belief that having a new car will make my life better. This isn’t true, but such a belief helps to reproduce a car-centered economy or whatever. A larger example, the one I’ll be using here, is the ideology that capitalism is essentially good, that it allows for freedom, that it allows for equality, that it ‘protects’ your ‘rights,’ et cetera.

3 points at the beginning: 1) understanding capitalism means first understanding the nature of ideology. From this point comes my second: 2) we are so wrapped up in myths, stories and narratives that we ignore our immediate reality: My critique of capitalism begins with getting us to step away from the ‘textbook’ way of thinking and look at your immediate reality, hence the titles of my points like ‘average joe’; 3) capitalism is unique in that within it economics becomes fundamental over socio-cultural; this means that the material conditions of our lives are determined by our economics; 4) thus, Capitalism is not democracy, in fact, real democray is impossible within capitalism;
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