Reparative JusticePart 8 of 11 · What capitalism does
Empire and propaganda
Wars protect the wealth of the few. And a small number of rich owners control much of what we read and hear.
War and empire
The wealth of enslavement and colonialism has created a global capitalist class who have created authoritarian and liberal democracies whose jobs are to protect global capitalism at all costs
- Capitalism is at its core is based on the violent exploitation of land, resources and workers which is backed by the world’s largest imperial military block, NATO
- Militarism can never bring peace, militarism is a tool used by oppressors to subjugate and exploit with inpunity. We must always reject military for peace and recognise it as imperialism.
- Full reparative justice and system change means dismantling capitalism and the industrial military complex created
As capitalism’s internal laws of operation require imperialist, violent intervention to oppress, subjugate and exploit humanity based on groupings and hierarchy, such as race, class and sex and so on, it logically cannot be reformed or regulated to end racism, classism (e.g economic inequality or cultural hegemony) or sexism, patriarchy etc.
Only by ending capitalism and its forced enclosure (ending private land and property ownership), asset stripping and bringing assets, wealth, technology, patents and resources under democratic control of the people without any motive of profit seeking can we get reparative justice.
Europe and its settler colony the US maintains a global hegemony of social, cultural, political and economic control and hegemony through their intertwined commerce, banking and military alliances
Knowledge from the South
Epistemologies of the South are constellations of conceptions and practices that emerge from the perspective of social groups who have suffered injustices, from capitalism, from colonialism, from patriarchy and practices that challenge the procedures and validations of Western science. It is not the geographical South, as there are ‘Souths’ in the North.
In Southern epistemologies, there is no subject/object distinction, no absolute Truth, no neutrality. No science is value neutral. The South’s knowledge was born of struggle and provides epistemologies of resistance, and of alternatives when the West is in crisis.
We have learned from feminist epistemologies to challenge the patriarchal system Diversity, and diversity of opinion is no longer suppressed.
When the very rich so controlled the means of communication that it would be almost impossible for ordinary people to make informed decisions and so democracy would then be broken
Who controls what we hear
People, especially those in colonial empire capitalist countries, are bombarded with propaganda presented as intelligent, well-reasoned information from a wide variety of sources that promote liberal or conservative capitalist ideology that makes voters defend the status quo.
The truth is Capitalism prevents equality, democracy, liberty, freedom and rights because in the long run, capitalism will enable almost infinite concentrations of wealth and power, eroding democracy, freedoms and rights.
- The capitalist economy requires oppressive right-wing dictatorship and authoritarian states to be installed in order to carry out its absurdities and oppression as is being witnessed around the global world.
- In order to operate and make capitalism work for the very few, governments and corporations must actively wage war, cause man-made poverty, famine, inequality and incite racism, sexism and fascism. Capitalism can only function with imperialism but mainstream media are ideologically unable to understand this.
- Most mainstream media and academics hold ideologically liberal and conservative views that do not see (or admit to seeing) the violence or unsustainability that is inherent within capitalism. Despite the tremendous violence on earth, they fail to connect it to capitalism.
The horrors of capitalism around the world go unpunished because the rich write and administer the law, preventing freedom, peace, justice or equality. The ultimate fight is the revolutionary process required to overturn capitalism and imperialism, the legacies of enslavement and colonialism.
The paradise of the rich is made out of the hell of the poor
Communication from revolutionary and radical groups is at present unco-ordinated, unstrategic and covers a wide area of issues that come from class, caste, race, sex and gender based discrimination, exploitation, oppression and exclusion (e.g in work, housing, education, health etc.) Communication is broad, unable to penetrate populations or give rise to mass movements as there is never a single revolutionary policy focus that can be won now.
Revolutionary Reparations takes a different approach. It is a strategic and highly focused communications message that can be endorsed by the world’s revolutionary and radical anti-capitalist and anti-imperialists groups, creating a unified message from all oppressed of how to change the system through non-violent means through the Ubuntu Restoration tax.
Populations are subjected to propaganda with the purpose of creating fear in populations that gives rise to individualist, nationalist and fascist tendencies. These include creating a hostile environment for migrants, racialising minorities communities, the false War on Terror and global Islamophobia, the false war on drugs etc. These deflect attention attention from the constant crises of capitalism and imperialism and the power being claimed in the process. Most recently, this power has come through neoliberal policies that transfer power from the state to the private sector.
Propaganda creates artificial scarcity and competitive tendencies that ensure the proliferation of imperial backed capitalism. Imperialists have in essence, the unlimited financial resources to continue producing propaganda that is almost inescapable through TV, radio, media, social platforms, schools, universities, think tanks, films, songs, books etc. Propaganda that reinforces a global hierarchy that divides and rules populations by class, race, sex, gender, faith and so on, with Christian, white, male workers being on top.
Many radical and revolutionary groups attempt to combat imperialist propaganda without success. Revolutionary reparations aims to cut through liberal and conservative propaganda.