Noam Chomsky on Occupy Wall Street protests.

Crushing Captalism with Direct Action.

By Thomas Bonde.

The existence of the corporate capitalist system is highly dependent upon the economic inputs of ordinary working people. It is thus to a significant degree the cooperation of ordinary working people that makes the system possible. Engaging consciously in non-cooperative direct action is therefore a potent way of undermining the system.

Move Your Money:

Do not let your money work for large multinational banks that make considerable amounts of money on centralizing wealth in the hands of the few without any regard to the needs of ordinary people and/or the necessity of sustainable economic activity and development. Regardless of how little you may own, do not let your money work for their shortsighted and destructive production of profit for the wealthiest. If it is any way possible for you, it is strongly recommended that you move your money to a cooperative and egalitarian bank that puts great emphasis on supporting a sustainable collective evolution of humanity.

Build Cooperatives:

One of the primary problems inherent in the globalized corporate capitalist system is what we might call the ownership problem. Gigantic centrally planned multinational corporations dominate the prevailing economic system. They are characteristic by being owned by relatively few people who are often not themselves members of the productive labor force within the organization. The primary producers of value i.e. the laborers, are therefore not the receivers of the full fruit of their toil, but instead sell their time and life for fixed wages detached from the amount of profit generated.

Another characteristic is the centralized planning at the top level of these hierarchical organizations and their top-down decision-making structures. This typically means that the workers do not have any influence on what is produced and how the profits are to be distributed and/or reinvested. If you consider this an unjust state of affairs then you should apply the aforementioned principle of non-cooperation and avoid selling your life, labor and time to such organizations. Instead it is advisable to team up with others in a spirit of mutuality and solidarity and start organizations that are co-owned and cooperatively run on an egalitarian basis in ways that give everyone a say on how profits are distributed and spent.

Conscious consumerism:

Another aspect of non-cooperative direct action is conscious consumerism. Not spending your money to the advantage of corporate structures of economic power, but instead using them in ways that support the above-mentioned cooperative organizations, is an easy and effective way of directly combating corporate capitalism while simultaneously supporting and strengthening sustainable and just alternatives.

Use Alternative Currencies:

There are many alternative forms of currency already in use around the world of both monetary and non-monetary varieties. By using these to the greatest possible extent, instead of using the dominant currencies issued by central banks, you are contributing to the subversion of corporate capitalism (at least to the degree that they are not themselves partaking in the use of these alternative currencies). Non-monetary alternative currencies such as time banks are especially interesting and have great subversive potential in that they can not be taxed and the possibility of subsidizing corporate entities through the taxation of your labor is therefore greatly diminished.

Raise Awareness:

By doing any or all of the above you are already participating in the anti-capitalist struggle by setting a personal example that hopefully will inspire many others, but why stop there? You may also want to consider raising awareness about the systematic repression inherent in the capitalist system. This can be done in many ways and it is really only your imagination that limits you here. You can for example organize public screenings of critical and in-depth documentaries or invite interesting anti-capitalist voices to come and debate and educate people near you or you can join an organization that already has a history of raising awareness and support their work with your time and labor. Of course there is also the by now obvious possibility of participating in one of the many occupations of public space currently going on in cities around the world.

Keep the spirit high. The struggle continues!

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Persondyrkelse kontra tænkning.

I "Det Kommunistiske Manifest" kan der ikke herske den store tvivl om, at Marx agiterer for en autoritær samfundsorden, organiseret på statsligt niveau. Efter revolutionen skal proletariatets diktatur "centralisere alle produktionsinstrumenter i statens hænder", foretage en "centralisering af kreditten i statens hænder ved hjælp af en nationalbank med statskapital og absolut monopol" samt foretage en "centralisering af transportvæsenet i statens hænder", mens det hedder sig, at man skal indføre "lige arbejdstvang for alle" og der desuden opfordrers til "oprettelse af industrielle armeer, særlig indenfor landbruget".

Om dette skrev Bakunin i 1873: "The leaders of the Communist Party, namely Mr. Marx and his followers, will concentrate the reins of government in a strong hand. They will centralize all commercial, industrial, agricultural, and even scientific production, and then divide the masses into two armies — industrial and agricultural — under the direct command of state engineers, who will constitute a new privileged scientific and political class."

Er der her tale om et uretfærdigt angreb på en politisk modstander eller snarere om hvad man retmæssigt kan udlede af Marx' egne ord i "Det Kommunistiske Manifest"? Det forekommer åbenlyst, at der er tale om det sidste, idet det vist giver sig selv, at såfremt staten råder over alle produktionsinstrumenterne, transporten og kreditten og tvinger folk til at arbejde (for staten), så har staten arbejderklassen i et jerngreb.

At man også kan påvise visse autoritære elementer i Bakunins tænkning er knap så interessant, vil jeg tillade mig at mene, idet Bakunin overhovedet ikke spiller samme rolle i anarkismen (eller historien) som Marx gør i marxismen. Der er ikke, så vidt vides, nogen indflydelsesrig og levende anarkistisk retning som kalder sig bakunisme. Bakunin var desuden også glødende antisemitisk i nogle tekster, hvilket der ikke er nogen grund til at forsvare eller tale udenom, med mindre man gør sig i persondyrkelse.

Hos folk med en enorm skriftlig produktion kan man ofte finde selvmodsigelser og agitation for modsatrettede tanker. I Marx' tekster kan man således finde både libertære og autoritære tanker. I sidste ende er det væsentlige imidlertid nok, hvilke skrifter der har haft mest indflydelse på historiens gang og der hersker her ikke den store tvivl om, at Marx' autoritære side har haft mere indflydelse på historien, end hans mere libertære side. Den anarkistiske filosof Crispin Sartwell, som mener at Marx var en langt bedre tænker end Bakunin, er her værd at citere:

The project of making [..] Marx come out as right as possible is a silly project, and one entirely unworthy of an actual thinker. Take what's right; reject the rest. Why not? Why not just say he's wrong about "industrial armies" etc., but right about x, y, and z? Why? because you're a follower not a philosopher. In which case, I don't actually need to read what you write or think about what you say. [...] You should read Marx exactly like you read any arguments, accounts, assertions: critically. You should take what you can use or what you can argue for or what works and leave all the rest without a moment's hesitation. [...] Don't defend Marx at all costs, or at any cost at all: take what's right and leave what's not: it doesn't matter. Marx is dead; he's not going to be impressed that you agree with him. [marxism] is supposed to be some kind of philosophy, science, history: not a religion that demands you're unquestioning capitulation to its myriad absurdities.

Hvis en politisk filosofi degenererer til persondyrkelse af ideologiske patriarker, ophører den med at være filosofi, idet tænkningens ædle kunst af nødvendighed må være funderet på spørgen og tvivlen, hvorfor tænkningen altså må betegnes som grundlæggende anti-autoritær. I modsætning hertil har vi overbevisningen, som er kendetegnet ved, at al tvivl og spørgen er bragt til ophør. Den som med næb og klør forsvarer sine ideologiske overbevisningers ophavsmænd, selv når de kommer med de mest menneskefjendske argumenter, er snarere overbevist som religiøse mennesker, end tvivlende og spørgende, som tænkende mennesker. I stedet for overbevisningens fangenskab indenfor en given ideologisk matrices perspektiv, bør vi kultivere en sund skepsis overfor ethvert perspektiv som postulerer at være det eneste sande. Emancipation foregår ikke kun på det sociale/intersubjektive plan, med ligeledes på det kognitive/subjektive plan.  

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