capital as the root of all evil

In my opinion, Ed Weick has put his finger on the button - the root of the
majority of evils, ills, and injustice in our world is quite simply,
capital. It unfortunately brings out the darker side of the human nature -
that of greed. The leaders of the western world are the most greedy of all:
power-crazed, immoral, unjust, and dedicated to one thing: ensuring that the
system that keeps them in a state of opulent welfare and with uncontested
power continues. How does one justify that statement? The Blair Government's
refusal to suspend arms trade with Indonesia - even when the rape, pillage
and destruction of East Timor was at its disgusting height, is one. Income
from weapons trade supersedes that of the right to justice,
self-determination, and even 'democracy', it would seem. The bombing of
Kosovo, itself the subject of much discussion on this list, as well as
probably being illegal, was immoral - the only objective served was to give
the US and capital-based institutions a foot-hold in the region. The Kosovan
crisis could have been contained by other means: bombing alone never won a
war - bombing a nation into tatters clears the way for reconstruction on the
capital-imperialist's terms though.

The so-called struggle for democracy in the 'Third World' is nothing more
than the colonialism of capitalism - phony leaders favored by the west (and
usually the US) and elected on the promises of increased material wealth.
Since when did 'electoral democracy' lead to a true and 'accountable'
democracy? It didn't and it won't - large scale nation-states and areas of
political demarcation are simply too large to govern under true democracy.
Citizens are fooled in to thinking that electoral democracy is democracy
true, and then appeased upon election with promised increased material
wealth in order to suppress any divergent behavior. And all the while, the
US and its transnationals (not often as transnational as you would believe)
further their interests, accompanied and facilitated by the Bretton-Woods
institutions. The goal: the globalisation of capital with the Core holding
the Director's office. The Periphery? "you sign your contract or you shuts
up"  - there are plenty of other workers out there that will do the job for
the same pay. 

The Core and those it encompasses knows this, and knows that it will get
away with it, as the Core wrote the rule book and enforces it - as those
such as Disney Corp. full well know - if 35 percent of the Haitian
line-workforce don't want to be paid 35 cents an hour, then others elsewhere
will. Oh, and Cutler, the sub-contractor can always hire a few hit-men to
take out the union leaders. There is only one law here, and it is the law of
capital - nothing must stand in the way of it's accumulation. As the Coaca
Cola workers in Guatemala will tell you. 

So who's at fault? Cutler, the Disney sub-contractor for employing slave
labour and enforcing conditions in highly dubious and illegal ways? Disney
for employing Cutler and refusing to intervene in the worker's plight? The
US for 'condoning' companies such as Disney, Cutler and Coaca Cola? The WTO
and other institutions such as the IMF and World Bank for forcing immoral
trading conditions on countries such as Haiti and Guatemala? Or the citizens
of the world for allowing this absurd circus of global exploitation to
continue? As Ed Weick puts it: 

>indeed, in some parts of the world, it has displaced subsistence
agriculture
>with large cattle ranches and coffee plantations so that people in the rich
>world can have their coffee and take their kids to Macdonalds.

Which brings me to Seattle. We may wish to be rational and well-behaved
citizens that do not condone violence against others or destruction of
property, discussion on which has been posted to this list recently.  I
wonder just how possible, or desirable this really is though...Would
reasoned 'round-the-table' discussion really produce an opposite of what the
WTO sets out to achieve, i.e. dismantling of these unjust and abhorrent
trade agreements? Are institutions such as the WTO really willing, or even
able to allow such dialogue? Or is it they are merely paying lip service and
looking for good media coverage? Is a dismantling forced about by direct
action therefore not the only way? Or is one prepared to sit down and wage a
war of words whilst the situation that one seeks an end to, continues and
grows stronger every day...

I doubt the likes of Lenin, Castro, Guevara, Ortega and thousands of other
revolutionaries contemplated such matters when deciding to despose of
capitalists and capitalism.  

So next time you go to a Disney film and then stop off for a Ronald's worm
burger and coke after visiting the Disney Store, do think about the Haitian
slave labour that produced that Lion King T-shirt, the Brazilian fields that
once yielded sustenance crops and now produce the hormone and steroid
saturated beef that burger contains, and the murdered Coca Cola Workers
Union. 

At the end of the day, we are all responsible for maintaining the problem,
as we are developing the problem's solution.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I ask you, what would you do with an old 
worn-out shoe? Repair it or discard it? I 
would say throw it away and get a new one".
                        Peruvian Communist Saying.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-------------------------------------- 

Paul Broome 
Doctoral Student 
Centre for Developing Areas Research 
Department of Geography 
Royal Holloway College 
University of London 
Egham, Surrey. TW20 0EX, UK.