Capitalism, neoliberalism, neocolonialism

[pipbarber]

Long article on the housing crisis in UK, and similar issues in the US. Turns out rent controls and long term secure leases reduce landlordism which produces affordable housing. Who'd have thunk it?

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyl ... ing-crisis

Instead, UK pollies on all sides, like their 'strayan colleagues, are somewhat terrified by the landlord set and can only imagine building more and more houses. So aussie. Yest in the UK, and the US apparently, homes per head of population has never been higher. At this point i'm reminded of the 1 million vacant homes on census night. We don't need more housing, we just need fewer landlords.

[pipbarber]

Privatise essential public services? What a great idea!

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... discharges

Their sewage problem is getting worse, but don't worry, these companies that hide data are promising to improve things by 2035, and are quite sure there won't be any shit released into dying waterways and filthy beaches by 2050. (Assuming shareholder approval, obviously). And that will happen by magic, because no one has committed to actually building the infrastructure required to treat 70 million bowel movements everyday.

[stylofone]

Privatise essential public services? What a great idea!

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... discharges

Their sewage problem is getting worse, but don't worry, these companies that hide data are promising to improve things by 2035, and are quite sure there won't be any shit released into dying waterways and filthy beaches by 2050. (Assuming shareholder approval, obviously). And that will happen by magic, because no one has committed to actually building the infrastructure required to treat 70 million bowel movements everyday.

Land of hope and glory? More like land of lavatory. Take me back to dear old shite-y.

Thatcher's cult of privatisation is a load of shit.

[Irrev-Black]

I just heard on the radio an executive from Coles vehemently denying the accusation of price gouging.
(SNIP)

They're a bunch of lying arseColes!

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-19/ ... /103469300

Poped!

pope.jpg (185 KiB) Viewed 643 times

[Irrev-Black]

Privatise essential public services? What a great idea!

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... discharges

Their sewage problem is getting worse, but don't worry, these companies that hide data are promising to improve things by 2035, and are quite sure there won't be any shit released into dying waterways and filthy beaches by 2050. (Assuming shareholder approval, obviously). And that will happen by magic, because no one has committed to actually building the infrastructure required to treat 70 million bowel movements everyday.

Land of hope and glory? More like land of lavatory. Take me back to dear old shite-y.

Thatcher's cult of privatisation is a load of shit.

And, like the Thatcher years, it's all coked up.



https://boingboing.net/2024/03/29/every ... caine.html

[pipbarber]

A half baked rant approaching.

These fantastic protests at US universities have made me reflect on how resistance is always issue based now. Not that that's a bad thing, it's good and i'm all for it, but we're in a strange historical moment where there is just no viable, or widely supported, alternative to neoliberalism. One could name neo-fascism as a popularly supported movement but it is not antagonistic to neoliberalism, it can operate perfectly well within a neoliberal context, so it doesn't count. The 60s through to the collapse of European communism had at least an oppositional model, even though protesting throughout this period was also issue based, there were alternative systems around. But not now. Not at the moment.

Communism was once a liberational movement, republicanism, decolonisation, nationalism, and once upon a time, capitalism was a liberation struggle against an aristocratic totalitarianism, both in Europe and elsewhere. But what is there today?

But weirdly, there's something apt about that. I think postmodernists were right. Grand narrative systems always end in blood and oppression, it's best to abandon them completely. But without an animating grand narrative, how is a revolution, or even radical reform, possible? All we're left with are specific issues, there's no overarching alternative structure to push for. It's all very curious because there is no alternative to business as usual and there can't be.

The USSR basically resigned. Nobody believed in it anymore and the few that tried to maintain the system were swept aside but they had an alternative system to adopt, ready to hand and fully supported by the richest nations. Neoliberals can't resign because they got no one to hand the resignation to.

On the basis of all that, we will destroy all life on earth because even after a climate change charged natural disaster that results in a mass death event, there's no alternative to invoke. We'll just keep going...business as usual. The only caveat, and possible hope, is that something unexpected will arise. Some alternative movement that somehow changes capitalism but isn't totalistic. Something that attracts widespread popular support but isn't uniform in its application.

It's for the fresher generations to figure out. I hope they're working like mad.

[stylofone]

A half baked rant approaching.

These fantastic protests at US universities have made me reflect on how resistance is always issue based now. Not that that's a bad thing, it's good and i'm all for it, but we're in a strange historical moment where there is just no viable, or widely supported, alternative to neoliberalism. One could name neo-fascism as a popularly supported movement but it is not antagonistic to neoliberalism, it can operate perfectly well within a neoliberal context, so it doesn't count. The 60s through to the collapse of European communism had at least an oppositional model, even though protesting throughout this period was also issue based, there were alternative systems around. But not now. Not at the moment.

Communism was once a liberational movement, republicanism, decolonisation, nationalism, and once upon a time, capitalism was a liberation struggle against an aristocratic totalitarianism, both in Europe and elsewhere. But what is there today?

But weirdly, there's something apt about that. I think postmodernists were right. Grand narrative systems always end in blood and oppression, it's best to abandon them completely. But without an animating grand narrative, how is a revolution, or even radical reform, possible? All we're left with are specific issues, there's no overarching alternative structure to push for. It's all very curious because there is no alternative to business as usual and there can't be.

The USSR basically resigned. Nobody believed in it anymore and the few that tried to maintain the system were swept aside but they had an alternative system to adopt, ready to hand and fully supported by the richest nations. Neoliberals can't resign because they got no one to hand the resignation to.

On the basis of all that, we will destroy all life on earth because even after a climate change charged natural disaster that results in a mass death event, there's no alternative to invoke. We'll just keep going...business as usual. The only caveat, and possible hope, is that something unexpected will arise. Some alternative movement that somehow changes capitalism but isn't totalistic. Something that attracos widespread popular support but isn't uniform in its application.

It's for the fresher generations to figure out. I hope they're working like mad.

My initial response was to say that grand narrative systems themselves are rubbish. Maybe we're better of without them. The USSR was a murderous tyrranny, yet leftists fell into its narrative black hole because it wasn't capitalism.

Now we are in the post-truth era, grand narrative systems are further removed from reality than ever. Environmentalism and climate action are the best because they are rooted in science and material reality, they are not mere narratives.

Then I had a rethink about neo-liberals, Trump and fascism and all the rest. They are all based on narratives which are very very shitty, but also quite effective. It would be wrong for us to abandon good narratives and leave the baddies with the most effective weapon. So we need good narratives which are also firmly anchored to reality. Good narrators are essential. I wish Barack Obama did what Al Gore did and make climate action his new thing. Greta Thunberg can't do everything.

[joele]

These fantastic protests at US universities have made me reflect on how resistance is always issue based now.

I struggle with the university protests, I am all for peaceful anti war protests, but we have one of the Columbia protest leaders (Khymani James) defending their statements, like "zionists don't deserve to live" and telling jews on campus (not counter protestors, just fellow students), that they are wrong that statements like that and people blocking their way to class and/or demanding they denounce Israel are anti-jewish/biggoted/racist.

The thing I struggle with there is these same people on the left would say it is racist for a white person to whitesplain to a black person what is and isn't racist, but they see zero irony when they do the same to their fellow jewish students?

[pipbarber]

These fantastic protests at US universities have made me reflect on how resistance is always issue based now.

I struggle with the university protests, I am all for peaceful anti war protests, but we have one of the Columbia protest leaders (Khymani James) famously defending their statements, like "zionists don't deserve to live" and telling jews on campus (not counter protestors, just fellow students), that they are wrong that statements like that and people blocking their way to class and/or demanding they denounce Israel are anti-jewish/biggoted/racist.

The thing I struggle with there is these same people on the left would say it is racist for a white person to whitesplain to a black person what is and isn't racist, but they see zero irony when they do the same to their fellow jewish students?

I have no quantitive evidence but it seems to me that the dominant intent at these protests is based on protecting lives and not antisemitism. From my own participation in local rallies, the focus is Palestine, not Zionism. But i'm sure there are some bad actors involved, which is disappointing and damaging.

[joele]

I have no quantitive evidence but it seems to me that the dominant intent at these protests is based on protecting lives and not antisemitism. From my own participation in local rallies, the focus is Palestine, not Zionism. But i'm sure there are some bad actors involved, which is disappointing and damaging.

Noted, I should have also clarified it is more the behaviour of some organisers/protestors, largely in the American context, that I am struggling most with. Though various events in Australia, I have mentioned before, like the 'jew lists' are of a similar ilk (to me).

I also think some of the pro Israel counter protests (and things said by some there) very much overwhelmingly in America, are also really shit.

Communism was once a liberational movement, republicanism, decolonisation, nationalism, and once upon a time, capitalism was a liberation struggle against an aristocratic totalitarianism, both in Europe and elsewhere. But what is there today?

But weirdly, there's something apt about that. I think postmodernists were right. Grand narrative systems always end in blood and oppression, it's best to abandon them completely. But without an animating grand narrative, how is a revolution, or even radical reform, possible? All we're left with are specific issues, there's no overarching alternative structure to push for. It's all very curious because there is no alternative to business as usual and there can't be.

Jumping back to the original thread topic, maybe I am just in a real pessimistic mindset, but you're right, this reminds me of what Bakunin was saying before he got kicked out of the first international.

“If you took the most ardent revolutionary, vested him in absolute power, within a year he would be worse than the Tsar himself.”

The problem is humans, we CANNOT have power over each other, the ideology/system is kind of irrelevant if someone (or group of someone's) have power over others.

But neither side of politics, these days, in my opinion, really want LESS control over people, their focuses on where we should and shouldn't be free are just different. So I am not sure how anything will improve in a grand way whilst humans just go in shitty cycles of attacking each other after fracturing into their factions of the day.