Capitalism is not superior but it is dominant, it is not better but it is here to stay. Capitalism cannot co-exist with non-capitalism, since its primary goals are to expand, change and dominate towards capital growth. Our current struggle with capitalism is to train it towards sustainability… it has for so long been a vicious [...]
Capitalism is not superior but it is dominant, it is not better but it is here to stay. Capitalism cannot co-exist with non-capitalism, since its primary goals are to expand, change and dominate towards capital growth. Our current struggle with capitalism is to train it towards sustainability… it has for so long been a vicious out of control beast devouring, destroying and consuming. What a challenge, to tame the beast of capitalism!
When capitalism first entered Europe, there was no going back… it was a force no one comprehended. Could it be stopped then? History says no: since it has only grown bigger, stronger, more dominant and more ferocious than ever. It spread through Europe, North America, and wherever it was not embraced by people, it became death to those people. It led to invasion, colonization, conquering. The capitalism beast was single minded… steal, kill, subdue, all in the service of profit, which was in the service of our insatiable lust for consumption.
Therefore, any culture of people in all shades of skin colour, that find themselves in the death grip of the wild beast of capitalism, may not hope to destroy it. By embracing it at the cost of one’s own non-capitalist principles, one may co-exist with the beast, even learning to exert influence over it, and receive benefits from it. There are cultural characteristics that capitalism is not interested in such as language, dances, stories etc… since its key interests are land and all that is under and on top of it (i.e. water and minerals). A person may surrender land and time and effort to the beast, and then practice their remaining culture in their spare time (though it be mournful and severely limited by the loss of land). In this way people have trained to ride the beast of capitalism in order to escape death and even receive a little wealth.
Modern day aboriginal land rights are not about restoration of land but compensation for comrades (i.e. restoration of humanity). Capitalism cannot encompass restoration of resources… to take land, cultivate and alter it and then abandon it to itself is not within the scope of capitalism… capitalism is only interested in further cultivation and exploitation to produce further growth. In terms of compensation, riders of the beast may share from their piece of wealth, and in this way coax the fallen soldiers who made the mistake of thinking they could destroy the beast altogether, into a position of reconciliation. Such reconciliation with capitalism is not negotiation, since capitalism does not negotiate. Can we, whether aborigine, english, chinese or whatever descent or possessing whichever physical features recognise this defining feature of this beast, that is untamed, wild, reckless, and without an equal, and hitched a ride on the hulls of the English colonial ships, and so was unleashed on this land we call Australia?
Can we ride the beast of capitalism and survive and benefit, or will we hold on to the ancient land, and die? Perhaps, compensation for indigenous Australians should be more forthcoming, since we need all the help we can get, we need any that will pick up arms with us, as we seek, in the new language of sustainability to tame the beast, control it, limit it (though these goals be opposite to the core drive of capitalism itself). Perhaps we should further honour the bravery of those in the past who fought the beast of capitalism as it invaded their lives, since their bravery is our war cry as we join together, indigenous, english, asian, all as one family and now fight to tame, that which was always our common enemy… capitalism.
We are brothers and comrades in this mission to rid ourselves of the disease of capitalism. Such a disease rotted our land, and corrupted our people. Such a disease tore us apart from the dreamtime, from our ancestors. It has mixed the blood of all those before us, with the despairing cry of the land as it moaned under the burden, oppression, affliction, and wickedness of the beast that ripped it to pieces. Capitalism is now stronger than ever, and its muscles bulge by the ignorance of us all, and its teeth are sharpened on our in-fighting, our lack of bravery, our weakness by which we blame each other rather than unite against our common foe. Capitalism must be tamed or else our planet will fall victim to this beast as did our indigenous brothers and sisters so many times before.
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