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i always find the equation of capitalism with political freedom to be amusing.
particularly if you actually take seriously anything alansmithee just said--which is a nice summary of what you would read about in almost any introduction to capitalist ideology textbook.
his post provides a nice snapshot of the central argument against any possible equation of capitalist modes of production and any particular legal or political regime.
left to themselves, captialist firms will reinvent the bottom in terms of wages, in terms of quality of life, in terms of social stability (if you view your workers as interchangeable extensions of the machinery they run, what do you care about social reproduction--fact is, you dont--this despite it being self-defeating in the longer run--but in the contemporary capitalist context, there need be no longer run at the level of production--relocate whewn shit gets ugly. no problem. profits uber alles.)
china has had among the fastest growing capitalist economies in the world for the past 15 years or so. production facilities are located there in huge numbers--apparently, it is ok for these firms to see in political repression--opposition to union activity for example--a kind of externalization of costs. and apparently alansmithee would be able to do nothing but justify this position.
capitalism is not a liberating force--was never, never will be. it is a system of economic activity that assumes human being can be treated like things and that freedom is something top be bought by holders of capital.
it is a revolutionary force--marx was right about that--and one of the explanations for the rise of the modern nation-state is as a political formation set up to mitigate the destruction visited upon regions that are integrated into this system.
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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear
it make you sick.
-kamau brathwaite
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