Modern democratic capitalism has been abandoned by gods and
in their place has entwined with the unquestioned doctrine of economics. The
driving principle of spectacular neoliberalism is that economic factors are all
that matters. Aspirations of happiness have been slowly replaced by economic
security, which has in turn fuelled selfishness and isolation. The new priests
are those who work in political and economic think-tanks, statistics,
advertising, marketing, PR and of course finance. The magic tricks of financial
manoeuvring and persuasion have created a society in the UK where very little
is actually produced, yet the population is largely employed in meaningless and
unnecessary work. People are not stupid and are not really being conned … they
have consciously chosen this path for their own security and fear of being side-lined.
The economic imperative simply reduces society to
statistics, completely subsuming the individual and community. In the
mainstream political sphere, all that matters are the statistical figures for
public spending, reducing unemployment, keeping interest rates low, controlling
inflation and, most of all, the unchallenged quest for economic growth. The
notion of why economic growth is necessary at all is never questioned.
The wealthy become even more rich by buying up public assets
and land because government says that is the financial, philosophical and
ideological direction … but most of all because it is how economics demands
society will run. The privatisation of public services and public space means
that government has very little say when things go wrong and the economic
imperative has created a grotesque elite who are beyond law, justice and
responsibility.
This economic free-for-all is at the expense of society,
environment, community and commonality. Of course, this is just the constantly
shifting face of capitalism and is another adaptation of feudalism, agrararian
and industrial revolutions, post-scarcity economics etc.
While the government uses the totem of reducing the National
Debt to cut spending, ironically the economic imperative requires an opposite
phenomenon, that of personal debt. Public spending must be offset by personal
borrowing to sustain commodity fetishism and consumerism. Personal debt in the
UK is astonishing, on average over £50,000 per person. And yet, the National
Deficit still continues to increase, contributing to the staggering National
Debt. Personal and National Debt are the trophies of the economic imperative,
ensuring the shackles of debt will continue for generations and nothing can
substantially change.
The economic imperative is about managing expectations,
subtly ensuring continued consumerism, and the ideal of building personal
wealth and security at any cost. Conscience can quite literally be bought now
through the industry charity industry, which is now an integral cog in the
economic machinery.
The chance to create a new world in which society is based
on individual people, real community, mutual aid and solidarity, and harmony
with the environment demands a terrifying leap of faith. It means a rejection
of the economic imperative and ultimately the destruction of capitalist
financial structures. This may be utopian, but economics and financial theories
are actually just that, they are a house of cards and it really does just need
enough people to see that the emperor has no clothes.
It is unlikely that mainstream society could ever break from
this spell, largely due to fear by individual people about their lifestyle and
survival. Ironically, while the economic imperative reduces society to a
homogenous group, individuals have become selfish, self important and
self-centred because of the nature of media and culture, shallow affluence, and
fear of anything that threatens their world. Rarely, have so many people been
so narrow minded and certain that they are never wrong: in some ways this is a
recipe for disaster as a society that has no mutual respect, but commodity rich
isolation is exactly what the economic imperative demands.
Ridicule is nothing to be scared of. AntiClockWise has no
blueprint for an alternative society, has nothing to demand of anyone and will
not speak for others. The strongest urge is just to dance on the ruins that
will surely come and yet there is a fascinating temptation to develop the
critique of the economic imperative to try to envisage a different world where
everyone can flourish as a creative individual within a society that is based
on mutual aid, respect for others and the environment, and solidarity.
People basically need shelter, clothing, food and water. The
prevailing economic imperative understands this. Spectacular society can take
basic human needs and create a consumerist market for these, as well as the
secondary needs such as health, transport, education etc. Housing has become
the central tenet of most people’s lives and the economics of supply and demand
lead to this becoming a lifetime goal … not only in finding shelter, but in
ensuring it is spectacularly furnished. Clothing simply becomes the fashion
industry. Food and drink are turned into a dazzling selection of never-ending
evolving variations on a theme that are slowly killing us. Secondary and
tertiary needs are much more easily embraced by marketing gurus and
privatisation to create wealth from nothing. Of course, the actual production
is done beyond the UK so we cannot see the working classes being exploited –
shopping in Primark or Waitrose is easy because very few of those cheap items
have been made or grown by people in the UK, despite the fact that they either
could quite easily be or are items that can easily be done without.
The built environment must be created to reflect the real
needs of those who live there. Every individual has different needs so
communities will be very different from those we are used. Everyone shall live
in their own cathedral still has a powerful resonance. The person who wants to
live a quiet hermit existence is as important as the person who wants to dance,
drink and sing every day.
The economic imperative is based on the work ethic, yet most
work is utterly pointless. The tasks that are important, such as medical care,
transport links, sewage and rubbish disposal are best led by those who are
trained to do these jobs, in workers councils, while the free time everyone
will have can be used to support them and share skills to ultimately end
specialisation. People should not have to travel for hours just to work at a
task that is not needed, nor should they have to work unhealthily long hours.
Time freed by not doing useless tasks and striving for unnecessary goals could
be used to play, to learn and to love. Food can be grown and distributed by
each community of individuals according to its needs, not what the economic
imperative demands.
Land in private hands needs to be seized. The environment
must be respected and embraced so that is can sustainably support us.
Consumption will be limited to the essentials for survival, with real life
replacing commodity life. The creative, intellectual and practical potential of
everyone must be allowed to run wild. Government, borders and states will ultimately
be irrelevant.
It may seem daunting to experiment with ideas of a society
beyond the smoke and mirrors of 21st century political ideology, but
denying the economic imperative can liberate the constraints of imagination.
Once the barriers of fear are removed, then it is possible to think the
unthinkable about the abolition of work, the end of money etc. The
possibilities are endless …
