Creating Conscious Alternatives to Corporate Capitalism
Many activists feel acutely aware that Corporate Capitalism has ruined everything. So where do we go from here, as activists for socioeconomic justice, focused on Building a New World Now,
a world that is just and sustainable for all?
First, we need to find a balance between our hopes for a better world, and the realities that we must deal with. There's no way that militant opposition to Corporate Capitalism will just smash it to pieces, as so many of us would love to see. Unrealistic expectations among even the most idealistic activists will lead to burnout and despair. And it often has. Who hasn’t heard of old hippie “sell outs”, who once embraced revolution, but who are now are part of the problems rather than the solutions?
A good place to start is solidarity with other activists, no matter what kind of economy they believe in. Because you see, revolution is a very long term proposal that requires hard work for many, many years. It’s better to think of it as evolution—socioeconomic (r)evolution. No matter how pessimistic our thoughts may be about the current economic models, we are wise to maintain optimism in our spirits and in our will for direct actions. We need to support anyone who fights for true social justice, who struggles against economic injustice. Even if we disagree with their favorite issues,
or their methods, experiments, politics or goals.
This is what solidarity is about. It’s about going beyond our seeming divisions, such as capitalism versus anarchism, or evolvement versus dismantlement. We should be asking critical questions with each other and brainstorming about possible solutions, rather than criticizing and lamenting, or following common party lines, or regurgitating the slogans of long dead activists. We should balance lessons learned from the past with our own common sense and our progressive visions of a better world.
So what kind of questions should we ask, as activists searching for conscious alternatives to capitalism? I think we should ask what kind of economies we really want—do we want an economy based on our true values, or on the seemingly heartless greed of corporations? Do we want to reward people for their contributions and sacrifices, or for their productivity and efficiency? Do we want to encourage individual preferences for mass, conspicuous consumption, or do we want to foster the common good of parks, libraries, mass transit, pollution reduction, and the like? Or a balance of both? Do we want our economic decisions to be based on competition and consumption, or on cooperation and collectivity? And so on.
What do we value? What do we want our economies to achieve? We can’t be taken seriously as activists by simply saying “Capitalism Sucks”. We have to have well thought out alternatives to propose and collectively build, and they have to be alternatives that average people can relate to and feel great about. The best ways to find the answers are by collaborative debates with one another. We have to discover the values and principles we want to live and die for. And we have to be able to express it in everyday language.
So is there any good alternative to Corporate Capitalism? Good question. Yes there is, actually. But it’s not a simple answer. There are MANY alternatives. And not all of them are desirable. We can consider Conscious Capitalism, Resource Based Economies, Marxism, Anarchism, and many more.
Let’s consider what we are wanting an alternative TO. Many of us do not like or want an economy based on competition, conspicuous consumption, exploitation, imperialism, environmental destruction, and hierarchies of power. That kind of capitalism is inherently unjust, and so any activist worth their salt is not going to be attracted to that.
We know that many activists hope for collectives, co-ops, and worker run entities based on broad principles of true democracy. We know many wish that the current economy could be completely dismantled and replaced quickly, but I feel like that might be naïve.
Do you know what a market economy is? Do you know what the basic institutional features and dynamics of capitalism are? Do you know how the alternatives you hope for are different from what we have now, or how it might be more or less fair, or how it might still deliver the goods that hundreds of millions of people depend on? I do not, nor do I claim to.
If we do not know or understand these answers, then how are we to avoid replicating the same kind of structures that we have now, and ending up just doing it in a cooler way?
Activists have different allegiances to different economic models. There is the libertarian Marxist way, the anarchist way, the participatory economic way, and so on. Who is to say which one might be better than another? What is most important is to consider the relevance of what you propose to the people who are suffering the economic injustices that you care about. In my field, we call this Applied Anthropology. It’s direct action based on the wishes of the people you serve. How do the alternatives we wish to explore affect the people involved all the way down the line? How do they affect the content of the zines and articles and speeches we produce, and the content of our dialogues and debates? What direction do THEY hope for us to take, if we fight on their behalf? How can we be sure to propose and implement alternatives that have deep understanding of the class and structural problems we’re addressing? And do those people actually favor the models we propose?
I took a class at a Seventh Day Adventist Church to learn about overcoming poverty. Each student had a wealthy mentor, who volunteered because they wanted to understand the realities of homelessness and systemic poverty. This was a long term project, two years. These mentors were not progressive activists. They were privileged upper class people with hearts of love and compassion for the suffering. And they learned a lot, as did we. What are WE doing to learn about the people whose lives we wish to change? This is a good example of seeking relevance.
Remember, no matter what alternative economic model you embrace as an activist, remember to deeply consider the values and principles on which you are basing your assumptions and conclusions. Remember to be humble, to be open and to not be attached to how you think about things. Remember to be welcoming, to foster solidarity with the people you serve, as well as with fellow activists of any stripe. This will give you the power to have real impact in real lives and situations. Remember that the alternatives we create and support must embody the values we claim to hold, and they must actually empower the people we whose lives we hope to improve. So discover what those values are, before you latch onto any one particular model for change.
Revolution does NOT happen overnight, nor does it happen in an immediate overthrow of the current paradigms. It starts in the grassroots, community, and everyday workplace realms. And it never ends. It takes years of organizing, making mistakes, and building a resource base before true revolution takes hold. We are in this for the long haul.
