Capitalism in Crisis
As a new year dawns, it is important to view developments happening in the West with new, cool eyes.
Socialists often see each critical event as “a crisis in capitalism.” True, but how often must it be said, before the cry sounds like the little boy crying wolf?
As we examine events in France, specifically the explosion of the “Yellow Vests,” mostly working class rural communities, who dare to compare their present political leaders with French Revolution-era kings, who were sent to the guillotine—well, something’s happening.
When Britain faces what is essentially a self-imposed expulsion from the EU (European Union), and its concomitant loss of billions in world trade and almost countless jobs lost, something is happening.
When the U.S. has rises and falls on the stock market that hearkens back to the 1930s, when the Great Depression was raging, something is happening.
And when we factor in the West’s recent penchant for toying with fascist movements—well, something is indeed happening—and it ain’t pretty.
Is this a crisis of capitalism?
Yes, for it is global, as opposed to national, and the incipient rise of fascist movements follows inexorably from the neoliberalism that brought us unprecedented mass incarceration—the result of state and police repression against Black, Latinx and poor white communities.
That repression opened the door to the rightist movements we see waxing on the periphery.
Why?
Because movements are always in flux, they never stand still.
The same could be said for the movements of workers, the poor, and national minorities.
If we don’t take advantage of this moment, this hour of chaos, we shall all come to regret it.
—Prison Radio, December 31, 2018
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