The video was inspired by CURA’s Municipal Socialism in the 21st Century even in June 2018, and highlights the latest concepts in the movement, summarising why it is growing, and explains some of its main concerns.
Tag: politics
Aid payments are dwarfed by what’s lost to spurious debts, profit extraction, and dodgy invoicing, but help to feed a narrative of the industriousness and benevolence of developed countries.
“What this means is that the usual development narrative has it backwards. Aid is effectively flowing in reverse. Rich countries aren’t developing poor countries; poor countries are developing rich ones.”
“In other words, for every $1 of aid that developing countries receive, they lose $24 in net outflows“
Techno-utopianism isn’t the answer, in other words. Neither is techno-dystopianism. The internet once embodied our hopes for a harmonious future. Now it offers a convenient punching bag for our despair about the present. But technology doesn’t automatically generate justice or injustice. The outcomes it generates depend on who owns the machines, and how they’re engineered.
Utopia may never arrive. But technology can make the world more just—if we find the right ways to organize and operate it.
Right on.
“Ryanair is to recognise pilot unions for the first time in its 32-year history in an attempt to prevent strikes in the run-up to Christmas.”
“Ryanair’s share price fell almost 8% on Friday after its announcement.”
This system is broken.
A couple of book recommendations from Dr Malham: 23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism and Economics: The User’s Guide, both by Ha-Joon Chang.
Prosperity itself transcends material concerns. It isn’t just about earning more and having more. It has vital social and psychological dimensions. To do well is in part about our ability to give and receive love, to enjoy the respect of our peers, to contribute useful work, to feel secure, to have a sense of belonging and trust in our community. Prosperity consists in our ability to participate meaningfully in the life of society. All the things, in short, that had gone missing for ordinary people over recent decades.
The pro-capitalism argument of ‘look at these things that it has achieved’ is based on the assumption that these things couldn’t have been achieved under any other system.
I enjoyed the No Gods, No Masters documentary for giving a bit of a historical lay of the land of anarchism. However, it’s very battle-heavy and full of conflict. (Maybe it has to be?) Regardless, I would like to see a companion piece with more discussion on the history and evolution of the ideas, not just the struggle. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5t1cr7
If money is the end, anything is game for the means. “Don’t be evil” evidently not compatible with “unending pursuit of profit”. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/oct/19/google-facebook-anti-refugee-campaign-secure-america-now
Interesting stuff. Some food for thought on communalism’s role in techno-utopianism; horizontalism vs verticalism; the politics of infrastructure.