Sunday, December 30, 2012

S1:E1-The Myth of Constructive Altruism in an Imperial Society and Globalized World

"It is immoral to use private property in  order to alleviate the horrible evils that result from the institution of private property. It is both immoral and unfair." -Slavoj Žižek, First As Tragedy, Then As Farce.

Actions undertaken by either a government or it's citizens to address socio-economic inequality they have had a direct hand in creating is not only delusive, it is subversive to the humanitarian motivations they are supposedly acting upon.

There is a small rural village in Nigeria, North of the Kalabari Settlement, in one of the lushest and most resource-laden regions in Africa. The Alkugan people residing there, already relatively impoverished, have ceded their oil wells to the Bayelsa State Government[1], a stabilizing force for most of the Niger Delta and  the main employer of labor in the region. However, the loss of these oil wells has created a downturn in the economic health of the town, as state acquisition removes control of production and prices from the hands of it's residents.

Let's look at this hypothetically: Enter one concerned parish from outside of Madison, Wisconsin, who has begun fundraising for a relatively secular mission trip to the village. They will stay for one month, helping to fix up houses and dig new water wells for residents, while bringing food and blankets and providing some basic medical care. When they arrive, they find themselves extremely well-received. The townsfolk are grateful for their presence and the gifts they provide, and happily share their unique history and culture with the curious visitors. The Americans return home two weeks later, feeling worldly and fulfilled, certain that they have done a great service to the people they have met. This of course sounds lovely; certainly the Alkugans are healthier and more comfortable, and Wisconsonites can sleep soundly knowing that they have made the world a safer place.

It would be doing a disservice to many kindhearted, well-intentioned people to suggest that these practices are inherently wrong. I would like to state for the record that I believe charity and philanthropy are two principles that should valued above all others. These individuals serve an example not only of the compassion we should hold for our fellow citizens of Earth, but also of the motivation and willingness to sacrifice that is necessary if we are ever to see true change in the world around us. It is the incarnation of these beliefs into action that I find lacking effect, and the ramifications of their implementation most disturbing.

To return to our abstract, after the few weeks of cortege, life returns to normal for the habitué of our little village. Normal is not good. While technically under the protection of Bayelsa, armed gangs run most of the Delta, becoming de facto sovereign rulers as they embark on campaigns of arms dealing, human trafficking, and most importantly, bloody runs on state-owned oil operations (sometimes even holding prolonged control of wells and rigs.) These new localized "governments" seize any foreign aid that comes into the area, distributing it amongst their ranks. The petro-insurgencies then sell these products back to residents at a huge markup, using the subsequent cash to pay off local police. Despite the best efforts of aforementioned Americans, the future looks grim for those of the Kalabari. For all they have given, the situation has in fact been worsened as the armed militias see gain (both ideologically and financially) from the reclamation of ministration.

The United States is unfazed by (and often encouraging of) providing aid to countries that have (or have begun building) socialist markets and governance.

This should not be misconstrued as an attempt to cultivate positive relations with a nation of differing economic climate. There is a very clear subversive nature to these efforts. By fostering dependence on foreign aid, the hegemony is strengthened as the myth of benevolent capitalism sows distrust of local (democratically elected) socialist administrations. Free labor provided by thoughtful organizations sounds good at face, but we must remember what this does to the local economy. Despite being a capitalist effort, they cause ruin to trade by disenfranchising local business and end up displacing work that native peoples count on as much as any others to provide for their families. Here's a lighter look at the side effects of such charitable projects.

In addition, the US has a long history of arming groups such as those seen in Nigeria [2] and indeed the world over (See Nicaraguan Contra, Venezuelan Rebel Militia, Columbian counter-FARC etc.) While professedly pro-democracy, the past fifty years have seen legally elected reformist governments in Guatemala, Guyana, the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Syria, Indonesia (under Sukarno), Greece, Argentina, Bolivia and Haiti overthrown by US funded military groups. These criminal syndicates are (like any other) inherently capitalist. The capitalist state's action is not based on any sort of desire for bloodshed or organized racism. It is the system itself that it inherently violent and the american empire that is inherently racist. While not the elementary goal, the ensuing brutality and wars of attrition are coercive forces that weakens the faith in (and thus the power of) the social governments of targeted regions. It funnels resources (quite literally in the case of Nigerian oil wells) that should go towards infrastructure, industry, and the citizens themselves into fighting crime funded by the west.

We also need to look at the consequences of misinformed altruism in our own country.

Like the international efforts described above, there are often unseen (or at times hidden) repercussions of such efforts in your backyard. What must first be remembered is that the leading non-profits in America are nonetheless private organizations that pay out huge sums to their CEOs and chairpersons. James Mongan, owner of Partners HealthCare Systems in Boston takes home $4.3 million a year, including up to $2 million in bonuses (not to mention he pays a miniscule amount in taxes given the nature of his career.) We must remain vigilant in our oversight of such groups, and ever aware of their business practices beyond the arbitrary mission statement. Despite continued efforts of concerned residents, UPMC in Pittsburgh is still filed as a not-for-profit organization despite making a record-breaking $523 million in 2006, and refusing to heed the public's concerns when they routinely close inner-city clinics and move to wealthy suburbs. You can read more here about their pathetic attempts to justify not paying their employees a living wage.

This isn't to say that many can't do plenty of good for the community. But with the non-profit structure comes two unfortunate and unregulated ramifications. The first is easy moralism, and with that comes the threat of preceptive manipulation. Any outspoken critics of such a group can easily be branded as callous or even misanthropic, making any attempts to modulation difficult. Consecutively (much like we have seen abroad) the dependence created by such associations give them an easy platform for bending the less fortunate to their way of thinking. Churches may be the nonpareil model, often recruiting and gathering flocks by fomenting an idea of contingency among those they profess to be aiding. Secondly is the distinction between state and private magnanimity, namely, the political power that comes with these group's successes. Not only can they now afford to fund powerful lobby groups locally and in Washington, many lobbies themselves are registered not-for-profits! A popular patsy recently is The Salvation Army, who has donated huge amounts of funds to various "pro-marriage" (homophobic) groups. Despite the cheery demeanor of the bell-clanging Santa Claus outside your grocery store, they provided funds to other groups that openly endorsed Uganda's not-unfairly dubbed "Kill the Gays" bill, which would make homosexuality punishable by execution or life imprisonment.

Altruism's role as a placatory structure

The fundamental flaw I mentioned at the beginning of this entry stands true: These actions do not serve to benefit the individuals they claim to in a productive manner because they fail to address the factors that created the problems they claim to be solving. That is not to say that they are innately negative, or that they should not be performed, only that we need to take a more cohesive and critical look at the motivations behind them and should seek more constructive mechanisms for alleviating the ills we are tending to. True altruism is only possible when we are prepared to tackle the system that forges penury. We have been shown that America's capitalist statism's role as an empire is the undeniable culprit of said dissimilitudes.

They tolerate charity and indeed embrace it, as it keeps intelligent, hard-working, and compassionate masses busy while often servicing more nefarious purposes. It allows for subjugation by creating an illusion of social change.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

3rd Time's a Charm


I plan on beginning (again) with a series I'm calling "Placatory Structures of Capitalist Statism."

Let's first breakdown two phrases I will be using consistently throughout my blog:


State Capitalism
 can be described as an economic system in which commercial (for profit) economic markets and activity may be modified or controlled by the state, with management and organization of the means of production undertaken in a capitalist manner - even if the state is nominally socialist [1].
From this, we can induce that Capitalist Statism is a system in which social markets and activity may be modified or controlled by the capitalists, with management and organization of communal resources undertaken in a socialist manner - even if the state is nominally capitalist.

While perhaps not a perfect definitionthere is more than enough evidence to suggest that this is similar to the functionality of the U.S. for (at least) the past hundred years. Take for example, the "campaign contributions" made by J.P. Morgan Chase to the members of the last Senate Banking Committee:



                                    Source:Open SecretsZero Hedge


They are, of course, not even the worst offenders. Here is a handy list of officials from various administrations who also collected a PAYCHECK from various Fortune 500 Companies. 

You may need to zoom in on your browser to read this info-graphic more clearly

We are at a point in American history where profit motive has eclipsed the ethical obligations our legislators and other governmental officials have to their constituents and fellow citizens. The Capitalist Machine rolls ever onward, swallowing democracy in it's path. These people not only decide when and where our money goes to what, but are responsible for every policy made for our "protection" and posterity. 


The second phrase we should familiarize ourselves with is Placatory Structures. Let me be completely clear: I am in no way ever suggesting that Ben Bernanke and the Rothschilds sit down with the President and the unnamed head of Mainstream Media Inc. and plot ways to subvert the concerns of the population or in some way suppress revolutionary momentum. You will hear no such conspiracy nonsense from me at any point (in this series or this blog.) I pride myself on providing the reader only with fact from which they are free to draw their own conclusion, and building my arguments solely on quantifiable, empirical data. But the truth is that a market as large and diverse as ours functions in many ways like a living organism (or perhaps family of organisms,) that grows and evolves and develops mechanisms of self defense. It has grown so dense and exists in a ecosystem (the global financial environment) so lush, that it is growing increasingly adaptive, and much like a human body clones it's own proteins to attack infection, all of which are then excreted, neo-liberal capitalism has developed processes of assuaging the public's concerns and neutralizing any subsequent action by utilizing it's most inherent genetic functions.

Tentatively, the series will move as follows:


Series 1:Entry 1-The Myth of Altruism
Series 1:Entry 2-Following the Green in Green Industry
Series 1:Entry 3-A More (or Less) Tolerant World for Sale
Series 1:Entry 4-The Conspiracy Conspiracy
Series 1:Entry 5-Capitalism in Crisis?

Some of these I have selected for their timeliness and fleeting relevancy (provided I can get to writing them in time.) I have chosen to forgo many of the more obvious choices (the military-industrial complex, organized religion, the bipartisan model) so as not to begin quite so pedantic, in the understanding that most folks reading this will have already grasped the more deranged nature of these institutions, and so that I may explore them with greater depth later on.