Ten years ago, this was the news:
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That's one side of the capitalist coin. This is its other side:
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Four years later to the day, rock drillers employed by Lonmin Platinum (Lonmin, near Rastenburg, South Africa) went on strike demanding a pay rise (from the equivalent of US$500 to $1,500 a month).
Six days later:
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Those 34 dead and 78 injured miners weren't too big to fall.
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But I will give Auburn Parks, virulently anti-neoliberal capitalist, emancipator of the working class, and selfless crowning jewel of human evolution the last word:
"Under this utterly sensible definition of capitlaism we can begin to see the reality. Capitalism has alwyas been with us. Its just human nature after all. There is no way to get rid of capitalism without a totalitarian state that outlaws just about all private activity and freedom. So instead of capitalism inventing wage labor as Marx says in this quote above, the 18th century theorists finally put a name on the historical evolution of human economic activity and that name is 'capitalism'.
(…)
"And one more thing about wage labor.
"Wage labor is by far the most fair and sensible way to organize society to accomplish large tasks.
(…)
"This allowed all of the economic and social beenfits of specialization and the labor market as we know them today, helping to vastly speed the process of revolution and the enormous improvments in standards of living and social equality
"So far from money wage labor being a great evil, its been the great revolutionary and emancipator of the working class."
Can you, dear reader, really believe a single word capitalist parasites and their indecent lick-spittle say?
wow. anti-neoliberal got a whole new meaning after that.
ReplyDelete-- the oo
Neoliberal means whatever one wishes it to mean, BW. Anti-neoliberal, then, means anti-"whatever one wishes it to mean". Makes sense?
DeleteWhen Auburn said he was being ripped off by his former employer, I believe him. Those were his wage earning days. Now he works for himself. That is the hope of many wage earners, to be able to work for themselves. To go from being exploited, to being self-sufficient, to being exploiters.
ReplyDeleteHappy anniversary, Capitalism. As these photos illustrate, wage earning, working class folks have got your back.
Now he works for himself.
ReplyDeleteThat's what he claims. Call me cynical, but I don't believe it. Like you say, Bob, he now is the exploiter and he likes it this way.
He has people working for him. By themselves, people don't buy and fix houses for sale or for rent: they don't do pest control and change taps with one hand, while changing electric wiring and the locks with the other hand. He doesn't shove the brush's handle up his ass and shake his hips to paint the wall at the same time.
There's licensing and paper work involved, there's financing to arrange. Once fixed, he needs people to sell/rent his houses. Tradies ain't good salesmen.
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I do believe it's possible he once was low in the pecking order. For one, he's not educated as one would expect someone born into money to be.
Maybe somehow he got a break. Bottom line, he feels he's Da Man, Da Winnah. He's got a plan, he knows the score. Now, he's the one doing the pecking, it's his God-given right. And, boy, does he love it!
Capitalism produces his kind every single fucking day. I've seen it with my own eyes. Time and time again. It's so common, come to think of it, that here in Oz they even have a name: the aspirational voter.
I've also seen how capitalism has a way to teach them a lesson. You've probably heard of sportspeople and entertainers. Well, it's not just "those" people:
http://robertpaulwolff.blogspot.com.au/2017/08/sad-tidings.html
When people piss against the wind, chances are they'll get their pants wet.
He's aided and abetted by his "virulently anti-neoliberal" toadies, who on top claim to seek the truth.
Life can be pretty shit if you are a worker, but at least it has its perversely funny moments. As you put it the other day: what goes around comes around.
After having laid sheetrock by myself, I take Auburn's claim with a grain of salt. Some parts of the renovation process are best hired out.
DeleteThe apartment building I live in used to be a school. It was converted by my landlord, who is a master carpenter. Not saying he did the work by himself, but it is evident that he's an expert in his chosen trade. To be a landlord takes social skills. To sell a property requires salesmanship or saleswomanship.
When I had the money, I would buy a house and live in it for years, making small improvements along the way. Then I would sell it and buy another house where prices were still low. I did this for about 20 years until I didn't have enough money to make it feasible. My way of making a living was unsustainable, but I got to live in several places in Canada, which was a bonus. I never found a career i.e. work that I love to do. When work is only a means to an end, it sucks.