>As much as I sympathize and agree with people who think that the
>capitalist system is unfair and immoral, I just don't see "the people"
>rising up to change anything. This said, if anybody could convince me
>otherwise, I would be happy to go through the arguments and to change
my
>mind!
>
Are the working classes all going to wake up one day, slap their foreheads and say, "Of course! We need to get rid of capitalism!"? Of course not. Social movements are not measured in hours or days, but in decades and centuries.
One example: when Kennedy invaded Vietnam, and Johnson escalated our involvement, they did it openly, confident that the people would follow wherever they were led. There was propaganda, of course, and a perfunctory effort to justify the attack, but relatively little censorship, and certainly no thought about how they would "maintain support" back home. It was simply unthinkable that the American people would question authority.
Contrast that with 1990-91 and the Gulf War. Throughout all the official discussions leading up to the slaughter, there was consciousness on the part of the entire leadership, both civilian and military, that a) they had to finish the war quickly, before the initial patriotic wave had passed and the opposition had begun to materialize, and b) under no circumstances could they allow a true picture of what they were doing to Iraq to be seen back home: reporters were herded from one camp to another, shown gee-whiz demonstrations of "smart bombs", and we saw no unsanitary pictures of women and children killed by "dumb" bombs.
The ruling classes are scared. They are still fuming to themselves, in the op-ed pages of the New York Times, of Clinton's inability to convince the American people last year of the necessity of a new invasion of Iraq. Over 80% of Americans in most surveys don't beleive anything the government says. The X-files, a TV show which takes as it's thesis that the government is not to be trusted, is one of the most popular shows on the air.
In short, there has been - and continues to be - progress. It's painfully slow, sometimes imperceptable, and wholly unsatisfactory for those of us who see the injustice and the horrors ahppening around us, but I believe it is unstoppable.
What is happening around the world today, still beyond the perception of most of the pacified masses in America and Europe, is the beginnings of a crisis that will shake the system to its foundations. The nineties have been the "antipolitical" decade; all the questions were answered, history had ended, and capitalism was the only game in town. The 2000's will see a rebirth of revolutionary movements in the third world; an American ruling class hamstrung in its efforts at military intervention by an increasing defiant populace; and perhaps even (if our friend Max is wrong) depression at home calling capitalism into question on its home ground. Will it finally be overthrown, will the new millenium usher in a new age for mankind? Probobly not - capital has shown itself far to adept at survival for that to happen. But bit by bit, we will get closer. The rachet will turn another notch. The history of humanity's millenia of struggle against oppression allows no other conclusion.
Jim Baird
(sorry for the long post, everybody - I got started and couldn't stop...)
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