reparations & exploitation

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Sat Mar 10 15:21:02 PST 2001


kelley wrote:


>ach. i was pointing out that the very notion that work ought to be
>measured by "productivity" and, worse, that we have an objective
>standard by which to measure and then compare is part of a system of
>oppression! the very idea that we ought to pay people based on
>productivity, the very idea that we ought to pay people based on the
>idea that one person's labor is more important or crucial than
>another--that's where oppression comes in to play!
>
>it's the very things we take for granted as normal that are integral
>to the operations of structural racism and sexism!

Sometimes it's confusing whether we're talking about improving our lot under capitalism without systemic transformation, or systemic transformation itself. It'd be nice to dispense with productivity, but it's probably going to be with us for a while, and since it is, it'd be nice to dispense with some of the uglier aspects of discrimination first.

Doug



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