We can change it

We live under the shadow of capitalism, a political/economic system, which promotes individual success over group well-being. It is a model of civilisation that is making us miserable and ill. Dependent on continuous consumption, everything and everyone is seen as a commodity, and competition and ambition are extolled as virtues. Capitalism encourages short-term artificial goals: goals that strengthen greed and dissatisfaction, pre-requisites for encouraging consumerism and the perpetual expansion of the ubiquitous ‘market’.  “All for ourselves and nothing for other people.” as Adam Smith put it.  A study  by Berkeley University that seems to confirm Smith’s truism. “The higher up the social-class ranking people are, the less pro-social, charitable and empathetically they behaved…consistently those who were less rich showed more empathy and more of a wish to help others.”  Graham Music a consultant child and adolescent psychotherapist at The Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust in London, makes the point that our “monetised western world is going to make us more and more lose touch with our social obligations.”

It is a system that denies compassion and social unity. Unhappiness and mental illness, as well as extreme levels of inequality (income and wealth) flow from the unjust root, causing social tensions, eroding trust and community. Mental illness, including anxiety and depression – a worldwide epidemic claiming 5% of the global population – are further consequences of this dysfunctional social model. Millions are hooked on pharmaceuticals (legal and illegal), much to the delight of the multi-national drug companies whose yearly profits in America alone nestle comfortably in the trillions of US $. Suicide, according to a major report by the World Health Organisation (WHO), is the third highest cause of death amongst adolescents (road accidents and HIV are one and two), and the primary cause is depression.

People in unequal societies are suspicious of ‘the other’ – that’s anyone who looks thinks, and/or acts differently – and generally speaking don’t trust one another. A mere 15% of people in America confessed to trusting their fellow citizens, compared to 60% in less unequal parts of the world. The resulting divisions aggravate social tensions, fueling criminality and a cycle of mistrust and paranoia is set in motion. A capitalistic value system with its focus on the individual as opposed to the group, inevitably feeds a consciousness of separation and alienation. We are one, brothers and sisters of one humanity,  one undivided and indivisible family. Our nature is to be unselfish, socially responsible and helpful. Children love helping, and they do not need a reward. Actions, which are inherently selfless, offer an intrinsic reward because they facilitate relationship with our true nature.  In fact, when material rewards were introduced the children’s focus shifted, they lost interest in the act of kindness and became fixated on the object of reward. Graham Music concludes that “studies have shown that toddlers feel happier giving treats than receiving them”.  Studies undertaken in San Francisco found that those members of the community who “volunteered and engaged in other forms of giving when they were adolescents were much less likely to become depressed, even as they got older.”

With reward and punishment come desire and fear, desire for the reward and fear or anxiety over possible punishment if we fail. The effect is individual discontent and collective disharmony. Reward and punishment are major weapons of capitalism. Goals, meeting targets, bonuses, commission, perks: these are the language of business, the motivating force for, and of, activity. The present unjust economic model has fostered a value system that is a major cause of unhappiness, anxiety and depression. The capitalist apologists may hold that mankind is naturally selfish, and that competition, reward and ambition are necessary and good. They may argue that without them we would do nothing and society would grind to a dysfunctional halt. This is conveniently cynical view of man’s nature (usually one held by those who are more or less economically and socially comfortable) and it is fundamentally wrong and is used to perpetuate the divisive class society we live under. The ancient message that human kindness, selflessness and community service are not only positive attributes to aspire to, they are the healthy, natural and peaceful way for humanity to live. Change is urgently needed. Change rooted in the well being of the group and not the individual. Change which sees the economy as a way of meeting  and addressing human needs.

 The pollution of our water, food and air is caused by the greed for profit. This could be abolished if the resources of the countries of the entire planet could be organised rationally to produce a healthy environment. It is not a technical problem. It is a class and political problem. While capitalism remains, the resources produced by the labour of the workers will be squandered. All the resources for a world of abundance, without pollution, disease and squalor, exist at the present time in skill, technique and science. They are the same resources used to produce pollution and destruction. They cannot be used for constructive purposes till the capitalist system of profit-making is overthrown. Grim reality teaches that the alternative posed by Marx of democratic socialism or barbarism has been transformed into a world socialism or annihilation.

Adapted from an article by Graham Peebles that can be read in full and unabridged here