The people can change things

“People are taking the piss out of you everyday. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small.They make flippant comments from buses that imply you’re not sexy enough and that all the fun is happening somewhere else. They are on TV making your girlfriend feel inadequate.They have access to the most sophisticated technology the world has ever seen and they bully you with it. They are The Advertisers and they are laughing at you.” – Banksy

What can we do that respects every human being on the planet? Ever wondered what it might take to rid the world of conflict and live in peace and happiness? Some politicians and institutions are working feverishly to convince us that real social change is not possible. The goal is to consciously mislead those of us shut out of political and economic power, to make us doubt our ability to challenge those who hold political power, and demobilize us from taking action to change this oppressive, exploitative system.

For so many of us, following the law is considered a moral obligation. Police brutality and criminality is rampant in the US, the courts favor the wealthy, and we can longer even lead our lives privately thanks to the intrusion of state surveillance. And illegal and immoral wars rages all around us, murdering and destroying whole nations and cultures. History teaches us again and again that the law is an instrument of oppression, social control and plunder.

Freedom is about having choice, yet in today’s world, choice has come to mean a selection between limited options. Look no further than the phony parliamentary democracy. Two entrenched political parties are predominate and alternative voices are intentionally silenced by media neglect. Maverick thinkers are kept on a short leash, yanked back into conformity if they venture too far. We’re programmed to believe what the TV declares is true. We are told we are in competition with everyone and everything around us, including our neighbors and even nature. It’s us versus them. The try to deny the truth that life on this planet is infinitely inter-connected and the attempts to separate serves to enslave and isolate us. The State demands our conformity and obedience.

We, the people, can change things. No one’s going to do it for us—no politician, no technological innovation, no international agreement. If we want a different future, we are going to have to make it for ourselves by ourselves. To change everything, it's going to take everything we've got. Who are we? We are everyone, everywhere who cares what happens to everything—each other, humanity, nature, the planet. This year we will make a difference - possibly all the difference. We have to change the system in which we live. We have to be revolutionary. It’s up to us. And to change everything, we’ll have to have everyone we can, doing what we think best, giving everything we got. It is it absurd, isn’t it,  that we, 7 billion of us are living on the same planet, yet have grown further apart from each other. People are being woken up and are realizing how crazy it is to live in such a society.

The right way to think about the problems facing humanity is to be realistic. People talk about imaginary futures all the time and we’re constantly being promised amazing things which never materialise. Many people have finally awakened from the "each person for oneself" mad mentality. Things are changing. Sharing, collaborative economy concepts point towards a new direction, a direction of collaborating, of sharing, of helping, of togetherness.

The media tells us that we live in a world of greed, of inequality, poverty and war. We hear how people are becoming increasingly disconnected, that capitalism has undermined community. You don’t get people to change by scaring them. Instead, talk of the alternative in a way that it is so compelling that we eagerly seek change. We need to fight the system, not each other. When the world comes together, the system will fall.

We all know the world has gone wrong. When you realise something’s wrong with the world, the first step is to educate yourself about it and begin to have a grasp on the issue. Start with what’s closest to home and improve your knowledge and understanding of the issues you’re most interested in, and place them in their wider systemic context. Then reach out to others and start building a network where you can collaborate or communicate as a member of a community, sharing your interests and skills. Don’t become despondent if the seeds you sow don’t spring forth immediately. Individuals don’t possess the power to change the entire world. However, imagine a world where each of us did this. Imagine the transformation that could result. The change we want to see in the world, begins with planting the seeds of post-capitalism. We can change the world, but the key to unlock the process is in you and me. It is time for people to wake up and challenge capitalism’s apologists who continue to justify and protect the status quo while using rhetoric of change. People need to stop falling for the scam. The economic system is corrupt to the core. There is an opportunity for radical transformation and we must be ready. The social and labor union movements remain of critical importance. Every government and employer needs to be pushed from below. The key is for a movement to be a mass movement, not a fringe movement.

Very often in protest movements you will hear or read of capitalism but it is often accompanied by adjectives to qualify the word such as “monopoly capitalism”, “neo-liberal capitalism”, “global corporate capitalism”, as if a better form of capitalism is conceivable, as if it could be made ecological, social or humane, and compatible. Such people do not realize that as long as the motive of profit maximization and the principles of private ownership of means of production, selfishness, and competition remain – and these are the most essential elements of capitalism, little will change even if capitalism is transformed into produce sourced from local markets for local markets by worker-owned co-operatives. It would be a fraud to advocate a nicer type of capitalism as a solution to the social ills of the world. Such benevolent reforms cannot be implemented successfully within the framework of capitalism and its form of democracy.