A-Infos (en) Britain, Anaechist Federation Resistance #103 June 2008 - page 2 - The global economy Does it make any sense!? + Sick to death

The global economy Does it make any sense!? ----   Understanding what's going on 
in the world economy leaves us feeling out of our depth. All we know is that a 
`global recession' is looming, but we are so overwhelmed by economic jargon that 
it's tempting to just get our heads down, work harder or look harder for work, 
and hope it will turn out OK. We have problems we can't quite understand (what 
exactly did the US housing market have to do with the collapse of Northern 
Rock??) and solutions that sound more like problems (`Globalisation', 
`Multinationals', `neo-Liberalism', `neo-Conservatism'). If the Big Picture 
feels as though it's a bit out of control, that's because it is! Until recently 
the capitalist class had many of us convinced that working
hard and spending lots of money
meant that everyone would get richer
The international market meant that
consumerism could put an end to
world poverty: the `trickle down' ef-
fect, we were promised.
   Er...except it didn't happen. The rich
getting richer didn't help the poor get
rich. Fancy that! Instead, even the US
economy itself is in melt-down. Its
military and economic grip on oil-rich
nations hasn't saved it.
   The `global' economy has in fact
failed not only to increase economic
opportunities for everyone - which
Anarchists had been saying all along -
but stopped even making many of the
rich as rich as they expected.
   So what can we do? Anarchist com-
munists see three levels of opposition
First, there is the economic solidarity
that comes from solutions to everyday
problems that don't exploit people: managing and
sharing what we have collectively, helping destitute
people get food, taking over empty buildings so we
don't have to pay rent, and other alternative econo-
mies (even Credit Unions and
Skills Banks can be the start of
this).
  Then there is building national
and international anti-capitalist
resistance, where we build soli-
darity even with other people
we don't know because they are
fighting back too. Resistance has
often reported on the better
parts of the global anti-capitalist
movement, where communities
all over the world identify with
and support each other's strug-
gles, and workers' organisations
like the Industrial Workers of
the World. Working class people
must make even more of these
sorts of structures.
  Finally there is turning all of this
into a movement that can
change society for good.
Capitalism is stupid, whatever
label they give it. Let's get rid of
it, share out what we have, and
make enough for everyone. How
hard is that to understand?

---------------------------------------

  Sick to death

   James Purnell, the governments Work &
Pensions Secretary, recently announced
their latest contribution to the new wel-
fare reform package.
Incapacity Benefit, of which there are 2.6 million
claimants, is to be replaced in October 2008 by a
new work-focussed Employment & Support Al-
lowance [ESA]. Each recipient of Incapacity Ben-
efit will be re-examined by a doctor.
 From April 2010, those who "fail" the
test will be driven back to work. Incre-
mental benefit rates will also be abol-
ished. A measure described by the
government as "a key cultural shift in
the benefit system which puts work at
the heart of our support". The bas-
tards plan to work us till we drop, then
dump us on the scrap heap when we
are no longer of any use to them.

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