- Capitalism and Alternatives -

Fear of reasoning with Greens? My word!

Posted by: Samuel Day Fassbinder ( Citizens for Mustard Greens, USA ) on July 08, 1999 at 10:43:20:

In Reply to: Old fear... posted by Red Deathy on July 07, 1999 at 13:18:10:


: : So what remains of choice? When we vote Green, for instance, we choose more than a product, but in voting Green, we build upon the prior effort expended in creating a Green Party and supporting a Green candidate.

: A candidacy, which in Europe, means effectively an acceptance of the market, and seems throroughly devoid of class content/analysis in its politics, and seems to attract more than a few Tory NIMBY's (Not In My Back Yard). Its a vote to continue capitalism, and to continue the inefficacy of the reforms platform in the face of the rule of the market. (We have a hostility clause you know...).

SDF: Maybe your anti-capitalists didn't put in the prior effort to insure that the Green Party would be anti-capitalist. Well, it's not too late. Here, at least, it's implied in the discussion of the key value called community-based economics. What needs to be shown is how "community-based economics" can be accomplished without fantastic notions of economic interrelationship. For instance, your UK Green Party (or whatever they're called) argues that:

Economic activity and work should be personally fulfilling and geared to the needs of all the world's peoples, not just the wants of a few.

which has to mean something better than the commodification of labor under capitalism. And I'm sure you can pick arguments with many of the other Greens in Europe, too. For instance, on the Spanish Los Verdes page (I'm choosing them because I can read Spanish :) ), they argue:

3.1 Promover una economía basada en un nuevo concepto de desarrollo y de progreso en armonía con los ciclos de la Naturaleza, haciendo un uso racional de los recursos naturales.

which basically means they want to promote an economy based on harmony with nature. Now it doesn't take a genius to argue that they must be thinking of something other than capitalist development, which has as its "modo de vivir" the maximization of the rate of profit in order to avoid bankruptcy. So maybe you could at least forget about your "hostility clause" for a little while and go and talk to those people...



Follow Ups:

  • They reason? Red Deathy Socialist Party Uk July 08 1999 (4)
    • Some of them do Samuel Day Fassbinder Citizens for Mustard Greens USA July 08 1999 (3)
      • Get outta here!!! Red Deathy Socialist Party UK July 09 1999 (2)
        • No! Samuel Day Fassbinder Citizens for Mustard Greens USA July 12 1999 (1)
          • Ah, go-on! Red Deathy Socialist Party UK July 12 1999 (0)

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