Erin Killion
Growing worldwide inequality and hunger, sexism, racism and environmental destruction explode the lie that the 21st century heralds a new era of peace and prosperity. According to the government and mainstream media, Australia is a prosperous, democratic and multi-cultural society. Reality tells us something different.
Young people know the future on offer — poverty, unemployment, an education system based on competition and subordination, cuts to health care and the dole, shit pay, mind-numbing McJobs ... the list goes on. And the government isn't going to change things. They're the ones implementing it all.
Yet they tell us the capitalist system is working; they try to sell us myths to lull us into apathy, depression and mindlessness. Well, turn off the television. Something is wrong — and we say there's something we can do about it.
Myth #1
Capitalism is democratic and capitalist development allows democracy to flourish.
In the Third World, dictatorships and undemocratic governments continue to take control in order to maintain stable conditions for the exploitation of workers and the environment. Just a few months ago, the military staged a coup in Pakistan. People in countries like Afghanistan, Burma, Malaysia and Indonesia still have to confront the military in their fight for basic democratic rights.
In First World countries like Australia there is formal democracy, but all major decisions are out of most people's control. Who voted to sack thousands of workers from Telstra? Who voted for the Jabiluka uranium mine or the Billa Kalina nuclear waste dump? All decisions about social priorities are made in the boardrooms of the big companies and by their representatives and friends in parliament.
Myth #2
Capitalism will end poverty through the development of new technology.
The technology and wealth to provide food, water, electricity, housing, education, health care and clothing for the whole world already exists. Leaps in technology are making industries more productive and efficient. But products are distributed according to what can make the capitalists the biggest profit — that is, to those who can afford to pay for them, not to those who are most in need.
Myth #3
Capitalism is fair and everyone can succeed.
This relies on the existence of a "level playing field". Is it a level playing field when Lachlan Murdoch inherits millions from his daddy, while other children inherit nothing but a cycle of poverty? Is it a level playing field when Aboriginal people, who have been subjected to racism for more than 200 years and are under-represented in higher education, get their Abstudy cut? Is it fair when women migrants working in sweatshops are paid 50 cents for an article of clothing sold for $50 at Sportsgirl?
Myth #4
Capitalism has triumphed and socialism has failed.
We are told that the collapse of the Soviet Union means that communism has failed, that we have reached the "end of history". But what solutions does "triumphant" capitalism really have to offer the world's people (including those in Russia and eastern Europe today)?
The struggle for a new, democratic socialist society is more urgent than ever.
History doesn't end here. Humanity passed through many different forms of social and economic organisation before capitalism developed. History is driven forward by humans' need to feed, clothe and house themselves, and by the struggle over who should control these resources.
Today, the majority of people are forced to work for companies that are owned and controlled by a few wealthy capitalists. Yet this majority produces everything. It has the power to form a new kind of society in which the products of labour are distributed according to need, not profit. As Karl Marx said, "Capitalism creates its own grave diggers".
The only inevitability about capitalism today is that it will be rocked by constant struggles of working people for control, and by its own boom and bust economic cycles. Capitalism has outlived its usefulness, and we have to destroy it before it destroys the planet.
Myth #5
We have no power to change things.
It's easy to feel helpless, that the problems are too big. It's only when people work together that major change happens. Mass movements and revolutions throughout history prove this.
During the Vietnam War, millions of people the world over forced their governments to withdraw troops. The women's liberation movement in the 1960s and '70s won the right to subsidised child-care, no-fault divorce, and much more. In the 1980s, a mass movement forced the government to back down on the proposed Franklin River dam which would have destroyed wilderness in Tasmania.
In 1998, the people of Indonesia overthrew dictator Suharto, and Resistance organised walk-outs of thousands of high school students to protest against the racist policies of Pauline Hanson and the Howard government. In 1999, the Australian people forced the federal government to reverse 24 years of aiding and abetting Indonesia's occupation of East Timor and to send troops to defend the East Timorese people against the Indonesian military and its militias.
Today, Resistance is involved in many campaigns and encourages young people to stand up and say: "Enough!". Pages 2 and 3 include information about these campaigns. The best way to get involved is to join Resistance, to work together with other young people who want to change the world. See page 4 for more information about Resistance.
The people have the power ... and that means you! Get active and use it!