AR’MA GEDDIN’ OUT OF HERE !!!!
By Steven Miller, October 15, 2017
America has had a wrenching summer, as the public has been rocked by crisis after unprecedented crisis. Hurricanes, massive floods and destruction, fascists marching in Charlottesville, nuclear war with North Korea, earthquakes in Mexico, the Las Vegas shooter, Devil Winds, Houston, Florida, Puerto Rico – we are rocking from one to the other so fast no one can catch their breath.
There are a number of lessons here… and learning them will go way beyond standardized tests.
Lesson #1 – The American people do pretty well when dollar signs are not dazzling their eyes.
From Houston to Florida to Puerto Rico to the Northern California fires and the Charlottesville response, people immediately responded with humanity, compassion and cooperation to search out, rescue and defend victims less fortunate than themselves. This of course is a natural human reaction. But in capitalism’s heartland, where everything is being turned into a commercial relation mediated by exchange value, the response proves once again that Americans are better than this.
Lesson #2 – Now everyone can see what Dispossession looks like, just in case they missed it the first few times.
Dispossession – ie gentrification on steroids – has been devastating every community since the 2008 financial collapse. It takes many forms, with societal causes trumping natural disasters. Katrina was dispossession; Detroit is dispossession; Flint is dispossession. So are the massive home foreclosures and evictions, the austerity budgets that facilitate massive urban gentrification as capital moves in, homelessness, the privatization of schools and government services by for-profit corporations, aided and abetted by Homeland Security. And let’s not forget health care and DACA.
While some families succeed in riding out these disasters and coming up whole, most people find themselves with something less than the standard free money that government provides to corporations. Then they find themselves driven down into the new proletarian class that cannot work, cannot earn money, and cannot pay for the necessities of life in a system that forces you to starve unless you can buy.
The root of Dispossession is the dramatic corporate mis-use of laborless technology, based in computers and robots, that could produce abundance for all. Corporations attempt to use this technology to further private profit first and foremost. In doing so, the replace people who will never work again. As larborless production sweeps across every branch of industry, it is becoming clear that the capitalist Dispossession is even more severe and pervasive than Global Warming.
The fascists that marched in Charlottesville ranted “We will not be replaced!” But there is a factual issue here that can be completely determined: who exactly is doing the replacing? Minorities and immigrants? Or robots and billionaires?
Lesson #3 – Capitalism uses ever disaster to further its aggressive game plan of attack on every institution of society.
As the disasters unfolded, the Houston Mayor announced that the city’s reconstruction would be handled by a Private-Public-Partnership (PPP), headed by an ex-Shell Oil CEO. The hedge funds that own Puerto Rico’s debt are setting their sights on privatizing the island’s electrical system, the largest public utility in the US. The response to Las Vegas was that city’s across the country mobilized heavily armed and armored Robo Cops, along with thousands of vehicles, to make a big public show of the growing police state. In Puerto Rico, the army was immediately mobilized to show force, not to rescue people. Now they are being replaced by Blackwater-style private security armies, who are public contractors. And, by the way, who receive far more than the individuals who they are supposed to serve.
Cumulatively, these disasters will force the FIRE sector (Finance Insurance Real Estate) into some fancy maneuvers to cut their losses. Tens of thousands of people will be victimized and made destitute in order to preserve private corporate profits. In our society, the notion of human rights is close to extinction as the government only works to support a predatory system where everyone has to cut a separate deal with corporations and insurance companies for a slight hope of survival. In this respect, government actively stands between people and their access to the necessities of life. On the other hand, if you have money to invest, bottled water is a good one, since it is featured in every tragedy.
Lesson #4 – When the student is ready, the teacher appears.
This lesson takes an evil form of the ancient wisdom. Donald Trump has been anointed as teacher to the American people. Like it or not, he certainly has lessons to teach. Furthermore, he is not going anywhere until these lessons are deeply grasped and acted upon.
Donald embodies exactly what capitalism is all about. The great book, The Corporation, by Joel Bakan (also online as a video) points out that corporations have exactly the same pathology and profile as psychopaths:
“Unlike the human beings who inhabit it, the corporation is singularly self-interested and unable to feel genuine concern for others in any context. Not surprisingly then, when we asked Dr Hare to apply his diagnostic checklist of psychopathic traits (italicized below) to the corporation’s institutional character, he found there was a close match. The corporation is irresponsible, Dr Hare said, because “in an attempt to satisfy the corporate goal, everything else is put at risk.” Corporations try to “manipulate everything, including public opinion:, and they are grandiose, always insisting “that we’re number one, we’re the best.” A lack of empathy and asocial tendencies are also key characteristics of corporations, says Hare – “their behavior indicates that they don’t really concern themselves with their victims”, and corporations often refuse to accept responsibility for their own actions and are unable to feel remorse: “if (corporations) get caught (breaking the law) they pay big fines and they… continue doing what they did before anyway. And in fact in many cases the fines and the penalties paid by the organization are trivial compared to the profits they rake in”.
“Finally, according to Dr Hare, corporations relate to others superficially – “their whole goal is to present themselves to the public in a way that is appealing to the public but in fact may not be representative of what the organization is really like. Human psychopaths are notorious for their ability to use charm as a mask to hide their dangerously self-obsessed personalities.”
(p 55-56)
Not a bad description of Donald Trump. However, even this analysis misses the point. Trump tells everyone that he is a capitalist. His pathology is no different than capitalism’s as a system. His irrationality, childishness, sociopathy, narcisstic attitudes and deep hatred for anyone who is poor all serve to confound the fact that he is on a mission and he knows it. Trump is not attempting to represent the people. He is building the mass base for fascism.
Fascism is not simply a police state, although it develops one. Fascism is a social movement that aims to split the working class in order to facilitate the agenda of private property. The US already has the greatest police state the world has ever seen.
Here’s just one example: In the name of dealing with the Undocumented, ICE and Homeland Security now claim a 100 mile-wide “Extended Border Zone”, often called a Constitution Suspension Zone, inside the US border including the coasts, that contains 200 million people and the top ten metropolitan regions of the US. It also includes the majority of public schools, community colleges and public universities in the country. Within this zone, the State claims the power to set up check points, conduct stop and search at will, seize and copy laptops and cell phones.
But why does this 21st Century police state need a movement for fascism? The answers can be seen in how capitalism intends to deal with current disasters. They need to government to operate as point in their campaigns to privatize everything that the public owns – personal property as well as public. Capitalism recognizes that it can make maximum profits by owning everything as private property. Yet the government is supposed to represent and further the interests of the people, not corporations. Government serves as a dedicated market for corporate profits. Further, without public money, most corporations would be running in the red. Therefore government is uniquely vulnerable to the demands of the people.
Government will either guarantee the interests of private property, or it will guarantee that everyone has access to the necessities of life, even if it is for free. This is the battle of our times. This is the lesson that our teacher, Donald Trump, has been selected to teach.
Lesson #5 – It’s the Apocalypse, not Armageddon.
That’s why we gotta’ get “Armageddon” outta’ here. Armageddon is supposedly the final battle between good and evil. It is the end of the process, not the beginning. “Apocalypse” literally means “the lifting of the vale” in ancient Greek. It is the moment when illusion disperses, when things become clear, when the road forward becomes clear.
Apocalypse is not about returning to the status quo before Trump, nor is it about incremental, superficial reforms. Apocalypse is the leap. There’s no going back, no fighting back to the so-called “good old days.” Apocalypse describes the process of waking up and using clarity and science to understand reality. It is the demand that we use strategy to seize the initiative and force the government to do what it says it should do and benefit every human being.
Steven Miller
Oakland, Ca
nanodog2@hotmail.com
Time Line
Monday, 7-3 – One day before the US’s most patriotic holiday, North Korea fires its first ICBM. US experts say N Korea could hit the US with missiles equipped with nuclear weapons. United States would use “the full range of capabilities at our disposal against the growing threat.” The administration followed up that warning on Wednesday morning with a joint military exercise in which United States and South Korean forces fired ballistic missiles in the waters along the Korean Peninsula’s east coast.
Friday, 7-28 & 29 – North Korea’s second ICBM test fires a missile over Japan. The US further hypes up the possible threat to virtually any city in the US. Kim Jun Un threatens to fire missiles at the Gaum, the closest US “territory”. Thermonuclear war is now discussed as something that could happen at any time.
Tuesday, 8-8 – At a news conference, Trump states that North Korea “will be met with fire and fury.”
Friday 8-11 & 12 and after- The AltRight, KKK and Nazis all march in Charlottesville, Va. Police are ordered to stand down. The fascists attack many people and kill one protestor. For the following week, protests against fascism sweep across America. Trump states that “there are many good people” among the fascist demonstrators.
Monday, 8-21- US solar eclipse & Mnuchin’s wife – Public uproar over the trip began to mount after Linton Mnuchin posted a photo of herself deboarding the plane on social media and listed the expensive designer brands she was wearing in the caption.
Tuesday, 8-29 and after- Hurricane Harvey decimates Houston and entire Gulf Coast petroleum infrastructure in Texas, from Corpus Christie to Galveston. At the same time, Mumbai suffers its greatest flood ever. The Houston Mayor soon appoints the ex-CEO of Shell Oil as head of a Public-Private-Partnership to redevelop the region. PPPs mean that the public provides the money and assumes the responsibility, while corporations make the profit and all but own whatever is built.
The massive and spontaneous public effort to help saves thousands. Once again, Americans are at their best when dollar signs aren’t dangling before their eyes.
Tuesday, 9-5 and after – The Trump administration on Tuesday formally announced the end of DACA — a program that had protected nearly 800,000 young undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children from deportation.
Thursday, 9-7- Oaxaca hit by 8.1 earthquake.
Monday, 9-11- Hurricane Irma slams into Florida after devastating the Caribbean Islands and the Florida Keys. The hurricane sweeps west of Trump’s Mar-A-Lago resort and does no damage to Trump’s property.
Tuesday, 9-18- In his UN speech, Trump threatens to destroy North Korea, a country of 25 million people. Meanwhile a massive 7.1 quake hits Mexico City. From both quakes, 12,000 schools are damaged.
Friday, 9-22- Trump attacks NFL players in his Alabama speech for protesting against State-sanctioned police murder. The issue hits big over the weekend as virtually every team protests. Trump also attacks Steph Curry and the Warriors for not coming to the White House. LeBron James, who still hasn’t said almost anything about Tamir Rice, tweets that “it used to be an honor until you got there.”
Monday, 9-25- Hurricane Maria virtually destroys Puerto Rico. Trump spends most of his time tweeting about the NFL and playing golf, while ignoring the government response. US relief for the island is delayed and weak. Trump repeatedly disses Puerto Ricans by calling them ingrates and debtors. Trump dedicates the winners cup from a golf tournament to the island. The island has a heavy US military presence, though most of them just drive around as a show of force. As the weeks pass, Trump offers the island a $41 billion loan, even though it is some $120 billion in debt that it will never be able to pay. By the third week, Blackwater-type private security armies begin patrolling the island for profit.
Monday, 10-2- The country awakes to find out that a multi-millionaire used assault rifles to fire down on a music festival from his hotel window on the 43nd floor. This was the largest mass murder of them all to date: 59 killed, 500 wounded. In the US in 2017, there have been 273 mass killings so far. 11,000 people are killed with guns on the average each year.
So many people showed up to donate blood that the hospital started sending them home. Once again, Americans do best when the dollar signs aren’t in front of their eyes. Meanwhile, police in NYC and other places were massed conspicuously with super weapons and police vehicles.
Tuesday, 10-3
Trump visits Puerto Rico and states that it “wasn’t a real crisis like Katrina”. Investigation into the country’s debt crisis reveals that much of the debt is due to the fact that the island government took on debt to pay for the Medicaid that was partially denied to the people of Puerto Rico.
Sunday, 10- 8
During the night, Devil Winds sweep out of the east in Northern California, creating numerous wildfires that burn down whole neighborhoods and towns. This disaster is in the running for the worst of California’s many October fire storms.
… and counting!!!!
Steven Miller writes about privatization, science and historical materialism. He taught science for 25 years in the Oakland Flatland high schools of Fremont and Life Academy. He observed the intense privatization of public schools, out-of-control police, and the growing dispossession of three generations of families from their communities
Signed articles are the responsibility of the author.
