International Workers Day. Capitalism is our Misery! Stand up fight back!

Anticapitalist demonstration on Thursday, May 1st. 6 pm, corner of Ontario and Valois (Metro Joliette)

Capitalism is a socioeconomic system based on the generation of super-profit in the most vicious and unrelenting manner possible. For capitalism, no cost to human rights is too high and eventually we will all have to pay. Right-wing intellectuals, spokespersons for those who profit from the system, repeatedly tell us that “it’s not perfect, but it’s the best option” and that capitalism has improved our lives over the past 100 years. But in reality, this only applies to a small minority. The minority who pressure us to work harder, who squeeze from us the profits of our labour, who privatize and eradicate social programs that an increasing number of us are forced to rely on, that kick us to the street when our labour is no longer needed, and repress us when we dare stand up to defend ourselves. There is no such thing as “human capitalism.” Capitalism cannot be mended or repaired or reformed... the only way to fix the problem is to replace the faulty machinery.

The world economy produces sufficient food to feed over 10 billion people. But according to the United Nations, 2 of the 6.7 billion people of the planet suffer from starvation and malnutrition due to lack of food. And instead of defending them against suffering, guns are trained on them.

Capitalism throughout history has meant war. Annual military expenditure worldwide has increased 37% between 1997 and 2006, up to $1,204 billion according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute). In comparison, the total foreign debt of all Third World countries is $1,100 billion. People are suffering from the crimes committed by imperialism. Here in Canada, Natives have been victims of genocide by the politics of colonialist state. Why such madness? When will it stop? Is it really all that utopian to want to put an end to the steamrolling force of capitalism? The real dreamers are the ones who believe this sort of system can continue forever. Those in the West who form the “middle class” enjoy a life of relative comfort, but at the price of extraordinary alienation from their individuality. The rest, who make up the vast majority of the people of this planet, suffer intolerably... Here in Montréal, the daily lives of tens of thousands is constant struggle. We do not live in a world where all needs are met, not to mention dreams. We live in a system where the vast majority of the population is at the service of a small minority. This is capitalism.

Differences of language, colour, and religion are used as pretexts to justify creating divisions, tension and borders. Women have long been victims of a particular oppression called patriarchy. Throughout the southern hemisphere, children are forced to work in sweatshops and die in wars. We must put a stop to this! In its endless crusade for profits, capitalism continues to pillage the resources of the planet. Scientific consensus has warned us of the devastation being wrought on the planet, and yet we continue to damage it. We can bury our heads in the sand, but this planet is our livelihood. Capitalism is playing with fire by continuing to threaten it. The poor, inevitably, pay the highest price. Environmental crisis is creating vast scarcities, which are used as justifications for war, even though the extraordinary technological and scientific advancements in a wide variety of fields over the past half-century could avoid these problems.

The necessary solidarity between all human beings dictates that our method of existence change, that we free ourselves from the profit system, break with selfishness and put a stop to the devastating consumerism. We’ve had enough misery, poverty, injustice and discrimination.