When it comes to radical politics/protest and the opposing global marketing machine, the whole gamut can be found on Facebook; from recycling plastic bottles to investment advice to online marketing of socks. The social network is new testing ground for the battle of Liberal vs Conservative, Nationalist vs Socialist, and Radical vs Establishment, etc. etc. (See TRAP- The Real Art Of Protest for a good example)
The
liberal faction will tell you that strong government control is harmful- and
the likes of Stalin, Hitler and Kim Jong-il will testify to that; so too the
post-war governments of England and France. But is the strong self-interest of ‘Post-Fordism’
any better? Does neo-liberalism really
work? What cost does that bargain-priced luxury sedan from the used-car lot
really come at? How many hours of tedious labour have been spent over the
decades to make this work of automotive art economically viable to the
lower-middle-class? How many rivers have been polluted? How many tonnes of
greenhouse gas and toxins have been released into the atmosphere?
Well
if the size of your television is a measure of success, then neo-liberalism is
for you; but what of community, health and mental well-being? Why is there an
epidemic of mental illness and emotional instability in developed nations, even
as we feed millions of innocents into the third-world meat-grinder of slums,
sweatshops and production lines? At what cost has the big-screen TV come at?
When our kids need sedation in order to sit still long enough to watch it? And
more to the point, who is selling the TV to us?
The
modern age has really been a low-point of human morality- not in the religious
sense, but in the philosophical vacuum that has made ‘enough’ a dirty word.
Everyone wants more, more, more; bigger, badder and better. What is the nature
of this ‘corporate-machine’ that snorts cocaine off gold toilet-seats, selects
a $500 bottle of wine from the wine-list, and requires a small nation to
complete the plethora of mundane tasks that ensure the level of personal
comfort will continue long into the foreseeable future?
The ‘mosaic
of unevenness’(Dicken, 2007) of the world
economy is continually exploited- both for markets and labour. If tobacco and
gun laws get too tough in Australia then redirecting the ship to nations in
Africa, Asia and/or South America is the common practice. So too the problem of
workplace health and safety regulation- just find somewhere the laws don’t
apply. This problem is not going to go away any time soon, despite ‘The
Economist’ claiming that ‘offshore production is increasingly moving back to
rich countries’ (April, 2012); this is surely only goods from the higher end of
the market such as the ‘i-Pad’ that was quoted. If a shirt costs less than five
dollars at Big W then you can be pretty sure it wasn’t made in Japan or
Australia.
Who
are these parasites and should we take the drastic measures of the French
revolutionaries in 1789? No, we won’t. One, because we don’t like violence
unless it’s of the Hollywood variety, and two- because we’re too damn
comfortable (I know I am). But if you don’t have shares in Monsanto, BP or
Coca-Cola, then you can rest easy; you’re just another one of the sheep. Better
that than a wolf.
Reference List-
Dicken, Peter. (2007) 'Mapping the Changing Contours of the World Economy'. Sage Publications, London, England.
'The Third Industrial Revolution' (April 21st 2012) The Economist. Retreived from- http://www.economist.com/node/21553017
'Unfuck The World' Image- retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=558296354220081&set=a.304799816236404.63367.200068713376182&type=3&theater
'Smokestack' Image- http://www.treehugger.com/clean-technology/wow-is-right-clean-technology-removes-more-than-just-carbon-dioxide.html
'Blue TV' Image- http://www.smartgirl.org/writing/forum/archives/television.html
'Champagne' Image- http://news.discovery.com/human/health/drinking-champagne-improves-memory-130508.htm
'Wolf-in-Sheep's-Clothing Image- http://ilyakurnosov.wordpress.com/2012/05/18/wolves-in-agile-clothing/
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