Capitalism is based upon white supremacy and structural racism. The capitalist system that supports our material lifestyle is built on stolen land and the labor of those who were enslaved in the past, or are forced to live on poverty wages today. Or meager funds from safety nets. Or nothing.
I’m having a very difficult time getting my white friends to see how terrible capitalism is. The best explanation I’ve been able to think of goes like this:
Early in our lifetimes, industry provided nearly full employment. Nearly every household had someone who was working, and bringing home a paycheck. All commerce was based on capitalism. Money was required for every transaction. Money was the only way to obtain goods and services.
Then with increasing automation, and moving jobs overseas for cheap labor, the unemployment rate began to increase. Soon millions of people no longer had the income needed to pay for goods and services. The numbers of those without jobs has increased dramatically from the economic impact of the COVID pandemic. Those without jobs have to rely on social safety nets, which often means people are living in poverty, at subsistent levels.
As a society we failed to address the loss of wages for millions of people who no longer had money, in a system that required money for everything–food, shelter, healthcare, etc.
It is clear to me that capitalism is an unjust, untenable system, when there is plenty of food in the grocery stores, but men, women and children are going hungry, living on the streets outside the store. There is no justification for this.
capitalism has violated the communities of marginalized folks. capitalism is about the value of people, property and the people who own property. those who have wealth and property control the decisions that are made. the government comes second to capitalism when it comes to power.
in the name of liberation, capitalism must be reversed and dismantled. meaning that capitalistic practices must be reprogrammed with mutual aid practices
Des Moines Black Lives Matter
As my friend Ronnie James says, capitalism is not repairable.
I’m of the firm opinion that a system that was built by stolen bodies on stolen land for the benefit of a few is a system that is not repairable. It is operating as designed, and small changes (which are the result of huge efforts) to lessen the blow on those it was not designed for are merely half measures that can’t ever fully succeed.
So the question is now, where do we go from here? Do we continue to make incremental changes while the wealthy hoard more wealth and the climate crisis deepens, or do we do something drastic that has never been done before? Can we envision and create a world where a class war from above isn’t a reality anymore?”
Ronnie James
The class war from above is white supremacy and capitalism.
Or do we do something drastic that has never been done before?
Mutual Aid is the answer to that question. Ronnie and his accomplices, including a beginning engagement by me, are putting Mutual Aid into practice. Des Moines Mutual Aid. Mutual Aid is built on the idea that we all work on solutions to problems that affect us all, together. We are not abandoned if we have no money, as indicated by capitalism on the left side of this diagram. The right side of the diagram shows money is not a factor for mutual aid.
I’ve written a lot about mutual aid lately.
https://atomic-temporary-82209146.wpcomstaging.com/?s=%22mutual+aid%22
In the name of liberation, capitalism must be reversed and dismantled. meaning that capitalistic practices must be reprogrammed with mutual aid practices
Des Moines Black Lives Matter
Quakers, social justice and revolution 
Thank you so much for your work AND your writing on this.
Thank you very much.