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Anti-Economy
League Manifesto
Each of us everyday is forced
to take part in an absurd, vicious crime.
¶ Almost all of what our society calls work should be abolished as soon as possible, since it benefits no one (e.g. banking, real estate speculation, insurance, and advertising) and usually is no more than glorified busywork. The same applies to buying, which is even more glorified, just as "busy," and most often a cheap substitute for what we really want. Basically, the Purchase is a bad way to (pretend to) get the goodies. Together, work and buying constantly reproduce a constrictive web of social relationships that force us to accept the barbaric, the brutal, and the banal.
¶ On the job we make a deal to sell ourselves for a certain price. When we are "For Sale" in this typical, daily fashion we sacrifice part of our basic dignity. Our cherished civil liberties (now seriously under attack themselves) have never applied to working life. Our responsibility for the purpose of our work is lost when we sell ourselves, since our purpose is reduced to getting paid rather than deciding what's worth doing. The few lucky ones who feel they have found meaningful ways to make money are still locked into an overall criminal system: the buying and selling of human time. Finding a (relatively) good job niche is certainly a healthy act of self-preservation. But it does nothing to challenge the insanity of a system in which child-care workers (one of the most socially useful functions) are paid minimum wage while investment bankers (who create absolutely nothing useful, and just move money around) rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. As long as the Economy, rather than people, determines what is worth doing, the nature and purpose of work will be decided for us by a single motive accountable to no one. It is the modern Leviathan in which the buck never stops; an exploitative system that no one ultimately controls yet is driven by an unquenchable appetite to constantly move around ever-increasing chunks of money.
¶ Until this horrific process is stopped, everyone (who wants to be socially engaged) is forced to buy what they need. In one way this is easier, simpler. There is no need to collectively decide how resources get distributed. The relationship between what people want and how they contribute to society does not have to be evaluated. But if income level didn't determine access to resources, what would? intelligence, community activism, artistic talent??? As it is, the possession of money answers every question. Some are able to shop-'til- they-drop and the rest of us wish we could. Today's biggest (unrecognized) mass psychotherapy is shopping therapy. Almost everyone knows the experience of being bummed out and treating themself to the purchase of that special record or dress or massage or dessert or ... At best, such therapy can provide temporary relief. More often it perpetuates an unconscious system hell-bent on subjugating people and the planet.
¶ True freedom, community, joy, and meaning cannot be produced or bought in the Economy. indeed, they hinge on our creative abolition of all buying and selling.
¶ The Anti-Economy League of San Francisco wants more co-conspirators dedicated to abundance, free time, relentless pleasure, and highly intelligent care of humans. We have several potential projects in mind. One is to join our bolo'bolo friends in Europe to form a Wednesday Liberation Movement. Our motto is: No economic activities on Wednesdays! It's a tiny first step but an important one—anyone can do it, no leaders are needed, no state is needed, no money is needed. We are looking for co-conspirators to launch new hilarious, scandalous, thoughtful actions to overwhelm the absurd social construction we call "modern life!"
Interested? Please write: c/o Committee For Full Enjoyment, 1095 Market Street, Suite 210, SF CA 94103 email: ccarlsson@shapingsf.org |
