November 2022

One eagle eyed parent was suspicious of the bottles of play sand on sale at the local Hobbycraft so she did a little research. The bottles of sand contained asbestos. The level of asbestos was below the limit of concentration allowed in its country of origin but well above the UK legal level, which in itself is above the danger level. Any asbestos inhalation is considered dangerous and often fatal over the passage of time.

This highlights just how little the health of consumers is viewed under capitalism. No matter whether it’s food and drink, cladding for dwellings or children’s toys, the contents are often a secret not shared with buyers.

It’s been non-stop this year under Trump. The US has removed Maduro, said it wants to run Venezuela, tried to claim Greenland, killed protestors, put the head of its Central Bank under investigation, set up a ‘Board of Peace’ with Trump as its self-appointed leader….

What next? Some say it’s the end of democracy for the US and perhaps more widely. But we see it as capitalism just going on its merry unpredictable way. What doesn’t change is workers’ lives continuing to depend on finding an employer to sell their energies to. Instead of this, the world needs a different system of society – moneyless, cooperative, where we all freely contribute according to our abilities and take according to our needs.

In their Party Political Broadcast last Thursday, the Greens’ leader Zach Polanski ran through the problems people face and pointed out that a lot of the wealth ends up in the pockets of the super-rich. But went on: “This isn’t just an economic failure. It’s a failure of leadership. The people we elected choose to serve the wealthy … Good leaders put people before profit”.

The people workers elect don’t choose to serve the wealthy. Capitalism, as a profit-making system that can only work for the profit-takers, obliges them to do this. Replacing them with “good leaders” won’t change things.

What is needed is to realise that no leader can do anything for us.

Donald Trump comes across as a spoilt, narcissistic child who demands and gets other people’s toys (eg Maria Machado’s own Nobel Peace Prize). He sulkily told the Norwegian prime minister that, since they didn’t give him the peace prize, he won’t bother to prioritise peace. His demand for Greenland – another toy – has caused a geopolitical crisis.

Is this Kissinger-like Great Power brinkmanship, or deranged MAGA swagger? Capitalism is a dangerous world ‘order’ even when its leaders act like responsible adults. Right now, America’s nuclear button is under the finger of someone who seems divorced from reality and isolated inside a bubble of toadying sycophants. Totalitarian despots and wannabes can barely contain their glee. What could possibly go wrong?