Commentary by Carl Hintz
When I was 7 the US invaded Iraq. It was a war based on a lie. Like all wars, organized state sanctioned killing, it came at the irreparable cost of human life. Today we see a similar story playing out with Trump’s orders to attack Iran. The horror of these attacks is difficult to fathom, in particular the US guided missile attack on the Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school that killed 168 people including more than 100 children.
What does one do when confronted with profound injustices? A medical clinic that is asking for donations of scissors. A school system that might preach equality of opportunity but is practiced in racism as evidenced by suspension rates.
One can and should believe that all people are equal, but equality can not be realized under capitalism. Capitalism is a system that inevitably favors accumulation of wealth and power in the hands of the few.
Capitalism is a system that relies on violence and division in order to maintain itself. It is a system with a high level of inequality and accordingly a high level of violence. This takes the form of both state violence of those seeking to maintain political and economic control and also of interpersonal violence as communities are dismantled. In contrast, societies with high levels of equality have low levels of violence. If we raise girls and boys and non-binary youths as equals and dismantle patriarchal systems and put an end to misogynistic attitudes, we will not have boys who grow up to be men who rape.
For many of the problems that we face, if you dig beneath the surface, capitalism is the root cause. The climate crisis is the result of capitalism’s requirement for endless growth with total disregard for planetary limits combined with the corrupting influence of major fossil fuel corporations like Exxon and powerful utilities like Duke Energy. The policy of endless war is locked in by the military industry complex and its interests. And of course the everyday experience of high rent, high bills, and low wages is exactly how capitalism is intended to function – maximal exploitation and maximal profit.
A fundamental transformation in how our society is ordered that puts political and economic power in the hands of the working class is urgently needed.
Carl Hintz is a contributing editor for the Triangle Free Press.