| …To The Whole! Smash Capitalism. Fight the G8 Summit. |
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…To The Whole! Smash Capitalism. Fight the G8 Summit. With "Growth and Responsibility" as a guiding theme the Germany summit of the G8 (Group of the 7 most powerful states plus Russia) will take place at the Baltic Sea village Heiligendamm from June 6th - 8th 2007. When such empty phrases - probably safeguarding the sad existence of a whole legion of PR-specialists - are presented the public, it becomes obvious to the most people: Propaganda takes over. What kind of real political importance the g8 gathering has, not even the inner circle representatives is likely certain about. To attach a greater weight the G8 summits comparing to the World Trade Organization (WTO) or the World Bank for their role in global capitalism seems questionable; just as a left agitation, that asserts, the claim of the officials to focus on the solutions of pressing world problems is a simple "lie". The Group of Eight is not "like the spider in the web" nor the "distributing center" of "predatory capitalism". Rather the G8 summit must be conceived as a form in which capitalist society reflects itself in the political. And it is therefore we call for an irreconcilably act of negation. Such a political practice does not aim at the "One Family" of the defrauded and the disappointed, but at the possibility of bringing the scandal capitalism in its totality into the focus of critique: to criticize its structures in institutions and in our heads and to develop a perspective beyond domination, violence, repression and exploitation. „It seems to be easier for us today to imagine the thoroughgoing deterioration of the earth and of nature than the breakdown of late capitalism; perhaps that is due to some weakness in our imagination.” (Fredric Jameson) Moving targets Society is more than just the sum of its members: Its specific lies in the overbalance of social forms and relationships that structure and organize the connections of the individuals to each other. To conceive the capitalist mode of production as a dominant structure-principle corresponds to the necessity of every change-targeting practice, to render account of the understanding of existing society. Thereby we must consider that current societies are nerved by a number of domination and power relationships such as asymmetric gender relations, racism and anti-Semitism or the discrimination of certain sexual orientations. Instead of a narrow minded thinking in "main" and "side" contradictions it is necessary for an adequate understanding of capitalism to ask, how these different forms relate to and involve each other. The prevalent lack of clarity about the development of the capitalist domination system should not lead to the fallacy, to postpone the question of practice and organization to a point of time where theory might be "fully developed". The fear to be mistaken is the mistake itself. Even if the good intention does not justify every mistake, the necessity for action is owed to the unreasonableness of the social condition itself: The contradiction between the unprecedented material wealth - the real potentiality of human freedom - and the impositions and catastrophes that the capitalist force of value realization constantly produces, should be reason enough to give way to open rebellion. Just because "protest" is not emancipatory per se but can also be supremely reactionary, a radical left is obligated to more than mere "intervention". An intervention without a critical definition of one's own standpoint is less than a sad 'being part of' - it turns itself into a tool for the wrong purpose. "The sphere of circulation or commodity exchange, within whose boundaries the sale and purchase of labor-power goes on, is in fact a very Eden of the innate rights of man. It is the exclusive realm of Freedom, Equality, Property and Bentham. Freedom, because both buyer and seller of a commodity, let us say labor-power, are determined only by their own free will. They contract as free persons who are equal before the law. Their contract is the final result in which their joint will finds a common legal expression. Equality, because each enters into relation with the other, as with a simple owner of commodities, and they exchange equivalent for equivalent. Property, because each disposes only of what is his own. And Bentham, because each looks only to his own advantage. The only force bringing them together, and putting them into relation with each other, is the selfishness, the gain and the private interest of each. Each pays heed to himself only, and no one worries about the others. And precisely for that reason, either in accordance with the pre-established harmony of things, or under the auspices of an omniscient providence, they all work together to their mutual advantage, for the common weal, and in the common interest." (Karl Marx)
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