Why We Still Fight

Marx said that capitalism tends to destroy its two sources of wealth: nature and human beings. After around five centuries of this system, the machine of mindless wealth accumulation has run out of these resources. 80% of the American population is now in or near poverty, which has created massive debt, crippled the flow of capital, and ultimately endangered the functioning of society. The global insect population has decreased by 75% over the last three decades, as the destabilization of ice over the arctic threatens an inevitable mass methane release that will drive up temperatures and collapse crops around the world. The ruling ideology is now only running on self-delusion, while the foundations that keep this ideology relevant are ready to collapse.

We live in a reality so corrupted by this capitalist machine that many people around the world are trying to violently tear the entire system down. This state of encompassing anger at the world is seen in the resurgent European nationalism, the rise of jihad in the middle east, and the internet-infused neo-fascism that’s infected American culture. The demagogues giving voice to these movements rally their followers around cathartic, distracting tribal warfare. But none of this changes the reality these movements seek to banish, which is that the human species has forced itself into a dystopia.

I don’t say this to bleakly rant, but to show what we need to confront if we want to find the truth. We could give in to the mass propaganda elites are using to stifle rebellion. We could see the worst of our crisis, and decide to retreat into the apathy and denial that establishment politics offers. The alternative is to keep fighting, not because doing this will repair all of the damage done, but because fighting is the right thing to do.

Are we really going to have the state’s attacks against dissent, however severe, make us forget that we’re still capable of resisting? “The suppression is insane,” said the journalist Lee Camp in a recent message about the censorship being imposed against dissenting outlets. “They’re unsubscribing people from our accounts on Facebook, Twitter, the Google algorithm won’t even show our posts. Sometimes people can see the post, but there’s no share button.” This is the very least of what the corporate state has ready for those who speak out. But as Camp then says, “guess what? We’re still here.”

Will we be overwhelmed into not speaking out against injustice? “They ask me why I, an American in America talking about American issues, am on the Russian outlet RT,” Camp continues in his monologue. “Here’s why: it’s literally the only channel in America that lets me say what I want, and let’s me talk about things like the massive weapons contractors, Ratheon, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, making billions off of the murder of innocent people around the world. The oil companies’ destruction of our planet, BP, Exxon, Chevron, Shell. The acidification of the oceans. The environmental harm of factory farming. The exit poll-gate and the rigging of the Democratic primary election.”

Remember Camp’s sentiment as our crises keep developing. No amount of coercion, propaganda, or hardship should stop us from fighting for justice or from speaking the truth. The war the global oligarchs will need to carry this out is imminent, shown by the UK defense minister’s recent lies about Russia posing an imminent military threat. The censorship being imposed on us will next turn into formal bans on dissenting speech, enforced by violent retribution from the state. Get ready to fight even harder.