With our highly individualistic and stratified society, I don’t think we have the voting power or any negotiating power against deeply capitalistic corporations.
They simply follow the capitalistic imperative - optimize capital gains. We - the society - on the other hand, have no such imperative to follow and can’t even decide what we want. Some think the capitalism needs to restricted to ethical boundaries, others think the former are evil communists.
If people weren’t so echo-chambered and isolated to ideas different than their own, perhaps one day we could decide what our universal priorities and values as humanity are. Are they about maximizing capital, or preserving our planet and survival? Or maybe they are about something else.
But we can’t even begin to have a serious discussion about this with the overwhelming majority of people today. And that would be just the first step to change.
So I really think we are powerless to change how capitalism is dooming the planet. There are probably some people in the world capable of changing this - governments, presidents, kings, hedge fund managers, religious figures, and maybe some other leaders. I can’t make the needle move much even if I spend my life doing it. I’m just not in a position of power large enough to steer capitalism itself on a global scale.
I will once again recommend Helene Landemore's "Open Democracy" as well as Camila Vergara's "Systemic corruption: constitutional ideas for an anti-oligarchic republic".
I think seeing what the french convention for the climate produced is really helpful. I had flaws of course but overall a very positive opportunity that has been definitely further refined with the convention for the end of life. And now we are already seeing a push for others one to tackle the pension crisis in France.
These are real political alternatives, as of now, there is little real power that are given to these. But mostly people don't even know what's possible so they're just not pushed by the public.
I believe pushing for more popular power and better (real) representation that's not tied to voting is our only way of addressing the corruption that's present in our political systems, dominated by oligarchic/elitist/plutocratic ideas. We are not powerless, it's possible, we just need to be aware of what are the right alternatives that we ought to push for and start coordinating to bring these to the masses.
At the very least, I believe, different social movements should be pushing for the same "tools" to be used to address the problem. I know climate change groups push for something similar to the citizen's convention for the climate in their own respective countries. But these things are "new". I encourage you to take a look at the books I recommended in the beginning, see if maybe your perspective is shifted a bit and you become a little more optimistic :)
> I can’t make the needle move much even if I spend my life doing it. I’m just not in a position of power large enough to steer capitalism itself on a global scale.
Steering things on a global scale shouldn’t be the goal to begin with at the individual level. This isn’t the needle individuals need to try to move.
You absolutely can make a difference though. Change starts with you and me. And then the people around us. The way we choose to spend our money. By getting involved in our local governments. By supporting organizations that take action. By volunteering to take action.
Every movement starts with an individual. Every massive human endeavor has required the collective effort of many individuals, and this is no different.
Don’t expect people aren’t doing these individual things. Reuse, buying ethical products, recycling, public transit, and so on. It’s just that you’d never see the needle moved this way, so you probably wouldn’t be able to tell how many people are doing these things.
They simply follow the capitalistic imperative - optimize capital gains. We - the society - on the other hand, have no such imperative to follow and can’t even decide what we want. Some think the capitalism needs to restricted to ethical boundaries, others think the former are evil communists.
If people weren’t so echo-chambered and isolated to ideas different than their own, perhaps one day we could decide what our universal priorities and values as humanity are. Are they about maximizing capital, or preserving our planet and survival? Or maybe they are about something else.
But we can’t even begin to have a serious discussion about this with the overwhelming majority of people today. And that would be just the first step to change.
So I really think we are powerless to change how capitalism is dooming the planet. There are probably some people in the world capable of changing this - governments, presidents, kings, hedge fund managers, religious figures, and maybe some other leaders. I can’t make the needle move much even if I spend my life doing it. I’m just not in a position of power large enough to steer capitalism itself on a global scale.