Since there's clearly interest and it's worth my while to continue, this post picks up where the previous one left off. As noted, I don't necessarily agree with the opinions presented by Toussant. He makes some very strong assertions, for which I hope he provides compelling evidence (rather than leaving them as wild accusations).
... Everything, including spirituality, can become a commodity (and, therefore, it must). The intent is to grant, to capital, absolute and utter totalitarian control over all life, particularly human. All of this has gone hand in hand with bribery and corruption, since few, if any, laws have been put in place to regulate it. Not a single undertaking involving government to some degree happens without commissions or paybacks in a complex network of interactions that enmesh all the parties involved. Governments make a big deal about money laundering, but it is the banks and big businesses that do most of it, in the billions, with their offshore tax havens. The banking sector is directly involved and allows it to happen, since it makes a huge profit. [There are different rules for the rulers and the powerful than there are for individual citizens, the ruled. Is that really a surprise?]
If you live in a democracy, then it is the democracy of the market. The government is subordinate to the market, shadows of their former selves, merely puppets and figureheads maintaining an illusion and façade masking increasing levels of "ever more sophisticated techniques of surveillance and social control" being held and leveraged by "those holding the reins of capitalist power", corporations. [It is not just government organisations like the CIA and NSA that has files on you.] Anyone willing to pay the price can access the computerised files detailing people's personal and professional lives. Cameras monitor public and private venues, while computer technology permanently track people's activities and movements, both online and off and police keep a close eye on (or interfere with) the lives and communities of people considered to be dangerous or a risk. Perhaps it is only a matter of time until we are all electronically (and maybe genetically) tagged, like pets or livestock. It's already happening in some prisons. Wherever social control seems to be either wasted effort or too costly, rural and/or urban areas are left to the "barbarism" of their own governance, since the standards of globalisation have neither impact nor relevance there. [That's a lot of pretty strong claims. I hope Toussant elaborates and provides evidence for them.]
Despite how pervasive it is, globalisation (and its totalitarian dominance) is not an inevitable process. Across the globe, there are pockets of resistance to the destruction and inequality (both financial and social) that it brings. Economic slavery is not the destiny of humanity, no matter how many times it has been tried by the powerful whom seek dominion over us. Freedom and justice are noble aspirations, which we must not fail to reach, for our own good. However, we know full well that resistance, while not futile, will always be temporary if not coupled with an awareness of exactly how the oppressors operate. Global Capitalism's dominance — and its techniques of operation — is sophisticated.
Whomever doesn't want to dance at the end, doesn't yet know that they must ...
Hopefully, Toussant's book gives one a fighting chance of being aware of (and understanding) what one is up against. The first step is to understand the trap of dept (and how to overcome it), one of the primary ways in which people are exploited by the capitalists whom hold power.
I'm tempted to dive straight into the preface here, but I'm saving that for another post. That's because it is long and I have work to find, in order to keep me afloat long enough to get back on the treadmill. I cannot generate a sustainable income for myself the way that I want to, on my terms. What a shocker, right?
To be continued, if there's still interest.
Thumbnail image: Photo by Porapak Apichodilok on Pexels
