Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2004 12:07:06 +1100 (EST)
From: Jeremy Dixon <jeremytrewindixon-AT-yahoo.com.au>
Subject: Capitalism, Enemy of Racism


Moving the list? I missed a lot these days what with
my wildly exciting life in the real world.

So maybe this is a bad time, but I want (anyway) to
raise again the issue I raised years ago on this list.
Last time the result was a time consuming flame
war....but with the maturity of passing years no doubt
the resulot will be different this time, in one way or
another.

OK...one of the difficulties Anarchists encounter is
their (our) general lack of a nuanced world view, more
unkindly one might refer to the Anarchist "will to be
stupid"....a particular example is the way Anarchists
tend to fall face flat dealing with so-called
"identity" politics around race (and gender etc but
race is the example I want to consider)

The point which many refuse to grasp is that
capitalism is essentially an enemy of racism (and
other such isms). This reality may be obscured in
times of class conflict, as race-hatred can be handy
as a way of dividing workers. But the essential core
of capitalism is hostile to such divisions, it
requires a large talent pool for technicians and
management etc and interchangeable workers at a lower
level. So capitalism will tend to be a destroyer of
racism to the extent it is successful (yeah I know I
am personifying capitalism which is not a person, I'm
using this convention to save time). 

This tendency will be clearest in times of low class
conflict, ie labour defeat, as at present. The
objective evidence seems to be pretty clear, the fall
of apartheid South Africa to capitalism, the rise of
black faces in high places in the USA. But for some
reason the claim that racism is rooted in capitalism
seems to be a dogma in some quarters.....

A pity as the practical consequences are profound.

_jeremy 



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