Freedom under Capitalism

The realm of freedom actually only begins where labour which is determined by necessity and mundane considerations ceases. - Marx

Our society, as it is commonly defined, that is to say Canadian society, Western society, or liberal-democratic society, is by the same common definition free and democratic. This definition, however, has significant limits: while correct in terms of being more ‘free’ than some other possibilities, it is certainly not ‘free’ in a total or even thorough sense.

Does capitalism offer freedom? What is freedom? How can alternatives, such as socialism, provide genuine freedom? These are all major questions at the heart of what we, as a society (and here I’m using society in the broadest sense: human society) choose to have as an economic system.

Class & city planning

CBC.ca published an interesting article today on a report done by the Montreal Public Health Department:

Pedestrians are more likely to get hit by a car walking in poor neighbourhoods than affluent ones… The discrepancy can be explained by a relative scarcity of traffic calming measures in low-income areas, researchers at the department concluded.

This is, of course, a perfect example of how class interests shape how cities are built. City councils, which typically represent the interests of the suburban middle-class above the urban working-class, turn the inner-city into a giant highway for getting suburban commuters to their jobs and back; the people who live there are forced to live beside high-speed roads with high vehicle traffic.

Class Struggle: The Blog Post (Or: Anti-Monopoly)

The radical left really tends to tie itself up in transmitting/teaching/explaining its ideology in a few static methods, and more peculiar (but potentially more engaging and thus useful) ‘pedagogical tools’ get overlooked.

However, there does seem to be a few exceptions in one particular area I’m a bit of a geek towards: board games. A slight bit of internet research turned up two items of interest:

The first one, and I suppose the granddaddy of these sorts of games, is Class Struggle the Board Game. Essentially, each player is assigned a ‘class’, be it workers, capital, or a minor class (students, peasents, et cetera), and goes around the board marshaling their forces and preparing for the revolution. Never having played it, I can’t say whether or not it’s actually fun, of course. Reminds me of the Noam Chomsky board game, and makes me want to sit down and start drafting a board design. The interesting thing is that it was actually published by Avalon Hill for a few years in the 80s!

The other one I turned up was actually a card-based derivative of Class Struggle the Board Game. Imaginatively (and also confusingly and lawsuit-invitingly) entitled Class Struggle, it is based on the versatile Dvorak game system (which is similar to 1000 Blank White Cards). I, of course, am itching to play this game – just listen to some of these cards:

• No Room at the Top (or in the Middle): Place this card on any Student, Self-Employed or Professional in play. This card is now a Worker.
• May ‘68: Students are allied with Workers.
• and my personal favourite, MA In Icelandic Literature: Professionals are allied with Workers.

The fun thing about this game-style is the players can easily add to the card stock, improving and growing the game. This, of course, is a fantastic way for people to expand and express their understanding of ideology and politics. Imagine a situation where players are trying to create a card for something like a party election – they are required to essentially create an operational definition of the event within the context of the game, essentially determining what the material effects of the event would be. Now, if this had been what they meant by edutainment when I was younger, it might have actually had some value.

Linkity-link: Dec 18th 2007

A few links to check out:

One a YouTube vid from the front lines of a picket line in Kelowna, BC at the Sun-Rype packing plant, where the security goons attacked a picket line. Very crazy situation to be in, and I hope the Teamster members can beat the company – although as the Tyee reports, the situation is pretty grim for the workers.

The next, also from the Tyee, is by Michael Geist, who you may remember from such places as the ‘Fair Copyright for Canada’ Facebook group (which he created). The actual article is on the capacity of Facebook for political organizing. It specifically references the success of the ‘Fair Copyright for Canada’ group, claiming that it gave a vehicle to the voices of thousands of Canadians, and directly impacted government policy.

Finally, a link to an article I read some time ago, but one I hope to come back to and write a proper post on soon: danah boyd’s fantastic Viewing American class divisions through Facebook and MySpace.

Blaming the (working-class) victim, part 234262672

Well, I was reading my news as I faithfully do, and came across this sad story of a family house burning down in Northern Winnipeg (certainly not an uncommon occurrence, unfortunately). Then I read this choice bit:

The constables helped 10 people — ranging in age from nine months to 66 years — escape out a rear window because the home’s front door was blocked by the fire and the back door had been boarded up to keep out the winter cold.

There’s nothing illegal about that, but Tuesday’s fire shows it’s not a good idea, says Manitoba fire commissioner Doug Popowich.

“If you look at it from a regulation point of view, they’re not doing anything that’s against any law, but what they’re doing is creating an unsafe environment for their families and themselves,” he said.

What. An. Asshole. I realize the Fire Commish is supposed to warn people not to do dangerous things, but at the same time, it would be nice if it was acknowledged that maybe having what was likely a house in poor shape (which I am assuming by the fact they had to board up the door to keep the cold out) with significant overcrowding (eleven people in a single house) is a guaranteed recipe for disaster. Of course, someone will jump in with the insightful analysis of “the person who set the house on fire is to blame!”. Well, obviously, but there’s a big difference between saying the fire would never have started without the alleged fire-starters and recognizing the material conditions in much of Winnipeg’s housing stock that lead to responses like blockaded doors.