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to_the_youth [2017/09/30 15:32]
Richard Greeman
to_the_youth [2018/03/09 17:24]
admin
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-===== To the Youth =====+===== To the Youth of 2117 =====
  
 As we look back on the past century, we have much to be satisfied with. Today our planet is slowly returning to health. Humans have adjusted to a more extreme and chaotic climate. We have achieved a sustainable exchange with the rest of nature, we eat, we live in relative safety, we (mostly) get along with each other. In the process of restoring the environment,​ we have learned to cooperate and live together peacefully, respecting other people, other species, other orders. There is a rough equality among us across the planet. No one piles up riches and no one starves. As we look back on the past century, we have much to be satisfied with. Today our planet is slowly returning to health. Humans have adjusted to a more extreme and chaotic climate. We have achieved a sustainable exchange with the rest of nature, we eat, we live in relative safety, we (mostly) get along with each other. In the process of restoring the environment,​ we have learned to cooperate and live together peacefully, respecting other people, other species, other orders. There is a rough equality among us across the planet. No one piles up riches and no one starves.
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 Mass displacement and mass unemployement had thrown people back on their own resources. Panics in the world’s stock markets, the bursting of bubbles of unpayable debt, the closing of banks and the the collapse of credit shattered the globalised system of  for-profit mass-production mass consumption. Moreover, the scarcity of oil made it unprofitable to maintain globalized chains of production where materials are shipped to another continent to be worked up by cheap labor and then shipped again to a third (richer) continent to be assembled and sold at a fat profit. In any case, with massive global unemployment,​ who had money to buy?  Mass displacement and mass unemployement had thrown people back on their own resources. Panics in the world’s stock markets, the bursting of bubbles of unpayable debt, the closing of banks and the the collapse of credit shattered the globalised system of  for-profit mass-production mass consumption. Moreover, the scarcity of oil made it unprofitable to maintain globalized chains of production where materials are shipped to another continent to be worked up by cheap labor and then shipped again to a third (richer) continent to be assembled and sold at a fat profit. In any case, with massive global unemployment,​ who had money to buy? 
  
-Many businesses workplaces were simply abandoned by their bankrupt owners, who were unable to pay the taxes owing on their property. This proved to be an opportunity for their unemployed former workforce. Often employees, although technically out of work, would get together to protect the machinery and equipment of ‘their’ workplace from vandals or the scrap-dealer,​ in the hope of better times. Others would pass by to meet and discuss. Many experienced workers felt they knew how to run the operation as well as if not better than the bosses, who never got their hands dirty. Why not try? Better than hanging around feeling useless. ​+Many businesses ​and workplaces were simply abandoned by their bankrupt owners, who were unable to pay the taxes owing on their property. This proved to be an opportunity for their unemployed former workforce. Often employees, although technically out of work, would get together to protect the machinery and equipment of ‘their’ workplace from vandals or the scrap-dealer,​ in the hope of better times. Others would pass by to meet and discuss. Many experienced workers felt they knew how to run the operation as well as if not better than the bosses, who never got their hands dirty. Why not try? Better than hanging around feeling useless. ​
  
 And so, bit by bit, workplaced by workplace, town by town and country by country, wherever the deepening crisis had created similar conditions, workers got together and organised occupations,​ takeovers, tax-auction buyouts and went back to work -- this time for themseves – and their customers. ​ And in many cases, their customers were other worker-run enterprises:​ self-organised workers in garment factories became the customers of workers in a textile cooperative,​ whose customers were transportation workers in need of clothes who could deliver the textiles. . Out of acts of individual barter, more complex networks of non-commercial exchange and distribution developed. ​ And so, bit by bit, workplaced by workplace, town by town and country by country, wherever the deepening crisis had created similar conditions, workers got together and organised occupations,​ takeovers, tax-auction buyouts and went back to work -- this time for themseves – and their customers. ​ And in many cases, their customers were other worker-run enterprises:​ self-organised workers in garment factories became the customers of workers in a textile cooperative,​ whose customers were transportation workers in need of clothes who could deliver the textiles. . Out of acts of individual barter, more complex networks of non-commercial exchange and distribution developed. ​
  
 [[internet-recon|The Internet During Reconstruction]] [[internet-recon|The Internet During Reconstruction]]
to_the_youth.txt · Last modified: 2018/11/18 10:46 by admin