Thinking beyond capitalism

They say capitalism is the best system of all. Oh no! It is as screwed as the rest. Only that it the only one standing. Communism collapsed two decades ago. Rule by the Church proved itself to be lousy centuries ago.

Coming back to capitalism. A system that makes a man a wreck cannot be good. I talk of Michael Jackson. He had real talent. But he was corrupted by the money. His music suffered first. His body after that. Till he fell dead one day.

Capitalism does not solve many questions. Many innovations fall by the wayside only because they are not economically feasible. Stupid repetitive music and films make money. So we have a surfeit of such rubbish. While truly innovative and novel things die unnurtured.

In capitalism only those who are greedy and selfish are praised and hold positions of power. The rest are cast aside as pansies and failures.

Capitalism has screwed up the planet we live in. We all very well know that unless things are changed, climate change threatens the very existence of humans. There is talk of half-baked measures like carbon credits, Kyoto Protocol. There is talk. Only talk. May be the nightmare scenario shown in the film Mad Max is about to happen.

What are the other options? Frankly, I don't know. Since generations we all have become brain-washed that capitalism is good. And so our minds have rusted. Our imaginative capacities have become dulled. We can't look beyond capitalism.

The sub-prime mortgage has screwed the whole global economy. Many argue that all this happened because capitalism was perverted. The fact is that capitalism is, by nature, perverted. They talk of the need for regulation, checks and balances. This is nothing but a communist measure. We have oscillated between communism and capitalism. The pendulum is swinging back towards communism. But we learnt 20 years before (with the collapse of the Soviet Union) that communism is no good either.

What then? Many say the Chinese model of Communist-capitalism is the answer. That the China model has worked. That China is the growing power. In a few decades it will become the only super power.

Is it so? Then why are the Tibetans and Uighurs being suppressed in China? Their culture, their identity is being slowly erased. And these people don't like that. In the last one year first the Tibetans rebelled, then a few days ago the Uighurs revolted. There is something wrong with the Chinese model.

The Chinese model with the premise that give the citizens economic prosperity and they will happily forget everything else is not working.

The dominant Han Chinese have not revolted against the rule by the communist party till this day because the party has cleverly identified itself with Chinese nationalism. The factor, the glue that binds China together is not capitalism but nationalism. The Tibetans and Uighurs have their own nationalistic identities. They do not want to adopt Chinese nationalism. So China is using brute force to repress them.

I am drifting away from the main point. If not capitalism, then what? As I said before, I don't know. But I am sure there must be some other option, some other way, that is less greedy, less selfish and more humane. A system that gives opportunities to all, not the greedy few. A system that does not suppress any peoples, not even one person.

We have to start using the unused 90% of our brain's capacity. We have to rid our minds of this fixation with capitalism. It is high time to think beyond.