Chapter 12 - Recreating a Utopic Horizon

Summary

We are at the end of the political and spiritual stagnation that came about with the breakdown in expectation and hopes associated with the socialist ideals and with the culture of acceptance of the status quo that is linked to global capitalism. Capitalism has not solved any of the problems that were left by that supposedly socialist project (the real socialism is something that remains a project for the future). On the contrary, the situation has worsened worldwide. Left to its own devices, and without an opposition or alternative, the hegemony of capitalism has dramatized even more the situation of the poor around the world. The acceleration of the process of accumulation has made the poor even poorer. Even worse, the poor have less hope than before. The quality of life of the rich has also suffered due to their consumerism.

Capitalism now has no excuses. It cannot hide any more its voracity and its perverse face, and as such, it cannot serve any more as a pretext for fighting socialism and stopping the communist ideals. It is eating away its two central pillars, namely, nature and the workforce. Nature faces a barbaric plundering. Workforce, after centuries of exploitation, is being made redundant in the name of new information and automation technologies without proper compensation.

Only those who are short sighted believe that the market economy is the solution to the main problems of humankind and that neo-liberalism is the final political stance of humanity.