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<address><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
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<p class="date-header"><span></span></p>
<p class="date-header"><span>Thursday, 16 October 2014</span></p>
<a name="5380570527669636731"></a>
<h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name"> The Paradox of
Democratic Capitalism: An Interview with Rebecca Fisher </h3>
<div class="post-header"> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="CENTER"> <span style="font-size: large;">“<span
style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b>It is impossible to
separate political power from economic and social power.
[The] false division [of both forms of power] has lead to
the current distortion of democracy to mean only limited
political freedoms existing within a deeply and inherently
unequal society.” - Rebecca Fisher</b></span></span></div>
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<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">In this interview, Rebecca Fisher discusses
some of the main ideas in her wonderful essay 'The Paradox of
Democratic Capitalism: An Historical View'.</span></div>
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align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">The essay was printed in the must-read <a
href="http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/pages/about-corporate-watch">Corporate
Watch</a> book 'Managing Democracy, Managing Dissent:
Capitalism, Democracy and the Organisation of Consent' (2013,
edited by Rebecca Fisher), which can be downloaded for free from
<a
href="http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/publications/2014/managing-democracy-managing-dissent">here</a>,
or bought for the bargain price of £10 <a
href="http://corporatewatchshop.org/node/38">here</a>. </span></div>
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align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
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</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><i><span
style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">A free PDF of this
interview is available to download from <a
href="https://archive.org/details/RFisherINT"
target="_blank">here</a>. </span></i></span> </div>
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align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
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<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;"><b>(1) What kind of a democracy exists in
most advanced capitalist countries today? Is this kind of
democracy genuinely democratic?</b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">The kind of democracy that exists in the most
advanced capitalist countries doesn't really constitute a
democracy, in the original sense of the word. It certainly
doesn't allow for public participation in decision-making, since
this might threaten corporate, capitalist interests. Instead, it
allows a very limited degree of public participation, since most
people are permitted to vote. Various structures and processes
are in place to ensure that this is extremely ineffectual in
terms of influencing what actually happens. </span> </div>
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align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span> <br>
<a name="more"></a></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Firstly</span>,
we only get to vote once every 4 to 5 years nationally. </span>
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Secondly</span>,
the choices put to us are severely limited – all the available
political parties are pretty homogeneous - no political party is
likely to get the funding or the establishment support if they
presented a radically different alternative. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Thirdly</span>,
important decisions, structural decisions, are made by
corporations, institutions and elites in the interests of
capital, often tightly insulated from 'political' interference.
And since these businesses exert such power, they also tend to
exert power over politicians, almost always with more success
than the public can. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Fourthly</span>,
the information about how the world operates, and what decisions
are made, by whom and for whom, is strictly policed, via means
of corporate and state manipulation and control of the media,
and other knowledge producing systems. This means that certain
myths and disinformations can exert remarkable power over public
opinion; and opinions that run counter to the mainstream are
portrayed as 'illegitimate'. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">The result is a 'democracy' in which the
major decisions affecting the vast majority of the world's
populations are made by a very small elite of individuals and
transnational corporations, who prioritise the demands of
capital accumulation above any human or environmental concerns.
The main services provided by the so-called 'democratically'
elected governments are therefore to create and maintain the
conditions necessary for this continued economic expansion. </span>
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;"><b>(2) Are capitalism and democracy
compatible?</b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">No – this is the crux of the issue. Genuine,
participatory democracy and capitalism have entirely
contradictory requirements and demands. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">Capitalism requires constant expansion – i.e.
perpetual economic growth – which is reliant upon the
exploitation of labour – both paid and unpaid. It thus demands
both coercion (to make people work in conditions which enable
profit making) and inequality (as wealth and power concentrates
in the hands of a few). </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">Whereas genuine, participatory democracy
requires both universal freedom to participate in
decision-making, and therefore socio-economic equality: for if
everyone is free then everyone must also be equal since no-one
will have power over them. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">This goes to show how it is impossible to
separate political power from economic and social power. This
false division has lead to the current distortion of democracy
to mean only limited political freedoms existing within a deeply
and inherently unequal society. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">This is liberal 'democracy' – which is
considered democratic as long as procedural aspects – primarily
voting – are followed, even in the absence of broader social and
economic equality or freedoms. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">This then is the paradox of democratic
capitalism – capitalism cannot afford to guarantee democracy
because it can't co-exist with the socio-economic equality that
genuine democracy would entail, but yet today capitalism is
commonly deemed to be democratic, despite the rigid limits
placed upon this 'democracy'. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;"><b>(3) When did you first become aware of the
paradox of democratic capitalism?</b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">I can't really remember when I was first made
aware of it – but what really brought it home was my
disillusionment with mainstream NGOs, for whom I worked briefly
upon graduating. There I very quickly became disheartenend by
the limits to their lobbying and despite their often very sound
analysis of particular issues. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">These limits seemed to stem from the
lip-service paid to them by the government – for example
inviting NGOs to lobby them on particular issues, or in
organising safe, AtoB demonstrations. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">Liberal governments are always keen to appear
'democratic' in these ways, yet they can rarely afford to accede
to these demands, at least not the really substantial ones,
since their loyalties are to transnational capital. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">I found then that NGOs tended to limit their
demands according to what they felt was 'achievable', i.e. to
what they felt the government might relent on, particularly
since they were competing for public support, which they felt
depended on such 'successes'. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">So the limitations of the NGOs' demands
seemed to me to stem from the process of engagement with
governments – from the unwritten but firm rules on what is
permissible to advocate for, while still retaining their place
at the table. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">The interesting thing was that this 'place at
the table' often then translated as credibility or legitimacy.
Thus, within some circles – I don't mean all NGOs by any means –
to speak of more radical politics might raise a snicker, or even
a guffaw, since they were deemed so beyond the unspoken pale. </span>
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">This notion of the limits of credibility
seemed to me to be crucial – and also very difficult to explain
or find the cause of, since the limits were unspoken yet widely
understood. In short, it seemed to me very odd, not to say
disappointing, that despite their patent and obvious difficulty
in effecting any of the changes they were lobbying for, that
this didn't lead them to question the entire system. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;"><b>(4) How is public consent for democratic
capitalism organised? What happens when this consent is
absent?</b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">This is a very complicated and multi-faceted
process. It occurs throughout and across a wide range of arenas,
and using various means. In the <a
href="http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/publications/2014/managing-democracy-managing-dissent">book</a>
they are divided into three main categories: control of
information, co-option and repression. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">Control of information includes processes
such as propaganda, language, the state/corporate media systems
and entertainment industries. But we also could have included
academia, education, the public relations industry, advertising,
culture more generally, the family and many others. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">The overriding point here is the sources we
have at our disposal to learn about how the world functions,
even how we humans function, how we understand ourselves even,
is influenced, and sometimes even moulded, in ways which
engender general public acceptance of the basic tenets of
capitalism – and in this case, teaches us that capitalism is
democratic and therefore, if you have any problem with it, which
you surely will, it is amenable to change. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">Even when the facts on the ground evidently
show that capitalism creates and depends upon those problems.
This is obviously a staggeringly difficult task – no wonder then
that so much energy is invested in masking the incompatibility
of democracy and capitalism. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">But it is a task which is never and can never
be wholly successful. People will always resist, and posit their
own interpretations and actions for change. The wool can never
be pulled completely over all of the people, all of the time. </span>
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">When people do resist though, there are
various means which help to ensure that such initiatives do not
threaten the entire system. Co-option is the rather clumsy, all
purpose word for this complex process. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">Basically, it boils down to limiting
political demands, and bringing their advocates into a sphere in
which they will not be able to effect radical change. Then, they
won't be able to threaten the system as a whole, but will
believe that they are making a worthwhile difference, and so
refrain from trying for more. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">Sometimes this is done by isolating the
issue, or the people at stake. And this can be where it gets
tricky – because you can make a real difference to some people,
or on a particular issue, without challenging the system. But
the question here is how come people are so often unable to do
both. How come direct support is very often divorced from the
politics of fundamental change? </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">One other major way it can be achieved is by
essentially bribing groups and organisations with funding, which
is then, and often very subtly, made conditional on meeting
particular, often political requirements. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">Applying for funding also saps organisations'
time and energy, as well as pitting groups against each other,
which can encourage a culture of division and competition rather
than cooperation and solidarity. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">Crucially, it creates a culture of dependency
on funding – once a group feels it can rely on funding it is
very difficult to avoid creating structures which depend upon
it. This means that if and when that funding dries up – or is
denied due to the political nature of the work, or to funders'
changing priorities etc – the group is no longer able to be as
effective as it was before it received funding, because it is
now set up to function with funding. It also means that it is
more tempting to go through whatever hoops are required,
including dilution of politics, to chase that funding.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">Of course it is also always worth remembering
where the money is coming from and why it is coming. What are
the funding organisations getting from funding a radical group –
is it window dressing? Or subversion? Generally, wealth and
power is not interested in redistributing that wealth and power
so it is essential to be vigilant.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">With resistance which remains radical and
aimed at systemic change, and with the potential to really
disrupt the system however, repression is often the only option
for those in power. The crucial thing here is how this is
squared, or attempted to be squared, with the myth that
capitalism is democratic. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">It comes down to ideological hegemony. What I
mean by this is that there are firm limits on what is
'permissible' to say while remaining credible and 'mainstream'.
One of these red lines is drawn along the belief that capitalism
is or can be democratic – going against this <span
style="font-style: normal;">norm – this 'common-sense' - often
elicits ridicule, incomprehension, even disgust in modern,
capitalist societies. </span></span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%;
margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family:
Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">When these 'heretical'
opinions are translated into actions which oppose capitalist
interests – for instance an anti-capitalist protest which
threatens to disrupt some element of the operations of
capitalism – their supposed illegitimacy is used to justify the
repression they receive. While this shows the role of the state
to protect corporate, capitalist interests, it does so while
proclaiming to protect the public and society. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 150%;
margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family:
Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">This is because it seen as
beyond the pale to question the supposed union between public
and corporate interests. For a capitalist democracy, the two are
equated with one another - economic growth is for the public
good - and therefore to threaten one is to counter the other, to
be anti-democratic, violent, anti-social etc. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">This is the
point about made forcefully by Dave Whyte in the <a
href="http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/publications/2014/managing-democracy-managing-dissent">book</a>
– the union between the 'interests of the market' (as if
personified) and the public. He termed this process 'market
patriotism' i.e. how we are expected to see economic growth as
a good, in and of itself, not because of what it will
apparently provide us. </span></span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-style: normal;">(5) </span>How
is democratic capitalism able to present itself as genuinely
democratic?</b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">Largely through the fact of having elections,
no matter how stage-managed and controlled they are. In
addition, by ensuring that some – albeit a carefully selected
group – of organisations, NGOs and campaign groups can pressure
these 'democratically-elected' politicians on a carefully
selected collection of non-systemic issues – e.g. through
carefully managed demonstrations and lobbying, petitions etc.
Thus 'democratic' capitalism can say it allows for freedom to
dissent. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">There is of course also the much-vaulted
freedom of the press – but as the book shows this freedom is
curtailed by corporate and/or state ownership of media outlets
and ideological hegemony – that is by the tacit agreement to
remain within particular parameters of 'legitimate',
'common-sense' discourse. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">This translates into a mainstream media which
largely refuses to ask the fundamental questions about
capitalism, and the kind of democracy we have, and in which more
radical views which overstep those parameters are mostly
marginalised or silenced. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">So in this way democratic capitalism can
claim to have the procedural elements of a democracy –
elections, freedom to protest, freedom of expression – even
though none of these translate into popular participation in
decision-making. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;"><b>(6) When did liberal democracy first
emerge, and why?</b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">I argue in the <a
href="http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/publications/2014/managing-democracy-managing-dissent">book</a>
that liberal democracy emerged out of the contradictions of
capitalism – that in fact the evolution of the two systems is
interconnected. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">Capitalism emerged as a way to continue the
extraction of capital in face of the stagnating feudal economy,
and rising labour power which demanded higher wages and improved
conditions. Liberal democracy emerged as a way to ensure
sufficient acquiescence to that exploitative system. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">The real problem of social control arose
since capitalism could not comfortably co-exist with the
legitimating ideology of the feudal social order – i.e. the
divine social order, in which everyone was born with a specific
position in society. This did not allow the emerging merchant
classes to begin new ventures to expand capital accumulation. </span>
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">So instead, the Enlightenment period saw the
evolution of the social contract – and liberalism – under which
all citizens were supposedly born free and equal. This freed up
those merchants. However, leaving aside for a moment the
millions of non-citizens in Europe and around the world who were
brutally subjugated, this new freedom could hardly encompass the
majority of citizens in the Enlightenment centres. Liberal
democracy became the formal political mechanism behind this new
doctrine of liberalism. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">However its freedoms – including voting –
were strictly limited to only the wealthiest men. Those who had
little to gain from capitalism – such women, and the workers –
were deemed to be too much of a threat to the system, out of
which they did so badly, to be given the vote. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">Suffrage was granted in increments –
following popular struggles, and only to those whose material
and political integration into the capitalist system rendered
them relatively unlikely to pressure for systemic change
(crucially via the enrichment of the growing middle class
through imperialism). </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">Eventually, in countries in the centre this
could be expanded to near universal suffrage, though of course
only in conjunction with other mechanisms of social control. </span>
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;"><b>(7) What are some of the other mechanisms
capitalism uses to contain the social discontent and rebellion
that it produces, besides the mechanism of liberal democracy?</b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">Overt force is ever present of course -
repression at protests, detention of migrants, the penal system,
military invasions etc. Other coercive mechanisms can be more
subtle – such as debt or financial conditionality imposed by
institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">Another important mechanism is the constant
pressure to consume – being taught to believe that what we have
is never enough – we must keep up with the changing fashions,
trends, and gizmos. This both keeps us buying things, a
protection against over-production. and identifying in our
purchases, less than in our selves and our relationships, so
that we have less time and motivation for political activity,
and more inclination to believe in the corporation – and by
extension capitalism - as a moral force for good. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">Education of course is another important
mechanism of social control – one which we often forget. It is
interesting to note that when universal education was first
enforced in certain American states it was fiercely resisted –
by the communities who were fearful of the state indoctrinating
their children, and protective of their rights to bring them up
as they wished.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;"><b>(8) Is liberal democracy currently
undergoing a crisis of legitimacy? What about capitalism?</b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">I'm not sure. I mean I don't know precisely
what level of protest or opposition constitutes a crisis of
legitimacy? It feels slightly ludicrous to make this kind of
pronouncement. What I do think is important though is to have a
sense of crises which isn't strictly linear or clear cut. What I
mean is that while it appears now as though the capitalist and
liberal democratic systems are more stable than a few years
ago,( when the shock of the financial crisis was at its peak),
this doesn't mean all is rosy now. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">The bottom line is that the system of
democratic capitalism is and always will be precarious – so
dependent is it on a contradiction and a lie. Moreover, the
planetary limits, if not the human ones, will at some point have
to put pay to constant capitalist expansion, though it might do
so in the form of an ecological collapse. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">To avoid this, we must insist on the
incompatibility of democracy and capitalism – and on the need to
build the former at the expense of the latter. Both liberal
democracy and capitalism are remarkably resilient – so this will
be no easy task. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;"><b>(9) What kind of a relationship do
imperialism and democracy have?</b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">Quite a complicated one. Initially, liberal
democracy was reserved for the centre, imperialising countries,
since it was only there in which certain sections of the
population were sufficiently integrated into the capitalist
system to be trusted with its rewards – I.e varying degrees of
political power. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">The European colonial powers ruled their
colonies via a combination of brutal force and co-option of
existing power structures. Until forced, by decolonisation,
there was never much thought of imposing democracy on them. The
US version of imperialism differed however – based on more
indirect power, rather than direct colonialism, the US usually
began their imperial missions with a rhetoric of bringing
democracy to the unenlightened masses who needed their tutelage.
</span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">This is now the model used to justify most
imperial ventures – since direct colonialism is no longer
tenable following de-colonial wars. But obviously there remains
a tension between imperialism and the control it requires –
since democracy which supposedly implies the country in
question's independence. How this tension is managed varies –
but often it is done using the same 'tutelage' model. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">For example, post-invasion Iraq apparently
needed external intervention and reconstruction to become
democratic. And of course before that they needed a violent,
military invasion, and now the violence is being escalated once
again.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">Other tensions are created in the decidedly
non-democratic regimes which are supported and propped up
because they are useful – for instance in supplying access to
oil fields and/or military bases – for the capitalistic system,
with the US at the helm. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">These tensions correspond closely to the
tension inherent in the incompatibility between capitalism and
democracy: democracy must be curtailed and managed – it
certainly cannot be left to the people to run - at least not
until those people have been selected and taught how to be
'democratic', crucially via 'democracy promotion' programmes. </span>
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;"><b>(10) What is 'democracy promotion'? Why
was it created?</b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">So 'democracy promotion' is the term given to
overt methods of political intervention which effect indirect
imperialism. So what used to be, and often still is, attempted
via invasions, establishing client regimes and the co-option of
elites is now also attempted via training civil society
formations in the formal, procedural mechanics of liberal
democracy. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">The aim behind this essentially co-option of
civil society, and by extension hopefully public opinion, is to
ensure that political resistance is channelled into forms which
remain compatible with transnational capitalism. It functions as
a way for governments (primarily the US but also the British,
Canadian, Australian, German governments) to intervene and try
to mould the political formations emerging in areas where the
rule of neoliberal capitalism is not yet firmly established or
entirely stable. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">The 'democracy' being promoted is very like
the liberal democracy we have been discussing – in that it
limits participation to voting between largely similar parties,
largely aligned with the demands of neoliberal capitalism, and
in which 'legitimate' public discourse usually refrains from
voicing these limitations. While of course claiming to engender
a free, open and inclusive political system. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">In short it comprises of the attempts to
construct political structures which organise popular consent
for transnational, neoliberal capitalism, protecting it from
political instability. It includes training for political
parties, NGOs, churches, trades unions, social movements.
Democracy promotion has proved extremely effective in
suppressing more organic, autonomous and liberatory popular
politics, and containing resistance to the capitalist system,
often in places where the placatory 'rewards' of that system are
thinly distributed. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">Of course, imperialist political intervention
and manipulation is nothing new. The important change signified
by this trend towards using 'democracy promotion' is that its
aims are very similar to more direct forms of political
intervention such as colonialism, invasions, covert missions, or
coup d'etats. Instead of imposing political structures 'from
above', this more sophisticated technique moulds them 'from
below'. And being conducted in the name of 'democracy' ensures
that they do not court the same controversy as the previous
covert manipulations. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;"><b>(11) Do you agree with David Cromwell that
the <a
href="http://medialens.org/index.php/alerts/alert-archive/alerts-2013/747-launchpad-for-a-revolution-russell-brand-the-bbc-and-elite-power.html">“notion
that we live in a proper democracy is a dangerous illusion”</a>?</b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">Yes, this is the main crux of the <a
href="http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/publications/2014/managing-democracy-managing-dissent">book</a>
in fact. That this belief that capitalism is or can be
democratic is key to sustaining the current system, and causing
such suffering and ecological devastation. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">Not only are wars justified in its name, but
it is a key reason why there exists such general popular consent
for capitalism. It operates like a valve, out of which
resistance and anger can be released, without much substantial
political effect. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">Without it there would be more of a risk that
the anger would boil over and threaten capitalist operations –
that people would refuse to consent or co-operate. As it is, the
belief that we can intervene in the political decisions made by
political elites and corporations is an important reason why we
don't rebel against the system in bigger numbers, why it's hard
to organise for this. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;"><b>(12) Do you think that voting is
pointless?</b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">Yes, sort of. But really it's about being
aware of what purpose it serves, and what you may get out of it.
The danger comes when you believe, or imply, that the liberal
democratic system could, eventually, produce a system of rule
that would be egalitarian and liberationary. I have very little
time for arguments based upon 'effecting change from within'
since it always seems like the forces against such change are
more powerful than you, especially when you are so close, and so
many compromises are required of you to remain so close,
compromises which dilute and mutate your original political
agenda.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">The real issue is that engaging in the
liberal democratic system involves accepting at least some of
its founding principles, which were constructed in order to
placate and contain political dissent, rather than give power to
it – such as representation, elections, the separation of
economic and political spheres. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;">Hence why it's important to try and
understand the development of liberal democracy in tandem with
capitalism – to understand how interconnected they are, and that
to defeat capitalism we can't use liberal democracy. </span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;"><b>(13) What texts would you recommend to
people interested in learning more about the paradox of
democratic capitalism?</b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><b><span
style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span
style="font-weight: normal;">I must give special mention
to the book that inspired my work in this area: William I.
Robinson's </span></span></b><b><span style="font-family:
Arial, sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Promoting
Polyarchy</span></i></span></b><b><span
style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span
style="font-weight: normal;"> (1996). This goes into both
factual detail and theoretical depth into the nature,
development and expansion of the 'managed democracy' –
which he calls polyarchy. Robinson has also written more
recent and shorter articles on this subject, some of which
are available for free on his website:</span></span></b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b><span
style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a
href="http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/faculty/robinson/"><span
style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span
style="font-weight: normal;">http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/faculty/robinson/</span></span></a></u></span></span><b><span
style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span
style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span></b></span> </div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%;
margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size:
small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><b><span
style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span
style="font-weight: normal;">For a particularly insightful
take on the historical development of capitalism (and
especially its relationship with sexism and patriarchy)
I'd strongly recommend Silvia Federici's </span></span></b><b><span
style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i><span
style="font-weight: normal;">Caliban and the Witch</span></i></span></b><b><span
style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span
style="font-weight: normal;">, which can be downloaded for
free here: </span></span></b><span style="color: navy;"><span
lang="zxx"><u><a
href="https://libcom.org/library/caliban-witch-silvia-federici"><span
style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span
style="font-weight: normal;">https://libcom.org/library/caliban-witch-silvia-federici</span></span></a></u></span></span><b><span
style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span
style="font-weight: normal;">. </span></span></b></span>
</div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%;
margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size:
small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><b><span
style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span
style="font-weight: normal;">And of course the <a
href="http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/publications/2014/managing-democracy-managing-dissent">book</a>'s
analysis is heavily indebted to the analysis of the
mainstream media by Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman, in
their seminal </span></span></b><b><span
style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i><span
style="font-weight: normal;">Manufacturing Consent</span></i></span></b><b><span
style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span
style="font-weight: normal;">. For more contemporary and
UK-based analysis of the media I'd recommend anything
written by <a href="http://www.medialens.org/">MediaLens</a>.
</span></span></b></span> </div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%;
margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size:
small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-weight: normal;">And
then for those wishing to know more theoretical
underpinnings of hegemony and consent of course there's
Antonio Gramsci – upon whose thinking so much of the book is
based.</span></b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;"><b>(14) What is Corporate Watch?</b></span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%;
margin-bottom: 0cm;" align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size:
small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Corporate
Watch is a independent research co-operative, based in London,
that </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span
style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span
style="font-weight: normal;">investigates the social and
environmental impacts of corporations and corporate power.
Since 1996 we have been publishing articles, briefings and
occasionally books, based on various themes, including
migration, Palestine, climate change and privatisation, as
well as analysing some of the structural forces which
grant corporations such power. Last year I edited
'Managing Democracy, Managing Dissent', which, like all
our publications, can be downloaded for free online – see:
</span></span></b></span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="color: navy; font-size: small;"><span
lang="zxx"><u><a
href="http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/publications/2014/managing-democracy-managing-dissent"><span
style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span
style="font-weight: normal;">http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/publications/2014/managing-democracy-managing-dissent</span></span></a></u></span></span><span
style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial,
sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">. It is also
available to buy for £10 from our shop - </span></span></b><span
style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a
href="http://corporatewatchshop.org/"><span
style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span
style="font-weight: normal;">http://corporatewatchshop.org/</span></span></a></u></span></span><b><span
style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span
style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span></b></span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><b><span
style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span
style="font-weight: normal;">And forgive the appeal, but
Corporate Watch needs our readers' support to keep going –
please donate if you can: </span></span></b><span
style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a
href="http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/pages/support-corporate-watch"><span
style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span
style="font-weight: normal;">http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/pages/support-corporate-watch</span></span></a></u></span></span><span
style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><span
style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span
style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight:
normal;">.</span></span></span></span></span><b><span
style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span
style="font-weight: normal;"> Regular donors of more than
£5 a month will receive all our publications for free as
they come out! </span></span></b></span> </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"
align="JUSTIFY"> <span style="font-size: small;"><b><span
style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i><span
style="font-weight: normal;">This interview was
conducted by Richard Capes for the site <a
href="http://moretht.blogspot.com/">'More Thought'</a>
</span></i></span></b><span style="font-family: Arial,
sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">and
completed on 15th October 2014.</span></i></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom:
0cm;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
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