Kate Milberry

Philosophers have thunk on how to achieve the “Good Life” for an embarassingly long time. And yet it remains elusive for, I think it’s fair to say, the majority of the world’s population (Africa and India being as populous as they are).

How about these goals as the basis for the Good Life:

1. The self-reflexive human being;
2. The honourableness of work;
3. The equality of fortunes;
4. The identity of interests;
5. The end of antagonisms;
6. The universality of comfort;
7. The sovereignty of reason (one of my faves);
8. The absolute liberty of wo/man and of the citizen.

Sounds pretty amazing, no? Guess who wrote that? You never will, unless you know anarchist thought, and then you’ll say, but of course, my dear, that is Proudhon, the French political philosopher and original anarchist thinker, in his book, General Idea of the Revolution in the 19th Century.

In addition to the above goals, or principles of the new French society Proudhoun envisioned, he outlines the “forms of activity” this society will take:

a. Division of labour, through which classification of the People by INDUSTRIES replaces classification by caste;
b. collective power, the principle of WORKER’S ASSOCIATIONS, in place of armies;
c. Commerce, the concrete form of CONTRACT, which takes the place of Law;
d. Equality in exchnage;
e. Competition;
f. Credit, which turns upon INTERESTS, as the governmental hierarchy turns upon Obedience;
g. The equilibrium of values and of properties.

Hmmmm. An anarchist talking about commerce and competition? Who knew?

And how’s this for a truism: “God and King, Church and State; these have ever been the soul and body of conservatism” (247). Amen – ahem – right on.

As you may or may not know or care, I’m embroiled this comps business – comprehensive exams to test my knowledge of “the discipline”. The reading list I am digging into right now is for the exam titled “Toward liberation: Radical social theory and emancipatory communication”. So. I begin with Rousseau, On the origins of inequality. Then I move on to a brief history of socialism, through marxism and anarchism up to second wave feminism/post-colonialism and full stopping at pomo w/Foucault. I’m reading chronologically, cos that’s the kind of anal person I am. But for “light”, portable reading, I’ve decided to read Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth (subtitled: The Handbook for the black revolution) while I’m on the bus, or at night when I’ve got half an hour. Did you know it is still apparently used as a resource by The Pentagon for dealing with the war in Iraq? Those wacky American war mongers! Always appropriatin’ the tools of revolution to use against it an’ shit. Anyhoo, this morning, this quote jumped out at me (never mind the whole thing – so far anyhow – is outrageously quotable):

“In capitalist societies, the educational system whether lay or clerical, the structure of moral reflexes handed down from father to son, the exemplary honesty of workers who are given a medal after 50 years of good and loyal service, and the affection which springs from harmonious relations and good behaviour – all these aesthetic expressions of respect for the established order serve to create around the exploited person an atmosphere of submission and of inhibition which lightens the task of policing considerably” (p. 38).

Ain’t that the mofo truth?

But seriously, it’s clear that the combination of these systems – education, moral and reward – results a totalizing social matrix that produces conformity and tolerates no deviance. Thinking, and doing, outside the box is not possible. There is no “outside”. For one simple example, consider the American response to those who dared to question, let alone condemn, the war in Iraq – either its rationale (e.g. WMD, of which there were none), its implementation (opposed by a newly galvanzied peace movement), its continuation (see here for “collateral damage”) and so on. As part of this “New McCarthyism”, people were publicly ridiculed, fired from their jobs, sent hate mail, surveiled and generally prevented from engaging in any activities that might now be construed as “anti-American”. All this in a so-called democracy, purporting to be upholding democratic ideals in the Mid East. Please.

But back to Fanon. He goes on to contrast capitalist Western style domination and exploitation practised “at home” with the techniques of violent suppression employed “in the colonies”. Needless to say, it is with police and military brute force that Western colonizers rape and pillage the human and natural resources of the clearly expendable “Other”.

When I get my wiki up and running on this blog I’ll post my reading lists and notes to the texts as I go through them.