Blog Posts"Capitalism is evil," says new Michael Moore film
By Harel B at Sep 09, 2009 |
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Excepts from Review of Moore's latest film, below. Some very strong words. A few thoughts:
1. Without defending "capitalism" as it existed in Adam Smith's time, as being a good system either, we have to be clear that what we are calling "capitalism" today is very different (by the way check out wikiquote on Adam Smith and Wikipedia on Wealth of Nations where I and others have added to what Chomsky quotes, even more shockingly sane quotes from Smith) We have to be clear on that.
2. Despite Moore's very strong word like "you can't regulate evil..you have to replace it" does he actually, in fact, envision something like Sweden (as it existed a few decades ago) as his alterantive to "capitalism"? Because that was capitalist too
3. Activism opportunity: Raising these points and more is possible at screenings. There were many single payer advocates and others handing out leaflets at screenings of Sicko. And anti-war activists handing out flyers at showings of Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. Shouldn't we have activists raise the above issues and many more, like what alternatives might really look like (there is no mention of whether worker-owned factories like in Argentina made it into Moore's film, nor Mondragon, nor Parecon, nor www.thefec.org type communes, nor local currencies in which at least part of monetary policy can at least begin to be made more democratically (even while recognizing that step alone isn't enough) etc....)all could be flyers for people waiting in line or coming back out from the film. WHO IS ORGANIZING THAT?
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VENICE (Reuters) - Capitalism is evil. That is the conclusion U.S. documentary maker Michael Moore comes to in his latest movie "Capitalism: A Love Story," which premieres at the Venice film festival Sunday.
Blending his trademark humor with tragic individual stories, archive footage and publicity stunts, the 55-year-old launches an all out attack on the capitalist system, arguing that it benefits the rich and condemns millions to poverty.
"Capitalism is an evil, and you cannot regulate evil," the two-hour movie concludes.
"You have to eliminate it and replace it with something that is good for all people and that something is democracy."
The bad guys in Moore's mind are big banks and hedge funds which "gambled" investors' money in complex derivatives that few, if any, really understood and which belonged in the casino.
Meanwhile, large companies have been prepared to lay off thousands of staff despite boasting record profits.
The filmmaker also sees an uncomfortably close relationship between banks, politicians and U.S. Treasury officials,..[and] says that by encouraging Americans to borrow against the value of their homes, businesses created the conditions that led to the crisis, and with it homelessness and unemployment.
Moore even features priests who say capitalism is anti-Christian by failing to protect the poor.
"Essentially we have a law which says gambling is illegal but we've allowed Wall Street to do this and they've played with people's money and taken it into these crazy areas of derivatives," Moore told an audience in Venice.
"They need more than just regulation. We need to structure ourselves differently in order to create finance and money, support for jobs, businesses, etc."
..."Democracy is not a spectator sport, it's a participatory event," he told a news conference. "If we don't participate in it, it ceases to be a democracy. So Obama will rise or fall based not so much on what he does but on what we do to support him."
..The film follows factory workers who stage a sit-in at a Chicago glass factory when they are sacked with little warning and no pay and who eventually prevail over the bank.
And a group of citizens occupies a home that has been repossessed and boarded up by the lending company, forcing the police who come to evict them to back down.
http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSTRE5850F320090906
[Unfortunately the system forces you to select a "geographic region" and does not allow "World" so I was essentially forced to pick "U.S."]
By Small, Brian at Sep 11, 2009 05:07 AM
I first heard of, and saw the trailer for, Moore's documentary on 'Capitalism' on a blog out of Bangladesh. I was wondering if he would start evolving toward an alternative vision like Parecon or Something.. This post answered some of those questions - at least he got the ball rolling...
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By B, Harel at Oct 07, 2009 16:15 PM
Excerpted fromDemocracyNow interview:
JUAN GONZALEZ: Michael, you have obviously amassed a lot in terms of the indictment of capitalism as a system, but some would say the film doesn’t offer much in terms of the alternative. Where in the film do you see your offering of what alternative would be like?
MICHAEL MOORE: Well, I’m very clear in the film that, you know, I’m not an economist. But the alternative, the economic order that we need to create for the twenty-first century—and that’s what we really need to do. We need to quit having the argument about the economic system that was invented in the sixteenth century versus the one that was invented in the nineteenth century. We need to—come on, we’re smart people. We’re in the twenty-first century. We have a whole new set of issues and problems that we face. Can’t we come up with an economic order that has these two basic underpinnings: that it is run democratically and that it is run with a sense of ethics and morality? So, whatever we construct, for me, personally, it has to have those two things in its foundation.
I do show in the film some very specific examples of workplace democracy, where a number of companies have decided to go down the road of having the company actually owned by the workers. And when I say “owned,” I’m not talking about some ding-dong stock options that make you feel like you’re an owner, when you’re nowhere near that. But I mean these companies really own it. And I’m not talking about, you know, the hippy-dippy food co-op, and I don’t mean that with any disrespect to the food co-ops who are listening or any hippies that are listening. But I go to an engineering firm in Madison, Wisconsin. These guys look like a bunch of Republicans. I mean, I didn’t ask them how they vote, but they didn’t necessarily look like they were from, you know, my side of the political fence. And here they all are equal owners of this company. The company does $15 million worth of business each year.
I go to this bakery. It’s not a bakery really; it’s a bread factory out in northern California, Alvarado Street Bakery. And they’re all paid. They all share the profits the same. They’re all shared equally, including the CEO. And they vote. They elect, you know, who’s going to be running this and how this is going to function. The average factory worker in this bread factory makes $65,000 to $70,000 a year, which, I point out, is about three times the starting pay of a pilot who works for American Eagle or Delta Connection. And that’s another harrowing scene in the movie, where I interview pilots who are on food stamps—pilots who are on food stamps because of how little they’re paid. So—
AMY GOODMAN: Finally, Michael, before you go....
From
After 20 Years of Filmmaking on US Injustices, Michael Moore Goes to the Source in “Capitalism: A Love Story”
at http://www.democracynow.org/2009/9/24/after_20_years_of_filmmaking_on
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I mentioned before on another forum: During screenings of Moore's "Sicko" many health care activists including many advocates of single payer in particular, used the opportunity to do mass outreach, hand out leaflets, pamphlets, etc, at, before, or right after screenings, to audiences. An obvious analog is a possibility here..is anyone doing this for parecon or other grassroots movements towards economic democracy? If not, why not? This opportunity doesn't come every day, or every year or several... Just a thought..
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