The Fall of the False God : Envisioning the End of Capitalism in a Post Covid World.

In the past few months mankind has been reeling under a series of calamitous events due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. Our global economy that depends upon an efficient but yet fragile supply chain mechanism has suffered the brunt that could last for a long period of time. The World Bank has recently published a dire projection in its recent ‘Global Economic Prospects’ report that indicates the possibility of 60 million people being pushed into extreme poverty in 2020. Millions of working class people in developed and developing countries have been rendered jobless and vulnerable with almost limited to no access to basic necessities. Various other trends and analysis predict similar dreadful outcomes that bares the ugly truth about the world that we live in. Amidst all this chaotic disruption and apocalyptic outcry we need to examine the real cause that unleashed this gigantic monstrosity, After stripping down the facade of free market economy we get to see that there is something extremely erroneous about the omnipresent capitalist system that we all hailed as a potent panacea. It's no secret that the wild and untamed forces of the hyperconnected globalist economy made it possible for a virus that originated in a small meat market in Wuhan to burgeon into a lethal bio disaster that has currently stalled the world. In order to examine the cracks of today’s tyrannical barbarism we need to look back at the theoretical notions of the Scottish economist Adam Smith who in his book ‘Wealth of Nations’ laid the foundations for Capitalism by explicating its competitive Laissez-Faire attributes. Smith proposed that humans are naturally inclined to cater to their own individual interests and by doing this they promote prosperity and abundance for the society. 

This idea of a competitive market led by an invisible hand of minimally regulated system gave rise to the modern commercial society.

“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self-interest. We address ourselves not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities, but of their advantages.”

• Adam Smith (An inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations)

This idyllic concept of the butcher, baker and brewer promoting public prosperity by working for their own self interest in Smith’s explication failed to address the faults and cracks of untamed and unregulated productive forces. So today we are no longer surrounded by humble bakers but by mega multinational corporations that function under monopolistic capitalism. These corporate oligarchies have managed to funnel and concentrate all the capital that is collectively created by the people into the hands of a select few individuals who own and control the means of production.

A predilection for everlasting wealth and unparalleled prosperity gave rise to an ultra consumerist culture that fueled the growth of gigantic Big Brother-esque enterprises. 

The wealth that was supposed to be generated for the greater good of humanity got intentionally captured by the elites at the top of the economic hierarchy. In the Post Covid era the nature of capitalism first needs to be questioned in order to initiate its decimation.
During these times of adversity and uncertainty Karl Marx and his ideas of human emancipation rises to the forefront. It’s quite evident that the impact of this zoonotic virus is causally linked to the mindless consumerism of late capitalist society and separation from our original roots. The alienation of man is a recurring theme in Marx’s early works that indicate the vital connection between man and nature.

“Man lives on nature – means that nature is his body, with which he must remain in continuous interchange if he is not to die. That man’s physical and spiritual life is linked to nature means simply that nature is linked to itself, for man is a part of nature.”

• Karl Marx (Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844)

In an attempt to magnify profits we have distanced ourselves from nature and single mindedly shifted our focus to create wealth for the bourgeois masters. All this willful negligence has led to the proliferation of cataclysmic problems such as climate change, poverty, discrimination and wars at the global level. In this hedonistic carnival we failed to acknowledge the self-destructive characteristic of capitalism that consumes itself and marches towards destruction. The idea of infinite growth on a finite planet paves the way for systematic destruction of mankind and the natural world. 

In ‘The German Ideology (1845)’ Marx gives a clear description of how capitalism devours the very existence of a natural balance that needs to be maintained between man and natural environment to avoid catastrophic outcomes.

“At a certain stage in the evolution of the productive forces, we see the emergence of productive forces and means of trade which, under existing conditions, only cause disasters. They are no longer productive forces, but forces of destruction (machinery and money).”

We can clearly connect the outbreak of COVID-19 to the rampant deforestation activities that facilitate the industrialized cultivation of cash crops such as rubber, corn, cacao, coffee, bananas, oil palms on an unprecedented scale. Clearance of the forest area destroys the rich biodiversity and also increases the chances of coming in contact with wildlife that carry novel infectious microbes and can prove to be lethal if transferred to humans. Every year we are losing 18.7 million acres of forest land to accommodate industrial crops and with this also seeing a rise of zoonotic diseases that stem from this destructive process. The proponents of the free market who ignorantly assert the superiority of capitalism have failed to detect the loopholes that evidently exist inside the present dysfunctional system. 

At a time when the global economy has been shackled by its own functional fallacies the proletariats need to unite themselves and renounce the oppressive technocratic regimes of the 21st century. The conditions that facilitated the oppression of millions of commoners during this pandemic was a direct result of state incompetence and negligence.

In an era where the top 1% possess twice as much wealth as 6.9 billion people we simply can't accept this outrageous wealth inequality. We need to understand that the wealth is collectively generated by the majority but fiendishly captured only by a miniscule minority at the top of the social hierarchy.

The bourgeois state apparatus has successfully managed to manufacture consent through deploying various forms of superficial propaganda to legitimize and safeguard their exploitative system.

As we slowly crawl out of this historic crisis, We will venture into a new and uncertain world that is ripe for radical change. We need to enforce a new normal that is devoid of corporate monopoly, exploitation, racism, oppression and poverty.

The path to a world without capitalism might seem too utopian and idealistic in the present era because we all have been propagandized to believe that there is no functioning and viable alternative to the omnipotent free market. We need to comprehend the notion that big business empires are built around the idea of offering the worst possible service at the highest possible profit and there is no room for benevolence or common good due to the competitive nature of the market ecosystem.

As the enigmatic Slovenian Philosopher Slavoj Zizek once said,

“It’s easier to imagine the end of the world than to imagine the end of capitalism”.

The barrier that prevents us from visualizing an ideal future should be destroyed in order to lay the foundations for a post capitalist world where humanity can march towards the collective goal of emancipation and enlightenment.