Mishmash of anti-capitalist parenting anarchist thoughts.
Prepping one’s house for sale does not leave one’s self much time for writing. But it does leave one’s self enough time for thinking. As such, here’s a random smattering of things that I’ve been thinking about in the last little while.
Fair Pay Under Capitalism
I’ve been having such an amazing conversation with
, , , and Laura in The Unschool Files Marco Polo community. The conversation has flowed from topics like minimalism, feminism, capitalism, white supremacy, and more. All the juicy questions are coming out!We spent some time chatting about the idea of getting paid for caretaking and homekeeping work. While I obviously think that everything getting paid is awesome, sometimes this idea of throwing a wage at underpaid or unpaid labour actually plays into the whole notion of capitalist realism and doesn’t really resolve the inherent oppressive nature of capitalism.
Is there a fair pay structure outside of capitalism? I think it has to do with reframing the question as “How do we ensure that everyone has their needs met?” which then opens up the discourse to include community care as reciprocity.
In this model, we can let go of the notion that “everyone needs to get paid for their work” which can really perpetuate wage inequality and limit access to knowledge and information. Instead, focusing on needs instead of dollars ensures that those who are in a comfortable position with their needs met aren’t collecting more than folks whose needs aren’t being met and require more support. Meeting needs can still look like supporting financially, but it also might look like providing childcare, offering a place to sleep, and ensuring that there’s healthy food and clean water available. It looks to community care and allows those who have time and energy but no money to still offer support.
(I feel so privileged to keep such good company with folks asking these questions!)
Friends Calling Friends
Can we stop for a moment and talk about telephones? Specifically, the old-school home phones that most people had 20 years ago?
When I was growing up, there were no cell phones. They didn’t hit the scene until I was a teenager. That meant that when I wanted to call a friend to play after school or on the weekend, I had to a) memorize their phone number and b) call them from my own home phone to see if they were allowed to come over. Calling a friend meant that you would talk to them directly on the phone, and then they would go and ask their parent.
I was thinking about this process the other day and realized the pieces that we’ve lost by transitioning to cell phones only.
No one knows each other’s phone numbers anymore. They’re all just saved in your phone.
When my kids ask for a playdate, that means that I have to contact the friend’s parent via their cellphone and ask them directly. This process removes the kids’ involvement altogether.
When I ask another parent, it’s much easier for them to say no because the request is coming from me, not their child. It’s much easier for an adult to say no to another adult.
This whole process removes the children from the centre and prioritizes the parent: their schedule, their convenience, their rules. The child’s priority of play and socialization is lost completely.
I look back at my childhood and compare it with the recent years that my children have experienced and can clearly see the fallout from this seemingly irrelevant technological change and can’t help but wonder what other changes have shaped our lives in ways that aren’t always apparent at first glance.
Chaotic vs. Lawful
If you’ve had the pleasure of playing Dungeons and Dragons, you’ll know that one of the best parts is character creation. Each player role plays as a different member of a party of heroes (or villains!) who go on quests together led by a dungeon master. When making your characters, you get to choose important pieces like their race and class, but you also get to choose their alignment. Here’s a handy grid to help explain the process:
Back in the day, when I played a bit of D&D, I used to think that I was very lawful by nature. I contrast this with other chaotic characters in my party that were both unpredictable and annoying (from my lawful perspective). They would do obscure and random things at times when our path seemed very clearly laid out before us.
When I started learning more about anarchism, I was a bit shocked at the revelation that my naturally lawful nature might not fit in with a political ideology that has been pegged as chaotic. I mean, I think if you looked up chaos and anarchy in the dictionary, the colloquial definitions would be very similar. Did this mean that I wasn’t naturally an anarchist?
Looking at it now, I think that lawfulness and chaotic natures don’t have to do as much with following rules as following one’s own moral compass over the set of laws or rules that one is placed within. I *am* naturally lawful, but if I don’t agree with the laws in place, following my own set of laws doesn’t make me chaotic. As such, anarchism isn’t synonymous with lawlessness. It’s more about following the rules that one BELIEVES to be correct than the rules that are passed down by authority.
It’s no surprise that most anarchists follow a similar moral code, although the finer details often differ based on one’s own belief system and lived set of experiences. Most anarchists believe in core tenants like mutual support, equality, fair share, and extending care to all who need it.
In related news, Food Not Bombs Houston just received their NINETY FIFTH ticket for feeding hungry people. Chaotic or lawful?
Anti-Capitalist Institutions
Okay, last one here: I’ve become pretty infatuated with the idea that capitalism has turned community into institutions. It’s so pervasive in my life right now, and I feel the effects of this change daily. I’ve also been wondering what this transition means for folks who can’t access these institutions which are community-replacements, for a variety of reasons. Falling out the bottom as always, I suppose.
But as we are exploring these ideas of community care (see Fair Pay Under Capitalism up top there), it’s also got me thinking about whether we can reclaim communities that have transitioned into institutions as we continue to build up anti-capitalist alternatives.
I mean, in a magical world where I wake up tomorrow and capitalism has been abolished (don’t even ask me what this might look like…), do institutions even still exist, or are they just extended communities? Are anti-capitalist institutions just communities in disguise? And what does that tell us as we try and build new super-sweet anti-capitalist solutions on the ground right now? The wheels are still turning, but I’m really keen to explore this idea further.
That’s it for now. Thanks for hanging out. I may take some time to explore these topics in more depth in the coming weeks, and I’d love feedback if these get you thinking.