What's a Left to Do?

Since the 2008 collapse of the global capitalist greed machine the slogan used by the European Left, Canadian and even U.S. Left has been a simple, "We're not paying for this!!". Personally, I admire this slogan. I like the attitude of resistance encapsulated within. I also like this slogan because it clearly lays the blame where it belongs; with the global capitalist class.

But, this slogan is not enough. There is certainly no sign that the global capitalist class has assumed any responsibility at all for the meltdown they produced, and certainly no responsibility for the misery being suffered by millions and millions of people across the globe. Unfortunately too, it is workers, the unemployed and the poor who are de facto, being stuck with capitalism's big bill. This is what "austerity" and "concerns about the deficit" are all about, and the austerity/deficit folks are presenting the bill to the working class in Britain, France, Germany, Greece, the US, the globe, every time wage levels are cut and new austerity measures introduced.

What's a Left to Do?

The global left needs a comprehensive analysis and a positive program. To date, that's not there. To date, we struggle and resist, indeed struggling and resisting seems to be on the upswing, but we are still not able to project a Left program that deals with the current crisis and offers a way out.

So, here I'd like to suggest some immediate steps towards Left solutions to the current mess.

First, the global banking system needs to be nationalized and even maybe, internationalized. The bourgeoisie runs the world through their banks. From India to Ontario decisions about growth, abandonment, who gets what and what gets developed and what doesn't get developed is decided by banks and is in the interests of those who own and control these mega-resources.

So, imagine for a second if the banking system was re-organized in the interests of an egalitarian society and a sustainable civilization! What a concept!

Second, what about the concept of a guaranteed minimum income and a re-definition of work? 150 years of amazing increases in worker productivity might actually have us economically able to provide rich lives for all citizens without having to overwork those employed while those who are unemployed drop through society's floor. If such a re-definition of work is to be undertaken, we might find that a lot of the current occupations are socially non-productive and often downright destructive. Here, I dare to imagine a world without payday loan centers, a world without collections agents, a world without advertisements and the constant distraction of new trinkets, bells and whistles to be outmoded in six months for the nest crop of bells and whistles.

All of these are just some loose thoughts. But what about envisioning what a sane world might look like? And what about a Left that is able to project how we get to this saner world?