Overthrowing Babylon
By Andy Newman
A
review of “Babylon and Beyond” By Derek Wall.
“Babylon and Beyond” is a very thought provoking book, and the ideas contained
within it are extremely important for all socialists and environmentalists to
engage with. Derek Wall certainly doesn’t have all the answers, nor does he
claim to, but he is certainly asking some of the correct questions.
The book explains each of the main theoretical strands within the anti-globalist
and radical green movements. I think Derek has made a generally successful
attempt at this, and it is particularly useful that he has included in his
account theorists as diverse as George Soros, David Korton, Caroline Lucas,
Toni Negri and Fidel Castro. There is a warmth and generosity of spirit in the
discussion of what are sometimes quite obscure ideas, so that it is possible
to appreciate that each critic contributes some insights, without feeling the
need to wholeheartedly accept or reject any of the theories.
Derek draws attention to the struggle in the global south, where conserving
the environment is often a defence of traditional commons, for example the
struggles in South Africa and South America to resist water privatisation, and
the rejections of western concepts of poverty being based on lack of private
wealth, as expressed in the writings of Vandana Shiva.
A significant accomplishment is to starkly show the current dilemma, both
nationally and internationally, that while there exists a significant movement
for ecological sustainability, only a minority within the green movement agree
that market economics is incompatible with sustainability. Conversely, only a
minority of socialists question the assumption that economic growth is
desirable. The result is that we are both weaker, and Derek Wall challenges us
all to create a synthesis that transcends the limitations of each part.
Derek includes a provocative chapter on the various Marxisms, that most
socialists will partially agree with, and partially disagree with. It is our
tragedy that none of us will agree which bits are right and which are wrong!
Nevertheless, Derek’s critique is offered in the spirit of constructive and
fraternal debate, and in particular he focuses on the relations of production
and the dialectic between exchange values and use values as the Rosetta Stone
that will perhaps allow us to translate between the green and socialist
traditions. Of course a strength of the socialist movement is that we have
given a lot of thought over the question of the nature of the state and the
obstacles to achieving radical political and economic change, which Greens
seem often rather naïve about.
He quotes the argument of American eco-socialist, Joel Kovel, who believes
that a process of “greening the green parties” is required. The fight for
economic sustainability requires the rejection of capital accumulation: It is
impossible to have capitalism without economic growth, and therefore Green
parties should become left parties. What is more Kovel argues that we need to
create or recreate a sensual concern with our surroundings and our products,
this demands a change from the socialist left. Derek Wall links this with the
struggle to conserve and extend the commons, not only the traditional
commonwealth of traditional communities, but also extending the creative
commons of shared labour projects for use rather than for exchange, such as
Linux, Indy-Media and Wikipedia.
The strongest and weakest part of the book is the attempt to underpin this by
Marxist economics. Derek is absolutely right to emphasise that the drive to
competitive capital accumulation is destroying the environment. I also think
he is absolutely right to stress the need for us to challenge the traditional
socialist preoccupations with just fighting for more material wealth, and
return to also challenging the logic of commodity consumption that wage labour
imposes on us.
Derek does make a brave attempt, but his account is not yet entirely finished
or convincing. Part of the reason it has taken me so long to write this review
(I promised it months ago) is that Derek has stimulated me to give a lot more
thought to this issue, and I am still not quite sure what I think about it.
I think insufficient attention is given in Derek’s argument to how wage labour
makes commodities of human beings, how this leads people to give greater value
to commodities that are bought, rather than “home made” products, and how
unpaid labour is stigmatised. I also think that in this area of
commoditisation of human labour power, and the mediation of human
relationships through things, lies part of the explanation for how sensual
animal experience, emotional and physical connections between people and with
our surroundings has been devalued.
Socialists have been dismissive of alternative lifestyles, complementary
medicines, handicraft production and natural birth movements, in part through
unconscious rejection of part of our own socialist tradition: the vital
organic Marxism of William Morris. More often than not we concentrate on
simply struggling to have more stuff, rather than putting human happiness and
creative fulfilment as the central aims.
Capitalist economics constantly generates a tension between capitalists and
workers over wages and conditions, and we are right to see this as a motor for
challenging the logic of Capital. But at the same time we have to find a way
of defending and extending those parts of human production and relations that
are outside the market, and that means celebrating and extending alternative
lifestyles. It means celebrating and validating every triumph where we assert
our animal, human, physical and emotional needs over the logic of money.
We need to find a way of doing this, so we can knit together the partial
insights of the existing left and green traditions into an inclusive
eco-socialist movement. Derek Wall’s book is a great contribution to that
debate, we should all read it, and see if we and build upon it.
You can read the introduction to “Babylon and Beyond” by New Zealand Green MP,
Nandor Tanczos
here.
March 2006
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