View From The Basement

After Capitalism?

Here in the UK the Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his chancellor Alistair Darling (both Scot’s) are meeting oil industry chiefs to discuss the ‘soaring’ oil prices. There is however wide agreement that high oil prices, that is prices over $100 a barrel are here to stay. Indeed there are some who are predicting that $200 a barrel is on the horizon.

There reasons for the rise and rise of oil prices are multifarious, but nevertheless linked. Globalisation has a huge part to play. As one analyst stated on Radio Scotland this morning, “globalisation is a thirsty beast.” Thus demand in other parts of the world are pushing up prices here in the UK. This is in part due to the exponential growth of the Chinese economy, which has also pushed up other raw commodity prices such as steel. India is also a growing factor in this equation.

Actual oil production is perhaps less of an issue in the short to medium term, as the bottle neck which pushes up prices is the capacity at the refineries. Simply pumping more oil out the ground will therefore not solve the problem as there is not the refining capacity to deal with any large increases in supply.

All this worry about oil and how is effects the rest of the economy has got me thinking if we are in the throes of a larger structural economic change?

Since the eighteenth century Capitalism has grown to be the dominant economic model and we have seen it effortlessly transition from local, national, regional to global markets, conquering all and unifying all in its way. We have even seen it shift, at least here in the West from ‘heavy Capitalism’ to ‘light Capitalism’. Indeed we could call the commodity and financial markets ‘virtual capitalism’ and acknowledge that unlike ‘heavy capitalism’ (which has heavy industry as its base) and ‘light capitalism’ (which has service industries as its base) ‘virtual capitalism’ (based not on the exchange of ‘real money’ but of stocks and shares) does not obey the traditional economic rules but is spooked by rumour and confidence.

Yet to say that Capitalism has been a success is a statement given from a particular perspective. It’s the voice from the top, the rich elite to whom Capitalism has brought unparallel success. The trickledown effect of Capitalism whereby even those on the bottom are lifted our or poverty and enriched is one of the many myths of the system. For the majority of the world’s population global Capitalism has not, is not nor will it ever be a success.

The other great myth of Capitalism is that it can continue ad infinitum. If the whole debate about global warming has awoken us to anything it is that we live on a world of limited resources. Oil is a prime example, both in respects of how much is in the ground and how much at any one time we can refine. The world ecologically just cannot survive an economic system that is predicated on the consumption of ever more products faster and faster. Thus humanity cannot survive Capitalism in its present form.

We need to shift to ‘After Capitalism’. What this will look like I’m not sure. While technology may play a part in this shift it cannot provide all the answers, there needs to be more fundamental changes in how we consume. What I am sure about is that if we do not shift to something ‘after Capitalism’ then there is going to be severs economic hardship for many, many people. A shift to something ‘after Capitalism’ will also I think prove very difficult, and may also cause many to suffer. Yet, this seems to be the lesser of two evils if both humanity and the world we live on are to survive.

Not sure what to call this post

Art?

Staying with the food theme, here's a picture of a red cabbage which I think is a work of natural art.

It's not the cost it's the value

Back in January I put up a very short post called chicken out. In it I was trying to draw attention to a campaign here in the UK about the ethics of our food in general and in particular the conditions in which most of the chickens that find their way to our dinner tables are reared.

In this original post I said with regards to buying free range chicken, "Hey if we can do it on a student budget, then most people can". One person commented that we must be financially doing ok if we could afford to do this. Well the truth is that we can't really afford to buy free range chicken. The answer is not however to buy broiler house chicken but to change how we eat.

So the free range chicken I bought last night is the first chicken we've bought for a while. It's much smaller than a broiler chicken for the same price, but we will still get two meals for 2 adults and 3 boys out of it. Sure it means less meat in each meal, but we bulk the meal up with veg we get from the whole shebag.

It's tempting to replace the chicken we are not eating with pork, but this is also a meat - unlike beef - which can be produced in near factory like conditions. So we also try to limit our pork consumption. This often means wandering around the supermarket and leaving not having bought any meat for a meal.

What keeps us going in trying to be more ethical with regards to our food is a mindset where it's not about the cost, its about the value.

Sadness after Joy

In much of Glasgow, indeed across much of Scotland yesterday their was an air of hope and expectation. Rangers fans, and people who just like Scottish football (I count myself among the this latter rather then the former) were filled with the joy that Rangers had reached the UEFA Cup Final and while they were perhaps under-dogs they had a reasonable chance of winning.

My two older boys like Rangers so straight after school we headed over to Ibrox Stadium where the game would be shown for free on a giant screen. We arrived about 4pm and the gates did not open till 6pm. The crowd waiting to get in was massive. We met a friend and her son who were leaving saying that they had been told there were 60,000 in the que already and only 25 - 28,000 would get in.

While there were many in the crowd that where just happy to be there, there were too many in the crowd for my liking that had drank too much. Indeed when we walked through the car park at the east end of the stadium you were walking through a carpet of broken Buckfast and bear bottles. There seemed to be an unpreparedness on the part of the football club and the police on the size of the crowd that would gather for this event. We left deciding to watch the game on the TV at home.

As for the actual game - well at points watching paint dry would have been more exciting.

To wake up to the news that there had been trouble by the Rangers supporters in Manchester was very disappointing. There are just no excuses, and while you can appreciate the frustration that the big screen in the city center failed, to trow bottles etc. at the poor guy who tried to fix it and then to turn on the police, to turn this frustration into violence is just unacceptable. I suspect like many Scots this morning I feel ashamed and embarrassed by the behavior of these fans (not all of whom would have been Scottish, but the majority of whom would have been). At is so often the case the actions a minority overshadow the good behavior of the majority.

The joy and hope of yesterday has also evaporated with sad news of the death of Celtic's first team coach,Tommy Burns at the age of 51. Burns came up in conversation once with a Baptist Pastor from the Glasgow area. He had met Burns once for a meeting. It was Burns who suggested that they pray together and latter commented that what the people of Glasgow needed was to know Jesus.

Tripoli

The BBC and other new outlets are carrying reports that the violence in Lebanon has now spread north to Lebanon's second city Tripoli.

When I visited Tripoli a few years back it seemed a far more radical place than Beirut. Indeed the couple who took us there had lived in Tripoli until someone put a bomb outside their house and tried to blow them up.

When in Tripoli we overlooked the city from the walls of the citadel of Raymond de Saint-Gillies. We prayed and as we did so a flock of white doves took off from some rooftops and circled in the sky - a sign of peace? We prayed that it would be a sign of peace, of a lasting peace - still we pray for what else can we do?

Valuing Theology

Went across to New College yesterday to get some stuff from the library, meet some friends for lunch and go to a seminar by Dr Janet Soskice called "faith, hope and loveliness (which was very good) and the Gifford Lecture by Prof. Robert Veatch. It was a good day.

At lunch the old chestnut of finding funding came up. Funding is hard to come by for post graduate theological study. Most funding bodies make awards on a competitive basis, and many have restrictive criteria (e.g. will only consider you if from a particular denomination). For me this raises the question of who values theology?

The lack of scholarships etc. for theology would suggest that the answer is a rather negative one, i.e. not many people value it (or those that do have no money to invest in the next generation of theologians!)

Expressions

Exist

"In order that people may exist with Christ, Christians must exist with the people"

Jacques Maritain, Scolasticism & Politics, 1940, p246.

Haggis on the loose