A Caution Against Supporting Capitalism Inadvertently
Capitalism is a pervasive force in our world, it seeps its way into everything we do. Certain actors in the game are at more fault than others. Some use the economic system as an excuse for heinous crimes and dictatorial rule. Others pretend like it’s a victimless system by promoting the guise of social progress. Communists often find themselves thrown into this dichotomy of beliefs, instantly ostracized for having beliefs and supporting causes that don’t conform to this narrative. It is crucial we recognize this narrative as one perpetrated by the capitalists, wherever they may be found and in whatever “stage.”
When communist furries debate, often we’re originating from a perspective of persecution. The world is demonstrably out to get us. Supporting any cause becomes a much more personal issue, since each party and organization could have very different views of what rights furries deserve, let alone our other identifying characteristics. Even among the left, there is division in true widespread human rights commitments. In this cacophony of choices, furries often take the position of least harm. What party, or what country, or what organization, is doing the least harm. Conversely, the most positive change. This perspective is not on its face incorrect. Recognizing progress where it lies is a great tool to build upon that progress and achieve real systemic change against capitalism. A small win on a public transit project demonstrably improves the lives of everyone around it. A small improvement in healthcare availability like a new hospital is an indisputable benefit for the community it serves. One country offering aid to another, even if self-serving, in a manner that does not exploit the receiver and results in a non-zero-sum, that is a win.
The danger comes in the thought ending logic that this position inherently brings. It forces many communist furries to see the world in black and white. To see some actors as good, even if they have flaws, and others as irredeemable, even if they have positives. It promotes communist furries to support countries like Burkina Faso unquestioningly, despite their newly instituted homophobic legislation that targets most of our community. It allows communist furries to defend an aggressively capitalist organization such as BRICS. In this example it is, without contest, a good thing to recognize the progress that Burkina Faso has made against colonialism and neocolonialism, and the self determination it has shown. It is also a good thing to analyze how de-dollarization as promoted by BRICS is a tool that allows countries subject to US interest to exercise more self-autonomy and engage in trade with other countries in a more directly beneficial way. However, and it is crucial to recognize this, we as communist furries must criticize these projects for their failures. A capitalist-in-all-but-name country like China, that regularly commits worker rights violations and allows for and promotes economic stratification, might be great because of how it assists other countries with their public works projects and infrastructure. But make no mistake, it is still riddled with capitalism. It is no victory over the exploitative economic system. BRICS de-dollarizes, which helps countries break free of US hegemony, but what it does is exchange the capitalist class from a subservient one to the US to a self-determined one in their home country.
If communists and communist furries alike hope to end capitalism’s pervasiveness and exploitation, and fight for the rights of ourselves and our comrades, we cannot unapologetically worship one cause as gospel, and ignore its flaws as inconsequential. We can simultaneously praise the progress, and condemn the failures. We can recognize community benefit, but criticize those in charge of organizing the benefit. Both are possible. One does not need to forsake the very verifiable progress a country like Cuba has made when one condemns the anti-democratic elements in its government. In the same vein, one does not need to support the US in any regard to recognize the successes of a union led strike and recognize the better working conditions it brought. Two things can be true. When communist furries lock themselves into the mindset that one actor is god, and the other the devil, it can become worryingly easy to excuse heinous abuses of power of the “good,” and refuse to permit justified praise from the “bad.”
A communist furry arguing these points may not, in fact, be trying to argue in bad faith. They might not be aware this is the logical hole they are falling into. They may see their perspective as defensible and explicable. It’s equally as important to confront this as what it is: a logical fallacy brought on by a hostile world around them. To some, criticizing a country like China for its capitalist elements is equal to condemning the progress they’ve made. This is how capitalists operate. If you don’t support capitalism, you support human rights abuses. If you support communism, you don’t support democracy. So on and so forth. We must move beyond this thinking, and help our comrades escape this manner of thinking. Lest communist furries argue for platforms that ignore homophobia, or tacitly support capitalism because it’s not as bad as other capitalism. We need to fight for a better world, that means everywhere and anywhere. We need to understand the conditions that led to that local condition, but we need to condemn its aspects that harm humanity at large. Fighting for a better world is possible, but only when we abandon chauvinism for certain causes.
In Solidarity,
FurInform
