Western Capitalism Is The Ultimate Degeneration Of Man

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By Dr. Sawraj Singh

In the last two centuries, under Western domination, we have been raised with adulation for the West. We believe that we should be thankful to the West for giving us the most comfortable life, efficient administration, a fair and just system, a clean environment and good health. However, on deeper scrutiny, all of these assertions prove to be wrong. The bitter truth is that the comforts and good life that capitalism promised have been made available for a very small minority. Not only the vast majority of people have not benefitted from capitalism, but in some ways their lives have become much worse.

It was natural for western capitalism to favor the West. However, North America and Europe (the West) together comprise less than 10% of the world’s population. This means that more than 90% of the world’s population has not fully benefitted, or has been deprived of the benefits. It is really hard to praise a system which only benefits less than 10% of the population. America, the leading western capitalist country, has less than 5% of the world’s population. However, it consumes more than 25% of the world’s resources. The story of the uneven distribution of resources and control does not end here. About 10% of the upper income population controls about 85% resources of the country. This leaves the lower 90% to compete for the remaining 15% of the resources. The life of poor people, particularly blacks, Native Americans, and Hispanics, is not much better than in third world countries. In some ways, they are worse off than people living in some third world countries. When hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, many Europeans and media persons from other countries were appalled to look at the plight of the black people. Many commented that they could not believe that a third world existed in America.

Western capitalism has widened the gap between the haves and have-nots to an extent which was never before seen in the world. Not only has the gap widened, but the concentration of wealth and resources seen now has never been seen before. On one hand, the number of billionaires is constantly and rapidly rising in spite of the economic crisis; on the other hand, more and more people are being pushed to a life of deprivation and misery. Such polarization of the population was never seen before. There were kings and a few feudal lords who lived lavishly. The rest of the people generally shared what was left behind. However, capitalism produced stratification of the population which was never seen before. The difference in classes is so obvious and well-demarcated: the upper middle class, the middle class, the lower middle class, the poor, the homeless, and the lumpen elements. Capitalism is like a big machine in which everyone has to fit into one’s exact place. No other society has glorified human greed like capitalist society has. It has been given a new and respectable name, “profit.” Because of this new found acceptance and respect, all resources of society are geared up for it. This leads to over-utilization of resources. For the first time in the history of the planet, its resources are being used at a much higher rate than its capacity to replenish them.

Let me give an example of Punjab. During the so-called Green Revolution of Punjab, western capitalism invaded Punjab’s agricultural sector. Paddy crop (rice) was brought to Punjab, a state which is semi-arid, meaning it has a natural scarcity of water. This crop needs over-abundant water: at a minimum, paddy requires a pool of 6 inches of water 24 hours a day. As a result of this crop, the water table in Punjab has gone down and keeps going down–currently by 65 centimeters annually. In our land, before the Green Revolution, the water table used to be at less than 20 feet, now it is more than 400 feet. The day is not far off when water will become unreachable and Punjab, the bread basket of India, will become a desert, thanks to western capitalism.

This is not the only damage that western capitalism has done to Punjab. In the quest for increasing yield (profit), chemical fertilizers and insecticides are used without any restraint. The milking cattle are injected with hormones to increase the yield of milk. All of these phenomena are taking their toll on the health of the people as well as the land. Punjab is the leading state of the Indian subcontinent to incorporate western capitalism into its agriculture. Punjab is hit by an immigration phenomenon more than any other state in India. Cheap farm labor was brought from other states, which freed local peasants to seek higher-paying jobs in western capitalist countries. With the unprecedented increase in inward and outward immigration, Punjab is scaling new heights in the fields of social instability, loss of cultural values, and weakening of family and social relations and institutions.

Punjab, even though extreme, is not the only one to suffer the ill-effects of western capitalism. Scarcity of water and pollution of water, air, and land, is pretty much global. Western capitalism has done more harm to the environment than was ever done since the beginning of the planet. More species have disappeared from earth in the last two centuries than have disappeared during the preceding millions of years.

Capitalism has done more damage to human relations than at any other time in human history.   Capitalism has changed the most fundamental tenet of human society: the foundation of human society is laid by human relations. Capitalism has changed it to a new concept, “money is the foundation of human society.” For capitalism, human beings are like any other commodity which has to be marketized for profit. It has taken sanctity and dignity out of human beings and reduced them to money-making machines.

Western capitalism has, for all practical purposes, limited the purpose of human life to two basic functions: to make money and spend money. There is hardly room for anything else. Modern man, under western capitalism, keeps struggling to make more money and then tries to buy more comforts. Once he enters this rat race, there is no way out of this. In consumer culture’s endless cycle to earn more and spend more, man has consumed himself. This is the ultimate tragedy of consumer culture: it consumes those who follow it.

Western capitalism has reversed the collective experience of thousands of years. Vices have been made into virtues, under new acceptable and respectable names. Greed becomes profit, arrogance becomes assertion, aggression becomes drive, vengeance becomes justice, lies become disinformation, hypocrisy and double standards become exceptionalism.

Under western capitalism, human beings have scaled new heights in the field of human degeneration. The only good thing in this is that man has stooped so low that there is no room to go down any further. Therefore, man can go only one way: up. The other good thing is that western capitalism is close to its demise. It is extremely unlikely that western capitalism can extend its life beyond the year 2050. If the whole world can agree on one thing, that is probably the fact that America, the leading western capitalist country, is becoming weaker and weaker, and continues to lose its influence. Already, many people have started to visualize how a post-American era will look. No other western country is in a position to replace America. Therefore, weakening of America means weakening of western capitalism. There lies hope for modern man: his fate cannot be any worse than it is now, under western capitalism.

Dr. Sawraj Singh, MD F.I.C.S. is the Chairman of the Washington State Network for Human Rights and Chairman of the Central Washington Coalition for Social Justice. He can be reached at [email protected].