January 15, 2025

The Maggie Phair Institute for Democracy and Human Rights

Building Radical Democracy

Exit Capitalism Stage Left

Exit Capitalism, Stage Left: Episode 1

The Maggie Phair Institute for Democracy and Human Rights has put out its first podcast – Exit Capitalism, Stage Left, run by me, Manda Riggle, the new educator for the institute. This podcast explores various subjects related to human rights and democracy under a capitalism system. 

The first episode of the podcast is dedicated to Mimi Soltysik, a dear friend and comrade who held the previous position of educator here at the Maggie Phair Institute before he passed. This episode explores Mimi’s previous blog post on here, An Economic Bill of Human Rights, in addition to further explore the idea of human rights under a capitalist, exploitative system that is, by design, adverse to human rights. 

Exit Capitalism, Stage Left can be found at the top of the Maggie Phair Institute’s website and is available for streaming and download. 

And, for those curious about my qualifications, here they are: I am a longtime activist that is versed in both theory and praxis. When I was part of the Socialist Party USA, I was managing editor and later co-editor-in-chief of The Socialist. I am currently one of the co-revivers of Food Not Bombs in my local area as well as a co-organizer for our local free market and have been engaged in mutual aid work since the onset of the pandemic. Outside of activism, I am a PhD student studying early modern literature and the struggles that manifested into the transition of feudalism, a horribly exploitative system based on inherited rank, to capitalism, a horribly exploitative system based on wealth that is often inherited. I have a BA in English education with a minor in political science and an MA in literature. 

I hope you all enjoy the podcast. I am new to this format but learning. In the future, we will have episodes featuring local members of the Democratic Socialist of America (DSA) as well as episodes exploring what mutual aid is, why it is needed, and how it exists outside of a capitalist framework.

Interested in Learning About Socialism? Here’s a Reading List You Might Find Helpful

You’re interested in learning more about socialism and its history, but you aren’t sure where to begin. There’s just so much information out there, and some of it, particularly where theory is concerned, can initially appear quite complex. Intimidating even. And when you find yourself in spaces with those who appear to have a fair understanding of the information, it can be easy to feel alienated, as though you don’t belong in the “club”. know that I did. I often still do. 

Image result for wretched of the earth

Personally, I found that taking the time to learn on my own, at my own pace, was extraordinarily helpful. Being able to review introductory information free of judgment or scrutiny helped me build confidence. This doesn’t mean that all learning should take place outside of a group environment where teaching takes place and ideas are challenged. But setting aside personal time to gain an understanding of the basics can greatly benefit your experience when you do participate in a group environment. 

Image result for an indigenous people's history of the us

I’ve compiled a list of resources that I feel to be essential components of a broader understanding of socialism (and its history), colonialism, capitalism (and the oppressions inherent to capitalism), and resistance to exploitation. A few of the pieces are challenging, particularly the Himani Bannerji book, which I’d recommend reading after you’ve completed at least a few from the list. This list is hardly exhaustive, and undoubtedly, there are many other titles that perhaps should have been included. Drawing on a decade of organizing, activism, and educational work, this is a list that I feel comfortable sharing. When possible, PDFs were shared.

Mimi Soltysik – Educator, Maggie Phair Institute

The list:

“The Wretched of the Earth” by Frantz Fanon (PDF) – http://abahlali.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Frantz-Fanon-The-Wretched-of-the-Earth-1965.pdf

“The Assassination of Fred Hampton” by Jeffrey Haas – https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/6561790-the-assassination-of-fred-hampton  

“An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States” by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz – http://www.beacon.org/An-Indigenous-Peoples-History-of-the-United-States-P1164.aspx

“The Socialist Imperative” by Michael Lebowitz – https://monthlyreview.org/product/socialist_imperative/

“Assata: An Autobiography” by Assata Shakur (PDF) – https://libcom.org/files/assataauto.pdf

“Open Veins of Latin America” by Eduardo Galeano – https://monthlyreview.org/product/open_veins_of_latin_america/

“Creating an Ecological Society: Toward a Revolutionary Transformation” by Fred Magdoff and Chris Williams – https://monthlyreview.org/product/creating_an_ecological_society/

“Thinking Through: Essays on Feminism, Marxism, and Anti-Racism” by Himani Bannerji – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/627138.Thinking_Through

“The Bending Cross: A Biography of Eugene Victor Debs” by Ray Ginger – https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/839-the-bending-cross

“October” by China Mieville – https://www.versobooks.com/books/2731-october

“Pedagogy of the Oppressed” by Paulo Freire (PDF) – https://selforganizedseminar.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/freire_pedagogy_oppresed1.pdf

“Don’t Leave Your Friends Behind: Concrete Ways to Support Families in Social Justice Movements” by Victoria Law – https://secure.pmpress.org/index.php?l=product_detail&p=502

“Ya Basta!: Ten Years of the Zapatista Uprising” by Subcomandante Marcos – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3618._Ya_Basta_

“Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches” by Audre Lorde – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32951.Sister_Outsider

“The History of the Russian Revolution” by Leon Trotsky (PDF) – https://www.marxists.org/ebooks/trotsky/history-of-the-russian-revolution/ebook-history-of-the-russian-revolution-v1.pdf

“The Assassination of Lumumba” by Ludo De Witte – https://www.versobooks.com/books/792-the-assassination-of-lumumba    

The Maggie Phair Institute Sits on Gabrielino-Tongva Land

“Under the crust of that portion of Earth called the United States of America—”from California . . . to the Gulf Stream waters”—are interred the bones, villages, fields, and sacred objects of American Indians. They cry out for their stories to be heard through their descendants who carry the memories of how the country was founded and how it came to be as it is today.” Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

In the United States, we should all know that we are living on stolen land. Unpacking what that means and honoring those who colonized by the settlers can be a challenge. How do we honor the history of our indigenous communities? One way is to learn the history of the land we inhabit. In the case of the Maggie Phair Institute, which sits on Hauser Street in Los Angeles, that land belonged to the Gabrielino-Tongva peoples.

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We know that the Gabrielino-Tongva tribe inhabited the Los Angeles Basin for roughly 7,000 years. When the Treaty of Guadalupe was signed following the Mexican-American War, California (including its indigenous population) was ceded to the United States. Treaty provisions mandating an allocation of land for California’s indigenous peoples (8.5 million acres) were rejected by the United States Senate following lobbying efforts by the state’s business community. Subsequent efforts to compensate the indigenous were criminally inadequate. According to the Gabrielino-Tongva Tribe, “Acting to “recognize the equitable claims” of the Gabrielinos and “all the Indians of California”, the Court awarded 7 cents an acre as compensation for the 8.5 million acres of land which was never set up as reservations under the 18 “lost treaties”.  From this sum was deducted the cost of administration of the claims.  In 1850, some 94 years earlier, no public lands were purchased for less than $1.50 per acre.  The Court of Claims awarded no interest for the 94-year period between signature of the 1851-53 Treaties and payment of the monies in 1944.”

To learn more about the Gabrielino-Tongva Tribe, visit http://www.gabrielinotribe.org/historical-sites-1/

If you’d like to find out more about the history of the land where you currently live, the following map offers a breakdown of indigenous lands throughout the country – https://mashable.com/article/indigenous-map-america/

The Maggie Phair Institute in the Philippines



Last month, I had the tremendous privilege to join my wife on a trip to the Philippines to visit family members living in Cebu City, located in the Central Visayas region of the archipelago. It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say it changed my life. While much has been written about the colonial history of the Philippines and the tremendous economic exploitation that takes place there, what often seems to be missing from many accounts of the country is the incredible resiliency, warmth, generosity, and kindness of its people. I was in tears on more than one occasion. 

Undoubtedly, colonial oppression still looms large. Why wouldn’t it? First colonized by Spain in 1565, and then by the United States following the Spanish-American War, it’s literally been centuries since Filipinos have a lived experience free of colonial rule. Today, it’s hard to turn a corner in a major economic hub like Cebu City, the most heavily-populated city in the Visayas, without seeing evidence of foreign investment.

The heat is intense. The smell of fuel throughout the barangays (neighborhoods) is oppressive. The streets are packed with a density we don’t see in the United States. And at every turn, there is joy, laughter, smiles, hugs, and a kind of community strength that was completely foreign to me. It’s hard to put this into words.

This was the first time I had met my wife’s family. From the first second, I was treated with tremendous love and generosity. It was difficult to make a move without an offering of hospitality. My initial feeling was that my wife’s family was just incredibly unique (they are), but I soon learned that this is a way of life in the Philippines.

There is something profound to be learned from the world’s oppressed, and it’s likely not going to be learned in a book. It’s a connection. It’s a willingness to see humanity as family. And it’s an ability to love that family – deeply.

 

Mimi Soltysik

Educator, Maggie Phair Institute

An Economic Bill of Rights for the People

Under a capitalist economic system, profit reigns supreme. The economic well-being of the people necessarily plays second fiddle to profit. Progressive reforms to the system – reforms that will deliver much needed short-term relief and widen the scope of the country’s social safety net – are consistently under attack by capital and are always subject to repeal or the potential of a diminished effect. For example, we might see a minimum wage increase implemented at a time where health care and cost-of-living costs outpace the wage increase.

Capitalism can appear to be so firmly entrenched that the thought of dismantling it to replace it with something better, something that can deliver economic stability and a life of dignity, can be so overwhelming that it becomes an abstraction. Undoubtedly, dismantling a system this powerful would be an extraordinarily profound challenge. But, as author Ursula K. Le Guin once noted, “We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings.” In a hypothetical scenario, if capitalism were to be replaced, what would take its place? The Maggie Phair Institute would suggest the reader consider socialism: an economic system where the workers own and control production, where democracy is a core value, and where basic needs are met across the board. What would socialism deliver? What kinds of economic rights would the people have in a socialist society?

The first thing we’d look at is a living wage, which isn’t to be confused with a minimum wage. A living wage is the minimum amount needed in any given area to guarantee that an individual’s basic needs are met. From MIT’s Living Wage Calculator, created by Dr. K. Glasmeier, a living wage is “a market-based approach that draws upon geographically specific expenditure data related to a family’s likely minimum food, childcare, health insurance, housing, transportation, and other basic necessities (e.g. clothing, personal care items, etc.) costs. “ If we take the city of Los Angeles as an example, the Living Wage Calculator shows us that a single parent with one child would need to earn a minimum of $30.27 to meet their most basic needs. Here we can see how a progressive reform like a $15/hour minimum wage fall far short of providing economic health and stability. With a $15/hour minimum wage, that single parent with one child in Los Angeles falls over $15 in the negative for every hour worked. In a socialist society where the workers owned and controlled production, that living wage would be guaranteed as a right.

Next we’ll look at health care. Health care in the United States is the world’s most expensive, yet it ranks far behind countries with either a single-payer system or a socialized system in terms of quality of care. In fact, health care is the leading cause of bankruptcy in this country. The extent of the problem is widespread. Earlier this year, CNBC reported that “A new study from academic researchers found that 66.5 percent of all bankruptcies were tied to medical issues —either because of high costs for care or time out of work. An estimated 530,000 families turn to bankruptcy each year because of medical issues and bills, the research found.” Adding insult to injury, of those bankruptcies, a majority of those filed had medical insurance. In a socialist economic system, the people would have access to doctors of their choice with no out-of-pocket expense. Everyone would be covered.

And what about housing? In many areas of the country, rent prices are skyrocketing. According to a 2017 Money.com report, “Thanks to inflation, we can expect rent and other expenses to rise over the years. But rental rate increases in the U.S. have been outpacing inflation for decades.” Coupled with, and as a result of skyrocketing rents, the number of unhoused is also skyrocketing. Huffpost reports that the city of Los Angeles saw a 12 percent increase in the number of unhoused from 2018 to 2019, with the number reaching a staggering 59,000. The message the capitalist system sends to the people: If you can’t afford housing, get ready for a life on the streets. Under a socialist economic system, housing would either be low-cost or subsidized, with assurances given that no one would be left without a home.

Undoubtedly, some will ask how all of the above would be paid for. It’s a reasonable question, but the answers aren’t terribly complex. We can start by taking a look at military spending. Each year, the War Resisters League publishes a pie chart detailing specifically where our tax dollars are spent. For fiscal year 2019, the WRL reported that 47% of our income taxes are spent on the military, with 20% spent on past military expenses (644 billion dollars) and 27% spent on current military expenditures (857 billion dollars). You might ask why we spend so much money on the military. In a capitalist system, the military paves the way for acquisition to resources, which in turn delivers profit. Very little of the military’s function serves to defend the country from any sort of foreign threat. We can also look at our tax code. The U.S. tax code is regressive, meaning that, the less you earn, the heavier the tax burden. A shift to a steeply-graduated income tax would go a long way toward providing the necessary funds to deliver our proposed economic bill of rights. Let’s also look at corporate taxes. The Washington Post reported earlier this year that “Amazon, the e-commerce giant helmed by the world’s richest man, paid no federal taxes on profit of $11.2 billion last year, according to an analysis of the company’s corporate filings by the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), a progressive think tank.” Not only did Amazon not pay a dime in federal taxes, they actually received a federal tax rebate of 129 million dollars. Again, a massive restructuring of the U.S. tax code is in order.

Delivering a humane and just economic bill of rights for the people is not a matter of resources. Delivering a humane and just economic bill of rights for the people is a matter of priorities and will. Asking capitalism to put people before profit is an exercise in futility. That’s not how the system is designed to operate. We’ve been down this road for decades and decades, and the results are getting worse. The time to transition to an economic system – socialist – that places humanity over profit has come. Do we have the will?

 

Sources:

http://livingwage.mit.edu/

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/11/this-is-the-real-reason-most-americans-file-for-bankruptcy.html

http://money.com/money/4830674/rent-afford-increase-prices/

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/homeless-increase-los-angeles-california_n_5cf6c5fae4b036433476faae

https://www.warresisters.org/store/where-your-income-tax-money-really-goes-fy2019

https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2019/02/16/amazon-paid-no-federal-taxes-billion-profits-last-year/

Climate Change: Where We Are At in 2019

To say that climate change now poses an existential threat is no understatement. It’s not hyperbole and it’s not alarmist. Why? While there is some complexity in the details, it’s rather simple in principle. When an ecosystem is disrupted due to climate change, it triggers the disruptions of subsequent ecosystems. We can perhaps think of the sequence like an extensive set of dominos, with each falling domino representing an ecosystem. Within each ecosystem are elements absolutely essential to supporting life.

            It is likely that you’ve heard some mention about the relationship between capitalism and climate change. More and more evidence has revealed that the planet’s ability to host life is being directly threatened by capitalism. We are now even hearing words like “extinction”. That may sound unthinkable. Unfortunately, it’s true. Capitalism, as an economic system, must grow in order to sustain itself. This isn’t to be confused with population growth, but refers to economic growth. The means for that economic growth are carbon intensive, whether it be through the extraction of carbon-emitting fossil fuels or through the transportation of goods and services. Today, the planet’s carrying capacity simply cannot withstand that continued growth. This is no longer a case where mitigated growth is enough to save the day. The science now supports the conclusion that the planet can’t handle any carbon-intensive growth. As such, it means that we’d need to re-think how we approach our relationship to production, our relationship to the land, our relationship to food, on and on.

            For starters, we know that the United States military is the world’s leading polluter. In 2017, EcoWatch issued a report detailing the myriad ways in which the U.S. military contributes to ecological destruction. According to the report, “U.S. military bases, both domestic and foreign, consistently rank among some of the most polluted places in the world, as perchlorate and other components of jet and rocket fuel contaminate sources of drinking water, aquifers and soil.” Furthermore, according to Ecowach, “One of the most recent testaments to the U.S. military’s horrendous environmental record is Iraq. U.S. military action there has resulted in the desertification of 90 percent of Iraqi territory, crippling the country’s agricultural industry and forcing it to import more than 80 percent of its food.” In this instance, we can see that, in addition to the destruction to the land of the invaded country, there is also the transport (carbon-emitting/fossil fuel-intensive) component, as Iraq must now import foodstuffs. As both the Democratic and Republican parties have provided an incredible level of support to the military, a sense of despair might be a rather reasonable response. If elected officials aren’t willing to take a stand to an outfit so heavily-responsible for our planet’s ecological destruction, who can? The answer is both simple and complex: the people can because they must.

            As was mentioned before, capitalism must grow in order to sustain itself as a system. Professor David Klein states in “The Limits of Green Energy Under Capitalism” that “Capitalism requires perpetual economic growth in order to avoid economic crises such as the Great Depression” and  “More specifically, in order to stave off mass unemployment and economic misery, capitalism requires increasing commodity production, escalating resource extraction, increasing trash and toxic dumping, and ever increasing energy production. Capitalism, by its very nature, must expand unendingly and it has already surpassed the limits of sustainable growth in the sense that global consumption now exceeds the planet’s bio-capacity to regenerate the resources consumed.” If capitalism is incompatible with ecological sustainability, where do we go? The answer, according to Klein and an increasing number of scholars and scientists, is socialism.

            Let’s start with Klein’s account of what might be involved with dismantling capitalism. From Klein:

“As Richard Smith points out in Green Capitalism: The God that Failed, the scale of change needed to achieve a sustainable civilization is staggering. The rapid reduction of greenhouse gas emissions together with resource conservation requires that we radically reduce or close down large numbers of power plants, mines, factories, mills, processing and other industries around the world. It means drastically cutting back or closing down not only fossil fuel companies, but the industries that depend on them, including automobile, aircraft, airline, shipping, petrochemical, construction, agribusiness, lumber, pulp and paper, and wood product companies, industrial fishing operations, factory farming, junk food production, private water companies, packaging and plastic, disposable products of all sorts, and above all, the war industries. The Pentagon is the single largest institutional user of petroleum products and energy.”

You might ask how it is we’d realize what’s described above. Inherent to socialism is the democratic process. Collectively, the people would need to dismantle and replace. This isn’t meant to imply that polluting industries would necessarily give up their power to pollute and profit from that pollution. Not by any stretch. However, we’ve also yet to see a mobilization at the level that might be necessary to force such a transition. Planning would need to be developed by the people, and it would need to be done in a way that’s in accordance/harmony with ecological sustainability. Permaculture, which considers our relationship to food and land, might be a key consideration. How we produce goods would be a consideration. How we transport goods would be a consideration. Undoubtedly, the cultural shift would be seismic. It may be uncomfortable. But what we’re trying to ensure is survival, so discomfort and inconvenience would need to be seen in that context.

            So, the bottom line is this: We are at a critical moment in human history. Life under our current economic system – capitalism – has reached a point where we have a choice that carries incredible consequences. We can choose to work together to dismantle capitalism and the ecological destruction it has delivered, and in doing so, guarantee a future for life on the planet. We can transition to an economic model – socialism – that places ecological harmony and life as priority. Or, we can continue our current trajectory and endure what will be a painful process of gradual extinction. Water will become increasingly scarce. Food will become increasingly scarce. Battles over food and water will intensify. Logically, this sounds like an easy choice. It’s a choice we will have to make.

Sources:

https://www.ecowatch.com/military-largest-polluter-2408760609.html

https://truthout.org/articles/the-limits-of-green-energy-under-capitalism/

Proletarian Pumpkins

Check out our new photo contest. You could win a $50 gift certificate. 

Elvis Guevara- Mixing Pop and Politics

Music and left-wing politics have always been good bedfellows. So  Elvis Guevara- Mixing Pop and Politics seeks to spread the political messages of good tunes. It is designed to be primarily low traffic. Posts will usually be a song or two a day, and perhaps a few other posts related to music and politics. Also, the page is non-sectarian. No particular group or ideology is being promoted, aside from promoting music that represents the interests of the working class and the underdog.

Daily Bread For The Radical Soul

Need a daily inspirational quote to get you through this cold heartless capitalist world? Then check out Daily Bread For The Radical Soul, it might just be what you need.

Video Conversation with Colin Jenkins of The Hampton Institute

Join Maggie Phair Institute Educator Mimi Soltysik for a Zoom video discussion with Colin Jenkins. Colin is the founder, editor, and Social Economics Department Chair at the Hampton Institute (a working-class think tank). Call-in information will be posted on the day of the event. If you do not have access to a webcam, you can still participate via phone.

About Colin Jenkins:

Colin Jenkins is founder, editor and Social Economics Department chair at the Hampton Institute. His work has been featured at Black Agenda Report, Truthout, Truthdig, Counterpunch, the Transnational Institute, Social Justice: A Journal of Crime, Conflict, and World Order, Common Dreams, Dissident Voice, Popular Resistance, Z Magazine, and New Politics.

Colin is an interdisciplinary researcher and writer with a B.A. in Historical Studies and M.A. in Social Policy. His academic work includes concentrations in Community & Government, African American Studies, and Political Economy, with focuses on Marxian and Anarchist analyses. He is the author of A Fatal Agenda: The Social, Economic and Democratic Consequences of Neoliberalism.

Colin is a military veteran, a former world record-holding powerlifter, and a member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). He currently resides in Albany, NY.