This is all so real, and so devastating. Aside from the economic actions and markers of how this has occurred, I am floored with sadness thinking about the cultural implications. The other night I was reading some pieces of writing I have somewhere which are basically transcriptions of childhood memories my parents have relayed onto me. I am from Ecuador, specifically Quito, and my parents are both boomers who lived in that city their entire lives. Their memories mapped the city out to me, tiny back then compared to the sprawling hell it’s becoming. They speak of the businesses that existed in the center of social and commercial life all those decades ago: “this family made excellent suits so all the politicians would go there for tailoring”, “that person ran a magazine and comic book store that brought media in from everywhere”, etc. This doesn’t exist anymore, and I feel desperately sad. Now like everywhere, people will go to some opulent mall to a foreign-owned store to get a mass produced item of low quality that nobody feels proud of having made. And us? We don’t know each other anymore, and we think less of things that aren’t foreign. Colonization, subsequent foreign intervention and global capitalism have taken our means, raptured our identity, and diluted our culture which was already riddled with self-hatred since our subjugation from the colonizer. We did it all wrong.
I draw a lot of strength from the ideas of great men and women. We are not, beaten we have agency, and we can change things. So, I lean on Gramsci - my mind is pessimistic, but my will is optimistic – I would like you to do the same. We are not powerless, that is what these forces want us to think. Once they got our minds they have us. So, believe we have agency, we have the power, and this can change if we work to it.
The clarity provided on this vital area of Global Wealth Chains and The Invisible Networks Reshaping Our Cities was very much appreciated as were the examples of resistance to this insidious activity and examples of further reading. All in all a both stimulating and enlightening read.
This is all so real, and so devastating. Aside from the economic actions and markers of how this has occurred, I am floored with sadness thinking about the cultural implications. The other night I was reading some pieces of writing I have somewhere which are basically transcriptions of childhood memories my parents have relayed onto me. I am from Ecuador, specifically Quito, and my parents are both boomers who lived in that city their entire lives. Their memories mapped the city out to me, tiny back then compared to the sprawling hell it’s becoming. They speak of the businesses that existed in the center of social and commercial life all those decades ago: “this family made excellent suits so all the politicians would go there for tailoring”, “that person ran a magazine and comic book store that brought media in from everywhere”, etc. This doesn’t exist anymore, and I feel desperately sad. Now like everywhere, people will go to some opulent mall to a foreign-owned store to get a mass produced item of low quality that nobody feels proud of having made. And us? We don’t know each other anymore, and we think less of things that aren’t foreign. Colonization, subsequent foreign intervention and global capitalism have taken our means, raptured our identity, and diluted our culture which was already riddled with self-hatred since our subjugation from the colonizer. We did it all wrong.
I draw a lot of strength from the ideas of great men and women. We are not, beaten we have agency, and we can change things. So, I lean on Gramsci - my mind is pessimistic, but my will is optimistic – I would like you to do the same. We are not powerless, that is what these forces want us to think. Once they got our minds they have us. So, believe we have agency, we have the power, and this can change if we work to it.
The clarity provided on this vital area of Global Wealth Chains and The Invisible Networks Reshaping Our Cities was very much appreciated as were the examples of resistance to this insidious activity and examples of further reading. All in all a both stimulating and enlightening read.
Thank you for the feedback, its very encouraging. On wealth chains - you could say they are hidden in plain sight.