Alternatives al capitalisme

Everyone is aware that the market, as a mechanism for the distribution of resources, has affected several areas of our society. From its influence on how we care for children and elderly people to the fields of education and health, there is a general sense that the expansion of the market is difficult to stop. This situation was already predicted in the middle of the last century by Karl Polanyi who warned of the social consequences of this increasing commodification.

The COVID-19 pandemic has generated a global social, political and economic shock, with consequences that are not yet foreseeable, making even sharper the focus on the problems of an unequal and plutocratic world which is politically polarized, socially atomized and environmentally unviable. It is for this reason that the author invites us to take advantage of the “moment of clarity” that the pandemic offers us to take a deep dive into some essential lessons learned, as, for example, our having realized that working for the common good for those who need care is what sustains life.

The whole capitalist system has been held up by one central idea: the need for constant unlimited and expansive economic growth. Growth without limits has become a necessity in order to gain the maximum benefit. In this booklet, we try to identify the common points of alternative social and economic proposals from an ecological and “de-growth” point of view, which challenge the current capitalist system. Since the publication of the encyclical Laudato si’, these proposals to “live better with less” should be an integral part of Christian thought and practice.

The political construction of places safe from profanation involves defending those “sacred places” we  have already established, demolishing dwellings that have become unlivable, and building new multicultural homes that are sustainable and non-discriminatory, recognizing and welcoming negated identities. The author invites us to abandon our passivity and become architects and masons so as to keep the world from ending up “a huge commercial center where every reality carries a sticker price and a bar code.”

Jorge Riechmann calls the 21^st century the “Century of the Great Test,” for he sees it as the century in which the future of the planet and the survival of the human race are at stake.

Change and social transformation, addressed form a polyhedral point of view, are the central issues of this booklet. 

In a time where it seems the course of history is accelerating, we reflect on the present time drawing from some of the most relevant political events in the last years; we make an approach to the notions of change and transformation and, finally, we take a closer look to some of the areas from which we can work for social change and transformation, attempting to start from a hopeful gaze over reality although this is not always easy.