The Frock Doctrine 26th November MMXI
"Nuclear War will be mankind's release from the hell of civilization."
I read the above comment on a youtube video. Despite the nihilism I couldn't help thinking the commentator had a point, summing up a wider sense of alienation. At the time I was also outraged about not being able to get knickers made in the UK. Years of companies "outsourcing", that most despicable of euphemisms, has led us to a situation where we have so little power over our own lives that we can't even control where our smalls come from.
One company after another moved production to Far Eastern countries, usually with the stated aim of bringing down production costs. They appeared to be making no secret of a logic that said, broadly, "We will sacrifice UK based workers, but continue to extract the profits by pushing our slave-made goods onto the UK public." (Who are apparently mugs enough to accept this passively.)
Everyone was at it, even that former bastion of home grown goods Marks and Spencer outsourced their manufacturing. This while they still expected the UK public to stump up for their now inferior undies. The head-spinner is the fact the factories which closed were in many instances profitable. Closed because they just weren't profitable enough.
The Left have an argument about why it's okay to continue buying slave-goods from monsterous global entities. It's an argument so self serving it could have been the Catholic Church that came up with it. The thrust of it;
"While we want to change the world we have to interact with it in it's current form."
On the face of it this doesn't seem unreasonable but this is actually a soporific. Its a promise of change that doesn't actually change anything.
Then this quote on one of the web's ubiquitous forums;
"Everytime you buy something made in China, everytime you give money to a sweatshop brand you vote for more of the same."
This anonymous poster is right. Everytime we buy something from a low wage sweat shop we are saying that we're comfortable with slave labour sweat shops all over the world.
There is another counter argument that says we actually help the workers in these countries, raising their living standards, wages and so forth. This is based on a massive assumption that paying for the products of slave labour benefits the slave who would be worse off without it. That's speculative and demands one ignore the shattered lives and corpses. Not to mention the Mandelsonian thought that we should be "intensely comfortable" that this is a price worth paying - to own an i-twat.
Fighting the slave masters, refusing to buy from them or supporting the slaves to escape are some of the ways you help. You prolong bondage by rewarding it.
Noam Chomsky quotes Adam Smith to highlight the truth of the so called neoliberal global free market. He expands on this in the clip below.
If you take Adam Smith, and bother to read Wealth of Nations, you see that he considered the possibility that the merchants and manufacturers in England might decide to do their business abroad, invest abroad and import from abroad. He said they would profit but England would be harmed. He went on to say that the merchants and manufacturers would prefer to operate in their own country, what’s sometimes called a 'home bias' . So, as if by an invisible hand, England would be saved the ravage of what’s called 'neoliberal globalization.'
I haven't read The Wealth of Nations but thinking about Adam Smith's words a possible corollary emerges. Namely if manufacturers do act irresponsibly towards their "home markets" then we, the so called home market, have a weapon to use against them. Stop shopping. Stop casting those votes for slave labour and jobless Britain. Stop voting for Communism's brand of undemocratic capitalism and giant corporations that place no value on social good. That's what the Frock Doctrine's origin is, it's purpose is to raise awareness of the alternatives.
It's the antidote to the Shock Doctrine as outlined by Naomi Klein in her book of the same name. There is a school of thought that suggests certain politicians and economists use shocks as cover for power grabs, be the shock social, physical, economic or political. An extreme form of laissez-faire capitalism is then forced on the hapless victims of the shock as they try to rebuild afterwards.
The Frock Doctrine is about rejecting these enforced economic lies and doing it for ourselves. Make the things you need. Set up workers cooperatives and start making things that other people need. Need, mind you, not want. You stand more chance of making money from a ceramics workshop with half a dozen owner-employees turning out plates and coffee mugs than you will trying to compete with Apple's child labour force.
Set up housing cooperatives and get an affordable roof over your head free of landlords. Don't wait for someone else to fix things. Make your own job. Occupy your own life. These things take time and effort but there is something you can do straight away, stop shopping. You might choose to make your own clothes, that may include making a frock or two. Hence, The Frock Doctrine.
Posted by Ctrl.