We stand at the precipice of apocalypse – together bound by “The Legacy of Domination” to a dystopian world in the midst of full-melt collapse. The death-drive of empire can no longer hide behind a facade of limited bourgeois comforts, as the parade of twenty-first century catastrophes lays bare the macabre realities of a social order designed for maximum hierarchy. But another legacy of human history travels with us as a persistent revolutionary beacon – “The Legacy of Freedom.” While the pharaohs of our neoliberal capitalist hellscape continue to insist that there is no alternative – that the ultimate achievement of human potential is a do-or-die Battle Royale waged in the patriarchal pyramid scheme they call the market, the wise among us have always known that egalitarian, non-market social relations – “baseline communism” as David Greaber called it – are what makes society possible in the first place. To institutionalize freedom, we must first guarantee the right to live by provisioning an irreducible minimum to all. And though the nations of the world have long acknowledged that “everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services” as stated in Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), all of these same nations have absurdly failed to make this a binding reality. Because to truly meet these minimum standards of human dignity, it would require the full decommodification of all of these basic needs. Alas, a deeply rooted ideology of scarcity continues to hold us back, like a dark ghost squatting on the future. To get to the radical root and finally unlock the post-scarcity future that is our common inheritance, we must re-make the world with The Golden Square as our new common sense. But what would it mean to organize the world based on the universal, unconditional, and life-long provisions of free Food, Shelter, Healthcare and Education to every person on the planet? For this half-century mark of the podcast, Jesse & Matt venture beyond the urgent and undeniably rational demands to decommodify our basic human rights, and begin to imagine what it might actually feel like to live in The World of The Golden Square. It’s one thing to recognize the clarity of this Idea-Shape’s moral demands, but it’s perhaps more tantalizing and propulsively utopian to actually envision the profound implications of living in a world designed to meet those demands. With this episode – the first of a three-part series – our exploration begins by tracing the definitions and foundations of a world built to ensure freedom from want and the right to well-being for all. Building another world requires smashing the denials from those above us and who haunt the insides of us. The World of The Golden Square is indeed possible – a world without property, without paywalls, and without physical borders separating humans from humans, flowers from flowers, water from land. Join us on this journey.
Mentioned In This Episode:
DEFINITIONS
Cornel West in What Is Democracy? (2018). Directed by Astra Taylor.
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders on Twitter (May 16, 2021):
“Yes. We have to think big not small. Healthcare, lifelong education, affordable housing and a clean environment are human rights. In this pivotal moment in human history, we must lead the world in a new direction.”
The Golden Rule: A Wikipedia History
26th U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt's “Square Deal:” A Wikipedia Exploration
Murray Bookchin on “The Irreducible Minimum:”
“Of primary importance in early customs was the “law of the irreducible minimum” (to use [Anthropologist Paul] Radin's expression), the shared notion that all members of a community are entitled to the means of life, irrespective of the amount of work they perform. To deny anyone food, shelter, and the basic means of life because of infirmities or even frivolous behavior would have been seen as a heinous denial of the very right to live.” – “What Is Social Ecology?” by Murray Bookchin
SRSLY WRONG: Episode #196 - “Library Socialism & The Irreducible Minimum”
“Guarantee of the Minimum:” As described in Design For Utopia: Selected Writings Of Charles Fourier
The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity (2021) by David Graeber and David Wengrow.
“From Each According to Ability, To Each According to Needs.” A slogan from the 19th Century French workers' movement, made popular by Karl Marx when he borrowed it in his 1875 Critique of the Gotha Program.
“Baseline Communism” as described in Debt: The First 5,000 Years (2011) by David Graeber:
“In fact, communism is the foundation of all human sociability. It is what makes society possible.”
From The Conquest of Bread (1892) by Peter Kropotkin:
“That we are Utopians is well known. So Utopian are we that we go the length of believing that the Revolution can and ought to assure shelter, food, and clothes to all—an idea extremely displeasing to middle-class citizens, whatever their party colour, for they are quite alive to the fact that it is not easy to keep the upper hand of a people whose hunger is satisfied.”
Giacomo Gabbuti and David Broder Interview Ana Luiza, Matos De Oliveira, Esther Dweck, and Pedro Rossi for Jacobin: “Sowing the Seeds of Bolsonaro: Far-right president Jair Bolsonaro was lifted to power by the mass mobilization of the Brazilian middle classes. But it wouldn't have been possible without years of failed austerity policies.”
“The Equality of Unequals:” As discussed in The Ecology of Freedom (1982) by Murray Bookchin.
Regarding the etymology of the word “Freedom:” Ama-gi is said to be the first known written reference to the concept of freedom, a word whose literal meaning is “return to the mother.”
“The word "freedom" initially appears in a Sumerian cuneiform tablet that gives an account of a successful popular revolt against a highly oppressive regal tyranny, thousands of years ago. In The Sumerians, Samuel Noah Kramer tells us that "in this document . . . we find the word 'freedom' used for the first time in man's recorded history; the word is amargi which . . . means literally 'return to the mother.'" Alas, Kramer wonders, "we still do not know why this figure of speech came to be used for 'freedom.'" Thereafter, "freedom" retains its features as a longing to "return to the mother," whether to organic society's matricentric ambience or to nature perceived as a bountiful mother.” – The Ecology of Freedom (1982) by Murray Bookchin.
The Freedom From Want – from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1941 State of the Union Address: “The Four Freedoms”
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948):
Article 25: “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.”
Article 26: “Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.”
Sharing.org: A Campaign Calling for the Worldwide Implementation of Article 25.
“My views on civilization somewhat resemble a "double helix," in which "The Legacy of Freedom" interacts as well as intertwines with "The Legacy of Domination" in ways that are extremely complex.” – Murray Bookchin
“In order for us as poor and oppressed people to become part of a society that is meaningful, the system under which we now exist has to be radically changed. This means that we are going to have to learn to think in radical terms. I use the term radical in its original meaning--getting down to and understanding the root cause. It means facing a system that does not lend itself to your needs and devising means by which you change that system.” – Ella Baker, 1969. From Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision (2003) by Barbara Ransby.
Osama Bin Laden’s Compound where he was killed by U.S. Navy SEALs on May 2, 2011.
FOUNDATIONS
FOOD
Shankar Vedantam for NPR: “How The 'Scarcity Mindset' Can Make Problems Worse”
Dana Gunders for the Natural Resources Defense Council: “Wasted: How America Is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill.” – The 2017 Edition of the NRDC Report.
Occupy Wall Street Era Meme: 6 Homes for Every Homeless Person
Rabah Kamal, Giorlando Ramirez, and Cynthia Cox for Health System Tracker: “How Does Health Spending in the U.S. Compare to Other Countries?” – “On average, other wealthy countries spend about half as much per person on health than the U.S.”
Martha Thompson and Izaskun Gaviria for Oxfam America: “Weathering the Storm: Lessons in Risk Reduction from Cuba”
The United States Embargo Against Cuba: A Wikipedia History
Christopher Rhodes in Al Jazeera: “The US Embargo On Cuba Has Failed”
United Nations: Adopting Annual Resolution, Delegates in General Assembly Urge Immediate Repeal of Embargo on Cuba, Especially amid Global Efforts to Combat COVID-19 Pandemic (June 23, 2021)
M. Berners-Lee, C. Kennelly, R. Watson, and C. N. Hewitt in Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene: “Current Global Food Production Is Sufficient To Meet Human Nutritional Needs In 2050 Provided There Is Radical Societal Adaptation.”
“The current production of crops is sufficient to provide enough food for the projected global population of 9.7 billion in 2050, although very significant changes to the socio-economic conditions of many (ensuring access to the global food supply) and radical changes to the dietary choices of most (replacing most meat and dairy with plant-based alternatives, and greater acceptance of human-edible crops currently fed to animals, especially maize, as directly-consumed human food) would be required.”
According to the UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Food Waste Index Report 2021: 931 million tons (~17% of global food production) of food goes to waste each year, with between 8-10% of global carbon emissions linked to unconsumed food.
Hiba Ahmad for Global Justice Now: “How Racist Myths Built The Population Growth Bogey-Man”
Charles C. Mann in Smithsonian Magazine: “The Book That Incited a Worldwide Fear of Overpopulation”
The Population Bomb (1968) by Paul R. Ehrlich
David Graeber at 36C3: “Managerial Feudalism and the Revolt of the Caring Classes”
“I would propose that we just rip up the discipline of economics as it exists and start over. So this is my proposal in this regard. I think that we should take the ideas of production and consumption, throw them away, and substitute for them the idea of care and freedom.”
Okja (2017). Directed by Bong Joon-ho. Featuring Seo-Hyeon Ahn, Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano and Steven Yeun.
SHELTER
Lindsay Koshgarian, Ashik Siddique, and Lorah Steichen for Institute for Policy Studies: “State Of Insecurity: The Cost of Militarization Since 9/11”
Luke Savage in Jacobin: “The US Has Spent $21 Trillion on Militarization Since 9/11”
Adobe Home Construction: A Resource Page on GreenHomeBuilding.com
Maria Marabito in Treehugger: “Are Adobe Houses Sustainable? These Simple, Earthen Structures Produce Impressive Environmental Benefits.”
Lilly Cao for ArchDaily: “How Rammed Earth Walls are Built”
Exploring Alternatives on YouTube: “BUILDING with RAMMED EARTH - An Impressive & Super Durable Natural Material!”
Kate Reggev in Dwell: “11 Glorious Rammed-Earth Homes That Celebrate the Landscape”
Aria Bendix in Business Insider: “These 3D-printed Homes Can Be Built for Less Than $4,000 in Just 24 Hours”
Kathryn M. in Dwell: “Have a Look at the World’s First 3D-Printed Home Made Entirely of Clay”
Cole Higgins in CNN: “A 3D Printed House Is For Sale in New York. Builders Say It Will Cut Housing Construction Costs”
@StreetWatchLA (Aug. 26, 2021):
“Let’s talk about the “housing shortage” since politicians like to weaponize this falsehood as a reason to not provide resources and protections.
The housing shortage is a myth! There are enough vacancies to solve the problem of homelessness in Los Angeles tomorrow.”
Na Zhao for The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB): “Nation’s Stock of Second Homes” – “According to NAHB estimates, the total count of second homes was 7.5 million, accounting for 5.5% of the total housing stock in 2018, the most recent data available.”
Coldwell Banker: “A Look at Wealth 2019: Millennial Millionaires” – “The average real estate portfolio of millennial millionaires is worth $1,367,022, distributed across about three properties on average.” “Over the next few decades, it is estimated that $68 trillion will be passed down from aging Boomers to their beneficiaries.”
Manifest Destiny: A Wikipedia Exploration
The Homestead Acts: A Wikipedia Overview
Juliana Menasce Horowitz, Nikki Graf and Gretchen Livingston for Pew Research Center: “Marriage and Cohabitation in the U.S.”
The True Cost (2015). Directed by Andrew Morgan.
HEALTHCARE
CMS.gov: The National Health Expenditure Accounts (NHEA) – “U.S. health care spending grew 4.6 percent in 2019, reaching $3.8 trillion or $11,582 per person. As a share of the nation's Gross Domestic Product, health spending accounted for 17.7 percent.”
“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in healthcare is the most shocking and inhumane.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Bradley Jones for Pew Research Center: “Increasing Share Of Americans Favor A Single Government Program To Provide Health Care Coverage”
Luke Savage for Jacobin: “Americans Actually Do Want Medicare for All”
Julia Manchester in The Hill: “70 Percent of Americans Support 'Medicare for All' Proposal”
The Commonwealth Fund: “International Health Care System Profiles”
Wikipedia: List of Countries with Universal Health Care
NPRs Throughline: “The Everlasting Problem” – “Health insurance for millions of Americans is dependent on their jobs. But it's not like that everywhere. So, how did the U.S. end up with such a fragile system that leaves so many vulnerable or with no health insurance at all?”
Will Kenton in Investopedia: “Golden Handcuffs”
Katie Dangerfield for Global News: “From the Anti-vaxxers to Flat Earthers: What Makes People Distrust Science?”
Naomi Oreskes in Scientific American: “The Reason Some Republicans Mistrust Science: Their Leaders Tell Them To”
Josh Roose in The Conversation: “‘It’s Almost Like Grooming’: How Anti-vaxxers, Conspiracy Theorists, And The Far-right Came Together Over COVID”
Democracy Now: “Over 15 Million COVID-19 Vaccine Doses Have Gone to Waste in the United States”
Carl Kurlander and Randy P. Juhl in The Conversation: “Lessons From How the Polio Vaccine Went From the Lab to the Public That Americans Can Learn From Today”
“First, do no harm” – A Wikipedia Definition of “Primum non nocere”
EDUCATION
Timothy Taylor’s Conversable Economist Blog: “Adam Smith on the Benefits of Public Education”
The Wealth of Nations (1776) by Adam Smith
Milton Greenberg in The Chronicle of Higher Education: “How the GI Bill Changed Higher Education”
Jeff Nilsson in The Saturday Evening Post:“How the G.I. Bill Changed America”
Dan Berrett in The Chronicle of Higher Education: “The Day the Purpose of College Changed”
Ronald Reagan as Governor of California on February 28, 1967: “There are certain intellectual luxuries that perhaps we could do without.” Taxpayers should not be “subsidizing intellectual curiosity.”
Scott Lee Meyers on Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR): “Reagan's 1967 Speech Changed Purpose Of College Forever, Says Journalist”
First University in the United States?: A Wikipedia Exploration
Brendan Wolfe in the University of Virginia Magazine: “Unearthing Slavery at the University of Virginia”
NPR: “How Slavery Shaped America's Oldest And Most Elite Colleges”
Tracy Scott Forson in USA Today: “Enslaved Labor Built These Universities. Now They Are Starting to Repay the Debt”
Association of American Colleges & Universities: “College Students Are More Diverse Than Ever. Faculty and Administrators Are Not”
American Council on Education: “Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education: A Status Report”
Michael Cohen in The Guardian: “The American Dream is Now Just That For its Middle Classes – a Dream”
Kristen Bialik And Richard Fry for Pew Research Center: “Millennial Life: How Young Adulthood Today Compares With Prior Generations”
California to Provide School Meals for All
California SB-364: Free School Meals For All Act of 2021
Justin Peters in Slate: “Why Is It So Expensive to Read Academic Research?”
Brian Resnick and Julia Belluz in Vox: “The War to Free Science: How Librarians, Pirates, and Funders Are Liberating the World’s Academic Research From Paywalls.”
Siva Vaidhyanathan in Wired: “The Two Myths of the Internet”
The Future Is A Mixtape: Episode 049 - Every Neighborhood A University
Sara Kimberlin for The California Budget & Policy Center: “Californians in All Parts of the State Pay More Than They Can Afford for Housing”