Soon, always soon, Capital dreams, I will be free of the need for politics … and free of the need for humans too … Capital’s realised utopia would be a burned-out planet full of fully-automated factories turning out shit that no-one wants to buy, with no-one left to buy it anyway, because the conditions for the continued existence of these factories is the destruction of an environment humans can live in.
We impose and are imposed upon by visions of utopia.
To the lords and rulers of today, humans are ranked according to their value in the marketplace. The traumatised soldier, the homeless refugee, the chronically depressed and the single mother on benefits have, in their view, failed. They cannot pay their way. In the welfare state years, they were subsidised by the state, now they must be eliminated.
Yet there is another world in which we are all valuable; and not for the wealth we create or the money we earn. We are each people of worth. Where we work, the work is meaningful and productive, done because we see the point in doing it and just for financial reward. We are together on this planet and we must share, manage and give.
Not something for those who deserve it: everything for everyone.
Angry Sam will be performing at the Roundhouse Live Lates on Wednesday 19 August programmed by Compass in partnership with the Roundhouse.
An evening of utopian ideas, propositions and performances featuring Marina Prentoulis from Syriza London, Sirio Canos Donnay from Podemos London, columnist and writer Owen Jones, writer and educator Anthony Anaxagorou performing with pianist Karim Kamar, feminist activist Sarah Day from Sisters Uncut, Amina Gichinga from Take Back the City, activist & researcher on policing and institutional racism Adam Elliott-Cooper, activist and Camden Green Party councillor Sian Berry, performer and poet GREEdS (Generating Rhymes to Engage the Enlightened Soul), migrant rights activist and community organiser Tatiana Garavito, and activist tackling racial and social injustice Penny Wangari-Jones.
The evening will be hosted by performer and poet Michelle Madsen and poet Angry Sam.