The abolition of money

Who can fail to see that fraud, theft, pillaging, disputes, riots, strife, rebellion, murder, treason, poisoning, all those crimes that repeated punishment fails to deter, would die out with the abolition of money. And at the very moment when money vanished, so too would fear, anxiety, grief, stress and wakeful nights; even poverty itself, which seems to be just the lack of money, would instantly vanish if money was completely suppressed.

Thomas More, Utopia (Penguin Classics, 2012) pp. 120-121

Escaping nihilism

The great challenge, in fact, will be escaping nihilism. Nihilism is no revelation, it's just "Viva la muerte!" I believe that there's a hope beyond hope – Saint Paul's phrase – in finitude, in the magnitude of poverty. I believe there is something of the unknown, a terra incognita in the logic of poverty.

Paul Virilio, Pure War (Semiotext(e), 2008) pp. 224-225

Commodity, the bias of the world

Commodity, the bias of the world,
The world, who of itself is peised well,
Made to run even upon even ground,
Till this advantage, this vile-drawing bias,
This sway of motion, this Commodity,
This bawd, this broker, this all-changing word,
Clapp'd on the outward eye of fickle France,
Hath drawn him from his own determin'd aid,
From a resolv'd and honourable war,
To a most base and vile-concluded peace.
And why rail I on this Commodity?
But for because he hath not woo'd me yet:
Not that I have the power to clutch my hand,
When his fair angels would salute my palm,
But for my hand, as unattempted yet,
Like a poor beggar, raileth on the rich.
Well, whiles I am a beggar, I will rail,
And say there is no sin but to be rich;
And being rich, my virtue then shall be
To say there is no vice but beggary.
Since kings break faith upon commodity
Gain, be my lord, for I will worship thee.

William Shakespeare, The Life and Death of King John (The New Temple Shakespeare, 1935) pp. 28-29

Permanent orättvisa

Vi har vant oss vid en standard.
Vi betraktar den som vår rättighet.
Den är inte bara ett hån mot världen idag.
Den kommer alltid vara det.
Vi måste vara ensamma om den. För all framtid.
Vi har skapat en livsform som gör orättvisan permanent och ofrånkomlig.

Är slutsatsen klar?
Vi måste bli fattiga igen.
Eller med våld upprätthålla våra privilegier.
Ännu har inget folk, än mindre världsdel, valt frivillig fattigdom.
Det finns inga utsikter att vi kommer att göra det.

Sven Lindqvist, Myten om Wu Tao-tzu (Månpocket, 2013) p.174