Show Notes
In this episode, we discuss capitalism as a monster—specifically a vampire—that feeds off the surplus value of the working class’s labour. This is not a particularly new idea; Karl Marx, who remains to be one of the most influential thinkers of capitalism wrote in Capital Volume 1 that “Capital is dead labour, which vampire-like, lives only by sucking living labour, and lives the more, the more labour it sucks.” Just as the vampire’s thirst for blood is insatiable, so is capital’s craving for more unpaid work.
We explore the ways this unfolds in Kenya, a country with a deep-seated capitalist ethos, where “hustler culture” reigns supreme. What is hustling, if not finding ways to exploit those beneath you? Is it really possible to pull yourself by the bootstraps? Interestingly, when this phrase first appeared in the 1800s, it was used to mean the act of doing something completely ludicrous and impossible. So then, how did we come to think of this as normal? Capital, like the vampire it is, both sucks life out of us and turns us into vampires ourselves. We get infected with its epistemologies and aspire to become good at the blood-sucking ourselves.
And like Dracula, who managed to fool those around him because they did not know he was a vampire, we are unable to fight capitalism because we don’t see it for what it is; a blood-draining, soul-crushing enterprise that leaves us unwell. Recognizing this vampire for what it is, what should we do? What is the antidote for capitalism in the way garlic is the antidote for vampires? Join us as we discuss this and more in this episode.
More from Until Everyone Is Free
Yesterday, we hosted the final installment of our teach-in series "Beyond the Bill." After the June 25 uprisings last year, many Kenyans were radicalized, they began seeing the state for what it is, they started seeing the contradictions. We wanted to capture that momentum and, through political education, help people make sense of the shape of power that guides what has been happening in the country—from "how countries should think about debt" to the history of Mwakenya, to Pan-Africanism in the DRC, and much more. Every month for the last year, we invited people to help us understand these connected struggles, and we're grateful to everyone who took part and, of course, everyone who listened and shared! In two of our sessions, we spoke to Sudanese comrades Rabab Elnaiem, Husam Mahjoub, and Gussai Sheikheldin. The edited transcripts of these conversations, we put together and published in a booklet called "Revolution Neither Starts Nor Ends." Our ultimate goal is to distribute these as free pamphlets for reading in social justice centres and other political organizing spaces throughout Nairobi (and maybe throughout the country)! However, in order to fund a big print run, we are selling bound copies of this book at 800 KES. Please buy some copies and help us raise money to print hundreds more to give away! You can find them at Cheche Bookshop. Some of you who have already sent money can pick up your copies there anytime.
There's a season for everything, and the time has come for April Zhu, our producer, to sign off. Until Everyone Is Free will continue with our team Stoneface Bombaa, Felix Omondi, and Wairimu Gathimba—bringing history into the living archive of our listeners' minds, hosting discussions on political shifts in the airwaves and, of course, radicalizing people. A luta continua.
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