A POSTCAPITALIST PARADIGM: THE COMMON GOOD OF ...

that is the motor of capitalist economy. Above we have seen how The
Marketing Industriual Complex has an overpowering grip on our buying
behaviour. Beside that municipal waste is only a fraction of total waste.
The big boys of waste are industry, construction and demolition, mining,
fuel production, metals processing, etc. 77 In short, it is the production
process that is the real trouble, there are the levers to reorient the economy,
consumption as such is a derivate problem.
The second pitfall is the ‘praise of poverty’ heralded in certain circles. 78
As we mentioned above the material conditions of a substantial share of
the world population still has to improve a lot. So there considerable
growth is necessary. A drastic slowdown or reduction of capital accumulation
as such means economic crisis. And giving the present balance of
power we all know who will pay the bill. 79 If you leave the overall system
intact, heralding to consume less plays perfectly into the austerity policies
of the current neoliberal governments. That cannot be the purpose.
4. Practical meausures
I conclude with a proposal of an alternative economic programme. It’s a
more detailed elaboration of the points 64 to 67 in the text and of my proposals.
I distinguish between the international and national level. For the
former we inspired us on texts of the G77 and the Forum of São Paulo.
For the latter we base ourselves on the programme of Unidad Popular, that
won elections in Chile in 1970 and of the Sandinist project in Nicaragua. 80
77 Foster J., Clark B. & York R., op. cit., p. 382.
78 Herrera R., op. cit., p. 87-8.
79 Foster J., Clark B. & York R., op. cit., p. 396.
80 For the G77 see Van de Meersche P., Noord-Zuid confrontatie en Nieuwe Internationale
Economische Orde. Een historische - thematische - kritische inleiding, Antwerp
1981. For the Forums of São Paulo, see Alternatives Sud, diverse years of
publication. For the programme of Unidad Popular, see Cockroft J. (ed), Salvador Allende
Reader. Chile’s Voice of Democracy, Melbourne 2000, p. 257-285. For the programme
of the Sandinists, see Ramírez S., Las armas del futuro, Havana 1987;
Wheelock J., Imperialismo y dictadura: crisis de una formación social, Mexico 1979;
Fonseca C., Bajo la bandera del sandinismo. Obras Tomo 1, Managua 1985; Girardi
G., Sandinismo, Marxismo, Cristianismo: La Confluencia, Managua 1986; NCOS, Nicaragua.
De ondermijnde revolutie, Brussels 1985; Núñez O., et. al., La Transición Difícil.
La autodeterminación de los pequeños paises periféricos, Managua 1987.
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