[Bullet logo] ________________________________ “Fatalities are Part of Life” in a Capitalist Climate Emergency<https://socialistproject.ca/?p=3131> Jeff Shantz Avoidable deaths of capitalism. Lives ended prematurely through policy or the pursuit of profit. In his wide-ranging analysis of working class life in Victorian England, The Condition of the Working Class in England, Friedrich Engels makes use of a term from labour circles of the day – social murder – to name the processes by which the day-to-day dynamics of capitalism kill working class people. In his words, “the class which at present holds social and political control [capital, the bourgeoisie] places hundreds of proletarians in such a position that they inevitably meet a too early and an unnatural death.” Unlike the street crimes of the poor, which are severely punished by criminal justice systems, social murder is carried out by economic and political powerholders against the exploited. And these social murders are not punished; they are licensed and legitimized operations of capitalism. Engels explains social murder as follows: “When one individual inflicts bodily injury upon another such that death results, we call the deed manslaughter; when the assailant knew in advance that the injury would be fatal, we call his deed murder. But when society places hundreds of proletarians in such a position that they inevitably meet a too early and an unnatural death, one which is quite as much a death by violence as that by the sword or bullet; when it deprives thousands of the necessaries of life, places them under conditions in which they cannot live – forces them, through the strong arm of the law, to remain in such conditions until that death ensues which is the inevitable consequence – knows that these thousands of victims must perish, and yet permits these conditions to remain, its deed is murder just as surely as the deed of the single individual; disguised, malicious murder, murder against which none can defend himself, which does not seem what it is, because no man sees the murderer, because the death of the victim seems a natural one, since the offence is more one of omission than of commission. But murder it remains.” Community organizers have revived the notion of social murder with regard to the actions or inactions of governments in creating or maintaining the conditions that end in what are otherwise avoidable deaths of working-class people. Examples include both actively harmful social policies – like drug prohibition and criminalization of sex work – and policy failures such as lack of essential services like proper long-term care resources, for example. Over a few weeks in June and July 2021, capitalist climate crisis and government failures came together to leave hundreds of people dead in British Columbia. A climate emergency heat dome over much of southern and central British Columbia showed at high cost the intersection of capital-created crises (a climate change extreme heat event) and the cruelty of government practice, resulting in potentially hundreds of avoidable deaths and the annihilation of an entire village along with ecological catastrophe. These might be called acts of social murder. Continue reading<https://socialistproject.ca/?p=3131#more> Follow the Socialist Project on Social Media: [Facebook]<https://www.facebook.com/socialistproject/> [Twitter]<https://twitter.com/socialistprojct> [Instagram]<https://www.instagram.com/socialistproject/> Share on Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsocialistproject.ca/?p=3131> ________________________________ The Bullet is produced by the Socialist Project. Readers are encouraged to distribute widely. Comments, criticisms and suggestions are welcome. Write to [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> The Bullet archive is available at socialistproject.ca/bullet<https://socialistproject.ca/bullet/> ________________________________ If you do not want to receive any more newsletters: Unsubscribe<https://socialistproject.ca/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=66b82740099ed11f82fa42119d9b674f> Forward to a friend: this link<https://socialistproject.ca/lists/?p=forward&uid=66b82740099ed11f82fa42119d9b674f&mid=3428> To update your preferences: this link<https://socialistproject.ca/lists/?p=preferences&uid=66b82740099ed11f82fa42119d9b674f> powered by phpList<https://www.phplist.com/poweredby?utm_source=download3.6.3&utm_medium=poweredtxt&utm_campaign=phpList>