I have family members who are our landlords, and others that own second houses. Is this a “no ethical consumption under capitalism” moment or what do I need to do about this?

  • Metawish
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    4 years ago

    I can think of one or two instances where you would want or need a landlord; for those who want their own space but do not want the hassle of upkeep/maintence amd/or cannot upkeep/maintain the property, and as transient housing for folks. I know there are people who want, need, and desire this sort of housing structure due to disability, age, or other status. Should we just ignore that for black and white thinking?

    • WuxinGoat
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      4 years ago

      I think it’s very black and white thinking to suppose that a single use case gives the green light to a practise such as landlording. Just to be clear I take that landlordism always involves someone owning a house and charging another rent to live there.

      Within a non-market anarchist society I’m pretty sure we could figure out a way to provide a space to live for those who would prefer to be transitory. It might be an odd example but it’s the one that comes to mind, but buddhist monasteries in medieval china always maintained guest quarters for travellers. I don’t have all the answers but it’s easy to see that this situation isn’t rocket science and could easily be fixed without resorting to landlordism.

      As for upkeep/maintenance, those who cannot do this would surely be helped by their community, this is the entire point of anarchist mutual aid.

      I find it very strange to be on an anarchist community with people advocating for landlordism.

      • Metawish
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        4 years ago

        Hmm those are good points, and while the example is old, it servers as a great example of what could be possible. Existance in capitalism causes brainrot in the sense I didn’t think more creatively for a solution that isnt so exploitative. So thanks

        • WuxinGoat
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          4 years ago

          I totally get you, it’s sometimes so hard to think outside of the bounds of capitalism that infests our every waking moment, like I say I’m no expert and don’t have all the answers but I’m convinced that the ability to have a stateless non-capitalist society is there if we dream hard enough.

          The society envisaged in bolo’bolo (well worth a read!) Tries to build in the ability to freely travel between bolos, because that sort of shit is important if we want localism but some benefits of wider mixing and the town 20 miles away not becoming a weird place we just don’t understand in our village and hence start to fear and otherise.