I only live for where I stand To work another day It puts the wages in my hand To buy my troubles away I consume another spin My creativity denied In a game you cannot win But it keeps me occupied Exploit! Exploit! You’ll get your market share Exploit! Exploit! I’ll tell you what is fair A war on the organized It’s all against all Individual and atomized My voice is a brawl I’m at the end of the line Where I feed the machine Until it breaks my spine And calls me welfare queen Capitalism perpetuates eliminable forms of suffering and deficits in individual freedom and autonomy. It blocks the universalization of conditions for human flourishing, and violates principles of social justice. Capitalism has a bias toward consumerism, and the subsequent commodification of life threatens non-commercial values, such as spirituality and art. It is further environmentally destructive, and fuels militarism and imperialism in a world of nation states. In certain ways, capitalism is also inefficient, limits democracy and corrodes community. What does a future cost? How many barrels of oil? You melt the permafrost With subhuman toil How many working lives To build another tank The stock market hives Make a happy bank Exploit! Exploit! You’ll get your market share Exploit! Exploit! I’ll tell you what is fair

Look the structure in the eye See what it makes you do Shapes you like a bonsai And makes your field of view To see beyond the wall You need to study the cracks We make a unison brawl On institutional backs We have the key To unlock change In the debris Of the middle range Find the unpredictable And ripen the conditions Make the system indictable And seize its positions We have the key

Bred for this world Raised from the womb All the thoughts that whirled Sifted in the classroom Put me under your spell Your little protege A subtle fuel cell To learn the social play A pattern routinised Designed to reaffirm A citizen baptized Conform and confirm Slugging through the field Spreading my cultural cash I am the orthodox shield Against the norm backlash A pattern routinised Designed to reaffirm A citizen baptized Conform and confirm

Somebody held you back Your passion never nourished A structural attack Content but never flourished If you haven’t had a chance You cannot stand to blame If you weren’t taught the dance You couldn’t make your claim We’re gonna turn it around Our common social ground We’re gonna turn it around We are political bound Desirable Viable Achievable We have our heading The needle pointing our way The path we’re treading I say come what may I say come what may

You are nothing like me Get out of my way You petty bourgeoisie Will fear the Labor Day Your system is broken Enough thought pollution The word is spoken The word is revolution Wherever there is profit You will sell me death There is a way to stop it You see us in the distance Marching to our drum We are the resistance Our beat will make you numb Wherever there is profit You will sell me death There is a way to stop it

We live inside the gaps Broken out of the grid Outside official maps Keeping ourselves well hid We don’t care about your apps Wouldn’t work for your bid Capital is flexing its muscles We can barely see it from here It’s on another flight to Brussels To sell itself through the blogosphere Don’t need no influencer We’ve got Thoreau And you can never censor Our overthrow Smell the soil on our hands It is outside your reach Where the millionaire stands We cannot hear him preach Free your mind, it expands It’s a figure of speech Don’t need no influencer We’ve got Thoreau And you can never censor Our overthrow

Snap to the master grid Regression to the mean I am no conflict kid Consensus cuisine I think we have agreed I’m the generic Swede I’m on a morning flight To Schiphol, Amsterdam I’ve got my headphones right A business diagram We have our way of life Two children and a car No bitter class-based strife Revolt seems so bizarre A labor-profit creed A peaceful life indeed I’m the generic Swede We’re proud and content We have our compromise Collective consent In welfare to baptize I think we have agreed A peaceful life indeed I’m the generic

Voice 1: Participatory Budgeting We all pay taxes, right? So, we should all have a say, and not just every four years when we elect someone we may or may not think will represent our interests. It’s us who live here who know what is needed in the community, whether we need to build a new school or make road repairs. Such projects are decided on a community level, and the budget process for the municipality is open to everyone who wants to have the insight or to express their opinions. This is realdemocracy at work. I haven’t heard a single complaint about having to pay taxes since the system was introduced - if anything, people are prepared to contribute more. Since we can see where all the money goes, there’s no opportunities for corruption. It makes everyone less suspicious. Voice 2: Wage-Earner Funds These days, we, the workers, have a direct say in whatever decisions that are made, and on the direction of the company. Since we’re all owners, we all want to do our very best and be on top of things. But it also means that profit isn’t all that matters. Of course, we need to balance the books, but making the best possible product and having the best workplace imaginable is considered more important. The capital owners simply have to accept that, since they are not the sole owners anymore. When you think about it, the way it used to be was a bad case of exploitation - the only voice I had was the threat to leave, which would only make another person fill my place. We’re all part of the family now, and a family cares for everyone. Voice 3: Cooperation Infrastructure I work in a cooperative, where the main business is running markets for fresh vegetables and groceries. It’s a community, not just within the cooperative, but in the whole chain, our cooperation with other cooperatives. We have an infrastructure for production, transportation and front-end stores and markets, which connects through an online platform. The users, or customers, can also access the platform, so it’s a place for interaction with them too. It’s all very transparent and social in character, where we build trust by helping each other out whenever it’s needed. No one is in it for the money. The system as a whole reduces market pressure considerably - we don’t have to compete, which makes everything run more smoothly. Voice 4: Universal Basic Income Since the universal and unconditional basic income was introduced, I find myself thinking much less about money. Before, I was living on whatever low wage jobs I could find, or on unemployment benefits, since I never got my grades or made it to college. I still hook up with jobs from time to time whenever I need the extra money or when I feel like it, but mostly I do various sorts of community work or social work these days, unpaid. Or I scribble away at my novel which I’ve been working on for the past year. I think the basic income’s main advantage has been security. Especially in a time where the labor market is too precarious to offer that. I know I won’t starve, which enables me to pursue all kinds of things that I didn’t use to do, since it wouldn’t render an income. This This is real These are real utopias