Forum Post: Is economic disparity a symptom of capitalism, or of war?

Seeing what Egypt is going through right now, I was reminded of a long-standing if not often voiced personal philosophy of my own.

In Egypt, even though they had their "spring", even though Mubarak was ousted and a new parliamentary government proposed and popularly supported, the military is still holding power, and still fighting with protestors in Tahrir square.

I've always felt that governments are just puppets of their military. The military actually controls physical reality with threats of harm; that's why they exist. Even seemingly "provisionary" governments must be afraid of their military. Their military must ultimately really control all government actions. Even if it's not done directly, alike extortion, it's still a susceptible control: if the government upsets its military, the military won't effectively strive to protect the government's interests and properties.

Police are just a relatively low-level military force. Look at them: assault weapons, tanks, chemical weapons... how are they not a military? They do the bidding of their superiors, whether those are superiors in command or just rich people demanding the riff-raff be removed from their lawn.

If we protest capital, are we really getting at the heart of the matter? The world is currently in the thralls of revolution but it's not against money or disparity: it's against power being expressed militarily. The occupy movement put its finger on a nerve but that nerve was in an arm, and the arm that's now beating the movement senseless, I would say has been the real issue all along.

Even as the protests continue, capital is being literally stolen from Wall Street, showing just how big of a sham the whole place is. That should be more effective than any civil activism, but for the most part all you have are people standing around with their hands out hoping they'll get back their money.

Money is just a distraction. You can be violent towards money or peaceful towards money, either way, you won't change the way money works or the losses it represents.

But what you're really doing when you protest in the form of peace is creating a reality opposed to forms of war.

I've been homeless for almost ten years: I don't see what so many of you protesters really think is so great about going unshowered, sleeping in a park, and getting beat up by police. It's been my daily reality for quite awhile. I never chose, and would never choose to do this. I'm stuck in it until I get into better circumstances.

If you don't see the forest for the trees, and focus on the real issue, and give your movement a heart and a statement that is lasting and worthwhile, then you're just some more homeless people, only you carry the relative safety of retreat. You could leave it behind, go home, and return to entertaining and educating yourself.

Isn't it surreal, that amid so much economic uncertainty, the entertainment industry isn't suffering at all? They're having a heyday. The corporate media are thriving on your protests, for instance. How's that for irony?

Just consider the reality of what you're doing. I've been homeless for almost ten years but I hope you don't seriously think I did it as a form of protest against money. I did it because I was stuck, and I had no other choice.

If you're doing something by choice, make sure you at least are getting something done. Getting beaten up and ending up on the street when you don't really want to be there, getting arrested for seemingly nothing at all, and having nobody really there to help you, aren't glorious things. They get nothing done. But, if that's not what's really going on -- if you're really there because you detest war and violence and the mistreatment of humanity -- then your movement makes sense.

Otherwise, well... getting arrested for standing around rich people and begging for money? Please. Come try being really homeless for awhile if it's such a huge thrill for you. You'll be disillusioned of the seeming novelty and empowerment of it pretty quick once you don't have a safety cushion.