Seite 130 [130]
OCR
128 | THe Puttosopuy or Eco-Potitics a cultural community where the members can engage in meaningful dialogue about their goals? (The latter does not require shared values, but rather merely a common frame of reference, within which they can share their experiences as experiences of a shared reality. For those incapable of this, coexistence involves continuous frustration and mutual offence, so that sooner or later they will be at one another’s throats.) The two demands can be met simultaneously if we put all our strength to ensuring that the victims of migration can live a good life in their homeland instead. It is undeniable that for the overwhelming majority, this solution would be much more preferable to migration full of risks and vicissitudes. For this, however, tolerable living conditions would have to be created in the Middle East and Africa and, among the achievements of our civilisation, conscious family planning and the human dignity of women should be popularised on other continents instead of our technological novelties and consumerist ideal of life. Above all, the final and chief reason of migration needs to be addressed, namely the ecological catastrophe, the victims of which are currently flooding Europe. Until we commit ourselves to this, the flood of humanity will remain unstoppable. No material sacrifice can be too much in service of this goal, once we have recognised our shared interest: that in the long term “we” can survive only if “they” can live in their country of origin. The curbing of decay and the spread of life strategies and technologies that adapt to the changed natural conditions naturally requires widespread cooperation. By comparison, the efforts of the international community have so far proved pitifully inadequate. Before us stands the greatest mutual enterprise in the history of humanity — or the collapse of our civilisation. 5. Why am I not an “anticapitalist”? Is there a Third Way? I am not an anticapitalist, because for that or even its opposite, say, an enthusiastic proponent of capitalism, I would first have to accept the assumption of historical materialism, according to which existence determines consciousness; moreover, that this existence is identical with economic activity, i.e., the production and distribution of goods. Only in this case could I believe that the soul of social systems is the “mode of production”, in this case, reproduction of capital.
