A few months ago I wrote an essay arguing that the *only* reason water doesn't cost a fortune now is because capital doesn't yet have the control technology to survive the desperation-driven protests which would surely follow such a move.

I was reasoning from first principles but TIL that in 2015 the Irish actually did revolt against a proposed water tax:

"The movement has not withered away as the establishment hoped or expected, even in the face of Garda repression and mainstream media denunciation. There is the sense that there is always some action going on somewhere, and that protest or dissent in general has become a sort of national pastime."

This is exactly the kind of thing capital fears, and exactly the reason water doesn't cost a zillion dollars.

Irish revolt: https://libcom.org/article/water-revolt-ireland-2015

My article: https://chez-risk.in/2023/01/29/state-violence-the-diamond-water-paradox-and-an-invisible-axiom-of-classical-economics/

#Water #Ireland #IrishWatetRebellion #Capitalism #Resistance #Protest #StateViolence #Anarchism #Economics #UseValue #ExchangeValue #ParadoxOfValue #DiamondWaterParadox #Capitalism #Government #GovernmentTechnology

State Violence, the Diamond/Water paradox, and an invisible axiom of classical economics.

This essay is part of a larger project on the invisible role that violence plays in capitalist economic theories. My feeling is that conceivably all its paradoxes can be resolved by making the role of violence visible.

So for instance, it's no paradox that water is cheap and diamonds are expensive even though diamonds are close to useless compared to water. Without violence no diamonds would be mined, but also without violence none would really be bought either. And if water is cheap now it's only because capital hasn't yet figured out a stable way to charge money for it.

https://chez-risk.in/2023/01/29/state-violence-the-diamond-water-paradox-and-an-invisible-axiom-of-classical-economics/

#StateViolence #Anarchism #Economics #UseValue #ExchangeValue #ParadoxOfValue #DiamondWaterParadox #Capitalism #Government #GovernmentTechnology

The diamond/water paradox only seems like a paradox because economists mostly don't want to face the fact that the very existence of the economy relies on state-directed violence.

#DiamondWaterParadox
#ParadoxOfValue
#StateViolence
#Anarchism
#AnarchistEconomics

https://chez-risk.in/2023/01/29/state-violence-the-diamond-water-paradox-and-an-invisible-axiom-of-classical-economics/