Repairing Our Way out of Commodity Fetishism
*Repair. Marxism. Commodity fetishism.
the desire for new things is essential to the continuation of the capitalist system
The desire for new things is essential to the continuation of the capitalist system.
Commodity fetishism disconnects us from where objects come from.
Repair reconnects us to the materiality of objects.
When we repair something, we think about its history and provenance.
There are all kinds of immediately obvious reasons to repair instead of replace. It saves money, it minimises waste, and it can be very satisfying. But on a far deeper level it also undercuts one of the core myths of the capitalist system.
Repair undercuts commodity fetishism.
Repair is anti-capitalist praxis.
compost.party is a nice example of re-embedding the internet in tangible places and forms.
The decision to repair instead of replace is to forgo commodity value and to embrace non-capitalist, sentimental and/or practical values
1. Elsewhere
1.1. In my garden
Notes that link to this note (AKA backlinks).