That’s interesting, because I was just thinking to myself “Man I hate owners. Especially owners who don’t NEED their property. And then they gloat about it…”
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When my son was an infant, I used to sing this to him, and make him dance along, because babies are too weak to resist the boogie.
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Well, I think that the various activities described are generally pretty connected. There’s some cross-pollination, some overlap. In any event, if one comes to hold no regard for “capitalist morality” as such, then it’s also easier to understand the motives and reasoning of the people described in the article.
I suppose I wouldn’t take the “political” aspects too far unless they’re organized at some level, and particularly when the actions are used to relieve the pressures and demands put on people by capitalist business practices and public policy. Since that’s what some of the people in the article say they’re doing, and that’s what I think a lot of people would say, it seems fair to take that dynamic seriously, although perhaps not some of the rhetoric.
A more organized and famous take on shoplifting happened when the socialist mayor of Marinaleda, Spain lead grocery market robberies and then distributed the loot to those who needed it during a time of crisis. Of course, Spain still has high unemployment and some uneven development across the different comunidades and regions; people say the crisis never went fully away, like many do in other countries. Shoplifting isn’t threatening if that’s as far as it goes politically, but it helps people.
I don’t think that people who steal or “reappropriate” should feel limited to “survival”-type goods like food or diapers. The difference between merely surviving and living is important. People should not need to have only shitty things, or to always be hard up and in debt, and likely miserable, when the people who make all of the decisions are not only profiting but making sure that real, material change can’t be made through the normal channels. Who cares if people steal makeup, shoes, oatmeal, or garden supplies? Maybe not all of it is for brute survival, but I think a fair amount of people taking all kinds of things might see it as a way of taking something back.
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