The Backstory to My Anticapitalist Sentiments
— In this Article —
I am both an economist (by education) AND a staunch anticapitalist because it’s exploitative as hell and rotten to its core. Here’s my own (highly abridged) backstory…
[Note: This began as an FAQ on my ‘About’ page, but it really deserved its own post!]
It began when I joined a student environmental group.
Inspiration
I became an environmental activist while studying at Purdue University (c. 1998). Environmental degradation is rooted in capitalism, and the more I witnessed extractive activities—activities that irreparably ravaged Mama Earth and put ‘profits over people’—the more anticapitalist I became. Especially dear to my heart were the ancient redwoods in northern California, and I was deeply inspired by Julia ‘Butterfly’ Hill’s two-year tree sit in an ancient redwood she’d named Luna.
Action
In October of 1999, I dropped out of Purdue and pitched my tent next to a tipi at what was known as the Minnehaha Free State in Minneapolis. We were trying to stop the reroute of a highway over land that was sacred to the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota people. The motivation behind the reroute was to shave a few minutes off the drive to—get this—The Mall of [Fucking] America. Sadly, the camp was raided in December, the four sacred oak trees were turned into piles of wood chips, and the reroute was constructed. #capitalismsucksballs
Much of my activist activity over the next couple of years was motivated by my anticapitalist sentiments. For example, I was at the anti-WTO protests in Seattle in 1999, ‘Big Mountain’ on the Navajo-Hopi Partitioned Land in 2000, and the IMF and World Bank protests (also in 2000). I also became a union spy for a few months, where I worked undercover at a distribution center and gathered intel for the union.
It (briefly) went dormant when I returned to college as a single mom.
Not a statistic
Now this is where the story shifts. In 2007, I was working at an organic foods grocery store when I decide to return to college as a single mom. I was determined to ‘not be a statistic’ and decided that studying business would probably help me meet my objective. As a pre-business major, I had to take an intro to economics course.
Intro to Econ was taught by the professor who would end up becoming one of my favorites. He was—in many ways—an old hippie. Anyway, he showed our class a documentary about a Pakistani(?) sweatshop that had shut down due to pressure from the West. I can’t recall the details—if I had to guess, it was likely about how Western anti-sweatshop boycotts caused brands to change where they sourced their clothes—but the gist is that the displaced workers were livid about losing their livelihoods. This documentary challenged my views on a lot of things and led me to reflect on the unintended consequences of my own anti-sweatshop and environmental activism.
Student of economics
I switched majors, and ended up graduating at the top of my class in economics…and then I received a tuition waiver and stipend to study applied economics in graduate school. But while I loved undergrad economics, graduate school—like all of academia—was a whole other beast. I felt like a cog in the machine as I helped professors churn out their own research with zero consideration for my own (very different) research interests.
I also couldn’t stand the focus on profit maximization, the (disproven) theory known as the ‘tragedy of the commons,’ or the way that humans were treated as two-dimensional consumers in an effort to understand their behavior. And I took issue with lots of the theories, attitudes, and egotism that ran rampant in this field. Needless to say, I finished my coursework and about 2/5 of my thesis (which was based on my thesis advisor’s research interests rather than my own) before I finally said ‘fuck it—I don’t want to be an economist!’ and quit.
(Not) climbing any ladders
After that, I managed to string together a series of ‘dream’ jobs—including a highly respectable gig in the Governor’s Budget Office with access to both the governor and the entire legislature—but I’d always get restless and quit within a few years. My sentiments on capitalism meant that I had zero interest in climbing any ladders or helping companies maximize their profits or playing bureaucratic games.
I’m now being called to share my anticaptialist sentiments.
Composting Capitalism
As I type this, I’m working at a nonprofit organization. I love the people and its mission, but it’s still steeped in capitalist culture (just not as bad as a for-profit entity). I recently participated in Megan Leatherman’s Composting Capitalism program, and it connected the dots for me between the enclosures (of the commons), the European with hunts, and the birth of capitalism. It’s more depressing and traumatic than you can probably imagine…and the stuff that created fertile ground for capitalism to take route some 500 years ago is still alive and well today. If that’s not enough, Project 25 and the Trump Administration seem to be borrowing from its playbook.
Capitalism is rotten to its core.
Capitalism is exploitative as hell and rotten to its core. It is responsible for pretty much every war the US and much of the world involves itself in; it’s why our environment is trashed, oceans are poisoned, and humanity is imperiled; it’s why some people have enough wealth to eliminate WORLD hunger AND solve our climate crisis (see The Climate Book for references) AND still be some of the richest people on the planet…but they don’t. Access to cheap labor is one of the tenets of capitalism, which is why we’ve colonized and enslaved humans for eons. I could go on forever, but I’m preaching to the choir and assume you get the gist of things.
I share all of this to help you get to know me a bit, to understand my perspective, and to act as a filtering mechanism. My views on capitalism combined with the cosmic LOVE that I am (and hold in my heart) inform how I show up in the world as a coach and human being. I won’t ever get dogmatic with my clients (or sisters in circle) or shove my beliefs down anyone’s throat, but if you are looking to create and hoard wealth—to ‘win’ at capitalism—we aren’t going to be a good fit. Just sayin’.
Thanks for staying with me. I know that it was a lot!
That is all.
I’m Kristi Amdahl—a certified Wayfinder Master Coach and Women’s Circle Facilitator.
I’m passionate about YOU living in integrity with who you truly are. I remember feeling restless because my soul was guiding me down one path while my family (and culture) expected me to stay on theirs. In the end, I chose to live in integrity with my soul. Though my decision upset my family, following my soul’s call liberated me and changed the trajectory of my life. So now, I help feminists, rebels, and old souls like you tap into your own inner GPSs and live in integrity with your souls. Click here to learn how Wayfinder Coaching can help you navigate change, ‘find’ your purpose, and create deeper inner alignment.
