AESTETA: Communism | Capitalism

REFLECTION:
With all honesty, I had a hard time understanding the topic that was discussed last week. I also thought that the topic last week was the hardest one. So, I just searched on the internet the most notable things that I've heard last week.

There are so many things that I would like to discuss in here and let me start it with Capitalism. From what I have understood, Capitalism is an economic system wherein a certain company is all about gaining money or profit. They do not care if they are not giving you your right amount of salary. All they care about their gain. At one point of the discussion, I had a thought in my mind where I said that "Damn, these people are so greedy."

In the classical eras before Capitalism began, there was no private ownership on anything. People didn't need the government, they worked altogether to survive. However, as time goes by, people became greedy of power. People was so greedy, they held their own private ownership in lands which led to development of class system (Greed was so viral, that other people were also blinded by power). Well, I can not blame because this was during the Industrial Revolution where everything became fast, and everything was controlled by money. No wonder why everyone became greedy.

During this Capitalism era, the society was divided into two, the proletarian and the bourgeoisie (really having a hard time spelling that). The proletarian, these are the people who can be normally seen at the bottom of the 'triangle'. These are the people who work really hard but do not get back the things that they deserve. They are also called slaves. (I really pity everyone who became slaves. I'd like to tell them how much life is important, and they're the only one who can control themselves and not others.). They are the people who sell their labor for the wealthy classes. On the other hand is the bourgeoisie, they are called the "social class". They are the ones who own properties, they are the ruler of everything because they have money. They do not care if millions will die, they were really after just for the gain of money! They are also the one who compete amongst their kind.

After the topic was discussed, I never really found anything good at that certain era, but after watching videos from YouTube, I later on found out that the working class would take over states and would not need any more governments. It would now lead on to the fading away of class divisions.

Here now comes Communism. I watched videos in YouTube about Communism and it made it much more clear to me.

The word 'exploitation' was really more appropriate during this time rather than 'utilization', because the owners were not paying the workers the amount of money that they deserve. The worker was paid much less than what he produces. The owner/employer, even though he is not part of the production process, he is still the one getting paid more. Meanwhile, the workers who have worked 25 hours a day, the worker who is the crucial part of the production of that certain product/service, gets paid very little. Exploitation over utilization is the main stream of Capitalism. More exploitation = more profit.

Now, capitalists have their own strategy of keeping their workers to them. At first, they'd tell their workers all the benefit that they could get, but at the same time, they'd include taxes, wages, and additional working hours.

Then here is Karl Marx, a German Philosopher which whom I thought, hated democracies at Capitalism. In this video that I watched, it showed the Communist's Manifesto, and it said that, the workers have to rebel to their masters and to become masters of themselves.

"Let the ruling classes tremble at a communist revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Workingmen of all countries, unite!"

- Karl Marx

Marx was representing chains as the proletarians hard ships and being under controlled by the wealthy class.

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RELATION TO ARCHITECTURE:

To relate everything into Architecture, it is kind of a bit sad. When we pass by on construction sites, we see a lot workers, working hard, enduring the burning rays of the sun, lifting hallowed blocks, and endlessly working 15-20 hours a day and yet these Engineers, Architects and Contractors are the one getting paid high. I thought of that maybe because those 3 are getting paid with their mentality skills more than physical skills.

Here in the Philippines, I somehow pity some of our workers here because I see a lot of mediocre type of buildings here. Buildings that doesn’t have any sense, buildings that was designed through "bahala na" mentality. The Engineers and Architects were paid high with those mediocre works, but on the other hand, the workers were paid much less than what they have made on that building.

I really do not know where to weigh in, and I can not really tell which of the two is harder, because yes, it is hard to design (with all exceptions to the mediocre building I am referring to), but at the same time, I thought that working 15-20 hours a day is also something I would struggle to do + they get paid much less than what they give. It is kind of an unfair situation for the workers, as of now, for me. I will know when I am already there.

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PERSONAL FEEDBACKS:

It is very sad that even up to now, we can still see the 'triangle'. People even became more greedy. More than half of the Philippines population is drowning in poverty because of corruption and yet the high class, they have all the power to get what they want. Even justice these days can already be bought. Since I do not have enough knowledge about salaries of construction workers here, I still think that they should be given more salary, or at least be fair to them because they sacrifice their own sweat and blood. (I think I'm gonna have to do a research about this more.)

The worst thing is that there's nothing we can do about it, since we're already manhandled by their power, there is nothing we can do anymore.

I just want to share what happened last week at my ORDEV-B class. Farmers from the Hacienda Luisita had a campus-to-campus advertisement. The farmer talked about the current issue against our President Noynoy Aquino about their claim to the farmers land. But then, the farmer told us the whole story on what happened about the land.

The land was said to be bought by the Cojuanco-Aquino clan, using money from the SSS. It was during Marcos' time, and Marcos declared that the land is owned by the farmers. And until now, after 5 decades, the Aquino are still claiming it as their own. The farmer also said that they were just eating one meal a day. I could just imagine what would happen to us if the farmers would quit working and just start feeding themselves only because farmers are the ones who work to feed us. (rice, potatoes, corns) It is like they are working to feed the many, but get little beneficiaries.

If only I was rich and wealthy just like any other rich people here in the Philippines, I'd hold a lot of charities to those in need, seriously. Because I want them to feel that somebody is still there for them, helping them despite of their hardships that they're going through. I don't want them to feel helpless. I want them to realize that someone is thankful to have them, I want them to feel that they are even more worthy of every rice, goods that I'd give.

I am still waiting for that one day, where everyone starts thinking about those who are in need. And start forgetting power and wealth. Everyone today is becoming more and more selfish to the point that they are thinking that they are the only ones left in the world. But after all, after this rant; There is this question in my mind that I will keep on asking myself "What can we do?" because for me, it seems that everything is controlled by power (Media, military, justice, police, high-positions). What about the people at the bottom? Are they just to be stuck at the bottom and just die in poverty? Will they ever get a chance to live a life that they want? Can they do something about it? Will it ever end?