my manifesto

My goal is not to be any kind of political or "spiritual" leader, in any way, shape or form. This text's sole purpose is to explain and share my point of view.

Today, we live in a world controlled by money, capitalism, and the greed that comes with it. This system has admittedly improved the quality of life in so-called "advanced" countries (though even that is debatable) but at the cost of countless wars, exploitation and injustices across the globe. What some call "progress" has often been built on the deliberate impoverishment of others.
Poverty is not an accident, nor a failure of the system. It is its fuel. The capitalist system needs a mass of precarious, desperate people, people who will accept any wage and any working conditions, no matter how abominable, because they have no choice. Without this pressure, workers (particularly laborers and miners) would have the luxury of demanding better. Poverty keeps everyone disciplined. Eliminating poverty has never been in the interest of the capitalist system. It is a threat to it.
So why does the majority accept this system without question? The answer comes down to one word: Propaganda.
Since childhood, we've been told "if you work hard, you'll succeed." That your place in society reflects your value, your effort, your merit. This is the meritocratic myth — and it is the most carefully maintained lie of our era. Because if your poverty is your fault, you won't look upward. You'll look inward. You'll ask what you did wrong, not what the capitalist system stole from you. This individual guilt-tripping is at the core of modern alienation. We don't revolt against a system we think we deserve. We resign ourselves. We internalize. We tell ourselves "that's just how it is, it's always been this way, it'll always be this way and there's nothing we can do."
And meanwhile, those born at the top, who inherited their fortune from their family, keep calling it "merit."
But propaganda doesn't stop at the meritocratic myth. It has another tool, older, more vicious: division.
While you fight against your neighbor, against "the foreigner taking your benefits," against "minorities with their privileges," "the Jews controlling the world," "the Muslims trying to replace us", those who truly own the world are watching from their yachts, counting their dividends.
Systemic racism is not just a hateful ideology, it's a strategy. Keeping the poor fighting each other ensures they never look upward. Ahmed and John have more in common than John and Rupert Murdoch. But as long as Ahmed and John hate each other, Murdoch sleeps soundly , and so does his fortune.
And while you sort your recycling and feel guilty about your plastic bag, 100 companies are responsible for 71% of global CO2 emissions. The climate crisis, like poverty, is framed as an individual responsibility. "Take public transport. Eat less meat. Recycle." Meanwhile, Total, Shell and Nestlé carry on. Because their lobbyists write the laws that are supposed to regulate them.
And if none of that is enough to silence you, they'll give you the illusion of choice. "Vote," they say. "Change things through the ballot box." But in a system where parties are funded by the same economic interests, where the media is almost entirely owned by the same billionaires, where Fox News tells you who to fear, and where a "radical" candidate ends up assassinated, has their life destroyed by a scandal, or "mysteriously" commits suicide — who do these elections really represent?
Voting is not useless. But believing that one election will be enough to dismantle a rigged system designed to protect itself is like putting a band-aid on a wound that needs surgery.
So what do we do? The first step is to see. Really see. Not through Fox News, not through Musk's algorithms, not through the meritocratic myth sold to us since childhood.
This text has no miracle solution. But one thing is certain: a system that needs your resignation to survive is afraid of your lucidity.
So at the very least, refuse to fight Ahmed. Refuse to feel guilty about your plastic bag while Total burns the world. Refuse to believe your poverty is your fault.
Collective lucidity is already an act of resistance.