Fetishism of Commodities

DSC_0046-2.jpg
Originally uploaded by JCTownsley

I just heard Cornel West say "Fetishism of commodities." He said "It is also among the destitute because the destitute have a fetishism of commodities, a fetishism of success [and think] 'all I need is success, and then somehow I am a better person.'"

I think it is hard for Togolese to escape the "fetishism of commodities" as they peer out into the world through TVs and Radios and I think it is very connected to what the Ugandan Farmer Said in my last entry. He said "They shared a lot of things together...But now things have changed. Each person is on their own. A few people who have acquired material wealth are very scared of sliding back into poverty. They do not want to look like us." It is hard to not be a commodity fetisher in Togo as you learn of the rest of the world. And I believe the young generation will be heavily influenced by commodity fetishism but I also saw a lot of spiritually learned Muslims in Togo refuse commodity fetishism by emphasizing how fleeting and ephemeral earthly life is and how useless that makes attachment to money and things. A nomadic herder, himself a muslim, asked me, as I handed him money for taking me and my friends out in the bush with his cows, "Do you think the prize is down here [on earth] Kabirou? Forget about the money." That came from a man that can live on 20 dollars a month and to whom I was handing 30 dollars. His photo accompanies this entry. I have seen less of that mysticism and refusal of worldly goods in the Christian areas of Togo, but I spent less time there. It is hard for Togolese to escape the "Fetishism of commodities," in the the Commodity Fetisher Gala that is our world. That is sometimes hard to deal with as a Peace Corps volunteer who may have been able to join the Peace Corps in part because you have rejected commodity fetishism. You find that you and the Togolese are going in opposite directions, them toward and you away from commodities...