Against Charity

Charity is not a gift. Gift-giving implies reciprocity, an ongoing relationship. When requital is impossible, the act of giving remains outside mutual ties and charity becomes yet another manifestation of class structure, a sterile one-way act upholding the status quo. Hoovering up all the profits thanks to a weak labour movement, lower taxes, and tax havens, the global elite then turn around and remake the world in their own image with charitable donations that speak more of mean-spiritedness than generosity.