theft and/or destruction of private property

[flyingpants]

Stealing:
When, if ever, is it justified? If you're poor or starving? Or any time? Or never?
From whom - a small business owner, a giant corporation, a corporation that mistreats its workers more than usual?
Would you (or do you) do it?
Is it a legitimate form of protest and/or direct action?
Why? Because you deprive a capitalist of something, or because you won't have to work to get the thing you wanted?

What if the capitalist in question does not understand that he/she is exploiting his/her workers, and if the workers do not understand that they are being exploited?

[guerilla E]

Stealing food, water, clothing etc is all justified.

My morality on the issue; everything is over-priced and the workers who produce the goods are exploited. The retailer is the target of our discontent, because he is the primary cog of the capitalist machine, aiming to make a profit out of my loss. Theft is the basic liberation of property and protest against currency - I should not have to pay for food, I should not have to pay for water, I should not have to pay for basic goods. The system readily tricks consumers into buying products, it should be prepared to accept that this unnatural practice will warrant a natural reaction.

Stealing is not the question here, most of what can be stollen can be acquired for free from Dumpster Diving or Landfill scavenging - but they put locks on those and razor wire fences. The system wants consumption with currency exchange. The petrol of the capitalist machine.

I say theft from business is justified, hell theft from upper class is justified, but not from members of your own economic class. The poorer the man, the more valuable his trinket, but a rich lawyer would not cry over stealing his Plasma Screen TV.

[manic expression]

Originally posted by guerilla E@September 12, 2007 12:05 pm
Stealing food, water, clothing etc is all justified.

So I can steal food and clothes from a family that is struggling to make ends meet? Of course there is more to the story.

Property which is the product of exploitation is very different from property that is used by those who work. I would not shed a single tear for the theft of a capitalist's private property, but this is completely different from the theft of a working-class (or even middle class) family's car, and that difference must be recognized.

Of course, this makes little difference to those who steal because it is virtually their only way to get certain products.

[Forward Union]

My guiding slogan is "Only cowards rob from the poor" as long as you steal from institutes or individuals who are of the opposing class you are fully justified.

[guerilla E]

Originally posted by manic expression+September 12, 2007 04:13 pm--> (manic expression @ September 12, 2007 04:13 pm)

guerilla E

@September 12, 2007 12:05 pm
Stealing food, water, clothing etc is all justified.

So I can steal food and clothes from a family that is struggling to make ends meet? Of course there is more to the story.

Property which is the product of exploitation is very different from property that is used by those who work. I would not shed a single tear for the theft of a capitalist's private property, but this is completely different from the theft of a working-class (or even middle class) family's car, and that difference must be recognized.

Of course, this makes little difference to those who steal because it is virtually their only way to get certain products. [/b]

theres more to the story AND more to my post that you didnt read.

Did I not say that stealing only from businesses or upper class is justified? Not to mention adding, as previously, not to steal from those in your own economic class.

Lets clarify - steal from corporations, businesses, the upper class, especially the elite class etc

It is not justified, in any way, to steal from your own economic class or those under it.

[Dr Mindbender]

Originally posted by flyingpants@September 12, 2007 04:04 am
Stealing:
When, if ever, is it justified? If you're poor or starving? Or any time? Or never?
From whom - a small business owner, a giant corporation, a corporation that mistreats its workers more than usual?
Would you (or do you) do it?
Is it a legitimate form of protest and/or direct action?
Why? Because you deprive a capitalist of something, or because you won't have to work to get the thing you wanted?

What if the capitalist in question does not understand that he/she is exploiting his/her workers, and if the workers do not understand that they are being exploited?

whenever it is to reclaim your own value of production, ie from the lazy bastard beourgiouse.

In the marxist context, the definition of theft, the laws of the land regarding it and its tolerance within social boundaries has been skewed to suit the needs of the establishment class.

[rouchambeau]

What if the capitalist in question does not understand that he/she is exploiting his/her workers, and if the workers do not understand that they are being exploited?

I'm not sure of what exactly you're asking here. Could you elaborate?

[AmbitiousHedonism]

I think it is a more interesting question to ask how far can one go when acting upon these ideas:
Is out and out armed robbery of retail outlets and corporate wherehouses legit?
What about if employees try to stop you?
What about hostages? What if you take them 'accidentally'?
What if a security guard fires on you? What if you fire back and kill bystanders?

I don't have any answers, but I feel like merely stating the legitimacy of theft doesn't even begin to deal with the reality of the act.

[manic expression]

Originally posted by guerilla E@September 12, 2007 08:10 pm
theres more to the story AND more to my post that you didnt read.

To me, those looked like two separate points. I understand what you meant now.

[Le Libérer]

I really have issues with stealing, I have this whole guilt thing built in. But.... there are some things I dont have a problem with. Like this bag. I didnt pay for it and the shop clerk kinda just turned his head when I looked him in the eye and walked out the door with it.