Is Capitalism a form of Terrorism?

In his 1996 treatise for people-centered economic development, founder Terry Hallman wrote of the impact of traditional capitalism on those it fails to reach, saying:

“We can choose to not reform capitalism, leave human beings to die from deprivation — where we are now — and understand that that puts people in self-defense mode.

“When in self-defense mode, kill or be killed, there is no civilization at all. It is the law of the jungle, where we started eons ago. In that context, ‘terrorism’ will likely flourish because it is ‘terrorism’ only for the haves, not for the have-nots. The have-nots already live in terror, as their existence is threatened by deprivation, and they have the right to fight back any way they can.

“‘They’ will fight back, and do. “

Speaking on the fatal attack on a Catholic priest by a Muslim extremist, Pope Francis spoke of the fundamental terrorism against all humanity.

“Terrorism grows when there is no other option, and as long as the world economy has at its center the god of money and not the person. This is fundamental terrorism, against all humanity,”

Hallman wrote again in 2003, in his efforts to leverage support for a Muslim community, the repatriated Tatars of Crimea:

“Once a nation or government puts people in the position of defending their own lives, or that of family and friends, and they all will die if they do nothing about it, at that point all laws, social contracts and covenants end. Laws, social contracts and covenants define civilization. Without them, there is no civilization at all, there is only the law of the jungle: kill, or be killed. This is where we started, tens of thousands of years ago.

“By leaving people in poverty, at risk of their lives due to lack of basic living essentials, we have stepped across the boundary of civilization. We have conceded that these people do not matter, are not important. Allowing them to starve to death, freeze to death, die from deprivation, or simply shooting them, is in the end exactly the same thing. Inflicting or allowing poverty on a group of people or an entire country is a formula for disaster.

“These points were made to the President of the United States near the end of 1996. They were heard, appreciated and acted upon, but unfortunately, were not able to be addressed fully and quickly due primarily to political inertia. By way of September 11, 2001 attacks on the US out of Afghanistan — on which the US and the former Soviet Union both inflicted havoc, destruction, and certainly poverty — I rest my case. The tragedy was proof of all I warned about, but, was no more tragedy than that left behind to a people in an far corner of the world whom we thought did not matter and whom we thought were less important than ourselves.

“We were wrong.”

It was Pope Benedict in 2009, with his encyclical Caritas in Veritate who called for people-centered ethics in our economy. He was followed by the President of the UN General Assembly, a Sandanistan priest:

“The anti-values of greed, individualism and exclusion should be replaced by solidarity, common good and inclusion. The objective of our economic and social activity should not be the limitless, endless, mindless accumulation of wealth in a profit-centred economy but rather a people-centred economy that guarantees human needs, human rights, and human security, as well as conserves life on earth. These should be universal values that underpin our ethical and moral responsibility.” (Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann, the President of the United Nations General Assembly speaking in 2009)

The primacy of the human person would seem to be common ground, an economy that puts people over shareholder value