On Modern Servitude - Jean Franois Brient

Modern servitude is voluntary, endorsed by those slaves who crawl on the surface of the Earth. They buy the merchandises that enslave them every day more.

To participate in the round of frenetic consumption, one must have means and one must, therefore, work, in other words, one must sell oneself. The dominant system champions work as its most esteemed value; slaves have to work more to buy on credit their miserable lives. Slaves wear out in the work place; they waste their vital strength and have to suffer the worst humiliations. They spend their lives performing grueling tasks for the benefit of a few. Modern unemployment is invented as a scare tactic to force slaves into endless gratitude the generosity of the power elite.

The best part of the slaves life slips through his fingers, but he continues because he has always obeyed. Obedience has become second nature to him. He obeys not knowing why, simply that he must. Obey, produce and consume, behold the triptych that rules his life. He obeys his parents, his teachers and his masters, the landlords and the merchants. He obeys the forces of law and order; he obeys all powers because he does not know any better. There is nothing that frightens him more than disobedience, because it signifies risk, adventure, change.