The two richest billionaires in the United States have more wealth than the entire poorest half of the country’s population, and they pay almost nothing in taxes.
Nor do their mega-corporations. And they’re leaving Earth in spaceships.
American capitalists have constructed the largest, most expensive, most sophisticated propaganda machine in world history. This minuscule hive of oligarchs (read: predominantly white men) owns TV networks, newspapers, movie studios, advertisers, and controls social media. The result: most Americans hate socialism without even knowing what it is. Thus, the plutocracy has convinced hundreds of millions of working people not to trust or value themselves. All of this is done in cahoots with the state, which shows how shameful the political system is. It pampers the very wealthy while millions of people are treated like discarded refuse.
This is a deliberate act of violence committed upon the vast majority of citizens who are not allowed adequate access to basic human needs. So we have a society where greed and profit rule, and a small group of miscreants and thieves at the very top controls everything. The average person is left with the all-but-insurmountable task of climbing out of their economic cesspool. Elected politicians and their masters are not working for the majority’s best interests, so voting does very little to change their calamitous circumstances. We are reaching a boiling point. One wonders if there will come a time soon when people rise up and demand a piece of dignity.
I worked for many years on these photographs, all shot in and around Los Angeles. It resulted in a 324-page book about income and wealth inequality and fascism in America. Inspired by past revolutions, the book is a visual tale of incensed activists protesting the plutocrats of corporate America, and it reflects the anguish that millions of people are experiencing as a result of staggering income inequality, systemic racism, and authoritarianism. It is explosively colorful and vital work from a socialist perspective. While the imagery evokes revolution, it does not advocate violence. The work channels frustration into images that depict a somewhat fantastical and cautionary tale. No one hopes for something like this to happen. In billionaire Nick Hanauer’s own words in his Politico essay:
“Our country is rapidly becoming less a capitalist society and more a feudal society. Unless our policies change dramatically, the middle class will disappear, and we will be back to late eighteenth-century France, before the revolution. And so I have a message for my fellow filthy rich, for all of us who live in our gated bubble worlds: Wake up, people. It won’t last. So what do I see in our future today, you ask? I see pitchforks, as in angry mobs with pitchforks, because while people like us plutocrats are living beyond the dreams of avarice, the other ninety-nine percent of our fellow citizens are falling farther and farther behind.”
This excruciating issue is more relevant than ever. With the ten wealthiest men in the world becoming obscenely richer during the pandemic, it is clear that the more calamitous the world becomes, the gap between its people will only continue to widen. It is no coincidence that most of the characters in this project are women, particularly Black and Latina women. They are disproportionately impacted by these inequities, shouldering the greatest burden, yet they are, in my view, the real hope for the future, all around the world. The determined action to regain balance and equity is a hopeful one.
This is a revolution, a revolution of the human spirit, a revolution in the vision of how we can lift one another.
About Chris Anthony
Chris Anthony (b. Stockholm, currently living in Los Angeles) uses photography to create characters and worlds. He also paints and creates costumes, masks, sculptures, and props. His work is often fueled by injustice in its many forms, which he has explored through projects addressing domestic violence, climate change, and income inequality. Chris’s work has been exhibited in several cities and is included in many private and public collections worldwide. [Official Website]
Books:
Thanks, We’ll Take It From Here (2022)
Seas Without a Shore (2014)
I’m the Most Normal Person I Know (exhibition catalogue, 2007)
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