Escaping Capitalism Through Vanlife?

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Escaping Capitalism Through Vanlife?

Рет қаралды 3,146

Күн бұрын

A video essay talking about our experiences living under capitalism and our desires to escape, and whether van life has enabled us to do that. A realistic discussion on van life, our experiences and the positives and negatives of this lifestyle. Hope you enjoy and find this topic interesting! Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments. Love, Holly
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Пікірлер: 43

@cecile3414 9 ай бұрын

You articulated this so well, probably one of my favorite videos of yours. I avoid consumerism as much as I possibly can, but you're right, it does isolate you in many ways. Not least of all because I look different: I have an old car, an outdated phone, second-hand clothes, a very small house, and few of the usual comforts. This makes me stand out in my American ultra-consumerist environment. Sadly in the US, the capitalist system has found a way to keep you tied in by attaching any form of healthcare--as bad as it is--to your (corporate) employment.

@hollyexley 9 ай бұрын

Aw thank you , glad you liked this one Cecile! The health insurance stress is just a whole other level - my tiny British mind can't imagine (although perhaps in the future it will be my reality too, judging by how much our neoliberal leaders want to crush and privatise the NHS)

@bluewren65 9 ай бұрын

Socialised medicine is not what it once was. Ausralia's medicare was incredible for the first decade and a half. Over the last couple of decades governments have successively undermined the funding to the point that unless you are literally dying you can expect an 8 to 12 hour wait in emergency departments. In Tasmania our health system is in crisis. I live in the Central highlands and we lost our local doctor a year ago. The nearest GP is a 1 hour and 10 min drive away and they are so incompetent I prefer to drive 2 hours to see a doctor. Even then, it is a 6 week wait to see a GP.

@hollyexley 9 ай бұрын

Thats terrible. A political choice to underfund healthcare? It certainly is here, unfortunately. @@bluewren65

@etherealdances1 9 ай бұрын

@@hollyexley My cousin's husband (from Lesotho Africa) is a consultant surgeon working in a Northern NHS hospital. My cousin (a GP) has recently left the NHS to work in a hospice as the NHS politics/wastage of money was driving her nuts.

@colour.retreat 9 ай бұрын

"We all need community more then ever" - I support this so much observing the ending of 2023. I truly believe the past few years were the worst in transforming humans into a more individualistic specie. I admire your courage in doing this and sharing it with us, such an inspiration!

@hollyexley 9 ай бұрын

Thank you so much ! These past years have been A LOT D:

@arleneoleary7786 9 ай бұрын

What matters is you’re happy. It doesn’t matter where or how you choose to live. Despite all the noise going on please remember that. ❤

@LauraBosleyIllustration 9 ай бұрын

I think its beautiful that by choosing your way of life you have enabled yourself to have time to think. Everything is so fast-paced that it stops us thinking and being creative. Well done Holly! Thank you for sharing this x

@hollyexley 9 ай бұрын

I agree! I am a slow living kind of person, I can't handle the pace of modern life!

@vegancreature838 9 ай бұрын

I wish to join a resource based society, where everyone works to benefit the society, without any hierarchy, just different roles and tasks. No money or currency, we all grow our food and live in harmony with nature animals and ourselves.

@hollyexley 9 ай бұрын

Sounds blissful 🙏

@bluewren65 9 ай бұрын

I want to live in the Star Trek universe too!

@autumnarcher 9 ай бұрын

I love these honest chats :) Thank you for putting them out

@abundantwildflower1276 9 ай бұрын

Such a through-provoking video, Holly, and such a difficult situation we are all in. I am a parent and this adds another level of difficulty for so many reasons. I'm already diverging from the norm by home-educating my child. Thankfully where we live in the west country there is a large and inclusive community of home edders. Its a rural area and school places are difficult to find, most schools are over-subscribed. Anyway, that's a whole other subject about lack of investment in our infrastructure! But apart from taking it upon myself to educate my child (which has so many positives, as I'm sure you can imagine), having a child means having a stable home life. We can try and do all the things to mitigate our impact on the world's resources and teach our child to look after the planet but, as you say, escaping capitalism entirely is impossible under the current world regime. Fear is a big factor preventing change. Fear of displacement, instability and conflict are real issues we face if we are to completely change the status quo, because historically that's generally what has happened when entrenched regimes have been challenged. This is a huge subject and there is no 'one size fits all', unfortunately. However, let us all continue to act individually as informed, responsible human beings and just do the best we can to make this world a better place with the power we all hold, which is to make choices for the common good.

@hollyexley 9 ай бұрын

Hear hear! Thanks for sharing your perspective, I really appreciate it.

@karolsartoasis4815 9 ай бұрын

Thanks Holly. It’s really awesome to hear yer prospective on these subjects. ❤

@hollyexley 9 ай бұрын

Thanks Karol, glad you enjoyed 💕

@louiselangton 9 ай бұрын

Always a better day when we get a video from you, Holly 😊 x

@ElinWinblad Күн бұрын

I struggle with making products with my art because it feels like I’m just as exploitative by hiring out production for items to end up in landfills and not to mention pollution in production and shipping to customers. With freelance there is even less control on how a company decides to manufacture said items unless they have a very good history but even then the mass qty in production seem overwhelming on an already polluted planet

@DrFjords 9 ай бұрын

I would listen the hell out of an audiobook read by you- your voice is so lovely! Something about your voice seems perfect for the Beatrix Potter stories- please consider reading some in a video!! 💕

@hollyexley 9 ай бұрын

Thank you! I will!

@itscarolinemary 9 ай бұрын

Another thought I had: the more popular that vanlife is becoming, the more the local governments are getting rid of free parking spots. It’s something that’s worrying and messed up

@hollyexley 9 ай бұрын

That sucks! In the UK the pandemic meant a lot of people had caravan holidays instead of going abroad - and since then a lot of 'no overnight parking' signs went up, and price for parking is always rising :(

@itscarolinemary 9 ай бұрын

Such a good video idea. Just started! Your voice is so calming and so good for narration! ❤

@agathaleardini 9 ай бұрын

Great video, Holly! I am an anarchist, and I do hope we will overcome capitalism one day, though it seems something very difficult to achieve.

@MyFriendlyPup 9 ай бұрын

Instead of looking at opposed restrictive systems no different than red or blue, repub or democrat. Stop with the need for lables. Who is the enemy of the common man? Just solve this issue.

@etherealdances1 9 ай бұрын

I guess you are very young and naive. There's a reason why people flee/escape to Capitalist countries when they are are forced to live in a Communist/Socialist hell.

@hollyexley 9 ай бұрын

Extremely difficult! I don't know if we'll live to see it, but we'll live through the struggle. I am a communist, I'm pretty sure. I'm pretty sure I always have been, underneath my liberal upbringing 😁

@anonymousjdg 9 ай бұрын

Lovely vlog, thank you for the thought-provoking content!

@MsFluffyfeet 9 ай бұрын

Yes.. what a lovely well thought-out response. Balanced and realistic. Probably many of us have these ideals that involve the ultimate lifestyle and none will be perfect. Well done for living in a way that aligns with personal values and doing your best. You set the bar for others even if you don't solve world problems... And that is an important role.

@hollyexley 9 ай бұрын

Aw thank you. I'm glad you liked my musings!

@ChantelleArts 9 ай бұрын

such a cute photo at the end ❤❤❤

@itscarolinemary 9 ай бұрын

The cows 🥹💕✨

@TheJessPurrr 8 ай бұрын

I thought that said 'cannibalism'...

@etherealdances1 9 ай бұрын

Your dogs are so sweet. I have a retired racing Greyhound too named Gracie! Had her for two years now and she is the best (also spoilt rotten) Greyhounds really are such unique lovely gentle dogs. No system is perfect and there can be exploitation but the benefits of Capitalism far outweigh the bad (which those who have fled Communist/socialist countries for example can attest to) Personally I'm also rather fond of freedom of thought, speech, religion etc OH and the right to own private property which you are also benefitting from ;) Whatever you believe doesn't count in a socialist society as under socialism you MUST follow the rules no matter how you feel. It's the government's decision along with what school you go to, where you work, what you do. Socialism fails miserably to account for human behaviour and stark reality. (And you could not pursue 'van life' and the freedom it has given you either if it weren't for fossil fuels)

@hollyexley 9 ай бұрын

Greyhounds are very unique dogs aren't they - Midge is a very particular boy, we love his ways. I think you might be speaking to the wrong person regarding capitalism and freedom of speech ! 😂Seeing as I have been arrested many times for peacefully protesting, and sent to prison for sitting outside an oil site. My government is trying to shut down freedom of speech (certain speech) so it can continue lining the pockets of fossil fuel execs and their own. Many people in this country want a ceasefire too, the overwhelming majority, and we are being ignored and smeared by the capitalist class. Fossil fuels, war, all extremely profitable. This overrides any freedoms we might think we have. We are free to give up most hours in our day so we can afford to stay alive, and the shareholders take the true value of our labour. We are free to watch our planet burn, animals go extinct, a genocide happen with our own tax money. That's not freedom to me. I feel trapped in the horrors perpetuated by capitalism's insatiable drive to exploit and profit.

@etherealdances1 9 ай бұрын

@@hollyexley Very unique. They all (like Midge) are definitely a very different quirky breed. I adore them. Oh I know.. your government is also my government as I live in England/Yorkshire so I also see how freedom of speech for many is being shut down. Were you one of those obstructing traffic and people's daily lives by sitting in the street lol? A ceasefire? you mean re what is happening in Israel/Gaza? I witnessed a man being arrested/dragged out of his house at night just because he posted a 1 min video of his area flying Palestinian flags with the police behaving like the Stasi but the absolute palpable HATRED being allowed on mass on our streets now with the 'pro Palestinian' 'protests' is allowed somehow? I'm sorry you feel trapped in the horrors of a Capitalist country/system.. you're not really trapped though are you as you are enjoying the freedom to do as you wish ie live life for the time being on the road/in a van being a freelance artist (I am also a freelance classically trained musician) with the back up of owning your own home when you wish to return to being 'housed' with that back up/safety. If you experienced life in a Communist country you would soon realise the true horror of being trapped under that regime hence why so many try to escape to Capitalist countries. There are so many benefits/luck of being born in the UK (I'm English/half Scottish/Irish) and I appreciate all the freedoms we have (for now anyway) I attended a famous music school in Manchester from 12-18 where Karl Marx also walked the same ancient corridors & I didn't realise at the time how destructive his 'theories' were and subsequent 'Marxism' today.

@stevo728822 9 ай бұрын

Late stage socialism.

@itsoktobehappy461 9 ай бұрын

The dream changed. Now everyone prefers to be on social media all day, play video games, smoke weed and blame everyone but themselves for their problems. We don’t care about buying a home because we don’t understand money or how to fix anything. This new dream has been highly achievable.

@MyFriendlyPup 9 ай бұрын

Capitalism will be waiting to say "hello old friend" every time you fuel up.

@JuneTurner-dt4fb 9 ай бұрын

I'm all for a quiet, rural life, but you do realize that the people who want to smash capitalism also believe in open borders, right? Africa has the highest birth rate in the world. In fact, their birth rate is so high the African population is going to double by 2050 (when it will hit two and a half billion!!). Imagine if we had open borders! Imagine the chaos! Kiss goodbye to the British countryside for a start. How are you going to live a quiet, rural life when the population leaps from 60 million to 80 million? Or 100 million? Where do you think those millions of immigrants are going to live? What will you do when the green belt is covered in houses and flats? In 2022, net immigration was 600,000. If that continues, we'll have to build a city the size of Manchester every year. Capitalism and climate change are important, but overpopulation is the elephant in the room.

@hollyexley 9 ай бұрын

Why punch down when you could punch up? The rich hoard the land and the resources, June, they always have.