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Sharing the pain?

category national | worker & community struggles and protests | feature author Monday November 09, 2009 03:38author by Mairtin MacMaolain - ASTI Report this post to the editors

featured image
Govt needs a good fisting

Since when does sharing the pain equate to someone not being able to afford their mortgage on a foreign property and someone not being able to afford rent and childcare? Listening to the media is something which should be done with a health warning. We are in the middle of a propaganda war for the hearts and minds of the people living on this island. The question for the ruling classes is how far can they push the ordinary working and unemployed before it spills over into civil unrest? The question for the workers and unemployed is how to reclaim the unions from the 09 Mercedes class running them, get solidarity among all the workers of this country and figure out creative solutions to sharing the wealth, dismantling the dominative violent enforced power of the state and creating a society where it is easier for people to do good.

Corruption can be defined as a person or thing that does not fulfil the moral purpose for which it was intended. Given this, the Irish Government to a large degree can be deemed corrupt. Self-serving politicians who pander to ensure the interests of the social and financial elite of this country are looked after, are not engaged in the democratic business of ruling for the good of the people of Ireland, despite all their noises to the contrary. How this is even challenged and how we hold these people to account is corrupt. We scapegoat one or two for the sins of the many, give them a royal rough time in the media for a few weeks and then convince ourselves that we are tackling political and economic corruption head on. If only it was so. In scapegoating we miss the wider issue, indeed we fail to spot the massive elephant in the room. We think that by re-arranging a few chairs on a sinking ship that everything will be fine, but in doing so, we ignore the stark reality that the ship is sinking, indeed it was never designed to float for very long in the first place. Reforming our government or reforming the economic model in which we find ourselves is an exercise in the highest futility. Only a complete overhaul and new alternative can lead to a situation where truly happier times can be envisaged without entering into the optics of illusion.

Put simply, the economic model in which we operate, which our government maintains, and which we are taught to obey from the cradle, is unsustainable. The average secondary student would be able to figure that one out. Above all else, it is the motivating factor behind the economic model, to accumulate material wealth and capital, in other words, profit, that makes it glaringly unsustainable. This profit at all costs motivates economic activity even at the expense of people's lives. It is a global phenomenon because it has a global reach today. On any typical day the average person in Ireland will use and consume goods that have travelled tens of thousands of miles to get into their possession. Globalization is inescapable and so are its consequences which include climate change, wars for ever scarce resources, increased terrorism both state and non-state, increasing global poverty fuelled by inequality leading to increasing levels of violence at all levels of society.

Of course it's not all bad. The small percentage of the world who benefit from this model, benefit tremendously in material terms. In the case of Ireland an economic boom can even seep downwards to benefit the poorest sections of Irish society and the illusion of infinite material wealth accumulation at no cost becomes more and more real. The problem is though that while the good times may roll for those in rich countries, the flip side of this is an increase in human misery not just in the poorest areas of the world where slavery is ever present, but even in the so-called rich countries themselves. The Celtic Tiger which promised to address all the ills of a country brutalised for centuries under the imperialist burden of its closest neighbour, proved to be a dangerous illusion. While the Guinness flowed, thousands of new millionaires were created and even the poor got jobs to fund foreign holidays and buy endless amounts of marketed rubbish, the unsustainablilty factor eventually brought the whole thing to an abrupt end, meaning tens of thousands of job losses, huge levels of personal debt, and a huge array of financial corruption to be cleaned up.

We are being told now by our government that we all need to make sacrifices to get us back on the road to economic prosperity and the good old times of the Celtic Tiger. I have to disagree Mr. Taoiseach. Indeed I am morally obliged as a human being to disagree Mr. Taoiseach. The idea that we all should have to make sacrifices to bring this country around is one I'd be delighted to support even though I did not benefit nor cause the financial crisis. The reason why I will actively resist any attempts to pass a burden of financial hardship onto those who struggle financially to get by from week to week is because I do not share the end goal envisioned by those driving the current "solutions".

I am a teacher with a 14 month old son and a working wife. We were living in a 2 bed apartment in the Dublin northside until the spring of this year when the toll of the pension levy and the income levy, which affected us both, made it impossible for us financially to live by ourselves. When we paid for rent, childcare, bills, food, and car we were scraping the bottom of the barrel each month and getting ourselves into debt, relying on friends to lend us money just to get by from week to week. Ireland is an expensive country. It must be. Here we were living a modest existence and finding it nigh impossible to make ends meet financially. I wouldn't mind if we could point to expensive foreign holidays, nights out in expensive restaurants and the sort of things those with "disposable" income can do, but we were trying to live simply. Not in Ireland though, and especially not Dublin, oh no. So we have moved into a house sharing with a couple which has halved our rent expenditure and we get by a bit better. Savings though, we have none and all thoughts of mortgage remain simply that, thoughts. We are the lucky ones though. Blessed are we who do not have a mortgage. If we had listened to the "experts" during the financial boom, we should have bought something, anything, at a price which would have proved subsequently to have been highly exorbitant. The tales of people now who are defaulting on mortgage payments, even teachers still in employment but on reduced hours and reduced pay, send a shiver down my spine every time I hear their plight. That could have been us. Forced into a life of wage slavery to pay a debt fuelled by greedy speculation and immoral rates of interest.

Faced with the prospect of more pay cuts, not just this year, but the year after and the year after that, I shudder to think what type of Ireland those who govern expect us to live in. Cutting vital public services such as health and education, not even mentioning the wage cuts of those working in the sector, will drive the wedge of inequality much deeper into Irish society, already marked by those who have much and those who don't. I wouldn't even mind if reduced wages and public services were to be experienced for a short while in preparation for a society based on a new dispensation of social justice and accountability, but it's not. The government's trying to make us swallow these highly inequitable sacrifices with the promise that it will see us back to the good old days of economic prosperity. I wonder about this and I doubt it.

To want to go back to living in the economic model responsible for most of the human misery in the world, is simply flawed thinking. The practice of maximising profit for shareholders led to a hardening of the traditionally warm Irish spirit to one where time was money and workers and customers were treated as a means by which to make money for shareholders. The money may have flowed but so did the traffic jams, so did the numbers on the housing list increase, so did the prisons fill up, so homelessness increased and so the rate of suicide increased, not to mention the increased levels of environmental destruction. Money did roll, but the capital driving it remained in the hands of a few and while the individual value of people grew less, our lives were encouraged to become more and more individualist. Happiness lay in buying more. The more you contributed to the golden arrow of consumerism, the happier you would become. Never mind the accumulation of rubbish and the environmental destruction involved, more is better. Fulfilment lay in protecting our consumer goods and our security lay in financial security. We became a people involved in a competitive struggle for credit and goods. While solidarity diminished, wars were being fought in the holy name of our economic/political system in Iraq and Afghanistan, and we stood by and let it happen. The Irish Government still today invite the US military to use Shannon airport as a stopover on their way to inflict horrific slaughter and oppression on peoples of the world who deserve our active support against such illogical aggression. Through it all, we never noticed that the bankers and developers and politicians were busy swindling fortunes, amassing millions that today we are told we need to pay back. Go figure.

So what is the alternative to this depressing future where the rich tell us we are in recession, they talk about sacrifice and that we are all suffering? Short term we need to tax the wealthy 1% of this country who own obscene amounts of wealth and get this money flowing back into society. Long-term it requires nothing short of a revolution, a change of mind, a repentance and a vision of a society where it is easier for people to do good. We need to create conditions were companies with ethical considerations at the heart of their philosophy aren't forced to close. We need to teach solidarity in our schools. Solidarity not only in good times but in bad times as well. We need to educate our children not in the ways of capitalist accumulation, but that it is in sharing that we find our security, not in hoarding. When we share our gifts, talents, time and money, we are guaranteeing our future on this planet as the ethic of giving means no one should go hungry or suffer a lack of life's basic necessities. Rather than looking at our neighbours as economic competitors, we should teach our children to treat their neighbour as themselves, see the potential of humanity in everyone we meet in all corners of the world and embrace our differences, not use them as excuses to divide us. We need to invest more money not in ensuring the profitability of banks but ensuring goods and services become better and endure to the point where they lift everyone out of poverty. Rather than supporting the "war on terror", we should declare a new "war", one on poverty and climate change. We could use the money that is spent on the arms industry, the biggest single industry on the earth, and use it to solve every single social problem and disease that affects human kind. Non-violence or violence is not the choice we face, it is non-violence or non-existence. We need people of vision at this hour to lead us to the survival of our people and planet. To go back to the unsustainable economic model and pretend it can deliver for all humanity is a dangerous lie, but sadly believed and valued by most. The argument for a different course is neither popular nor easy but it is possible. Communism in Poland did not collapse by a miracle in 1989. It collapsed because a handful of people met in a basement nine years previously and dared to organise a movement which would see the political system toppled. It took vision, courage and hard work. This is type of sacrifice we should be called to. Anything else is folly and must be resisted. Trade Unions take note.

Related Link: http://www.centerforchristiannonviolence.org
author by sampublication date Fri Nov 06, 2009 22:57author address author phone Report this post to the editors

I have read a lot of waffle about the current crisis in Capitalism, much of it from the doctrinaire Left.
This is one of the best arguments I have heard.
Repentance is an unusual word to hear in this context - but it basically means a change of heart, followed by a change of direction.
I see no sign of it from the wealthy or those in power - quite the opposite. Instead the propoganda machine is going into overdrive to con the people into selling their inheritance of health,education, pensions and welfare just to support the continued wanton and rampant looting of the wealth they have created by a tiny and untouchable minority.
This is a scam on a scale unheard of in human history - and the only solution will be a revolution I fear, because our leaders are no longer capable of hearing us.
This requires serious thinking, planning and co-operation - not looking likely any time soon either I fear.
Plan B requires we truly educate our children and grandchildren...

author by Stigmatapublication date Mon Nov 09, 2009 18:52author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Minister Mary Hanafin is the guest on RTE Current affairs show the Front Line tonight at half-nine.

She is talking about the changes (cuts) in social welfare that will be included in next month's budget. Since the bankers and developers fucked up the economy, the poor will have to pay.

Mary Hanafin is the daughter of a prominent member of FF, and the granddaughter of a FF councillor. Her brother is a Senator.

[Post edited by moderator to remove unsubstantiated allegations]

author by RogerCpublication date Tue Nov 10, 2009 09:26author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Life is divided into 3 phases. 1) The rich get very rich, the workers "Mark time" 2) the rich get richer, the worker gets poorer. 3) the rich have to "Mark time" the worker gets F**ked.
After the recent finacial meltdown did anyone really think there would be any other plan than, "Lets do what we can to get it back up running the same as before, and if we're lucky we might get back to phase (1) described above. Wow what a great future to look forward to!!!
Lets be honest the ruling capitalist class have no problem with what has happened it's all just a big game they are never going to really loose. They will just have to win a little slower than usual. The question is, how long does this go on before the workers HAVE to do something?

author by Rational Ecologistpublication date Tue Nov 10, 2009 13:57author address author phone Report this post to the editors

If all workers voted for left-wing politicians then things may be different. The Irish people have voted overwhelmingly for a neo-liberal agenda over the last decade. We are now getting a neo-liberal solution. I wonder how many of the marchers voted FF, FG or indeed Labour.
The problem with Ireland is the way politics happens.
As much as I hate to say it, the marches are too late. We should have been marching 10 years ago. The recent marches were about pockets not politics.
Let's really think about this in a mature way. Ahern destroyed this country and all who voted FF have to look in the mirror.
The unions are part of the establishment and are not a solution. Begg & Co. are better paid than the TD's!!

author by old codger - pensionerpublication date Tue Nov 10, 2009 16:16author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Unfortunately the pain will have to be felt by more and more ordinary people before anger can be appeased by revolt, The realisation that we have been controlled for decades by political criminals takes a long time to sink in and people prefer to turn the other cheek and not get involved in what they regard as trouble for themselves. This attitude seems to be inbred in the Irish people.
A classic example is the treatment of the honest people of Rossport that have been fighting against criminality imposed on them by Fianna Fail and SHell.The main body of the public knows very well that the whole project from start to finish ( whenever that will be) is a corrupt forcing of the will of Fianna Fail and a notorious multinational by brutal means, yet the support for the protesters is very limited.
If it does not hurt me why should i get invovled? seems to be the attitude of the public. So when enough pain is spread around it may alter the mindsets of people that choose to turn the other cheek.
IT WILL TAKE UNITY TO DEFEAT CRIMINALITY , Untill the people learn this and turn on our corrupt politicians we will just keep suffering.

author by Gregor Kerr - Workers Solidarity Movement - pers. cap. publication date Wed Nov 11, 2009 17:54author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Good article, the challenge for all of us at this time is to get people thinking along the lines ‘The economy is f***ed, we need to find a new way of running society.’ All of the mainstream reactions to the economic crisis envisage the solution coming from what is essentially the same genepool of political ideas that caused it in the first place. We need to challenge people to ask themselves
1. What sort of society would I like to see emerge from the current mess?
2. What am I prepared to do to move society in that direction?
In other words it’s more a challenge to workers and the unemployed to think outside the box and get involved than it is a criticism of government, politicians, economists, trade union leaders etc. Rather than repeating what we’re Against (the easy bit), can we define things in terms of what we’re For.

author by Apublication date Thu Nov 12, 2009 16:33author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Rational Ecologist wrote:

"I wonder how many of the marchers voted FF, FG or indeed Labour"

I completed a structured questionaire with 40 people on the march. It was a random selection (not of the population but those marching) and fairly representative. It is for my own research so can't really disclosed all the findings here. But, lets just say, a substantial amount voted for Fianna Fáil.

Most voted for Labour, followed by Fianna Fáil. Combined it was about 60 per cent. And, if the undisclosed are included (most likely an admission they voted for FF), it raises to about 70per cent. The remainder was scattered between Fine Gael, Greens, Sinn Fein and those who did not vote.

So, given these odds, I wont be going to Paddy Power to back the emergence of a revolutionary subject.

author by Einsteinpublication date Thu Nov 12, 2009 17:34author address author phone Report this post to the editors

I think we should all use the media to protest much more than we do: use the broadcast media, the newspapers, home in on salient points, such as why 'Seanie' Fitzpatrick and a few more hasn't been, eh, interviewed by the appropriate authorities - we know the banks are being cossetted and bailed out by us, the public, so we have the right to ask such questions. We have the right to protest, in the papers, on the airwaves, in the studios. We have the right to strike. In fact it would be downright unpatriotic if we DIDN'T exercise our hard-won rights to protest and strike in the face of clearly unpatriotic banker and developer greed. Write to politicians and protest. Be specific. Don't rant or ramble. Hanafin stands up schoolteacher fashion and tells her pupils that they won't be getting social welfare bonuses this Christmas. Tell our politicians that we do not want members of political 'dynasties' any more in government, we wish to raise the intellectual bar next time round. Tell them we will not vote for anyone who has had a relative preceding them into politics. Sounds mad? Well, you see the kind of hardline thinking it has produced. Speak out! No more small village schoolteacher types trying to run a 21st century country. We need and deserve more than that.

author by Micharel Gallagherpublication date Sat Nov 14, 2009 07:05author address author phone Report this post to the editors

The leaders who will take this country on the road to genuine Socialism, which will end the slavery of workers, end the misery of the people 'at the 'bottom' of our society, give our elderly people a dignified and decent final few years, and in so doing all this, will carve a template for our children and our children's children, for a better society, another society with another system, a system called Socialism, a real and genuine Socialism that is based on the love of Humanity as it's cornerstone.

For the uninformed, read about one of the greatest visionaries (if not the greatest) to ever set foot on Irish soil, James Connolly.

James Connolly. http://www.ucc.ie/acad/appsoc/tmp_store/mia/Library/arc...x.htm

white_globe_globe_rev_.jpg

author by Connolly'sGhostpublication date Sat Nov 14, 2009 18:20author address author phone Report this post to the editors

lots of connolly stuff here:
http://www.marxists.org/archive/connolly/index.htm

author by Equianopublication date Sun Nov 15, 2009 00:59author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Those who need socialism - Les Damnés de la Terre - and might be led in future by dedicated enlightened and charismatic leaders, are indeed Michael G, "on the road to genuine Socialism, which will end the slavery of workers, end the misery of the people 'at the 'bottom' of our society, give our elderly people a dignified and decent final few years..." They are citizens of Burkina Faso or North Korea, but not coddled citizens of Ireland.

author by Pepepublication date Wed Nov 18, 2009 13:51author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Mo chara, this is an excellent piece of analysis and one I know comes from a deep reflection, analysis and from a deep seated honest belief. I think it is so right to challenge the prevalent view that "oh, we were so good during the Celtic Tiger years, let's go back there" and put the record straight: although I'm no millenarist, what we are witnessing is not just a financial crisis, but the whole crisis of a culture of a type of civilization. We need to take back a revolutionary spirit that in May '68 was clear in saying this is about changing our lives, not just for one or two cents more in our weekly pay slip. For the first time in history, humanity's mid term prospect is holocaust -if we don't change significantly the course of events. Your article is a most welcome reflection on this need and the fact that we need to change our lives in a way that life becomes desirable again and not just a never ending trail of tears from cradle to grave...

Although I'm not sure if you've read Kropotkin, I like the Kropotkin's edge to the analysis: it is bout creating the social conditions where tyhe best in humanity could be expressed. Currently, this system creates the conditions to breed greed, corruption, theft, violence, etc. You know that. But these conditions will only be brought about when ordinary people like you or me take action.

Thanks for this piece of clever and insightful reflection,

author by Pepepublication date Wed Nov 18, 2009 13:54author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Forgot to mention: also I like the elegant and clever way in which it is is written -in literary terms it is excellent, and this is an excellent virtue if we are to reach others out of the community of those who are already persuaded. It's persuasive and thought provoking.

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