Poor
= destitute, impoverished, reduced, barren, sterile,
unproductive, inadequate, insignificant, trivial,
unimportant, valueless, inferior,beggarly, unsound,
spiritless, tame, mediocre imperfect, wretched,luckless,
pitiable, unhappy, faulty, unsatisfactory, feeble.
If
you look up the word 'poor' in almost any Dictionary
or Thesaurus the above words as to its meaning will
spill out. Yet today's mainstream politicians, media
and middle class do-gooder's continue to use the
words 'the poor' to describe people who, through
no fault of their own, live in economic poverty.
Nit picking on my part some might say, perhaps,
but I can assure you, I like billions of people
around
the world, who have either grown up in an environment
that was economically disenfranchised or continue
to live in one, find the above use of the words
'the poor' to describe and categorize us extremely
insulting and patronizing, as indeed it is meant
to be by the majority of people who describe us
in this manner. Not
least as it is a throw back to Victorian values
and thought processes, with all
the wretchedness that entails.
For
example, I and my family like billions of people
today in a similar situation, were never wretched,
spiritless or unsound. Nor were we pitiable, mediocre
or feeble and despite certain hardships, we were
far from unhappy. As to being luckless, the very
thought is ridiculous, as to be part of a loving
family placed me and my sister amongst the more
fortunate in life. As far as my father and mother
being unproductive, well my dad like millions on
low incomes had two jobs working from dawn to dusk.
Admittedly for a pitiful wage, but the blame for
that lay at another's
door, and my Mum was much the same, except one of
her two jobs was bringing up her family.
The
fact is, like billions of people around the world
today, they did their best in difficult circumstances
not of their making, thus any talk of their being
unproductive, spiritless, inferior, etc., is both
nonsensical, insensitive and judgmental.
From
the end of the Second World War up until the early
1980s, Democratic Socialism/Welfare Statism was
the norm for most Western governments, whether they
be of the social democratic left, Christian democratic
right or UK Tory/Irish FF/FG right. The words 'the
poor' by and large disappeared from the media and
the lips of Western Politicians, as due to the progressive
outlook of the age it became
socially unacceptable to blanket large swathes of
people in such a derogatory manner. Plus back then,
despite enormous economic problems and manpower
shortages, caused by the dreadful legacy of WW2,
progress in reducing poverty both in the west and
the third world was slowly inching forward.
However
once the 'free market' became the economic orthodoxy
in the West with Reaganomics/Thatcherism and in
the East after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a concerted
attempt to pull back these gains was made by the
multinationals' political bagmen and women within
Western governments, with Reagan, Bush, Thatcher
and Blair at the forefront, until we have reached
the stage today where in almost every country in
the world the rich get richer and the economically
disenfranchised become worse off in a million different
and totally unnecessary ways.
In
the West, especially in the US and UK this has been
covered up with bread and circuses for the economically
comfortable two thirds of the population, whilst
those who have fallen by the way side or refused
a ride on the gravy train are portrayed in the media
as the feckless poor, unable or unwilling to help
themselves, much as they were portrayed in Victorian
and Edwardian times. Which incidentally was the
last time the free market was given such an unbridled
free reign.
Nowhere
has this been better demonstrated than in the recent
attempt by the Bush Administration and their place-men
in the media to demonize the New Orleans working
class as rapists, killers and looters. The message
sent out to working people: if we refuse to accept
the passive role allocated for us, we will be criminalized
and demonized and indeed as happened in New Orleans,
at times of crisis shot on sight without charge
or trial.
However
it is the Third World which has been hit hardest
by the 'free market', especially in Africa. Many
of the continent's nations, since the physical withdrawal
of the imperialist powers, have been governed by
Western sponsored satraps who pocketed much of their
countries wealth for themselves, often with the
help of Western banks who transfered it abroad to
be laundered, whilst leaving multi-national corporations
free to enrich themselves at the people's expense.
Of
course the last thing Western governments want is
for their own electorate to understand the real
reasons why in a world of plenty, millions of people
live in appalling poverty, i. e., the said governments
are a major part of the problem, as this might bring
these governments down. So with a little help from
their friends, 'the poor' have been resurrected
as in Victorian times. The 'poor', we are now told,
are incapable of doing any thing for themselves;
and this is especially true of Africa, thus they
have once again become part of the 'white mans burden.'
This is where the free markets very own court jesters
such as Bob Geldof and Bono enter the picture from
time to time. Forget asking why the people of Africa
suffer such unnecessary poverty, no need, our very
own ding-a-lings have the ear of the G8 leaders,
leave the great continent in their hands, after
all according to Bono and 'Lord' Bob freeman of
Dublin's fair city, the likes of George Bush and
Tony Blair are honorable people.
In
other words the political representatives of the
very people who were responsible for plundering
Africa are going to fix it, as if it was a task
set on the TV show 'Jim will fix it.' Those who
ask awkward [sensible] questions are treated much
as the German guests were in an episode of TVs Fawlty
Towers, i. e., "don't
mention the war." Which is especially helpful
for George and Tony when they pontificate about
their great works to the world's media after the
G8 conferences, whilst Iraq burns and much of Africa
wallows in starvation and disease.
To
those who cry that at least Geldof and Bono are
doing something, I would say, is this not what the
imperialists said when they first came across the
African continent. Better we bring our civilized
ways to these heathens than leave them in their
present godless state. We now know this was window
dressing whilst the real plundering and en-serfment
went on. Geldof's pantomime is nothing more than
that, for if the truth cannot be spoken, how can
the truth out? For example artists performing at
the 2005 G8 concerts in London and Philadelphia
were apparently asked not to mention the Iraq war;
and to their shame, as far as I am aware, very few
of them did so. That is a measure of how reliable
and useful these multi-national court jesters are
to their masters.
The
money spent on the US/UK war on Iraq alone could
have been used in a trillion productive ways in
the third world, but no one thought of mentioning
this fact. The arguments our court jesters put forward
for not mentioning the war was they did not wish
to upset the G8 leaders but get them on side. Now
if you take into account the majority of the G8
nations opposed the war on Iraq, including five
of its most important powers, then you get a better
understanding of who is really pulling Mr Geldof
and Mr. Bono's strings and whose interest they really
serve.
I
will leave you with two final thoughts on the Live
8 2005 concert in London. The show began with the
trumpeters of the Cold-stream Guards, a British
regiment officered in the main by members of the
English ruling class. This regiment represented
the military wing of the British Empire and has
acted as the enforcers and muscle of the sort of
international exploitation that has plundered and
pillaged countless colonies in the name of Western
civilization, not least Ireland. Plus, during the
concert, Bob Geldof introduced Microsoft boss Bill
Gates to the audience as an example to us all or
some such rubbish. Think about that? Past and present
exploitation all rolled into respectability.
Nuff
said!
