Thursday, December 31, 2015
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
Majority of UK children in poverty from working families – report
The article is pretty much self-explanatory. Most poor families are / have become poor in the developed world due to rising unemployment levels & stagnant or less-than-living wages.
Governments, on top of widespread unemployment & low wages, are cutting social programs in the name of austerity. However, incomes of ministers & taxes are not decreasing. Heck, in some cases, they are actually increasing.
Rich, on the other hand, are becoming richer, by the minute. Governments, which by the way, are controlled by these industrialist elites, are afraid of increasing taxes on the rich. Companies also try to find the best way to lower their tax burden through some legal loop holes. So, the only part of the whole country, who is left propping up the country's finances, are the poor people, who diligently pay taxes, while their incomes don't even go up. Their living expenses, on the other hand, keep going up.
So, of course, what else to expect when these families are bringing up children in poverty-ridden conditions. Of course then, as I blogged previously, most of these children will have a hard time in securing good jobs, housing, & perhaps, even good quality education. Then, they will end up either on the welfare list or the criminal list of the government, since they will still want to provide a good lifestyle to their own descendants.
The primary sources of this problem of increasing poverty across the developed world is the government being controlled by the business & political elites, & they all want to see their bank balances increase, even if it spreads misery all across their own countries & regions. Governments are trying to increase taxes or fines or services fees on the poor, decrease taxes or creating loopholes for the rich to avoid taxes altogether, not creating jobs at all ("governments can't meddle in free markets"), fighting unions (which were the reason that baby boomers enjoyed such high incomes & good lifestyle), & becoming parts of secretive trade pacts which will further destroy the labour conditions for the poor.
But, hey, we have democracy & freedoms, right !!! (sarcasm) If Westerners love freedom & democracy so much, then why are they so enthusiastically moving to Middle East (UAE, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia), Asian & South East Asian countries, where, there are no such things as democracy & freedom of speech, but good enough living wage (for a Western-educated graduate) & a good lifestyle.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The majority of children living in poverty in the UK come from working families, a leading think tank’s report reveals.
The report, titled ‘Living standards, poverty and inequality in the UK: 2015’, was published ... by the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS). It was funded by the Joseph Rowntree Trust.
The study examined key factors driving changes in incomes & poverty across the UK.
Figures from the report show that the number of children living in absolute poverty remained unchanged between 2009-10 & 2013-14. However, the proportion of kids living in poverty whose parents work rose by 9% over this period.
The IFS says this dramatic rise in what has been described as Britain’s working poor is a result of increased unemployment levels & a steady decline in workers’ real wages.
Despite the promise of a new living wage, benefit cuts made by the new Conservative government are likely to put pressure on poor families, the report said. It argued the effects of further government cuts make a greater impact than this marginal pay rise for those who are struggling financially.
"Material deprivation" was one of the main issues for those living in rented properties, single parents & disabled people.
The report noted many such families are unable to afford more luxurious goods & are more exposed to deprivation than home owners.
“Among families with children, social renters with incomes (after housing costs) around the median are at least as likely to be materially deprived as the lowest-income owner-occupiers," the report said.
"This illustrates the importance of looking at more than just current income to understand low living standards.”
Research Economist at the IFS Chris Belfield, who co-authored the report, said absolute poverty levels among children obscure “important and offsetting trends.”
“Since 2009–10, a fall in the number of workless families has acted to reduce poverty, but this has been offset by a substantial rise in in-work poverty," he said.
"This largely reflects the wider nature of the labour market since the recession: robust employment and weak earnings.”
Senior Research Economist at the IFS Robert Joyce, who also authored the report, added that the government needs to do more to combat the root causes of poverty.
“The government has recently emphasized worklessness as a cause of poverty," he said.
"This makes sense, but tackling low living standards will be difficult without improvements for working families too.”
Chief Executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation Julia Unwin said in-work poverty is a growing concern.
“A strong economy and rising employment have masked the growing problem of in-work poverty, as years of below-inflation wage rises have taken their toll on people’s incomes,” she said.
“The upcoming minimum wage rise will help, but many low-income working families will still find themselves worse off due to tax credit changes. Boosting productivity and creating more jobs which offer progression at work is vital to make work a reliable route out of poverty.”
Governments, on top of widespread unemployment & low wages, are cutting social programs in the name of austerity. However, incomes of ministers & taxes are not decreasing. Heck, in some cases, they are actually increasing.
Rich, on the other hand, are becoming richer, by the minute. Governments, which by the way, are controlled by these industrialist elites, are afraid of increasing taxes on the rich. Companies also try to find the best way to lower their tax burden through some legal loop holes. So, the only part of the whole country, who is left propping up the country's finances, are the poor people, who diligently pay taxes, while their incomes don't even go up. Their living expenses, on the other hand, keep going up.
So, of course, what else to expect when these families are bringing up children in poverty-ridden conditions. Of course then, as I blogged previously, most of these children will have a hard time in securing good jobs, housing, & perhaps, even good quality education. Then, they will end up either on the welfare list or the criminal list of the government, since they will still want to provide a good lifestyle to their own descendants.
The primary sources of this problem of increasing poverty across the developed world is the government being controlled by the business & political elites, & they all want to see their bank balances increase, even if it spreads misery all across their own countries & regions. Governments are trying to increase taxes or fines or services fees on the poor, decrease taxes or creating loopholes for the rich to avoid taxes altogether, not creating jobs at all ("governments can't meddle in free markets"), fighting unions (which were the reason that baby boomers enjoyed such high incomes & good lifestyle), & becoming parts of secretive trade pacts which will further destroy the labour conditions for the poor.
But, hey, we have democracy & freedoms, right !!! (sarcasm) If Westerners love freedom & democracy so much, then why are they so enthusiastically moving to Middle East (UAE, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia), Asian & South East Asian countries, where, there are no such things as democracy & freedom of speech, but good enough living wage (for a Western-educated graduate) & a good lifestyle.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The majority of children living in poverty in the UK come from working families, a leading think tank’s report reveals.
The report, titled ‘Living standards, poverty and inequality in the UK: 2015’, was published ... by the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS). It was funded by the Joseph Rowntree Trust.
The study examined key factors driving changes in incomes & poverty across the UK.
Figures from the report show that the number of children living in absolute poverty remained unchanged between 2009-10 & 2013-14. However, the proportion of kids living in poverty whose parents work rose by 9% over this period.
The IFS says this dramatic rise in what has been described as Britain’s working poor is a result of increased unemployment levels & a steady decline in workers’ real wages.
Despite the promise of a new living wage, benefit cuts made by the new Conservative government are likely to put pressure on poor families, the report said. It argued the effects of further government cuts make a greater impact than this marginal pay rise for those who are struggling financially.
"Material deprivation" was one of the main issues for those living in rented properties, single parents & disabled people.
The report noted many such families are unable to afford more luxurious goods & are more exposed to deprivation than home owners.
“Among families with children, social renters with incomes (after housing costs) around the median are at least as likely to be materially deprived as the lowest-income owner-occupiers," the report said.
"This illustrates the importance of looking at more than just current income to understand low living standards.”
Research Economist at the IFS Chris Belfield, who co-authored the report, said absolute poverty levels among children obscure “important and offsetting trends.”
“Since 2009–10, a fall in the number of workless families has acted to reduce poverty, but this has been offset by a substantial rise in in-work poverty," he said.
"This largely reflects the wider nature of the labour market since the recession: robust employment and weak earnings.”
Senior Research Economist at the IFS Robert Joyce, who also authored the report, added that the government needs to do more to combat the root causes of poverty.
“The government has recently emphasized worklessness as a cause of poverty," he said.
"This makes sense, but tackling low living standards will be difficult without improvements for working families too.”
Chief Executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation Julia Unwin said in-work poverty is a growing concern.
“A strong economy and rising employment have masked the growing problem of in-work poverty, as years of below-inflation wage rises have taken their toll on people’s incomes,” she said.
“The upcoming minimum wage rise will help, but many low-income working families will still find themselves worse off due to tax credit changes. Boosting productivity and creating more jobs which offer progression at work is vital to make work a reliable route out of poverty.”
Nearly 40% of African-American children living in poverty – study
This article is linked to my previous blog post. As the article mentions that the poverty rate of African-American & Latino children is so high partly because of employment status & income levels of their parents, I will expand on it in this blog.
One of the major problems causing this stark differences in poverty & why African-American & Latino kids are poor is because of high levels of discrimination. This discrimination, or racism, not only exists in employment but also perpetuates in society through criminal legal system.
As my previous blog explained that prisoners, who are mostly African-Americans & Latinos, not only are incarcerated at a much higher rate than their Caucasian counterparts, but those incarcerations adversely affect their lives. One mistake, however small it is, stays with them all their lives.
Now, we can say that why those people have to commit crimes in the first place. Right on!! But, the question also arises then that what a parent is supposed to do when he/she is unable to find enough income to feed his/her children properly, save enough to send them to school, & provide them enough to help them live a proper life (housing, clothing etc.) Many commit crimes to help them earn enough income to help them properly raise their kids. So, it's sort of becomes a case of catch-22.
As I explained in my previous blog, governments & other institutions (profit & non-profit alike) are supposed to work together to decrease the exorbitantly high costs of housing & education for the people to thrive. If these two essential things are cheaper, then even poor people will be able to live & educate themselves & their kids. These two things should also be without any gentrification or division based on discrimination that poor people are pushed into dirty, polluted, unhealthy, unsafe living areas & the schools in their areas also suffer in the same way; incompetent teachers with the education system not in favour of poor people. Costs of post-secondary education also needs to be reduced a lot, just so children of poor people are not afraid of going to school because then they will have to take on high levels of debts, which in itself, is a major problem, since non-payment of student debt can land one in prison, which goes back to the incarceration problem I explained above.
Every parent wants the best for their children & will do anything he/she can to see their kids thrive in life. But the laws of the country can heavily affect what that parent can or cannot do, which in turn, could (& usually does) adversely affect their whole generation. That's why, governments have to take proper action to resolve this problem, but the rising poverty rates of children only shows how governments of the Western developed world have forgotten their essential responsibilities.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A new study found the percentage of American children living in poverty has declined slightly since 2010 as the economy has improved, but the rate for African-American children remains extremely high, at nearly 40%.
More than 45.3 million people are considered to be living in poverty in the US, given a poverty line of $24,000 for a family of four. Some 14.7 million of these, or 20%, are children.
While that figure has declined from 16.3 million in 2010, it still comprises one-fifth of the total number of American children under 18, & one-third of Americans living in poverty, according to Pew Research Center analysis of Census data.
Pew said that for the first time since the US Census starting collecting data in 1974, the number of African-American children living in poverty outnumbers the number of white children. Poverty rates declined for white children from 4.9 million in 2010 to 4.1 million in 2013, but for African-American children it only decreased from 4.4 million in 2010 to 4.2 million in 2013.
While Pew said the difference is not statistically significant, it is still notable since white children outnumber African-American children by three to one, with two out of five African-American children living in families with total income below the poverty line.
There are also stark differences for Latinos. In 2013, one out of three Latino children, or 30.4% of the 18 million Hispanic children in the country, was living in poverty, compared to 1 out of 10 white & Asian children, according to Pew.
The poverty rate for African-American children can be explained, in part, by the employment status & level of income of their parents, according to Mark Hugo Lopez, the director of Hispanic research at the Pew Research Center. Blacks are more likely to be unemployed & earn less than people of other races.
...
Last month, the Department of Labor said the unemployment rate for African-Americans was 9.5%, compared to 6.6% for Hispanics, 4.6% for whites & 3.8% for Asians.
...
One of the major problems causing this stark differences in poverty & why African-American & Latino kids are poor is because of high levels of discrimination. This discrimination, or racism, not only exists in employment but also perpetuates in society through criminal legal system.
As my previous blog explained that prisoners, who are mostly African-Americans & Latinos, not only are incarcerated at a much higher rate than their Caucasian counterparts, but those incarcerations adversely affect their lives. One mistake, however small it is, stays with them all their lives.
Now, we can say that why those people have to commit crimes in the first place. Right on!! But, the question also arises then that what a parent is supposed to do when he/she is unable to find enough income to feed his/her children properly, save enough to send them to school, & provide them enough to help them live a proper life (housing, clothing etc.) Many commit crimes to help them earn enough income to help them properly raise their kids. So, it's sort of becomes a case of catch-22.
As I explained in my previous blog, governments & other institutions (profit & non-profit alike) are supposed to work together to decrease the exorbitantly high costs of housing & education for the people to thrive. If these two essential things are cheaper, then even poor people will be able to live & educate themselves & their kids. These two things should also be without any gentrification or division based on discrimination that poor people are pushed into dirty, polluted, unhealthy, unsafe living areas & the schools in their areas also suffer in the same way; incompetent teachers with the education system not in favour of poor people. Costs of post-secondary education also needs to be reduced a lot, just so children of poor people are not afraid of going to school because then they will have to take on high levels of debts, which in itself, is a major problem, since non-payment of student debt can land one in prison, which goes back to the incarceration problem I explained above.
Every parent wants the best for their children & will do anything he/she can to see their kids thrive in life. But the laws of the country can heavily affect what that parent can or cannot do, which in turn, could (& usually does) adversely affect their whole generation. That's why, governments have to take proper action to resolve this problem, but the rising poverty rates of children only shows how governments of the Western developed world have forgotten their essential responsibilities.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A new study found the percentage of American children living in poverty has declined slightly since 2010 as the economy has improved, but the rate for African-American children remains extremely high, at nearly 40%.
More than 45.3 million people are considered to be living in poverty in the US, given a poverty line of $24,000 for a family of four. Some 14.7 million of these, or 20%, are children.
While that figure has declined from 16.3 million in 2010, it still comprises one-fifth of the total number of American children under 18, & one-third of Americans living in poverty, according to Pew Research Center analysis of Census data.
Pew said that for the first time since the US Census starting collecting data in 1974, the number of African-American children living in poverty outnumbers the number of white children. Poverty rates declined for white children from 4.9 million in 2010 to 4.1 million in 2013, but for African-American children it only decreased from 4.4 million in 2010 to 4.2 million in 2013.
While Pew said the difference is not statistically significant, it is still notable since white children outnumber African-American children by three to one, with two out of five African-American children living in families with total income below the poverty line.
There are also stark differences for Latinos. In 2013, one out of three Latino children, or 30.4% of the 18 million Hispanic children in the country, was living in poverty, compared to 1 out of 10 white & Asian children, according to Pew.
The poverty rate for African-American children can be explained, in part, by the employment status & level of income of their parents, according to Mark Hugo Lopez, the director of Hispanic research at the Pew Research Center. Blacks are more likely to be unemployed & earn less than people of other races.
...
Last month, the Department of Labor said the unemployment rate for African-Americans was 9.5%, compared to 6.6% for Hispanics, 4.6% for whites & 3.8% for Asians.
...
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
After being released, US prisoners find new struggles
It's quite common to look down upon people who are involved in small criminal activities but we often forget to peek "behind the curtain" why those people have become what they have become. They are not earning millions from causing pain to someone else. They are small time crooks.
Now, in North America, African-Americans & Natives are viewed as criminals by the general public, usually with the help of police & government's tough-on-crime stance.
Governments at all levels don't care in investing in the rehab of that person, & try to resolve the situation (reduce the crime rate) by trying to cure the symptom of the problem; imprison the perpetrator. Imprisoning these people usually hardens them into a bigger criminal than making them a better person. Governments don't invest in proper rehab of the person because it makes more money through imprisonment than spending money on rehab.
What's the proper rehab of the criminal or people who are involved in small-time criminal activities? Providing these people with education, housing, & employment opportunities. Creating laws where former convicts are properly re-integrated into the society.
Most people, who end up being labelled a "criminal", don't prefer criminal activities over non-criminal activities, at least, initially. But many people, and especially the ones who do fall into criminal activities, commit crimes because they need the money for their families. Basic needs of a human, like housing, education, & employment are all getting expensive or inaccessible.
Housing is getting expensive all over North America & Europe. Big cities like New York, Toronto, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Chicago, London, Paris, Karachi, Dubai, Shanghai, Beijing, Delhi, Mumbai & etc. are becoming expensive in housing. As we all know that incomes never go up as fast as expenses, so poor people are usually pushed out of the cities & into the suburbs or fringes of the city. If they lose their jobs because of the economy, for instance, then they end up being homeless (the numbers of homeless people have actually increased in cities like New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, Vancouver, & London in the past decade).
Education is becoming expensive everywhere. Tuition keeps rising. Poor people can't even afford to go to school, anymore. Only way to go to school is taking on debt but good-paying jobs after graduation are becoming scarce so many would-be students don't want to take on debt. If they do take on debt & fail to repay it because they lost their jobs or fall ill, then they can be imprisoned (at least in US), which will mark them as a criminal for life, & then they will have a hard time in securing a job or even a house after they are released. Plus, failing to repay the student loans also put the credit history of the students in jeopardy, which in turn, creates problems for them in securing housing.
Employment has become network-based. North American & European economies are in decline. Jobs are scarce. Whatever jobs are available, even junior-level jobs that they require such high qualifications in terms of education & work experience that most people are excluded from ever being hired for those jobs. If the job seeker doesn't have close friends & family members in influential positions in companies, then forget getting a job, at least one that will pay good enough to cover housing & living expenses.
So, a poor person has only one route to make enough money to take care of the expenses; earn the money in the wrong way (i.e. become a criminal). And if & when that person is caught, as a criminal, & after spending their required time in prison, they will have a much harder time in reintegrating back into society because society & laws will make it much harder for that person to integrate back into society with restrictive laws & wrong social perception of such poor people.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On the day of Obama's speech, J Jondhi Harrell came down from his apartment & walked over to a nearby corner to haul 22-year-old Jeremiah Ross inside the offices of the Center for Returning Citizens (TCRC). Harrell, the executive director of the centre, has been trying to persuade Ross to stop dealing drugs, or "trapping" & instead find a full time job & stable housing.
Harrell tries to entice Ross - a thin, handsome young man with big eyes & a web of tattoos crawling up his neck - with $100 moving jobs, & lets him use the computers in the front office. If he can get Ross to leave the street corner behind, Harrell says, it could be a major coup - Ross is a leader, lots of the neighbourhood kids look up to him.
But Ross recently finished a stint in prison, he has no high school diploma, & right now TCRC can't afford to pay him a living wage. So the streets continue to beckon.
"After me and my family got evicted, I'm out here," says Ross. "It's hard to find a job, so this all I know. This is the first thing I go to."
...
Nicetown is about a 15 minute car ride away from Philadelphia's Center City where Obama outlined his plans to reform the criminal justice system at the National Association for Advancement of Colored People's (NAACP) annual convention ... .
This speech came on the heels of his announcement that he is commuting the sentences of 46 nonviolent drug offenders who've been incarcerated in federal prison for many years. While everyone agrees it is an important moment, the word some Philadelphian advocates for the formerly incarcerated use to describe the president is "disappointing."
Obama spoke of an America founded on second chances - but many return to find that Pennsylvania law prevents them from getting licences to do certain types of work, prevents them from getting housing & sometimes bars them from entering their former neighbourhoods altogether. These types of laws are known as "collateral consequences," & according to a national website that tracks them, Pennsylvania has nearly 1,000 of these restrictions.
"It's become almost like a sport for the legislators to create all these barriers," says Angus Love, a lawyer with the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project.
Germantown Avenue once teemed with black-owned businesses patronised by neighbourhood residents collecting good wages from nearby factories. Today, nearly half the people living in the 19140 zip code do not have a high school diploma. Most households bring in less than $30,000 (£19,000) a year & the glittering shops have shut down.
A huge number of the estimated 35,000 former inmates who return to Philadelphia each year from federal, state & county lockups head back to North Philadelphia neighbourhoods every year.
According to 2008 figures, it cost taxpayers $40 million to incarcerate men & women from Nicetown - the fifth highest rate in the city.
"In our community, mass incarceration I would say affects over 60% of the community," says Harrell. "You'd be hard pressed to walk down any street in any black neighbourhood in Philadelphia, and knock on 10 doors and find no one who is affected."
It's a neighbourhood that feels the full absence of "missing men," a term used by the New York Times to describe the large number of black men ages 25 to 54 who have disappeared from cities around the country due to either early death or incarceration.
Philadelphia is said to be missing 30,000 of these men. Nicetown is exactly the kind of community they're vanishing from.
Once released, these inmates could be said to be joining the ranks of the re-appeared men, & Harrell is one of them.
He spent 20 years in federal prison, & returned to Philadelphia 5 years ago. But don't call him an "ex-con" - he & other activists worked hard to get Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter to issue a proclamation declaring that the city officially refer to former inmates as "returning citizens," & Harrell is deadly serious about changing stigma with language.
He'll never use the word "re-entry" either, a term he associates with the sometimes-exploitative network of halfway houses that are often a required stop after prison.
"Frankly I was treated with more disrespect in those six months than in 19 years of incarceration," he says.
Harrell's three-year-old organisation emphasises a holistic approach for former inmates coming home. Harrell & his staff of four help connect clients to housing & employment, but also encourage the men & women they serve to get involved in community service, to join a faith community if they're religious.
He wants to plant community gardens & start buying up the properties on Germantown Avenue to start business that will employ & train returning inmates ... .
...
In fact, job placement & spiritual guidance can only take you so far on the streets of Nicetown. When Harrell thinks about the notion of the "missing men" of North Philadelphia, his thoughts go immediately to Cynthia Muse, who lives just around the corner from his office.
On 31 May, Muse's son Abdul Salaam walked out the door of their row house & headed to a celebration for his 36th birthday. Within hours, he was dead - stabbed in the heart in front of his toddler son & girlfriend in the courtyard of a public housing project less than 2 miles from his mother's home.
This is not the first time Muse, a mother of 5 sons, has been through this.
"It was my third time," she says ... . "My emotions and my logical mind is not giving me no answers. Why have you taken a third son from me?"
Muse never seems to get any resolution. Nobody knows how her son Jalaal ended up in the trunk of his own car, or who shot her 26-year-old son Abdul Aliym to death. Her youngest is in prison.
Only one of her sons, Jamal, now has a steady job & a family of his own to look after, despite spending almost 10 years in prison. He's not entirely sure himself how he made it out, but says the deaths of his brothers helped motivate him.
Now, in North America, African-Americans & Natives are viewed as criminals by the general public, usually with the help of police & government's tough-on-crime stance.
Governments at all levels don't care in investing in the rehab of that person, & try to resolve the situation (reduce the crime rate) by trying to cure the symptom of the problem; imprison the perpetrator. Imprisoning these people usually hardens them into a bigger criminal than making them a better person. Governments don't invest in proper rehab of the person because it makes more money through imprisonment than spending money on rehab.
What's the proper rehab of the criminal or people who are involved in small-time criminal activities? Providing these people with education, housing, & employment opportunities. Creating laws where former convicts are properly re-integrated into the society.
Most people, who end up being labelled a "criminal", don't prefer criminal activities over non-criminal activities, at least, initially. But many people, and especially the ones who do fall into criminal activities, commit crimes because they need the money for their families. Basic needs of a human, like housing, education, & employment are all getting expensive or inaccessible.
Housing is getting expensive all over North America & Europe. Big cities like New York, Toronto, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Chicago, London, Paris, Karachi, Dubai, Shanghai, Beijing, Delhi, Mumbai & etc. are becoming expensive in housing. As we all know that incomes never go up as fast as expenses, so poor people are usually pushed out of the cities & into the suburbs or fringes of the city. If they lose their jobs because of the economy, for instance, then they end up being homeless (the numbers of homeless people have actually increased in cities like New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, Vancouver, & London in the past decade).
Education is becoming expensive everywhere. Tuition keeps rising. Poor people can't even afford to go to school, anymore. Only way to go to school is taking on debt but good-paying jobs after graduation are becoming scarce so many would-be students don't want to take on debt. If they do take on debt & fail to repay it because they lost their jobs or fall ill, then they can be imprisoned (at least in US), which will mark them as a criminal for life, & then they will have a hard time in securing a job or even a house after they are released. Plus, failing to repay the student loans also put the credit history of the students in jeopardy, which in turn, creates problems for them in securing housing.
Employment has become network-based. North American & European economies are in decline. Jobs are scarce. Whatever jobs are available, even junior-level jobs that they require such high qualifications in terms of education & work experience that most people are excluded from ever being hired for those jobs. If the job seeker doesn't have close friends & family members in influential positions in companies, then forget getting a job, at least one that will pay good enough to cover housing & living expenses.
So, a poor person has only one route to make enough money to take care of the expenses; earn the money in the wrong way (i.e. become a criminal). And if & when that person is caught, as a criminal, & after spending their required time in prison, they will have a much harder time in reintegrating back into society because society & laws will make it much harder for that person to integrate back into society with restrictive laws & wrong social perception of such poor people.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On the day of Obama's speech, J Jondhi Harrell came down from his apartment & walked over to a nearby corner to haul 22-year-old Jeremiah Ross inside the offices of the Center for Returning Citizens (TCRC). Harrell, the executive director of the centre, has been trying to persuade Ross to stop dealing drugs, or "trapping" & instead find a full time job & stable housing.
Harrell tries to entice Ross - a thin, handsome young man with big eyes & a web of tattoos crawling up his neck - with $100 moving jobs, & lets him use the computers in the front office. If he can get Ross to leave the street corner behind, Harrell says, it could be a major coup - Ross is a leader, lots of the neighbourhood kids look up to him.
But Ross recently finished a stint in prison, he has no high school diploma, & right now TCRC can't afford to pay him a living wage. So the streets continue to beckon.
"After me and my family got evicted, I'm out here," says Ross. "It's hard to find a job, so this all I know. This is the first thing I go to."
...
Nicetown is about a 15 minute car ride away from Philadelphia's Center City where Obama outlined his plans to reform the criminal justice system at the National Association for Advancement of Colored People's (NAACP) annual convention ... .
This speech came on the heels of his announcement that he is commuting the sentences of 46 nonviolent drug offenders who've been incarcerated in federal prison for many years. While everyone agrees it is an important moment, the word some Philadelphian advocates for the formerly incarcerated use to describe the president is "disappointing."
Obama spoke of an America founded on second chances - but many return to find that Pennsylvania law prevents them from getting licences to do certain types of work, prevents them from getting housing & sometimes bars them from entering their former neighbourhoods altogether. These types of laws are known as "collateral consequences," & according to a national website that tracks them, Pennsylvania has nearly 1,000 of these restrictions.
"It's become almost like a sport for the legislators to create all these barriers," says Angus Love, a lawyer with the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project.
Germantown Avenue once teemed with black-owned businesses patronised by neighbourhood residents collecting good wages from nearby factories. Today, nearly half the people living in the 19140 zip code do not have a high school diploma. Most households bring in less than $30,000 (£19,000) a year & the glittering shops have shut down.
A huge number of the estimated 35,000 former inmates who return to Philadelphia each year from federal, state & county lockups head back to North Philadelphia neighbourhoods every year.
According to 2008 figures, it cost taxpayers $40 million to incarcerate men & women from Nicetown - the fifth highest rate in the city.
"In our community, mass incarceration I would say affects over 60% of the community," says Harrell. "You'd be hard pressed to walk down any street in any black neighbourhood in Philadelphia, and knock on 10 doors and find no one who is affected."
It's a neighbourhood that feels the full absence of "missing men," a term used by the New York Times to describe the large number of black men ages 25 to 54 who have disappeared from cities around the country due to either early death or incarceration.
Philadelphia is said to be missing 30,000 of these men. Nicetown is exactly the kind of community they're vanishing from.
Once released, these inmates could be said to be joining the ranks of the re-appeared men, & Harrell is one of them.
He spent 20 years in federal prison, & returned to Philadelphia 5 years ago. But don't call him an "ex-con" - he & other activists worked hard to get Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter to issue a proclamation declaring that the city officially refer to former inmates as "returning citizens," & Harrell is deadly serious about changing stigma with language.
He'll never use the word "re-entry" either, a term he associates with the sometimes-exploitative network of halfway houses that are often a required stop after prison.
"Frankly I was treated with more disrespect in those six months than in 19 years of incarceration," he says.
Harrell's three-year-old organisation emphasises a holistic approach for former inmates coming home. Harrell & his staff of four help connect clients to housing & employment, but also encourage the men & women they serve to get involved in community service, to join a faith community if they're religious.
He wants to plant community gardens & start buying up the properties on Germantown Avenue to start business that will employ & train returning inmates ... .
...
In fact, job placement & spiritual guidance can only take you so far on the streets of Nicetown. When Harrell thinks about the notion of the "missing men" of North Philadelphia, his thoughts go immediately to Cynthia Muse, who lives just around the corner from his office.
On 31 May, Muse's son Abdul Salaam walked out the door of their row house & headed to a celebration for his 36th birthday. Within hours, he was dead - stabbed in the heart in front of his toddler son & girlfriend in the courtyard of a public housing project less than 2 miles from his mother's home.
This is not the first time Muse, a mother of 5 sons, has been through this.
"It was my third time," she says ... . "My emotions and my logical mind is not giving me no answers. Why have you taken a third son from me?"
Muse never seems to get any resolution. Nobody knows how her son Jalaal ended up in the trunk of his own car, or who shot her 26-year-old son Abdul Aliym to death. Her youngest is in prison.
Only one of her sons, Jamal, now has a steady job & a family of his own to look after, despite spending almost 10 years in prison. He's not entirely sure himself how he made it out, but says the deaths of his brothers helped motivate him.
Thursday, December 17, 2015
Will Germans embrace or shun refugees?
I see quite a few people are enthusiastically sharing videos & news of Canadian PM, Justin Trudeau, welcoming Syrian refugees in Canada. They are all saying that this is what humanity is all about, & Syria's neighbouring Arab countries should learn a thing or two from Canada (please keep in mind that Syria's neighbouring Arab countries have taken in millions of refugees, while Canada is only taking in 25,000, even though, Lebanon is not militarily involved in Syria but Canada is).
If I recall correctly, social media was abuzz with similar praises, & rebukes for Arab countries, a few months ago, when Europe, & especially Germany, was welcoming refugees.
As this article shows, the world is full of either stupid people or extremely naive people. Europeans & German public was never, & still is, not so enthusiastically welcoming refugees as the media portrayed.
As the Toronto Star article from November 20th shows, a majority of general Canadian public also is not in favour of Canada welcoming refugees. Even though, Canada is only accepting 25,000 Syrian refugees who will be spread around all over the country, so their effect will be minimal on Canadian labour market, if any. Ironically enough, Canada got this idea of welcoming refugees from Germany, & Germany now has instituted border controls & German public has started to dislike Merkel ("Merkel's approval rating slipped to 54% in December - down from 71% in January.") We do have to keep in mind that Germany is smaller in land mass than Canada but then Germany has a better economy than Canada, which is suffering from a recession, which is also predicted to last long.
However, just like Germans, Canadians are torn apart between wanting to help people in their time of need, but then also looking at their own dire future. As the article states that policy makers in Germany are discussing lowering the minimum wages so employers can hire them (of course, low minimum wages will affect all & not only refugees). Although, German government is providing funds for German language classes for refugees, the funds are only available for basic classes. Of course, one cannot perform better in his/her job, if they are not fluent in the language of their adopted country. At the same time, the refugees in Germany are educated & coming with a dream to have similar jobs in Germany as they had back in their homeland, but they won't get those jobs. Germany needs, & welcoming, these refugees to get the jobs that German public doesn't want; the proverbial "low paid & dirty" work.
Canada is welcoming refugees who are family members, & no single men. Family / married men are usually educated & since they need to earn enough money to support their families, they will be looking for similar jobs they had back in their homeland. Problem is that Canada cannot provide those kinds of jobs, since its economy is in shambles, & even Canadian educated grads are having an extremely hard time in securing those kinds of proverbially "high paid & good" jobs. So, in a few months, these refugees will be forgotten, since the media will move on to the next sensational story, & the refugees will be left to fend for themselves in the labour market.
One more point comes out of this article is what is democracy, then? As I blogged earlier, the general public loves "democracy" as long as the government's decisions benefits it. Do you think that is it democratic that the majority of Canadians dislike Trudeau's plan of welcoming & settling refugees but he went ahead with it, anyway? Do you think that is it democratic that Merkel's welcoming refugees doesn't coincide with what the German public really wants? Do you think is it democratic that US, & Republican party's leadership front runner, Donald Trump, is being embraced by millions of Americans, even after his extremely xenophobic comments against refugees & Muslims?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In a crowded market square in Gera, poets & performers take to the stage. Above them is a banner that has become a familiar sight at train stations across Germany. "Refugees Welcome," it reads in big letters.
Die Linke, a left-wing German political party, has set up a stall to welcome the newcomers, alongside a local charity.
...
Nearby, supporters of AfD - Alternative for Germany - a right-wing group which is cynical about the entry of so many refugees, have gathered.
It's Saturday afternoon in late October & Dirk Heinze has come with his wife Daniella Bruhnke & their 3 children, Sophia, six, Turina, two, & 10-month-old Pierre to hear what both groups have to say.
Dirk, 40, works in care for the elderly & has lived his whole life in Gera. I'm following them as well as some of the refugees to see how they & the city adapt to the changes brought about by the influx of asylum seekers.
Gera was once part of the former German Democratic Republic. It is small, with a population of 95,000, &, until recently, only had 2,000 foreign residents.
Dirk views the groups with scepticism, saying that they are both trying to capitalise on the refugee crisis.
Dirk & Daniella explain that they are frustrated at being excluded from decisions that have affected their town. Many residents feel the same, according to Daniella, because the decision to admit so many refugees was made by politicians, without consultation.
The couple haven't been involved in any protests, although they understand why others have. "So many other people are coming. They [the protesters] fear for their jobs. They fear, well, yes for their lives," says Daniella.
In August Angela Merkel said all Syrians could apply for asylum, & wouldn't be sent back to the first safe country they landed in. Germany was already taking a substantial number of refugees.
This week it was reported that the influx of asylum-seekers in Germany has reached the one million mark - four times the total for 2014. About a half of the new refugees are from Syria.
Refugees are being bussed across the country. ...
Gera is receiving fewer refugees than other cities. Many of them are currently living in the former hospital, converted in mid-October into a refugee centre for up to 2,000 new arrivals.
Someone tried to flood the centre before it opened, so security is very tight. There was also an attack on a refugee by two German men with five dogs in tow. Injuries were minor but news quickly spread around the centre that it may not be safe to go out at night.
The recent influx has caused a mini-political earthquake in Germany. Merkel's approval rating slipped to 54% in December - down from 71% in January.
There have been high-profile & large Pegida (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West) demonstrations against the arrival of Muslim refugees. These have mostly been held in Dresden - about an hour from Gera.
In Gera itself there have been smaller protests known as "Thugida" demonstrations (the name combines Pegida with Thuringia, which is the state in which Gera sits).
It's far from one-sided, though. Germans have been filling train stations to welcome refugees - handing out sweets to children & clothes to their parents.
Dirk & Daniella's concerns are always couched with sympathy for those truly in need. "Regardless of which country they come, what religion they are - if someone needs help, they have to receive help," says Daniella.
But she maintains that people shouldn't be allowed to come "just because they want a better life, and because it is better here in Germany".
Dirk is sceptical of Merkel's "Wir schaffen das" ["We will make it"] pronouncements. ...
...
The recent attacks in Paris are on everyone's mind - particularly since at least two of the attackers entered Europe posing as refugees. New arrivals in Germany tell me they worry that Germans will come to fear all refugees & that everyone will end up too scared even to communicate, resulting in a segregated city.
"I do believe that the opinion of many people has now changed, because many are afraid now that terrorists will mix themselves among the refugees," says Daniella. "Who knows who is a terrorist and who is a refugee? They don't have it written on their forehead."
They tell me of other concerns, too. There has been debate for months about lowering the minimum wage in Germany for refugees. It is a controversial idea that, as Dirk puts it, "will keep the big bosses happy", but he fears may lower wages for Germans.
Jobs are on everyone's minds here. I spend some time at a German language school. Classes are growing every day because of the arrival of refugees. I meet a language teacher who, though enthusiastic about the potential of the refugees, is not hopeful about their chances.
Sandy Mazur tells me that German is being taught, funded by the government, to a basic level - but after that the money stops.
"These refugees who come from Syria are very ambitious," she says. "They want work - and here in Germany we have so many free work places because we don't have so many young people."
But she says the German provided is not enough to get a job, & certainly not a job in anywhere near in the same professions the refugees worked in back home. Some are teachers, IT professionals & engineers.
As I leave in early December refugees are more visible on the streets of Gera.
Residents are undoubtedly nervous, but many of their foreign neighbours hope they can bring new life to this quiet city.
If I recall correctly, social media was abuzz with similar praises, & rebukes for Arab countries, a few months ago, when Europe, & especially Germany, was welcoming refugees.
As this article shows, the world is full of either stupid people or extremely naive people. Europeans & German public was never, & still is, not so enthusiastically welcoming refugees as the media portrayed.
As the Toronto Star article from November 20th shows, a majority of general Canadian public also is not in favour of Canada welcoming refugees. Even though, Canada is only accepting 25,000 Syrian refugees who will be spread around all over the country, so their effect will be minimal on Canadian labour market, if any. Ironically enough, Canada got this idea of welcoming refugees from Germany, & Germany now has instituted border controls & German public has started to dislike Merkel ("Merkel's approval rating slipped to 54% in December - down from 71% in January.") We do have to keep in mind that Germany is smaller in land mass than Canada but then Germany has a better economy than Canada, which is suffering from a recession, which is also predicted to last long.
However, just like Germans, Canadians are torn apart between wanting to help people in their time of need, but then also looking at their own dire future. As the article states that policy makers in Germany are discussing lowering the minimum wages so employers can hire them (of course, low minimum wages will affect all & not only refugees). Although, German government is providing funds for German language classes for refugees, the funds are only available for basic classes. Of course, one cannot perform better in his/her job, if they are not fluent in the language of their adopted country. At the same time, the refugees in Germany are educated & coming with a dream to have similar jobs in Germany as they had back in their homeland, but they won't get those jobs. Germany needs, & welcoming, these refugees to get the jobs that German public doesn't want; the proverbial "low paid & dirty" work.
Canada is welcoming refugees who are family members, & no single men. Family / married men are usually educated & since they need to earn enough money to support their families, they will be looking for similar jobs they had back in their homeland. Problem is that Canada cannot provide those kinds of jobs, since its economy is in shambles, & even Canadian educated grads are having an extremely hard time in securing those kinds of proverbially "high paid & good" jobs. So, in a few months, these refugees will be forgotten, since the media will move on to the next sensational story, & the refugees will be left to fend for themselves in the labour market.
One more point comes out of this article is what is democracy, then? As I blogged earlier, the general public loves "democracy" as long as the government's decisions benefits it. Do you think that is it democratic that the majority of Canadians dislike Trudeau's plan of welcoming & settling refugees but he went ahead with it, anyway? Do you think that is it democratic that Merkel's welcoming refugees doesn't coincide with what the German public really wants? Do you think is it democratic that US, & Republican party's leadership front runner, Donald Trump, is being embraced by millions of Americans, even after his extremely xenophobic comments against refugees & Muslims?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In a crowded market square in Gera, poets & performers take to the stage. Above them is a banner that has become a familiar sight at train stations across Germany. "Refugees Welcome," it reads in big letters.
Die Linke, a left-wing German political party, has set up a stall to welcome the newcomers, alongside a local charity.
...
Nearby, supporters of AfD - Alternative for Germany - a right-wing group which is cynical about the entry of so many refugees, have gathered.
It's Saturday afternoon in late October & Dirk Heinze has come with his wife Daniella Bruhnke & their 3 children, Sophia, six, Turina, two, & 10-month-old Pierre to hear what both groups have to say.
Dirk, 40, works in care for the elderly & has lived his whole life in Gera. I'm following them as well as some of the refugees to see how they & the city adapt to the changes brought about by the influx of asylum seekers.
Gera was once part of the former German Democratic Republic. It is small, with a population of 95,000, &, until recently, only had 2,000 foreign residents.
Dirk views the groups with scepticism, saying that they are both trying to capitalise on the refugee crisis.
Dirk & Daniella explain that they are frustrated at being excluded from decisions that have affected their town. Many residents feel the same, according to Daniella, because the decision to admit so many refugees was made by politicians, without consultation.
The couple haven't been involved in any protests, although they understand why others have. "So many other people are coming. They [the protesters] fear for their jobs. They fear, well, yes for their lives," says Daniella.
In August Angela Merkel said all Syrians could apply for asylum, & wouldn't be sent back to the first safe country they landed in. Germany was already taking a substantial number of refugees.
This week it was reported that the influx of asylum-seekers in Germany has reached the one million mark - four times the total for 2014. About a half of the new refugees are from Syria.
Refugees are being bussed across the country. ...
Gera is receiving fewer refugees than other cities. Many of them are currently living in the former hospital, converted in mid-October into a refugee centre for up to 2,000 new arrivals.
Someone tried to flood the centre before it opened, so security is very tight. There was also an attack on a refugee by two German men with five dogs in tow. Injuries were minor but news quickly spread around the centre that it may not be safe to go out at night.
The recent influx has caused a mini-political earthquake in Germany. Merkel's approval rating slipped to 54% in December - down from 71% in January.
There have been high-profile & large Pegida (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West) demonstrations against the arrival of Muslim refugees. These have mostly been held in Dresden - about an hour from Gera.
In Gera itself there have been smaller protests known as "Thugida" demonstrations (the name combines Pegida with Thuringia, which is the state in which Gera sits).
It's far from one-sided, though. Germans have been filling train stations to welcome refugees - handing out sweets to children & clothes to their parents.
Dirk & Daniella's concerns are always couched with sympathy for those truly in need. "Regardless of which country they come, what religion they are - if someone needs help, they have to receive help," says Daniella.
But she maintains that people shouldn't be allowed to come "just because they want a better life, and because it is better here in Germany".
Dirk is sceptical of Merkel's "Wir schaffen das" ["We will make it"] pronouncements. ...
...
The recent attacks in Paris are on everyone's mind - particularly since at least two of the attackers entered Europe posing as refugees. New arrivals in Germany tell me they worry that Germans will come to fear all refugees & that everyone will end up too scared even to communicate, resulting in a segregated city.
"I do believe that the opinion of many people has now changed, because many are afraid now that terrorists will mix themselves among the refugees," says Daniella. "Who knows who is a terrorist and who is a refugee? They don't have it written on their forehead."
They tell me of other concerns, too. There has been debate for months about lowering the minimum wage in Germany for refugees. It is a controversial idea that, as Dirk puts it, "will keep the big bosses happy", but he fears may lower wages for Germans.
Jobs are on everyone's minds here. I spend some time at a German language school. Classes are growing every day because of the arrival of refugees. I meet a language teacher who, though enthusiastic about the potential of the refugees, is not hopeful about their chances.
Sandy Mazur tells me that German is being taught, funded by the government, to a basic level - but after that the money stops.
"These refugees who come from Syria are very ambitious," she says. "They want work - and here in Germany we have so many free work places because we don't have so many young people."
But she says the German provided is not enough to get a job, & certainly not a job in anywhere near in the same professions the refugees worked in back home. Some are teachers, IT professionals & engineers.
As I leave in early December refugees are more visible on the streets of Gera.
Residents are undoubtedly nervous, but many of their foreign neighbours hope they can bring new life to this quiet city.
"Biggest Arms Exporters" by Rainer Hachfeld
"Biggest Arms Exporters" - Rainer Hachfeld, Neues Deutschland, Berlin, Germany
Beware inspirational online images – they may be more insidious than you think
Loved this opinion piece. A great piece. Thanks to social media, every ignorant moron in the world (who has access to internet & social media) blatantly & very easily shares inspirational pics & quotes, without thinking even for a couple minutes, what is that inspirational pic or quote is saying.
I agree that we all need inspirational stories, pictures, & quotes from time to time, to push us in the right direction, to do whatever is necessary to do, to achieve our goals. But, these inspirational items need to be taken with some context.
Nowadays, I've come across a lot of Paulo Coelho's quotes. Now, he might be a great person. He might be the nicest guy one will ever meet. But, several of his "inspirational" quotes rub me the wrong way. Why? Now, there's nothing wrong with those inspirational quotes, in & of themselves. And we have to keep in mind that those quotes might have been taken out of context, too. But, many of his quotes are not suitable for Muslims. And it really bothers me when Muslims 'like' or 'share' his quotes all over social media. His quotes are coming out from his background in Christianity or perhaps, non-Islamic, background.
Similarly, & as the opinion piece correctly points out, it is much easier to say "when there's a will, there's a way" than actually finding a way to resolve the problem. If we say that to graduates in Canada, Australia, Greece, Spain, Italy etc. that they can find a way to climb out of poverty & find a great job, then you may prove yourself a complete ignorant. It's not easy for everyone to do anything there is to do to climb out of poverty. There are several external factors, which are out of one's own control. Perhaps, they are disabled, or hold a religious belief that prohibits them from working in certain industries.
For instance, as a devout Muslim, I refuse to work in financial services, alcoholic beverage, arms manufacturing, casinos & gambling industries. Heck, I cannot even work for real estate brokerage firms because then I have to sell mortgages, which involves interest-based payments. Many more grads are struggling in the job market because they don't have the right connections in the labour market, since academic qualifications mean nothing.
So, it's very easy to quickly share mind-numbingly stupid & inane "inspirational" quotes & pictures, but if we stop for a minute & think before clicking that "like" or "share" button, then we'll realize that without context, that "inspirational" quote or pic is meaningless.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jul/10/inspirational-online-images-daniel-cabrera-homeless-filipino
While walking past a McDonald’s restaurant in the Philippines a medical student, Joyce Torrefranca, spotted a young boy sitting outside doing his homework at an improvised table. It was late in the evening, but the boy could read & write using the lights coming from the nearby restaurant.
Moved by the scene, Torrefranca took a photograph & posted it on Facebook. “For me as a student,” she wrote, “it just hit me a lot, like, big time.”
Torrefranca wasn’t the only one inspired by the nine-year-old boy without a home. Since Daniel Cabrera’s house burned down, he has reportedly been living in a food stall with his mother & 2 brothers. His father is dead. Reports also say he owns only one pencil. A second pencil was stolen from him.
As the story went viral, people emerged to help the boy, giving him books, pencils & crayons. He also received a battery-powered lamp so he would no longer have to do his homework in the car park. A fundraising page was set up to help cover the costs of his schooling.
This is far from the first inspirational story to attract attention online. Whether it’s a limbless man surfing, a cancer survivor climbing some of the world’s highest peaks or a homeless woman making it all the way to Harvard, we are easily touched by these stories, & there’s nothing strange or wrong with that. But we might want to examine some of the reasons why we – or others – love them so much, or at least question the conclusions some of us wish to draw from them.
One tabloid newspaper has recommended parents show the picture of the hardworking boy to their children next time they are moaning. In a similar vein, someone has turned the picture into an inspirational postcard with the caption: “If it is important to you, you will find a way. If not, you’ll find an excuse.”
In these interpretations, the picture is used to suggest that there are no excuses for failure or poverty. Even if you are poor & live in a makeshift home, you have the choice to work yourself out of that predicament. All you need is determination, willpower & the right, can-do attitude. Private troubles, whether poverty or unemployment, should remain private troubles. They should not be regarded as public issues because that is merely a way of trying to find an excuse. Such is the lesson we should teach ourselves & take from this.
It is depressingly easy to find other examples of this mindset today, the idea that we can all rise above our circumstances – however difficult – through a programme of self-improvement.
In Los Angeles, for instance, the New Village Charter High School is using transcendental meditation not just to release stress but also, in the words of its principal, Javier Guzman, “to combat poverty”. This may help some of the children to achieve better results at school. But the problem is not personal when the bottom income quartile in the US make up only 5% of enrolments in top universities.
Another proposal to fight poverty comes from the US Republican politician Paul Ryan. Inspired by the writer Ayn Rand, he recently presented an anti-poverty plan in which he proposed poor people should sit down with a life coach & develop an “opportunity plan”.
This might sound a uniquely north American venture but Sweden, popularly known as the land of equality & welfare, is probably the country that has come closest to achieving Ryan’s dream.
In the course of only 4 years, the Swedish state paid out 4.7bn Swedish krona (£360m) to job coaches. The actual benefits of this initiative have proved modest, & the methods used by these coaches, including healing & therapeutic touching, have been called into question.
But more problematic than their questionable usefulness is that these methods implicitly encourage socially vulnerable groups, whether poor or unemployed, to stop looking for answers in the public sphere. They are told instead that the barrier lies within themselves.
One US study, which followed unemployed white-collar workers who attend support organisations, found that jobseekers were encouraged to stop reading the newspaper and go on a “news fast”. They were also asked to stop using the word “unemployment”, since that would betray a negative attitude.
Similar observations were made in Ivor Southwood’s auto-ethnographic account of UK jobcentres, Non-Stop Inertia, in which he describes how jobseekers are told to do “three positive things per week” or else they might be disciplined.
In his recent ethnography of the Swedish equivalent of Jobcentre Plus, Roland Paulsen describes mandatory humiliating exercises, so-called brag rounds, in which the long-term unemployed are encouraged to show off in front of their fellow jobseekers.
In a distressing article recently published in Medical Humanities it was suggested that these types of exercises, intended to modify attitudes, beliefs & personality, have become a political strategy to eradicate the experience of social & economic inequality.
Again, there is nothing wrong with being moved by a picture of a young boy concentrating hard on his homework. But we should remember that pictures of this kind may serve more sinister purposes when paired with “inspirational” messages. Serious discussion of external circumstances – including a proper understanding of inequality – is not helped by the suggestion that the only thing holding a person back is their attitude.
I agree that we all need inspirational stories, pictures, & quotes from time to time, to push us in the right direction, to do whatever is necessary to do, to achieve our goals. But, these inspirational items need to be taken with some context.
Nowadays, I've come across a lot of Paulo Coelho's quotes. Now, he might be a great person. He might be the nicest guy one will ever meet. But, several of his "inspirational" quotes rub me the wrong way. Why? Now, there's nothing wrong with those inspirational quotes, in & of themselves. And we have to keep in mind that those quotes might have been taken out of context, too. But, many of his quotes are not suitable for Muslims. And it really bothers me when Muslims 'like' or 'share' his quotes all over social media. His quotes are coming out from his background in Christianity or perhaps, non-Islamic, background.
Similarly, & as the opinion piece correctly points out, it is much easier to say "when there's a will, there's a way" than actually finding a way to resolve the problem. If we say that to graduates in Canada, Australia, Greece, Spain, Italy etc. that they can find a way to climb out of poverty & find a great job, then you may prove yourself a complete ignorant. It's not easy for everyone to do anything there is to do to climb out of poverty. There are several external factors, which are out of one's own control. Perhaps, they are disabled, or hold a religious belief that prohibits them from working in certain industries.
For instance, as a devout Muslim, I refuse to work in financial services, alcoholic beverage, arms manufacturing, casinos & gambling industries. Heck, I cannot even work for real estate brokerage firms because then I have to sell mortgages, which involves interest-based payments. Many more grads are struggling in the job market because they don't have the right connections in the labour market, since academic qualifications mean nothing.
So, it's very easy to quickly share mind-numbingly stupid & inane "inspirational" quotes & pictures, but if we stop for a minute & think before clicking that "like" or "share" button, then we'll realize that without context, that "inspirational" quote or pic is meaningless.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While walking past a McDonald’s restaurant in the Philippines a medical student, Joyce Torrefranca, spotted a young boy sitting outside doing his homework at an improvised table. It was late in the evening, but the boy could read & write using the lights coming from the nearby restaurant.
Moved by the scene, Torrefranca took a photograph & posted it on Facebook. “For me as a student,” she wrote, “it just hit me a lot, like, big time.”
Torrefranca wasn’t the only one inspired by the nine-year-old boy without a home. Since Daniel Cabrera’s house burned down, he has reportedly been living in a food stall with his mother & 2 brothers. His father is dead. Reports also say he owns only one pencil. A second pencil was stolen from him.
As the story went viral, people emerged to help the boy, giving him books, pencils & crayons. He also received a battery-powered lamp so he would no longer have to do his homework in the car park. A fundraising page was set up to help cover the costs of his schooling.
This is far from the first inspirational story to attract attention online. Whether it’s a limbless man surfing, a cancer survivor climbing some of the world’s highest peaks or a homeless woman making it all the way to Harvard, we are easily touched by these stories, & there’s nothing strange or wrong with that. But we might want to examine some of the reasons why we – or others – love them so much, or at least question the conclusions some of us wish to draw from them.
One tabloid newspaper has recommended parents show the picture of the hardworking boy to their children next time they are moaning. In a similar vein, someone has turned the picture into an inspirational postcard with the caption: “If it is important to you, you will find a way. If not, you’ll find an excuse.”
In these interpretations, the picture is used to suggest that there are no excuses for failure or poverty. Even if you are poor & live in a makeshift home, you have the choice to work yourself out of that predicament. All you need is determination, willpower & the right, can-do attitude. Private troubles, whether poverty or unemployment, should remain private troubles. They should not be regarded as public issues because that is merely a way of trying to find an excuse. Such is the lesson we should teach ourselves & take from this.
It is depressingly easy to find other examples of this mindset today, the idea that we can all rise above our circumstances – however difficult – through a programme of self-improvement.
In Los Angeles, for instance, the New Village Charter High School is using transcendental meditation not just to release stress but also, in the words of its principal, Javier Guzman, “to combat poverty”. This may help some of the children to achieve better results at school. But the problem is not personal when the bottom income quartile in the US make up only 5% of enrolments in top universities.
Another proposal to fight poverty comes from the US Republican politician Paul Ryan. Inspired by the writer Ayn Rand, he recently presented an anti-poverty plan in which he proposed poor people should sit down with a life coach & develop an “opportunity plan”.
This might sound a uniquely north American venture but Sweden, popularly known as the land of equality & welfare, is probably the country that has come closest to achieving Ryan’s dream.
In the course of only 4 years, the Swedish state paid out 4.7bn Swedish krona (£360m) to job coaches. The actual benefits of this initiative have proved modest, & the methods used by these coaches, including healing & therapeutic touching, have been called into question.
But more problematic than their questionable usefulness is that these methods implicitly encourage socially vulnerable groups, whether poor or unemployed, to stop looking for answers in the public sphere. They are told instead that the barrier lies within themselves.
One US study, which followed unemployed white-collar workers who attend support organisations, found that jobseekers were encouraged to stop reading the newspaper and go on a “news fast”. They were also asked to stop using the word “unemployment”, since that would betray a negative attitude.
Similar observations were made in Ivor Southwood’s auto-ethnographic account of UK jobcentres, Non-Stop Inertia, in which he describes how jobseekers are told to do “three positive things per week” or else they might be disciplined.
In his recent ethnography of the Swedish equivalent of Jobcentre Plus, Roland Paulsen describes mandatory humiliating exercises, so-called brag rounds, in which the long-term unemployed are encouraged to show off in front of their fellow jobseekers.
In a distressing article recently published in Medical Humanities it was suggested that these types of exercises, intended to modify attitudes, beliefs & personality, have become a political strategy to eradicate the experience of social & economic inequality.
Again, there is nothing wrong with being moved by a picture of a young boy concentrating hard on his homework. But we should remember that pictures of this kind may serve more sinister purposes when paired with “inspirational” messages. Serious discussion of external circumstances – including a proper understanding of inequality – is not helped by the suggestion that the only thing holding a person back is their attitude.
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
World entering era of global food insecurity with malnutrition & obesity side by side within countries
A good article but it left a big reason why a majority of the poorer households in UK, & around the world, won't have access to healthy & nutritious food. One of the big reasons is social inequality, which in turn, is caused by, in major part, by huge disparity in income & wealth.
There are political & business elites -- the 1-percenters -- who live in their own little world. But the other 99% of the world populations are trying to survive on low income. They don't earn enough to buy healthy & nutritious food in the stores. That majority will always buy the cheap food, which is usually not grown organically & full of calories. Those people know that what they are buying is not healthy for their families but they don't have a choice.
At the same time, the government pays millions in grants & subsidies to companies in military-industrial complex to make new & advanced weaponry, but don't make effective agricultural policies to incentivize scientists & farmers to come up with new & efficient means to grow healthy & nutritious food, all the while limiting the use of fertilizers & harmful chemicals.
At the end of the day, majority of the families know which food is healthy & which one isn't. They would love to buy healthy & nutritious food but are constrained by their income level. If the government wants their public to become healthy, then one major change would be to increase minimum wages & taxes on wealthy individuals. Poor families would readily buy healthy & nutritious food with their increase in income.
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The world is entering an era of global food insecurity which is already leading to the “double burden” of both obesity & malnutrition occurring side by side within countries & even within the same families, a leading food expert has warned.
It will become increasingly common to see obese parents in some developing countries raising underweight & stunted children because high-calorie food is cheaper & more readily available than the nutritious food needed for healthy growth, said Alan Dangour of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
“We are certainly looking at a period of increased instability in the supply of food, and also the diversity and types of food that are available are going to change,” said Dr Dangour, who is to lead a major study into global food insecurity & its impact on health.
“A result of this is called the ‘double burden’ of malnutrition,” he added. “Under-nutrition causes starvation and stunting in children, whereas obesity and over-weight in adults is another form of malnutrition, caused by eating the wrong type of food.
“The double burden exists in countries, or indeed in households, where you get a stunted child and an overweight mother. And that happens in many countries around the world as a result of the wrong diets being eaten [by adults] and the wrong diets being given to children,” he said.
“It’s not the fault of the mother, it’s the fault of the food system where the mother cannot afford to buy nutritious food such as dairy, eggs and fruit and is predominantly feeding her child a diet that is rich in calories, such as oil and cereal-based carbohydrates,” Dr Dangour said. “That diet will not be sufficient for the child to grow. It will stop the child from being hungry but it will also stop the child from growing properly,” he said.
...
“We know that at the end of this century it’s going to be very difficult to grow crops in certain parts of the world because of increasing temperatures,” Dr Dangour said. “In other parts of the world there is going to be increasing productivity because warmer temperatures will mean longer growing seasons.”
He said no single prediction on food insecurity could tell the whole story because climate change will affect different crops differently in different parts of the world: “For the UK, we could imagine a scenario in which changing food availability globally leads to changes in the availability of and the access to that food in the UK.
“For example, cereals may not be affected but fruit and vegetables, critical to a healthy diet, may become much more expensive. As people are responsive to food prices, it may lead to a reduction in consumption of those foods in the poorer population, which may lead to increased health inequality in the UK.”
In the past, policy-makers & planners have concentrated on producing enough food based on calorie content, often to the detriment of more nutritious food, such as pulses & fruit, that are required for healthy growth. This has helped to fuel an epidemic of obesity and diabetes, Dr Dangour explained.
“It’s happened over the past 10 years or so & it’s hugely important. It means policy-making is an enormous challenge, because you think: ‘It’s about just increasing the amount of food we produce.’ Well, no: you need to think about the types of food you are producing and about the access to those foods.
“As food availability globally changes, we could see both of those things happening. We could see under-nutrition and we are already seeing enormous increases in chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes,” he added.
There are political & business elites -- the 1-percenters -- who live in their own little world. But the other 99% of the world populations are trying to survive on low income. They don't earn enough to buy healthy & nutritious food in the stores. That majority will always buy the cheap food, which is usually not grown organically & full of calories. Those people know that what they are buying is not healthy for their families but they don't have a choice.
At the same time, the government pays millions in grants & subsidies to companies in military-industrial complex to make new & advanced weaponry, but don't make effective agricultural policies to incentivize scientists & farmers to come up with new & efficient means to grow healthy & nutritious food, all the while limiting the use of fertilizers & harmful chemicals.
At the end of the day, majority of the families know which food is healthy & which one isn't. They would love to buy healthy & nutritious food but are constrained by their income level. If the government wants their public to become healthy, then one major change would be to increase minimum wages & taxes on wealthy individuals. Poor families would readily buy healthy & nutritious food with their increase in income.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The world is entering an era of global food insecurity which is already leading to the “double burden” of both obesity & malnutrition occurring side by side within countries & even within the same families, a leading food expert has warned.
It will become increasingly common to see obese parents in some developing countries raising underweight & stunted children because high-calorie food is cheaper & more readily available than the nutritious food needed for healthy growth, said Alan Dangour of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
“We are certainly looking at a period of increased instability in the supply of food, and also the diversity and types of food that are available are going to change,” said Dr Dangour, who is to lead a major study into global food insecurity & its impact on health.
“A result of this is called the ‘double burden’ of malnutrition,” he added. “Under-nutrition causes starvation and stunting in children, whereas obesity and over-weight in adults is another form of malnutrition, caused by eating the wrong type of food.
“The double burden exists in countries, or indeed in households, where you get a stunted child and an overweight mother. And that happens in many countries around the world as a result of the wrong diets being eaten [by adults] and the wrong diets being given to children,” he said.
“It’s not the fault of the mother, it’s the fault of the food system where the mother cannot afford to buy nutritious food such as dairy, eggs and fruit and is predominantly feeding her child a diet that is rich in calories, such as oil and cereal-based carbohydrates,” Dr Dangour said. “That diet will not be sufficient for the child to grow. It will stop the child from being hungry but it will also stop the child from growing properly,” he said.
...
“We know that at the end of this century it’s going to be very difficult to grow crops in certain parts of the world because of increasing temperatures,” Dr Dangour said. “In other parts of the world there is going to be increasing productivity because warmer temperatures will mean longer growing seasons.”
He said no single prediction on food insecurity could tell the whole story because climate change will affect different crops differently in different parts of the world: “For the UK, we could imagine a scenario in which changing food availability globally leads to changes in the availability of and the access to that food in the UK.
“For example, cereals may not be affected but fruit and vegetables, critical to a healthy diet, may become much more expensive. As people are responsive to food prices, it may lead to a reduction in consumption of those foods in the poorer population, which may lead to increased health inequality in the UK.”
In the past, policy-makers & planners have concentrated on producing enough food based on calorie content, often to the detriment of more nutritious food, such as pulses & fruit, that are required for healthy growth. This has helped to fuel an epidemic of obesity and diabetes, Dr Dangour explained.
“It’s happened over the past 10 years or so & it’s hugely important. It means policy-making is an enormous challenge, because you think: ‘It’s about just increasing the amount of food we produce.’ Well, no: you need to think about the types of food you are producing and about the access to those foods.
“As food availability globally changes, we could see both of those things happening. We could see under-nutrition and we are already seeing enormous increases in chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes,” he added.
Saudi Arabia manipulating world media with petro-dollars – Reporters Without Borders
The oppressor is always afraid from the truth & hence, never wants the truth to be out in the world. Unfortunately, in this case, the oppressor is not a Christian or a Jew or a Hindu or a Buddhist or some other 'kaffir' but is the Protector of the Two Holy Mosques in one of the two holiest places for Islam (the other one being Al-Aqsa mosque).
The demise of Saudi Arabia is not in some far-off future but in the very near future. The pride & hubris of Saudis of being the 'chosen' one (because Prophet Muhammad were one of them), its sole dependence on oil for its country's revenue (& using that God-given resource & resulting revenue to enrich its own citizens multiple folds), & trying to control & manipulate regional politics in its favour, going as far as colluding with Israel &, directly & indirectly, killing fellow Muslims, are all coming back to haunt it.
Its economy is falling in shambles. It embroiled itself in a war from which victory seems elusive. Its power play in regional politics coming undone. Its respect among Muslims around the world is cracking, if not fallen right off the cliff.
Islam is all about justice & truth. Justice doesn't require hiding truth from media using power & money. Actually, it's very hard, if not impossible, to hide the truth. It may keep hidden for awhile, but it eventually reveals itself. When the truth does come out, the oppressor is always punished in the name of justice.
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To paint a better picture of the Kingdom, Riyadh has been paying media across the globe as well as setting plans to ban reporters critical of the government from working in the country, Reporters Without Borders concluded after digging into WikiLeaks.
The so called ‘Saudi Cables’, revealed by the whistleblowing website, were used by Reporters Without Borders to give a better insight at the lengths the Saudi authorities are willing to go to in order to try to present a more positive image of the country abroad.
The non-governmental organization cites numerous examples dated from 2010 until 2015 including Saudi Arabia looking to fund media publications from around the globe – from Iran to Senegal.
“In 2011, for example, the Saudi embassy in London suggested funding Wesal Farsi TV (now called Tawhid), a London-based, Persian-language TV station owned by a Sunni Iranian citizen opposed to his country’s government. In return for monthly funding and allowing Saudi Arabia to appoint a representative to its board of governors, the TV station would respond to Iranian media criticism of Saudi Arabia,” Reporters Without Borders (RSF) wrote on their website.
The cables also highlight how some media organizations would actually approach the Saudi’s themselves for funding. Reporters Without Borders cites the example of the Afghan media center Spogmai. Its head requested funding in 2009 for the creation of a news website, a daily newspaper, a magazine & a TV station that would act as counterweights to Afghan media outlets, which were funded by rivals Iran.
Not all media outlets are willing to be bought, but the Saudi government seems to have a solution for those not interested in petrol dollars, RSF says.
Infuriated by the Financial Times newspaper, which it had said had “published lies” about Saudi Arabia, authorities in the Kingdom forced the publication to withdraw its correspondent & shut down its bureau in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia even considered taking legal action against the newspaper if it did not issue an apology & seek to report on the Kingdom in a “neutral” & “objective” manner.
The Saudi regime has also targeted journalists, the report finds. The country’s embassy in Berlin paid 5 German reporters at least €7,500 per month in order to write positive articles about Saudi Arabia every 6 months. This came in response to an alleged campaign by the Israeli embassy in Berlin cooperating with German media publications to write against Arab countries.
“The embassies play a dynamic role in organizing and maintaining active pro-Saudi propaganda abroad. As they are familiar with the local media, they are best placed to monitor what the media are saying and to make suggestions to the Saudi government,” Reporters Without Borders stated.
Following the revelations by WikiLeaks, the Saudi government warned its citizens not to share documents on social networks as they said they could have been fabricated.
...
“We are seeing how the oil money is being used to increase influence of Saudi Arabia which is substantial of course - this is ally of the US and the UK. And since this spring it has been waging war in neighboring Yemen,” Icelandic investigative journalist & spokesperson for the WikiLeaks organization Kristinn Hrafnsson told RT.
...
The demise of Saudi Arabia is not in some far-off future but in the very near future. The pride & hubris of Saudis of being the 'chosen' one (because Prophet Muhammad were one of them), its sole dependence on oil for its country's revenue (& using that God-given resource & resulting revenue to enrich its own citizens multiple folds), & trying to control & manipulate regional politics in its favour, going as far as colluding with Israel &, directly & indirectly, killing fellow Muslims, are all coming back to haunt it.
Its economy is falling in shambles. It embroiled itself in a war from which victory seems elusive. Its power play in regional politics coming undone. Its respect among Muslims around the world is cracking, if not fallen right off the cliff.
Islam is all about justice & truth. Justice doesn't require hiding truth from media using power & money. Actually, it's very hard, if not impossible, to hide the truth. It may keep hidden for awhile, but it eventually reveals itself. When the truth does come out, the oppressor is always punished in the name of justice.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To paint a better picture of the Kingdom, Riyadh has been paying media across the globe as well as setting plans to ban reporters critical of the government from working in the country, Reporters Without Borders concluded after digging into WikiLeaks.
The so called ‘Saudi Cables’, revealed by the whistleblowing website, were used by Reporters Without Borders to give a better insight at the lengths the Saudi authorities are willing to go to in order to try to present a more positive image of the country abroad.
The non-governmental organization cites numerous examples dated from 2010 until 2015 including Saudi Arabia looking to fund media publications from around the globe – from Iran to Senegal.
“In 2011, for example, the Saudi embassy in London suggested funding Wesal Farsi TV (now called Tawhid), a London-based, Persian-language TV station owned by a Sunni Iranian citizen opposed to his country’s government. In return for monthly funding and allowing Saudi Arabia to appoint a representative to its board of governors, the TV station would respond to Iranian media criticism of Saudi Arabia,” Reporters Without Borders (RSF) wrote on their website.
The cables also highlight how some media organizations would actually approach the Saudi’s themselves for funding. Reporters Without Borders cites the example of the Afghan media center Spogmai. Its head requested funding in 2009 for the creation of a news website, a daily newspaper, a magazine & a TV station that would act as counterweights to Afghan media outlets, which were funded by rivals Iran.
Not all media outlets are willing to be bought, but the Saudi government seems to have a solution for those not interested in petrol dollars, RSF says.
Infuriated by the Financial Times newspaper, which it had said had “published lies” about Saudi Arabia, authorities in the Kingdom forced the publication to withdraw its correspondent & shut down its bureau in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia even considered taking legal action against the newspaper if it did not issue an apology & seek to report on the Kingdom in a “neutral” & “objective” manner.
The Saudi regime has also targeted journalists, the report finds. The country’s embassy in Berlin paid 5 German reporters at least €7,500 per month in order to write positive articles about Saudi Arabia every 6 months. This came in response to an alleged campaign by the Israeli embassy in Berlin cooperating with German media publications to write against Arab countries.
“The embassies play a dynamic role in organizing and maintaining active pro-Saudi propaganda abroad. As they are familiar with the local media, they are best placed to monitor what the media are saying and to make suggestions to the Saudi government,” Reporters Without Borders stated.
Following the revelations by WikiLeaks, the Saudi government warned its citizens not to share documents on social networks as they said they could have been fabricated.
...
“We are seeing how the oil money is being used to increase influence of Saudi Arabia which is substantial of course - this is ally of the US and the UK. And since this spring it has been waging war in neighboring Yemen,” Icelandic investigative journalist & spokesperson for the WikiLeaks organization Kristinn Hrafnsson told RT.
...
Sunday, December 6, 2015
The debate about democracy (whatever that means)
A good opinion piece highlighting how the word "democracy" can mean something &, at the same time, can be meaningless. Although, the piece is few months' old, but the heart of the opinion is "democracy" is a fairly debatable concept.
The primary reason it is debatable or "essentially contested concept" is because most of the public don't understand what the heck is "democracy". Most of the public thinks that merely voting in an election by the general public is "democracy", but it isn't. In many developing countries, elections take place quite frequently, but as soon as the election results are called, the losing party calls foul.
Democracy in the modern world has become similar to a soccer / football match. If a referee awards a penalty or free kick & then that penalty or free kick results in a winning goal for one of the teams, the other team (coach, players, fans etc.) call foul & blame the referee for the decision that helped the other team win the match, regardless of that decision being correct or wrong.
People like & want "democracy" as long as it benefits them economically, financially, socially, politically etc. As soon the "democratically-elected" government makes a decision which goes against the wishes of the public, that same public turns against the government & start claiming that "democracy doesn't exist in this country."
As I stated above that people don't know what democracy is about. Elections & voting are not "democracy," because after all, these activities also happen in Zimbabwe & Congo. Perhaps, those are rigged elections but then most elections are, around the world. In some place, rigging happens at the polling station & in some place, rigging or, in other words, public relations, happen long before the polling day; throughout the election campaign.
Democracy is essentially about the leader (elected or otherwise) listening, learning, & then doing what the majority of its public wants; all the while keeping a close eye on the human rights of minorities, so they are not trampled afoot, while the decisions to benefit the public majority are being implemented. It's not so easy to do. It requires a leader who is not afraid to do something, which may even harm its political party in the short term. It requires a leader who puts the needs of its countrypeople well ahead of his/her & its political party's needs. These kinds of leaders are non-existent in this modern world, where it seems that every other country is either "democratic", or "undemocratic", depending on the public's benefits gained from that given government.
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Is anyone actually against democracy, after all? Surely not. But democracy is a tricky word. It can mean all sorts of things, or something close to nothing at all.
...
But there I go, using one of the most loaded words in any language, “democracy,” to score cheap debating points. It’s hard to resist the temptation. We do it all the time in Canadian politics. When a cabal of opposition politicians wanted to supplant the Conservative government at the end of 2008, they said they were serving parliamentary democracy. When Harper fought back, he made similar claims. In 2009 & 2010 & 2011, every time Michael Ignatieff thought he might defeat the minority government of the day, it was easy to find observers who’d ask what could be wrong with a little democracy. As if only an election is democracy. As if Parliament isn’t an expression of democracy.
...
“Democracy” is what the Scottish philosopher W.B. Gallie called an “essentially contested concept,” a notion everyone can praise in the abstract while disagreeing, honestly & in good faith, about almost every detail of any given case. (Gallie listed “art” & “duty” as other essentially contested concepts. Art is wonderful & everyone should do his duty, but is that mess on the wall art, & what’s my duty today?) Debate is at the heart of democracy, or should be. But appeals to democracy are usually designed to shut debate down, not to deepen it.
The primary reason it is debatable or "essentially contested concept" is because most of the public don't understand what the heck is "democracy". Most of the public thinks that merely voting in an election by the general public is "democracy", but it isn't. In many developing countries, elections take place quite frequently, but as soon as the election results are called, the losing party calls foul.
Democracy in the modern world has become similar to a soccer / football match. If a referee awards a penalty or free kick & then that penalty or free kick results in a winning goal for one of the teams, the other team (coach, players, fans etc.) call foul & blame the referee for the decision that helped the other team win the match, regardless of that decision being correct or wrong.
People like & want "democracy" as long as it benefits them economically, financially, socially, politically etc. As soon the "democratically-elected" government makes a decision which goes against the wishes of the public, that same public turns against the government & start claiming that "democracy doesn't exist in this country."
As I stated above that people don't know what democracy is about. Elections & voting are not "democracy," because after all, these activities also happen in Zimbabwe & Congo. Perhaps, those are rigged elections but then most elections are, around the world. In some place, rigging happens at the polling station & in some place, rigging or, in other words, public relations, happen long before the polling day; throughout the election campaign.
Democracy is essentially about the leader (elected or otherwise) listening, learning, & then doing what the majority of its public wants; all the while keeping a close eye on the human rights of minorities, so they are not trampled afoot, while the decisions to benefit the public majority are being implemented. It's not so easy to do. It requires a leader who is not afraid to do something, which may even harm its political party in the short term. It requires a leader who puts the needs of its countrypeople well ahead of his/her & its political party's needs. These kinds of leaders are non-existent in this modern world, where it seems that every other country is either "democratic", or "undemocratic", depending on the public's benefits gained from that given government.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Is anyone actually against democracy, after all? Surely not. But democracy is a tricky word. It can mean all sorts of things, or something close to nothing at all.
...
But there I go, using one of the most loaded words in any language, “democracy,” to score cheap debating points. It’s hard to resist the temptation. We do it all the time in Canadian politics. When a cabal of opposition politicians wanted to supplant the Conservative government at the end of 2008, they said they were serving parliamentary democracy. When Harper fought back, he made similar claims. In 2009 & 2010 & 2011, every time Michael Ignatieff thought he might defeat the minority government of the day, it was easy to find observers who’d ask what could be wrong with a little democracy. As if only an election is democracy. As if Parliament isn’t an expression of democracy.
...
“Democracy” is what the Scottish philosopher W.B. Gallie called an “essentially contested concept,” a notion everyone can praise in the abstract while disagreeing, honestly & in good faith, about almost every detail of any given case. (Gallie listed “art” & “duty” as other essentially contested concepts. Art is wonderful & everyone should do his duty, but is that mess on the wall art, & what’s my duty today?) Debate is at the heart of democracy, or should be. But appeals to democracy are usually designed to shut debate down, not to deepen it.
Monday, November 30, 2015
This endless quest for growth will see Greece self-destruct
Although, this article is focused on Greece & its financial & economic woes, I really liked the author's view on how there is an "inherent contradiction of capitalism". I, myself, don't have a problem with capitalism, but the modern capitalism in itself does have a problem of continuously trying to make profits (which are essentially, surpluses -- gross revenue less costs = profits), which are not being re-invested in the economy but are being filtered up to few wealthiest individuals. Profit then stops there & more profits have to made for the other 99% to survive. Of course, since, the other 99% are making minimum wage or barely scraping by in life, the economy will eventually grind to a halt. Paragraphs 6 & 7, in the opinion piece below, very succinctly summarize this.
Think of it like a machine (for example, your car engine). If you keep driving your car for longer & longer distances & keep trying to extract as many kilometers (or miles) you can extract out of it before you need to service your car, or try to slowly reduce your frequency of regular car maintenance, you will eventually destroy your car engine & its related machinery, because your car's machinery is working harder for fewer servicing. It's the same case for human labour.
Anyway, so then the government is faced with only 2 choices (kind of being stuck between rock & a hard place) that it either try to juice up the "dead" economy through stimulus (like US did) or try to save billions through harsh austerity programs like Southern European nations did or are still doing. These two solutions are interlinked & become sort of a catch-22 problem. Government's primary source of revenue is taxes, but it can't really tax the public which in itself is not earning enough to survive. So tax revenue falls off the cliff. If tax revenue is insufficient for the government to institute stimulus programs, then it's only option is to bring more money from outside; either print more or borrow more. Either of these options will reduce the value of the national currency (assuming it's not part of a regional monetary bloc), & the price of everything essential in the marketplace for the public will rise, which will cause the general public to save more, instead of spend, which is required to revive the dead economy. Hence, we are back at the start of the problem, where the economy is still dead, & neither austerity nor stimulus is working to their full potential.
However, while the government is either cutting social spending or reducing the value of the currency, few individuals in its country are still becoming wealthier by the minute. That's why, the recession didn't hit the hardest all those wealthy 1-percenters. Heck, in their own little world, they didn't even feel it. Their wealth actually grew multiple folds during the recent recession.
Problem is that this inherent problem of modern capitalism & the social inequality it causes is only going to grow until there's chaos & anarchy on the national & global levels. There's no way to resolve this problem since the governments are now controlled by those same wealthy individuals who love this "inherent contradiction of capitalism," since it makes them wealthier & wealthier, & frankly, why would they care if a few millions of the general public suffers because of inequality. Prepare yourself for much more pain & suffering if you are one of those 99%.
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For many following the crisis for ... months, it has become clear that it is not just about Greek debt. Beneath the cultural tensions & ugly stereotypes, an ideological war is taking place. This battle is happening because the current economic system has only 2 answers to debt crises, recessions & slow economic growth: stimulus & austerity.
Stimulus is about the government pumping money into the economy to encourage consumer spending, which will theoretically lead to economic growth. In recent times, stimulus efforts have taken the form of the government spending money on infrastructure & other socially beneficial projects (think the New Deal) & quantitative easing. Austerity is a set of measures that aim to cut government spending & shrink the public sector to make the economy less dependent on it, which in theory should make room for & encourage a burgeoning free market (ie neo-liberalism).
The argument against government-led stimulus asks how the economy can grow if the government has to keep expanding its debt &/or money supply in order to start new projects & stimulate the economy. Surely the stimulation it provides will never compensate for growing levels of debt? Anti-austerity advocates, on the other hand, ask how the economy can grow if people make less money & taxes are higher – people will save, not spend, & economic growth is based on consumer spending.
The issue of austerity versus stimulus is often framed as the entire debate – if you don’t support one, you must support the other, because there are no alternatives. This is the same binary debate that has been going on for more than 100 years between the state versus the market. Yet, these dichotomies distract people from thinking about what’s really important – the goal of these policies, which is to grow the economy.
No analysis I’ve read thus far has questioned the damaging role that the endless quest for economic growth plays. Neither austerity nor government stimulus will ever be able to address the debt crises & recessions of the twenty-first century because what we’re dealing with here is an inherent contradiction of capitalism.
This contradiction comes from the surplus of the system (profit) being taken out of the real economy (the economy of physical goods and services) and put into the financial sector to generate more wealth for people who are already wealthy. This requires the economy to continually grow to compensate for the extraction of profit, which is essentially the extraction of the economy’s surplus.
However, this extraction of profit is the same mechanism at the root of soaring levels of inequality. A recent Oxfam report estimates that, by 2016, the richest 1% of the world’s population will own more than the other 99%. If the average person is making relatively less every year, or struggling just to maintain the same financial state, they can’t afford to buy ever more products & services, so the economy can’t grow as it did when we had more financial equality. Thus capitalism has always carried the seed of its own demise.
We are seeing this self-destruction in Greece. The ... Syriza government wants to go back to the negotiating table & create a new bailout agreement that will cut the debt to a more manageable size & reform the public sector in ways that won’t affect the most vulnerable. This would still be austerity, albeit a much milder version than that of the past 5 years. ...
If an agreement can’t be reached, Greece might well go back to the drachma. However, the government has no clear plan for this & an unplanned exit from the euro would be painful, with the poorest hit the hardest.
In all of these scenarios, the government’s goal would still be to re-start economic growth, even at the cost of creating more inequality. None of these options gets to the roots of capitalism’s inherent contradiction. There’s no way to grow ourselves out of this crisis; not for Greece, not for the rest of the world. What we are witnessing is the beginning of the collapse of capitalism.
So what is a sustainable path forward for Greece? If the Greek government could see that it won’t be able to re-start growth, and that GDP growth is a means to an end, not an end in itself, there are steps it could take to start paving a new path to prosperity for its people.
In addition to the basics – restructuring the Greek debt, deep reforms in the public sector to make it more transparent & accountable, & the strengthening of the solidarity economy – I suggest the following:
...
2.The government should nationalise the banks & encourage people to start credit unions. This will re-align the banking sector with the needs of citizens & make the banks more resilient. Credit unions would empower people to take financial matters into their own hands.
3.Greece should keep for-profit interests from buying up its common wealth. This could be done via land trusts, not-for-profits & amending the constitution to make it unconstitutional for the government to sell off the commons.
4.The Greek government should start using a wellbeing or happiness index to measure success, as Bhutan does. In this age of inequality, working class people & the unemployed can easily slip through the cracks of GDP growth.
5.Businesses & the government should shorten the working week & encourage job-sharing, so more people can have part-time employment. This would counter the current problem of some having no work while others work 50 hours a week.
6.Finally, the government should create legislation & encourage not-for-profit enterprise in every sector to prevent the extraction of profits from the real economy & encourage social entrepreneurs & innovators to start up their own not-for-profits. These enterprises would help alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Greece, create a more stable economy & keep the financial surplus in the real economy. By building an economy around social purpose, Greece could usher in the post-capitalist era, rather than fall victim to the unavoidable collapse of capitalism we are witnessing.
Jennifer Hinton is the co-author of How on Earth: Flourishing in a Not-for-Profit World by 2050, which will be published in October 2015.
Think of it like a machine (for example, your car engine). If you keep driving your car for longer & longer distances & keep trying to extract as many kilometers (or miles) you can extract out of it before you need to service your car, or try to slowly reduce your frequency of regular car maintenance, you will eventually destroy your car engine & its related machinery, because your car's machinery is working harder for fewer servicing. It's the same case for human labour.
Anyway, so then the government is faced with only 2 choices (kind of being stuck between rock & a hard place) that it either try to juice up the "dead" economy through stimulus (like US did) or try to save billions through harsh austerity programs like Southern European nations did or are still doing. These two solutions are interlinked & become sort of a catch-22 problem. Government's primary source of revenue is taxes, but it can't really tax the public which in itself is not earning enough to survive. So tax revenue falls off the cliff. If tax revenue is insufficient for the government to institute stimulus programs, then it's only option is to bring more money from outside; either print more or borrow more. Either of these options will reduce the value of the national currency (assuming it's not part of a regional monetary bloc), & the price of everything essential in the marketplace for the public will rise, which will cause the general public to save more, instead of spend, which is required to revive the dead economy. Hence, we are back at the start of the problem, where the economy is still dead, & neither austerity nor stimulus is working to their full potential.
However, while the government is either cutting social spending or reducing the value of the currency, few individuals in its country are still becoming wealthier by the minute. That's why, the recession didn't hit the hardest all those wealthy 1-percenters. Heck, in their own little world, they didn't even feel it. Their wealth actually grew multiple folds during the recent recession.
Problem is that this inherent problem of modern capitalism & the social inequality it causes is only going to grow until there's chaos & anarchy on the national & global levels. There's no way to resolve this problem since the governments are now controlled by those same wealthy individuals who love this "inherent contradiction of capitalism," since it makes them wealthier & wealthier, & frankly, why would they care if a few millions of the general public suffers because of inequality. Prepare yourself for much more pain & suffering if you are one of those 99%.
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For many following the crisis for ... months, it has become clear that it is not just about Greek debt. Beneath the cultural tensions & ugly stereotypes, an ideological war is taking place. This battle is happening because the current economic system has only 2 answers to debt crises, recessions & slow economic growth: stimulus & austerity.
Stimulus is about the government pumping money into the economy to encourage consumer spending, which will theoretically lead to economic growth. In recent times, stimulus efforts have taken the form of the government spending money on infrastructure & other socially beneficial projects (think the New Deal) & quantitative easing. Austerity is a set of measures that aim to cut government spending & shrink the public sector to make the economy less dependent on it, which in theory should make room for & encourage a burgeoning free market (ie neo-liberalism).
The argument against government-led stimulus asks how the economy can grow if the government has to keep expanding its debt &/or money supply in order to start new projects & stimulate the economy. Surely the stimulation it provides will never compensate for growing levels of debt? Anti-austerity advocates, on the other hand, ask how the economy can grow if people make less money & taxes are higher – people will save, not spend, & economic growth is based on consumer spending.
The issue of austerity versus stimulus is often framed as the entire debate – if you don’t support one, you must support the other, because there are no alternatives. This is the same binary debate that has been going on for more than 100 years between the state versus the market. Yet, these dichotomies distract people from thinking about what’s really important – the goal of these policies, which is to grow the economy.
No analysis I’ve read thus far has questioned the damaging role that the endless quest for economic growth plays. Neither austerity nor government stimulus will ever be able to address the debt crises & recessions of the twenty-first century because what we’re dealing with here is an inherent contradiction of capitalism.
This contradiction comes from the surplus of the system (profit) being taken out of the real economy (the economy of physical goods and services) and put into the financial sector to generate more wealth for people who are already wealthy. This requires the economy to continually grow to compensate for the extraction of profit, which is essentially the extraction of the economy’s surplus.
However, this extraction of profit is the same mechanism at the root of soaring levels of inequality. A recent Oxfam report estimates that, by 2016, the richest 1% of the world’s population will own more than the other 99%. If the average person is making relatively less every year, or struggling just to maintain the same financial state, they can’t afford to buy ever more products & services, so the economy can’t grow as it did when we had more financial equality. Thus capitalism has always carried the seed of its own demise.
We are seeing this self-destruction in Greece. The ... Syriza government wants to go back to the negotiating table & create a new bailout agreement that will cut the debt to a more manageable size & reform the public sector in ways that won’t affect the most vulnerable. This would still be austerity, albeit a much milder version than that of the past 5 years. ...
If an agreement can’t be reached, Greece might well go back to the drachma. However, the government has no clear plan for this & an unplanned exit from the euro would be painful, with the poorest hit the hardest.
In all of these scenarios, the government’s goal would still be to re-start economic growth, even at the cost of creating more inequality. None of these options gets to the roots of capitalism’s inherent contradiction. There’s no way to grow ourselves out of this crisis; not for Greece, not for the rest of the world. What we are witnessing is the beginning of the collapse of capitalism.
So what is a sustainable path forward for Greece? If the Greek government could see that it won’t be able to re-start growth, and that GDP growth is a means to an end, not an end in itself, there are steps it could take to start paving a new path to prosperity for its people.
In addition to the basics – restructuring the Greek debt, deep reforms in the public sector to make it more transparent & accountable, & the strengthening of the solidarity economy – I suggest the following:
...
2.The government should nationalise the banks & encourage people to start credit unions. This will re-align the banking sector with the needs of citizens & make the banks more resilient. Credit unions would empower people to take financial matters into their own hands.
3.Greece should keep for-profit interests from buying up its common wealth. This could be done via land trusts, not-for-profits & amending the constitution to make it unconstitutional for the government to sell off the commons.
4.The Greek government should start using a wellbeing or happiness index to measure success, as Bhutan does. In this age of inequality, working class people & the unemployed can easily slip through the cracks of GDP growth.
5.Businesses & the government should shorten the working week & encourage job-sharing, so more people can have part-time employment. This would counter the current problem of some having no work while others work 50 hours a week.
6.Finally, the government should create legislation & encourage not-for-profit enterprise in every sector to prevent the extraction of profits from the real economy & encourage social entrepreneurs & innovators to start up their own not-for-profits. These enterprises would help alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Greece, create a more stable economy & keep the financial surplus in the real economy. By building an economy around social purpose, Greece could usher in the post-capitalist era, rather than fall victim to the unavoidable collapse of capitalism we are witnessing.
Jennifer Hinton is the co-author of How on Earth: Flourishing in a Not-for-Profit World by 2050, which will be published in October 2015.
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