Charlie Broker is a very funny TV critic of sorts. His show Screen Wipe is worth a watch. The following clip is not as such the show but a rather ironic twist whilst trying to sell a TV on QVC which involves the Charlie Brtoker show, take a look to see what i mean:
Modern capitalism has created riches beyond the wildest dreams of our grandparents and great-grandparents, with the potential for far more...Humankind has developed science and technique to a level that was unimaginable to previous generations... Humanity is capable of space exploration, has mapped the human genome, can modify genes and clone animals, yet we cannot feed the world on the basis of capitalism. For most of human history it has not been possible to satisfy even the most basic human needs. Now, as a result of the labour and ingenuity of working people, the potential exists to eliminate want forever. The barrier to achieving this is the capitalist system itself. Based as it is on the private ownership of the productive forces (factories, offices, science and technique), capitalism creates immense inequality and deprivation when the potential exists for providing the material components of a decent life for all. -Hannah Sell
Heard the song Black Stacey last night and loved it so I got my hands on more of Saul William's stuff, really really love it. Don't want to listen to anything else at the moment. Check him out. Here is someone doing one of those Lip Sync videos to the song:
I came across this quote today by Clement Attlee which was a response to Winston Churchill's attack of Socialist ideas during the 1945 UK General Election:
The Prime Minister made much play last night with the rights of the individual and the dangers of people being ordered about by officials. I entirely agree that people should have the greatest freedom compatible with the freedom of others. There was a time when employers were free to work little children for sixteen hours a day. I remember when employers were free to employ sweated women workers on finishing trousers at a penny halfpenny a pair. There was a time when people were free to neglect sanitation so that thousands died of preventable diseases. For years every attempt to remedy these crying evils was blocked by the same plea of freedom for the individual. It was in fact freedom for the rich and slavery for the poor. Make no mistake, it has only been through the power of the State, given to it by Parliament, that the general public has been protected against the greed of ruthless profit-makers and property owners.
I have felt pretty angry about how this credit crunch crisis has been handled for quite some time. From giving the banks billions by the government without saying they had to pass the savings onto customers, how the media demonised the Unions for demanding at least enough for working people to live on while saying we need to help the banks more!
Today as usual as I woke up, turned on the TV and watch News 24. As I did there was an interview with Tony Woodly the head of the Unite Union. He was giving, what I thought, was a very impassioned speech about the insanity of how we are dealing with the current state of affairs, which inspired this post.
I think how this situation has been handled is a telling sign at how the government and the media themselves do not represent the people. All they care about it what is good for the rich. I think it is high time people, real people stood up and where heard and had their interests put before the riches.
I can’t begin to tell you how angry it makes me feel that Labour has ruled out any sort of windfall tax on these greedy companies, so greedy that because of them and the huge fuel hikes it is likely that a lot of people are going to needlessly die this winter. It is just unfathomable why the government is allowing this to happen, and they call these attempts to help people ‘gimmicky’, saving lives is gimmicky? But I don't think any other government would do any different. New Labour, Cons, Lib Dems whatever, there all the same, and all they have proven is they will put the interests of the rich first over normal people.
The one weak weak argument against the windfall tax is that if we tax the fuel companies heavily there’ll just up and leave, absolute rubbish. They have been given a monopoly in the market, basically a license to print money with or without these huge tax hikes they are making a lot of money. They wouldn’t up and leave even if we taxed them billions because they would still be making billions with little effort, they’d have to be insane! And the very same company that provides gas in this country which is part French owned, has been caped at 2% raise over in France, yet in the UK they have been allowed to raise their prices by 19%! You know I think the current French government is pretty bad and also don’t care that much about the people in society, but there not even close to being as insane as the government here is being!
Personally I think we need to nationalise all the fuel industries, I don’t expect that to happen but at the very least we need this windfall tax on the fuel companies and then pass it onto people, else a lot of people are going to die. You know I’m not even saying what I think the best step forward in our society, I’m talking about the bare minimum that needs to be done.
But this is just part of a much bigger issue that is facing society. Governments of the last thirty years in particular haven’t given a damn about the general population. How greed is some how a good thing now! And the things that rich people seem to think they can say these days, the demonsation of the working class, the dividing of the working class by race, which the media seem intent of doing and the dividing of the working class and the middle class. The rich seem to have done a god job in creating this indivlistic society which only benefits the rich. Then the best part is they blame social working movements for all the problems of society! Just say the opposite, amazing!
What we need now more then ever is a political party for the working people, perhaps Labour used to be that but they certainly aren’t any more, and I don’t understand why the Unions don’t do something about this, without Union funding Labour would be nothing.
To steal a quote from someones signature on a forum I go to sometimes, ‘we are who we are because of who we all our’, we give MPs power, they do not give us power and it’s high time we remembered this! I don’t blame people for their apathy for politics in this country, non of the main parties will make life better for us. I don’t see myself voting in the next election, what would be the point unless things change?
I don’t want this to be a pessimistic rant and say everything is shit, what can you do? Because I think there are loads we could do, loads that a lot of people are already doing. When people want things to change they do. Don’t let them tell you things won’t change. We have Universal Suffrage for petes sake! And as Tony Benn has said, it's a far more dangerous and powerful idea to the establishment then any kind of Socialism or other working class movement. If we can achieve that we can achieve anything. I think we have reached a point technologically and socilially where we can put all this great power and knowledge in the world to good not bad. Why is it that we over produce food in the world yet billions starve, why do we accept exported food from countries while their population starves! This new colonial empire that has been created is not much better then the old European Empires, in some respects conditions are worse now for some people in the world!
Clearly society the way it is does not work. Even in the ‘Rich West’, sure for the rich it works but look at real growth for real people. It’s been tiny over the last thirty years. We make more money but we work a damn sight longer, are we happier? I think the answer would be no, to look at the apathy people have towards politics. We live in a global society now, so we need global change. Real change, not the kind of change people like Obama preach, it sounds good but look at his policy’s, nothing will change with him, the leader of the supposed free world…
I've always found the scene in Space Odyssey when Hal get turned off profound. Even though he's killed all those people, you feel sorry for him, because in the end he is so helpless.
April 2013June 2013
My Opera
