What goes around...

I just hope that we; the people, will be able to hang onto the practical changes being implemented to combat the global pandemic. This is an opportunity for the biggest redistribution of wealth... ever! A little over ten years ago, governments across the world used financial reserves to prop up the failing banking system; the prevailing wisdom was that without the banks world economies would fail. Now that people are unable to work and therefore earn, they will be getting into debt, what will the banks do now?

If people can't pay their mortgages, or rent will they be evicted? If they can't pay for utilities, will they be disconnected? Either way; the situation is unprecedented and there will be a moment when we, the people will have the power to make things change for our permanent betterment or we will allow "them" to restore the stinking status quo.

Perennially intractable issues like housing the homeless have suddenly been implemented and most people are realising how much they rely on people on whom they habitually look down. Some leaders are, of course taking advantage of the situation to consolidate their power. Viktor Orban- the fascistic Prime Minister of Hungary has enacted a law which allows him to rule by decree as an effective dictator. The law is indefinite and can only be recinded by a vote of 75% of Hungary's puppet parliament and a Presidential signature. The UK government has enacted laws that give it authoritarian emergency powers that have already got some people anxious. Our government has been lying and dragging its feet about delivering protective clothing and testing to frontline health service staff. In a damning demonstration of what is wrong with capitalism they ignored existing stocks of ventilators, told the country there were none available and gave the contract to Dyson who haven't created ventilators before, but HAVE donated heavily to the Selfservative party. They've been talking about "thousands" of these machines but today have announced the imminent delivery of thirty.

I believe sincerely that a government led by the out-going Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn would have handled the crisis a lot better; it would have been a quicker response and it would have been open to input from a range of stakeholders. That is not how the Selfservatives and people like them operate: unless THEY come up with the solutions, those solutions are not valid. Anything they suggest MUST fit into their political ideologies before they're discussed publicly. I don't think I'm being naive to suggest that socialists would not have been so precious about their own dogma.

I've been thinking: "Socialism" is too closely linked to "Communism" in a lot of people's minds. The alternative to Capitalism I was thinking about as I was dozing off last night could be called "Communityism"... Hmmm Ok; so it doesn't exactly bounce off the tongue and I've railed a lot about people coming up with new "buzz" terms for entirely adequate expressions, but at least most people would understand what Communityism might be about. I have a fantasy of communities operating at smaller levels than at present: I'd like to encourage community enterprises to serve target local communities. I'd like to encourage cash-less transactions, trading and bartering. I'd like to see an expansion of allotments with growers linked to local shops and eateries as well as selling to their neighbours. 

People are looking out for each other much more than they did before. Of course; there are those who are taking advantage to line their own nests to the detriment of everyone else: scamming the elderly, attacking health service workers and their vehicles, landlords evicting health worker tenants and businesses either hiking their prices, forcing staff to work unnecessarily and without adequate protection or laying them off without pay. The hit list of pariah companies grows each day- with some shifts when greedy CEOs give in to adverse criticism. I hope that people's memories are longer than they were when they voted. Last week, people were encouraged to stand at their doorsteps and applaud health workers. One responded by saying that if people really wanted to support health workers, they should stop voting for the people who asset-stripped and underfunded the NHS for ten years. I shared that on FB and was criticised for not joining in with the positve vibes man. I absolutely DO believe in "positive vibes" and a lot of that "hippy shit", BUT to me those vibes are not the product, they're the monitor or alarm device that gets me motivated to actually DO something. It is not enough to FEEL sad or angry or whatever about a situation unless that's a prelude to making things happen and taking some action.