‘Capitalism is growing frail, as isolation and accompanying events are pushing society into places we are less familiar with’
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My brand new trainers are losing their importance, without the fast pace of modern life. Capitalism is growing frail, as isolation and accompanying events are pushing society into places we are less familiar with. We see it in the current resurgence in mass consciousness for frontline workers – who were dismissed not that long ago by this government – yet now they tower over the chrome bravado of Canary Wharf.
I’m not talking solely about the street clapping though, because in many ways, that’s a hollow gesture – I think it justifies inaction. It is a declaration thoroughly endorsed by Boris Johnson and his government to deflect from the fact that they stripped the NHS bare to its skeleton. The oppressors championing their victims is a new era of bullshit. I understand people are panicked, and I understand they may feel that a salute is all they can do in this time of crisis. But it’s not enough. Key workers don’t need claps. They need to be paid a wage that allows them to live comfortably within our society, and our government blocks that.
“Frontline workers – who were dismissed not that long ago by this government – now tower over the chrome bravado of Canary Wharf”
Of course, to some degree, we are powerless. Aside from the brief, unified but tokenistic gesture, we need a giant push into territory fit for human existence. It’s not enough to glimpse at reason, reason has become the dominant theme. Incredibly, we’re seeing a shift in the political landscape – the Tories are beginning to deliver on many of the promises that the Labour manifesto set forth, and ideals that Corbyn campaigned on. This needs to continue in post-virus life.
“Key workers don’t need claps. They need to be paid a wage that allows them to live comfortably within our society, and our government blocks that”
If we are to carry on under a monetised system, we need a full cultural shift. We knew this already – that mainlining a concentrated, capitalist, neoliberal programme into the masses isn’t sustainable and offers weak foundations for tackling the wrath of a large-scale disaster. When money stops, it’s like a blank slate of consciousness. Its ugliness, however, is truly out in force. The free market is currently devouring small businesses faster than an ill-prepared government can blink, our health services are pushed to their limit, the most vulnerable suffer.
So when the lockdown is lifted, how is this going to go? We will go back to things mostly unchanged in how we are connected to the system, perhaps, in fact, of course we will. But surely, somewhere, it has to begin to shift in favour of humanism.
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