Gail Stewart wrote: > 7. A major step toward the modernization of human relations was taken > two hundred years ago by the abolition of slavery in Great Britain, > thanks to William Wilberforce and others who led the campaign against > the slave trade.
Explicit slavery may have been abolished (although btw it persists in various parts of the world and now has a renaissance especially in China!), but exploitation wasn't abolished, it merely morphed into more subtle forms. By drawing this comparison (between abolishing slavery and abolishing dependent work), you could be taken to suggest that abolishing work won't abolish exploitation either, but merely transform it -- and indeed: > 8. A similar major step toward a modernization of human relations is > currently overdue: the abolition of employment, i.e., of situations > where one person works "for" rather than "with" another, each freely > self-governing as they already are in their capacity as citizens. > > 9. Many participants in the current market economy, perhaps as many as > 25%, already work as independent contractors including senior executives > who, almost universally, have already made this transition. Unfortunately, the exploitation in "independent" jobs is often even worse than in (unionized) "dependent" jobs! The German neo-cons have even "institutionalized" this process by creating the infamous "Ich-AG" form of "self-employment": Unemployed people are supposed to become a "one-person company" that is exposed to extremely exploitative work contracts -- basically slaves for hire. Welcome to neo-feudalism. The Orwellian coating (painting it as "independence" or even liberation, and a *return* to feudal past as *modernization* of the market economy) can't cover up the real goals... Regards, Chris ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword "igve". _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
