Chris: And those people, those people that worked so hard, who gave their lives to build a society where people could feel safe and secure and where everybody had a descent chance and where people didn't have to step on others in order to get that chance, those people. If they were here. I believe they would cry to see what we have done with their legacy.
Andre: Nice post Chris, and thank you for taking the time to present us with a 'bird's eye' view of the Swedish scene. I would like to pick up on a word you mentioned and this seems endemic to similar experiences in other countries ( I am thinking of course of Holland which also has a pretty well organised 'welfare' state). The word is:globalisation. With this development capital can transcend its 'homegrown' borders, go where it likes (cheap labour) and maximise profit. It has an internal responsibility and dynamic to do so otherwise it will be absorbed by competitors. Problem, as you point out is that 'homegrown' benefits achieved by the people who have created this capital in the first place, come under pressure when capital threatens (and in many cases does) leave its home base. This is precisely the logic of an intellectual pattern devoid of morality. It is completely SOM thinking.( If I may attribute that adjective to a (multinational) capitalist organisation with its Board of Directors). By having created wealth, it has raised the quality of social static patterns in their dominance over biological PoV's ( high standard of living, increased benefits and securities,a safety net when you do get ill, injured, incapacitated, lose your job etc, and upon retirement expect a continuation of this standard of living). But capital, as you know, has no morality, on both sides. One the one hand it argues: we have helped you achieve these things, we have done well, thank you very much, but to maintain our level of profits we have to go elsewhere because (what we have created, with your help) is becoming too expensive. On the other hand it justifies its move to less developed countries (such as China...and you know where I am...and want to go with this argument),precisely because they argue their survival depends on this (maintaining the competitive edge) and 'we are also helping these countries develop'. It is not our fault that the wages are so low but if we give them at least an opportunity of getting a job (with us) they are thankfull, we are thankfull and the country benefits. The problem is that the level of wages (e.g. here in China) were already too low. People hardly survived on these in the first place. And if you have a look at the working conditions/ living conditions/hours and number of days to be worked, what happens when they get sick, how many holidays they get/ how much holiday pay they get, etc,etc you would think you are straight back in Dickens' time. It is an absolute disgrace and the directors and bosses know this. It is completely immoral. At present, the only practice under scrutiny in this context is the international exploitation of child labour. The UN has drafted a resolution which many countries have signed (interestingly (?) not the US!) Chris I agree with you. We have the wealth, technical know-how, brains and whatever else is needed, to provide every man, woman and child, on this earth !, with enough food, clothing and shelter to last everyone's lifetime over and over again. If we want to, the war between Biol. PoV's and Soc. PoV's can be reduced to little shadow plays and games, with SoC. PoV's resoundingly on top! We can persue quality right now! And, thinking of that...on top of what we have already been given.... what a diverse, wonderful place it will be... and become and become and become... because this (freely) responding to DQ will never end...only on earth when you biologically return to inorganic PoV"s. BUT, the powers that be, vested interests, name it what you like,literally do not see any quality (i.e.morality) in this. We, within the MOQ, still have a long way to go and a massive task ahead of us. We are facing an incredible responsibility...but the rewards are obvious. Just a thought. Andre Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
