COVID exposed the inequalities in our system. Now it is exacerbating them. Frances Ryan writes in The Guardian:
There are times in which it feels as if we are running two worlds in parallel. Billionaires have seen their fortunes hit record highs during the pandemic, seeing their wealth climb by 27%. Meanwhile, living standards have plunged for some of the UK’s poorest families. Research by Save the Children shows those already struggling are financially even worse off since lockdown: 60% have had to cut down on meals, and more than a third have turned to charity for food and clothes.
It is a longstanding feature of a rigged system: while the poorest suffer in a crisis, the wealthiest profit from it. This was highlighted in the aftermath of the financial crash, and is all the more relevant as coronavirus spreads. And yet the truth of inequality in the UK does not necessarily cut through to the public. Recent research by Tax Justice found that while 72% of Labour voters felt that billionaires shouldn’t exist alongside foodbanks, just 52% of the public as a whole agreed. It’s not that people don’t support higher taxes on wealth – they overwhelmingly do, and this has only increased during the pandemic – but that many feel alienated by “divisive” anti-wealth language and see the accumulation of money as a moral positive in providing security.
This is where the language we use becomes seminal:
The language we use is going to be vital in this. Faced with upsetting social problems, the left instinctively provides details of them – I’ve done this many times myself – but this can often be counterproductive. Research by the Frameworks Institute shows framing problems in terms of a crisis feeds a sense of fatalism. Far from a wake-up call to inspire action, this sort of language is more likely to dampen engagement. This doesn’t mean we should stop talking about social ills. As child poverty rockets across the Midlands and the north of England, explaining the scope – and causes – of the damage we see is vital. But we have to balance highlighting the problems with proposing solutions to them.
I’ve often said that the greatest challenge the left has is convincing people that better things are possible. Cynicism, as much as rightwing ideology, is what blocks change. One very simple thing that progressive groups are encouraging critics of the Tories to do is to say “this government” rather than “the government”, when they issue attack lines. With trust in politicians low, such strategies help keep open the possibility that a better government can change lives.
During the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, African Americans kept repeating, "Keep your eyes on the prize." In this very difficult moment, we should do the same.
Image: PictureQuotes.com
4 comments:
"I’ve often said that the greatest challenge the left has is convincing people that better things are possible. Cynicism, as much as rightwing ideology, is what blocks change".
I question whether being a cynic makes one right wing. Being socialist and a cynic can be two in the same. Can you not be left and critical of those that evoke change only to change their minds after getting elected. Does my cynical judgement of Trudeau's promise of electoral reform make me any less left? I would say that my cynicism has nothing to do with tory or Libs but just in humankind in general. After all isn't greed at the base of just about every problem we suffer? those that have and those that don't.I believe in guaranteed income, healthcare for all, good paying meaningful work, and respect for every individual. Having said that, I am still cynical because I have been waiting a long time and lived through the seventies with the promise of a four day work week still ringing in my old ears.
That's an important point, zoombats. Bo political party has a premium on cynicism. Cynicism is a natural reaction to broken promises.
Covid has blasted the paint off our social structures and revealed the rust and poor maintenance practices of our governments. For years they've been skipping preventative maintenance and passing the savings onto their rich donors. Indeed, one of Ford's first acts on becoming Premier was a tax cut. Trudeau, too, has cut taxes.
These tax cuts on the rich have to be reversed or we are headed for a very dystopian society. It's the only way to seize back the profits accrued due to the pandemic to alleviate the suffering of the poorest. Societal maintenance can no longer be put off, and those who refused to pay for it should be handed the bill.
Cap
Oliver Wendall Holmes wrote that taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society, Cap. We can't get that kind of society on the cheap.
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