Posts by GeofCox@climatejustice.social
(DIR) Post #ATw7jioN9bK9jKfp6e by GeofCox@climatejustice.social
2023-03-23T07:21:05Z
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England's privatised water system offers pretty conclusive proof that public ownership out-performs private in almost every respect.https://www.gre.ac.uk/articles/public-relations/london-students-can-elevate-their-career-prospects-with-flexible-degree-options-at-university-of-greenwich
(DIR) Post #AVbjnZ0kELJMyyBYVE by GeofCox@climatejustice.social
2023-05-13T09:15:15Z
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@grammargirl It's a mystery to me why and how something as simple as wearing a mask or not turned into such a politicised issue in America.Also why Americans get so worked up about unisex toilets (most are, here in France - it's really not a problem, and there's certainly nothing political to it).
(DIR) Post #AW1onIQLKTo3fPFmdM by GeofCox@climatejustice.social
2023-05-23T19:19:40Z
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@AdrianRiskin @MarkRNay @axre @TobiWanKenobi @yma @breadandcircuses Yes - what is understood by 'capitalism' here is difficult to understand, isn't it?The argument seems to be based on 2 propositions:1. That an economic system that developed in Europe over a few hundred years, and was violently imposed on most of the rest of the world over even fewer years, arises inevitably out of 'human nature' - whereas other much more stable and long-lived systems (thousands of years) were mere aberrations... and2. That this is because 'capitalism' is based on an idea about 'human nature' (that people are bad), whereas at least one other system is based on the idea that people are good.The first proposition is obviously going to be indefensible. The second is more interesting, and on this I recommend Rutger Bregman's book 'Humankind' - which convincingly argues - and thoroughly evidences - that people are basically good, but are convinced by those that would control and exploit them that they are bad - so need to be controlled.But I think you can easily make people see the idea that people are bad is false by asking a simple question: 'so are your family and friends bad? your child? your Mum?' Generally they answer 'no'. Everybody answers no.
(DIR) Post #AXjyhCnijs5eyxI63E by GeofCox@climatejustice.social
2023-07-08T06:53:08Z
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@BrentToderian Rutger Bregman's book 'Utopia for Realists' has many examples like this of simple, obvious solutions to social problems that would actually save governments money.But that's the point. They save governments money. But to the asset rich (landlords, shareholders, etc) it is the threat of homelessness, unemployment, poverty, that keeps us working for them, paying rent to them, etc...
(DIR) Post #AXl8abriLRxzOHc21Q by GeofCox@climatejustice.social
2023-07-16T16:40:27Z
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@OutOfExile_IDR_Voice @Radical_EgoCom Throughout most of my life the UK neoliberal media has been predicting the French economy would collapse - because 57% of it is in the public sector and over 10% more in other forms of social ownership (co-ops, etc), because the less-than-a-third that remains in the private sector is highly regulated, because French workers have generous holidays and other benefits, but most of all because French trade unions are militant - and successful.But how wrong could the UK media be? It is in fact their own 'free market' economy that seems to be collapsing, while the French is relatively stable.One thing the UK media seem to have missed entirely is the obvious fact that strong trade unions drive productivity. Of course they do: if you increase labour costs both public and private sector invest in automation and skills. The average French worker can stop at their 2-hour lunch break on Thursday and still produce as much as the average Brit produces in the whole week - and as Krugman says "Productivity isn't everything, but in the long run it is almost everything".
(DIR) Post #AXwmXNs6yz727s0XWy by GeofCox@climatejustice.social
2023-07-22T08:23:19Z
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@HeavenlyPossum @asbestos @RD4Anarchy There are many confusions that tangle up the way we think about the past vs the present, aren't there?One crucial one is the failure to distinguish between what I call 'civilisation' - the accumulation of knowledge and other aspects of culture that has carried on through many different economic and social formations - and 'systems' - precisely those changing formations - capitalism, communism, feudalism, etc...So things like relatively recent increases in average life expectancy, which are largely due to public health awareness initiatives, and to advances in medicine, get attributed to 'the system' (capitalism) when in fact they depend mainly on knowledge accumulated across millennia, largely before anybody imagined the latest 'system'. And of course within this there are many other confusions - such as the fact that most recent advances in these fields (I mean over the last century or so) have actually come from the public sector, universities, etc, that are substantially outside of 'capitalism' (in most countries).Then of course there's that old confusion about 'average lifespans' anyway - that it has never been about how long people 'naturally' live - which hasn't changed much - there have always been some very elderly people - but has always been mainly about infant mortality bringing down the average (and indeed it was worse throughout most of the time we think of as 'capitalist' than in predecessor formations, and the relatively recent advances are mainly associated with the emergent influence of anti-capitalist movements - socialism, etc).
(DIR) Post #AYs6bVauJED2fsHJnU by GeofCox@climatejustice.social
2023-08-18T16:34:53Z
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This is great: you type your zip code into the app, and you're shown a complete list of books prohibited in your area; then download the e-reader, and these books are available to download.https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/18/us-teens-banned-books-schoolsI wonder if the book-banners will end up making these books more widely read than they ever were in libraries?
(DIR) Post #AZKUfBw3BGeaBgKou8 by GeofCox@climatejustice.social
2023-08-31T09:30:26Z
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@mad @ChrisMayLA6 Maybe the rich just want to be supr-rich, and the super-rich think - with some justification - that their wealth buys them immunity from social collapse - that they'll never have to use public transport, or any other public services, or walk public streets...
(DIR) Post #AZjJoyDgYUAu8ayHgm by GeofCox@climatejustice.social
2023-09-13T07:45:30Z
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@ErnstGucker @ChrisMayLA6 And it's not just infrastructure - "The UK is becoming the toxic poster child of Europe. The government has repeatedly promised that our environmental standards won’t slip post-Brexit. And yet here we are, less than four years later, and already we’re seeing our standards fall far behind those of the EU. With UK bees and other pollinators in decline, and our waters never more polluted, now is the time to be taking steps to protect nature. Instead, the government is choosing to expose British wildlife to an ever-more toxic soup of chemicals.” - https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/13/uk-fails-ban-pesticides-outlawed-use-in-euThe UK has always been halfway between 'the European Social Model' (free enterprise but within a broadly socialist framework) and the US free-market-free-for-all - brexit was just one stage in its unfortunate choice of the latter. It's inevitable now it's in the unmitigated race-to-the-bottom that is globalisation that it will end up with 'third world' standards. But it might be good for the EU, because the UK was central to the introduction of neoliberal ideas inside it - without the UK, the 'socialist framework' part of the EU equation should be strengthened.
(DIR) Post #AZjLY5UIToQdfEop5E by GeofCox@climatejustice.social
2023-09-13T16:49:39Z
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@Aviva_Gary @ErnstGucker @ChrisMayLA6 "Not sure we've ever seen something this large collapse everywhere all at once..." - or with this level of instant international communications.You're right also to qualify the term 'globalisation'.We have to keep reminding ourselves that internationalism has always been a key left tradition - but it means solidarity between all peoples.Globalisation means extending exploitative markets, and sourcing - most perniciously the establishment of supply chains in countries with lower labour and environmental protections in order to lower costs, and so extract more profit from sales in richer countries.