Everyday working people are forced to wade through the mostly trash that purports to be the actual news and legitimate commentary in the capitalist press and other media. There are few if any readily accessible mass alternatives to the propaganda of the capitalist class. That is why this blog and others like it are so very important to working people.
In the last 2-3 years since the near economic collapse of the capitalist system triggered by the sub-prime housing crisis and the deep recession that followed there have been many articles in the bourgeois press that purport to accurately address the issue of working people who have a job being forced to work past retirement age 65.
As if having one’s home stolen , attacks on jobs, pensions and wages, social security, health care , augmented by huge losses for those workers who were able to add to their retirement funds via private investment plans were not enough , it is clear to many older workers that they may never be able to retire. They may in fact have to die on the job.
It is infuriating the way the capitalist media spins this really harsh reality to obscure the contradictions that most workers intuit if they do not fully understand. It is as if the laboratories of the ruling class recognize the need to prepare a balm and spread it far and wide to soothe and ally the anger and rage of all working people.
In an article in the Canadian press today, the Globe and Mail, one title stood out as an excellent example how they try to manipulate us. It reads “Is Freedom 75 boomers’ New Goal.” The writer goes on to say that “poll after poll shows Canadians are eager to work past retirement.” You really have to ask who was polled here. The brief article continues to play on or perhaps instil fear in older workers. According to this poll “52 per cent believe working beyond “retirement” will keep them young,” and “stay active and engaged.” One individual polled was quoted say “I think people also realize that going to work is a real socializing experience.”
A related article in this same newspaper entitled “Most Canadians plan to work after 65” actually states that according to a Bank of Nova Scotia poll, “72 percent say they want to remain mentally active, while 57 percent say they want to stay socially connected.”
So the brainwash continues. First working past 65 is presented not as the harsh reality forced on older workers but a self chosen “goal.” It continues to imply that potential mental stagnation and social isolation, fears harboured by most aging workers are best remedied by staying in the workforce till you drop. This is utter nonsense and deeply exploitive. The majority of working people spend 30-40 years or more trudging off to work, often to shift work that has been proven to take years off a worker's life, spend most of their waking hours in the rigid , subjected to the often exhausting demands and structures of the workplace. As a result they have sacrificed time that could have been spent building relationships and solidarity not only with other workers but with their families, friends and communities.
So much for the enjoyment of spending time with our children and grandchildren, fishing, cycling, hiking, camping or traveling with family and friends. So much for reading and listening to music, going to a concert or a play, actually amazing ways to “stay young, “active and engaged,” mentally and physically.
Media spins like this are as I said exploitive and manipulative. The goal is to make workers think that what has been forced on them is of their own choosing. It is an attempt to allay the fears and anger among older workers and reduce expectations of younger workers, whose building rage is also a serious threat to the bosses and their politicians. It is an effort to divide younger workers from older workers as more and more trade union leaders bargain pension concessions and 2 tiered wage and pension schemes.
Clearly the task is to demand of the leaders of our trade unions that they expose these lies and manipulations rather than be part of it. What is needed is not more pandering to the bosses and the politicians but a program and demands that incorporate all working people not only in the workplace but reach far into communities. A fighting program for jobs and really good pensions and working conditions for all working people. A fight for health care and better social security, free childcare and education all workiong people , not just those organized into trade unions. In fact what is needed is for a big chunk of the resources to be spent on the building of an alternative press and media, produced and operated by working , poor , racialized and student and immigrant communities everywhere.
Showing up at a rally with a few union flags simply does not cut it.
In the last 2-3 years since the near economic collapse of the capitalist system triggered by the sub-prime housing crisis and the deep recession that followed there have been many articles in the bourgeois press that purport to accurately address the issue of working people who have a job being forced to work past retirement age 65.
As if having one’s home stolen , attacks on jobs, pensions and wages, social security, health care , augmented by huge losses for those workers who were able to add to their retirement funds via private investment plans were not enough , it is clear to many older workers that they may never be able to retire. They may in fact have to die on the job.
It is infuriating the way the capitalist media spins this really harsh reality to obscure the contradictions that most workers intuit if they do not fully understand. It is as if the laboratories of the ruling class recognize the need to prepare a balm and spread it far and wide to soothe and ally the anger and rage of all working people.
In an article in the Canadian press today, the Globe and Mail, one title stood out as an excellent example how they try to manipulate us. It reads “Is Freedom 75 boomers’ New Goal.” The writer goes on to say that “poll after poll shows Canadians are eager to work past retirement.” You really have to ask who was polled here. The brief article continues to play on or perhaps instil fear in older workers. According to this poll “52 per cent believe working beyond “retirement” will keep them young,” and “stay active and engaged.” One individual polled was quoted say “I think people also realize that going to work is a real socializing experience.”
A related article in this same newspaper entitled “Most Canadians plan to work after 65” actually states that according to a Bank of Nova Scotia poll, “72 percent say they want to remain mentally active, while 57 percent say they want to stay socially connected.”
So the brainwash continues. First working past 65 is presented not as the harsh reality forced on older workers but a self chosen “goal.” It continues to imply that potential mental stagnation and social isolation, fears harboured by most aging workers are best remedied by staying in the workforce till you drop. This is utter nonsense and deeply exploitive. The majority of working people spend 30-40 years or more trudging off to work, often to shift work that has been proven to take years off a worker's life, spend most of their waking hours in the rigid , subjected to the often exhausting demands and structures of the workplace. As a result they have sacrificed time that could have been spent building relationships and solidarity not only with other workers but with their families, friends and communities.
So much for the enjoyment of spending time with our children and grandchildren, fishing, cycling, hiking, camping or traveling with family and friends. So much for reading and listening to music, going to a concert or a play, actually amazing ways to “stay young, “active and engaged,” mentally and physically.
Media spins like this are as I said exploitive and manipulative. The goal is to make workers think that what has been forced on them is of their own choosing. It is an attempt to allay the fears and anger among older workers and reduce expectations of younger workers, whose building rage is also a serious threat to the bosses and their politicians. It is an effort to divide younger workers from older workers as more and more trade union leaders bargain pension concessions and 2 tiered wage and pension schemes.
Clearly the task is to demand of the leaders of our trade unions that they expose these lies and manipulations rather than be part of it. What is needed is not more pandering to the bosses and the politicians but a program and demands that incorporate all working people not only in the workplace but reach far into communities. A fighting program for jobs and really good pensions and working conditions for all working people. A fight for health care and better social security, free childcare and education all workiong people , not just those organized into trade unions. In fact what is needed is for a big chunk of the resources to be spent on the building of an alternative press and media, produced and operated by working , poor , racialized and student and immigrant communities everywhere.
Showing up at a rally with a few union flags simply does not cut it.
Globe and Mail Wednesday January 26 2011
Globe and Mail January 04, 2011
No comments:
Post a Comment