Tuesday 21 February 2012

Does the class system work against us?



I take it we are all familiar with the class system here and how it works. Does it work against us though in a way? The Us vs Them scenario that we create divides us into two groups essentially along economic lines. Those who do not have the money and those who do not. Can we not change this? Instead of creating a society drawn along humans lines we create a society based on the needs of humans as per the Human Scale of Development (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_human_needs). Class strucuralism as described by Marx etc can be applied in a modern context but its a little too rigid so perhaps we need a new socialist movement based on the intentions of the original structure as described by Marx and re-empower the proleteriat?

Irish public sector attitudes to immigrants....

"Person or Number", a report issued just yesterday by a number of organisations including NASC Ireland makes for very startling reading. (http://www.nascireland.org/ ) . The report cites a number of issues with the attitude of some CWO's and Dept of Social Welfare Officials to immigrants looking to claim benefits here. In one case, a Nigerian man who was refused benefits was more or less told to fuck off back to Nigeria if he did not like it. This was just the tip of the iceberg, most of those interviewed would not make a complaint for fear it would cause an issue with their benefits that they in most cases are genuinely entitled to. Its thanks to the good people at organisations such as Intergrate Ireland and other such advocacy organisations that we can get a message across that discrimination of any kind is not welcome....

Thursday 2 February 2012

Lets ban marriage...



The right make so much of a deal of marriage these days , they claim its the basis of the nuclear family or 2.4 children . Man meets woman, they get engaged and they marry and for what? Let us not beat around the bush here, marriage only serves a financial purpose, couples who are married here in Ireland are better off financially than those that are not (http://www.youandyourmoney.ie/content.asp?contentid=882) . Tax credits can be transferred between spouses whom are married. The other issue is, marriage in a way is discriminatory, it creates a world where gay people cannot get married but must have to make do with a civil partnership. The rights of a CP are not the same as that of marriage (http://www.marriagequality.ie/learn/...rtnershipbill/) particularly in relation to inheritance and rights. Instead of us all fighting for equal rights why not just scrap marriage all together for everyone? Families who want a religious ceremony can have one by all means in their local church but the marriage must be registered at a registry office . Outdated practices such as marriage should be consigned to the bin of the past, they went out with the dinosaurs, cowboys and Indians and FF as relics of Ireland's past. Start the marriage ban as a basis to building a secular society where we all then become on an equal footing.