[ssf] Don't let em bring in the cleansing machines!

[A Drozd]

How do we tackle both Global Capitalism while
simultaneously having to deal with worsening
antisocial situations taking place directly around us?
Though inextricably linked, maybe we should just
concentrate on one issue or the other BUT somehow
together.

This is the first time I've posted to the social forum
list because I feel that at present, left-leaning
political thinkers (perhaps other than here) appear to
concentrate on globalisation: how we are affected by
what's happening overseas and the way we, as the
privileged few, perpetuate it; Meanwhile, the
reactionary right deliver a two-pronged attack instead
- dealing their political card upon the poorest and
uneducated communities (Bee En Pee) while those lucky
enough to enjoy the privileges of living in the UK(ip)
and the luxury of hypocrisy they'd have to forfeit,
fear the nightmare of global equality becoming a
reality.

Reason I'm writing this is because I'm finding that my
patience and empathy towards others, important values
for any human, are being tested a bit too much just
now, to the point where my problems are making me
question my beliefs. Whlie i know that poverty is the
root cause to the daily shit we encounter, i'm often
left torn between feelings of compassion towards
people who's social problems impact upon myself and
cursing the authorities to provide some "social
cleansing".

Unfortunatley, i think that the rightees end up
relating to people more than the leftees do. Maybe
someone can correct me on that. Okay, it's people's
ignorance thru lack of education, ultimately caused by
poverty, that finds a connection with right wing
solutions to society. At the risk of being a little
negative, I think we need to consider: how come the
left's ideas don't appeal to working class povs as
much as the reactionary right does?

Some stuff I've found myself burdened with on a
domestic level has recently made me think that the
right sometimes makes as much sense as the left -
obviously i wouldn't agree with ethnocide or cleansing
of the handicapped and disabled. But then again I feel
that the left's obsession with international affairs
at the expense of local issues affecting people's
traditions, however backward some may be, is likely to
create a void presently being filled by quick fix
"don't tell em the whole truth about yer politcs"
reactionaries. 

Bringing an experience of my own into play here, I
have a nuisance neighbour that's bothered me for the
last 35 months. Despite my complaints to the
appropriate authorities and efforts I've made to get
help for her to hopefully resolve the situation, this
has resulted in nothing but misery for all. She's an
ex-crack whore, bringing all those problems back home
above my ceiling and into the wider communal areas of
the flats, constant activity during the dead of night
due to her mental health issues, and then, since the
end of 2003 it's culminated into a full-on aural
assault where the whole area is being subjected to a
disturbing display of a 40 year old woman pretty much
losing it in public and letting everyone else know
about it. She's not been able to access apropriate
help and her behaviour has impacted on so many others
around her.

Apart from moving out ages ago, which has got to be
the sensible option here, I seem to have chosen the
non-sensible option of banging my head repeatedly
against the wall (metaphorically speaking) in an
attempt to get the social services and any of the
other agencies to intervene on her behalf, which in
turn will give the rest of us some peace while
allowing her to at least be given the chance to live -
instead of just existing like a member of the living
dead!

I'm taking a long time to say what i need to say here
and obviously the above episode is something i can't
pass by so easily as someone who, say, happens to
notice it on their way to the office. So, in this
modern world, I've taken the nonsensible option of
trying to help (and there are certainly great lessons
to be learn't in defeat!) a person rather than just
trying to get her evicted without also exercising my
social conscience. Mental health services won't help
someone however much they may need it if that person
won't accept their help, this leaves the option of
sectioning her but I feel her mental health team won't
section her because she is black/mixed ethnicity and
throughout the decades there has been a
disproportionate amount of black people put into care.
Political correctness has ultimately failed this woman
who's been left to it for so much of her life (long
before i started living there 5+ years ago). 

Maybe she's just being dealt with in a “care in the
community” way that affects anyone with such problems,
black or white. If you can handle yourself, just
about, you'll be left to it. But she hasn't been
handling it,  and has now flipped (or least over the
last year+). Her self-denial towards those who
supposedly can help her while simultaneously crying
out for help for her (or for someone to come and
bludgeon her, one or the other!) is obviously not
being read by the professionals as “this person needs
intervention” for reasons I can only think are because
of the “claimant” litigation culture we've inherited
from the US. Either that or she's beyond help and
services see too much risk involved. 

The safety net system is no longer in place in society
and has been replaced by legal measures involving much
of public sector worktime being devoted to assessing
how “sueable” their service is, and how risky (costly)
a client will be. Litigation society feeds so
efficiently on the removal of essential services,
chasing itself round and round distracting everyone by
how profitable, while ultimately so redundant, such a
system is. The film Devils Advocate seems to sum up
quite well where we're at now – that the world belongs
to the lawyers and crooks (one and the same)!

Meantime, while we're waiting for it all to go belly
up, how about sorting our own backyard out – something
we'll have to do sooner or later whether global
capitalism continues or not. 

I'm trying to get a point across towards the end of
this email – that if your team wins all its games
abroad, you may well become champions but in all
probability, you'll let your homes fans
down...........

hope this makes some sense,
Androzdy

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