[g8-sheffield] Oppenly Classist..

[zerosevenfour two]

The class system is the injustice at the heart of British, and especially 
English, society. It is the system that I hate with a passion, and one that 
has crushed countless millions of people throughout contemporary history and 
even my own family, parents, grandparents and, if I am honest, me too. That 
I detest the unfairness and injustice of this system with every fibre of my 
being, I cannot state enough. So many millions of people even today, in the 
21st century, are still suffering in one form or another, because in the 
eyes of greater society they are not worthy; not good enough for polite 
society. Not deemed of any value. Surplus to requirements. Third rate. 
Passed over for some kid with more privileged status and a silver spoon in 
the mouth. The detrimental effect this has had on British society is 
impossible to calculate.

The scale of sheer injustice, and, to be frank, evil, is breathtaking, and 
no essay of any kind could fully do it justice. I am one voice in a sea of 
voices after all. Few people in British society have ever looked at the 
class system full on, without blinkers of one kind or another, or waxing 
sentimentally, or in the briefest glances. It is something that by its very 
nature is painful to many of us, even those who have benefited unjustly 
because of this most unjust of structures. Because I believe that not only 
has the system in Britain robbed millions of a full life, it has also 
crippled those, who promoted the injustice and evil, into lives of 
half-truths, double standards, and lives built on every kind of base 
corruption, shoddiness and cowardice. But I am not here to write about the 
moneyed and well off, the socially perfect and correctly spoken, I am here 
to write about those left out of the wealth, those left out of the good jobs 
and opportunities, those like me born at the bottom of the hierarchy, and to 
all intents and purposes, meant to stay there.

Class is such an emotive issue, and it is true that if a middle class person 
meets a working class person, there will very likely be a sense of angst and 
uncertainty on both sides; the animosities, though well buried, would not 
take long to rise to the surface. And in Britain certainly, there is a 
tendency for people, as groups of all kinds, and most definitely class 
groups, to polarise against each other, in many ways and for many reasons. A 
working class person, seeing what he or she thinks are middle class effete 
tendencies, may particularly become harder and less genteel to counter what 
he or she thinks are base middle class values. A middle class person, seeing 
what he or she thinks are base working class values, whatever they may be, 
might very well have a tendency to shun these things. And of course, there 
is then a general national tendency to despise what you don't understand, to 
what you find distasteful, and so on. Of such is the British class system, 
in highly oversimplified form. Class in Britain goes far deeper than this; 
in real terms, it could be said to be about groups who are related in their 
similar life chances, job opportunities, levels of education, access to all 
the good, or bad, things in life and better, or worse, opportunities in 
general. Working class people will find that many doors to them are closed, 
because they lack a decent education, a 'decent' accent, they live in an 
inner city or council estate or poor neighbourhood, that they come from poor 
backgrounds of some kind, and so on. Much of this might be inferred, some of 
it is spoken about, and a lot of it is internalised over the course of a 
person's life, and in society in general. A working class person will 
definitely for the most part internalise negative values, a belief that he 
or she should keep their head down, accept their lot, and hope one day to be 
lucky.

This is how I felt for chunks of my life. I don't feel this way anymore, nor 
do I believe that any person has to accept anything in life they do not wish 
to. It is about understanding negatives, and it is more importantly 
understanding positives in life. If we as working class people allow other 
more privileged types to an unchallenged position in all areas of life, we 
can't complain when they do just that, maintain a privileged, and of course 
increasingly unjust, position. If, on the other hand, as we hold out for 
better lives ourselves, better jobs, better educations, better housing and 
better all round lifestyles, whilst at the same challenging unjust privilege 
of all kinds, we make our own very immediate environments more just and more 
fairer. It isn't about hating and despising, we can leave that to our 
so-called betters and superiors, it is about finding a liveable and workable 
reality for working class people, that enables us personally and as groups 
of people of all kinds to have better lives, for ourselves, our families and 
friends, and our children to come. It is that simple.

I speak for myself when I write this, and at the same time as someone who is 
highly educated, well read, literate, cultured and so on, but for many years 
I have always felt out of sorts, and that sooner or later someone would find 
me out and send me back to the craphole I grew up in. I have done well for 
myself in some ways, getting the aforementioned degree at university and, at 
this time of writing, a reasonable job as a journalist, and someone who 
likes to pursue hobbies of various kinds; not bad for a kid who grew up in a 
Liverpool slum! But, as with all happy-ever-after stories, I have had hard 
times and bad times too. I have often felt inferior to other people, at 
times this has overwhelmed me and made me feel less and smaller than other 
people. It is not something I can quantify, or explain or understand easily, 
and best left as a simple explanation; that at times I feel less than other 
people. I believe a large part of this is because of the British class 
system, and the nonsensical way British people have related to each other as 
groups and individuals for about the last 200 years or so. Is this what we 
want as a nation, what we demand for ourselves, and the next generation 
after us? It is not what I want for myself, or any member of my family 
anyway. It is up to each reader to think about this for themselves. At any 
rate, I have often felt inferior compared to other people. It has skewed my 
relationships, friendships, family relationships and how I felt about myself 
over the many years of my life. Today, I feel better and stronger. On a 
national scale, these type of feelings create vast waves of anxiety, 
animosity, crime, injustice, indifference, and vast gulfs between those who 
have, often in plenty, and those who have very little of anything at all. 
This is the core of all the class injustice, the vastly unequal resource 
distribution.

It is not just that there are poor people, and people who are richer, it is 
the philosophy that often follows such inequalities, philosophies that, more 
often than not, justify and even promote base and rank injustice, division 
and unfairness. Why does our Head of State, the Queen, who has a private 
fortune of hundreds of millions of pounds, get millions more each year from 
taxpayers, whilst millions of ordinary workers make do on a fraction of 
this, and all the while working hard and paying taxes? It is what I call the 
'philosophy of insanity', and it is the philosophy that underpins much of 
the unequal relations that still exist in the British Isles at this time, 
circa mid-2004. A philosophy that allows rich people to prosper, even when 
they already have everything they need and more anyway, whilst denying a 
basic standard of living to many more British citizens. Unless, and until, 
this 'philosophy of insanity' is tackled, and tackled head on, and it is 
brought into the public forum, we will continue to live in an unjust 
society, and an unjust world. I don't accept of course that any human 
society, or any human relationship of any kind, at this time will ever be 
perfect in entirety, but it is up to us who want and wish to change society 
to do so; if we can't change it, we can write about, if we can't write 
about, we can debate it, and if we can't change the whole world, or even 
Britain, we can change ourselves, and our attitudes to privilege and a 
fairer democracy for all. It is understanding this, that the individual is 
important, that change does and will happen, for you and me. Why shouldn't a 
working class kid from the wrong side of the tracks get on, make a better 
life and have money for once? It is learning to be positive, when all around 
might be negative, that better life chances spring out of the air. We of 
course have to reach out for them, and help others less fortunate to do the 
same.

Justice; justice is a big word, and an idea that cuts through everything, 
that cleans everything, and makes fairness and tolerance where there might 
be no such things. Justice for working class people, for people like you and 
me, is and has been in very short supply. When we demand justice, for 
ourselves, our families, friends and cherish justice as a higher form of 
society, I believe that we go in the right direction. Justice is where it is 
at; where there is justice, there will be harmony, peace, friendship, where 
there is a lack of justice there will be indifference, hatred, oppression 
and a lack of any good will of any kind. Normal people cry out for justice 
all over the world! Then we should hold justice to our hearts, demand it for 
the whole world, and not least for ourselves. It is in just relationships, 
be that marriage, friendships, an office, or even on the street, that humans 
can fire on all cylinders and be the best that all their capabilities and 
ambitions allow. It is in a ready justice that we can all stand on the same 
ground, demand a better life for one and all, and make Britain, even the 
world, a better place to live in. The mere notion of justice itself drives 
away corruption, unfairness and non-level playing fields of every kind. 
Justice is the ideal that all people should live up to, and the ideal and 
reality we should want for ourselves, and the people around us. For justice, 
we need to be just. To be just, we need to accept that we are on a level 
playing field, and that what is truly good for one, is generally good for 
others too.

When working class people dream, when little people dream, the whole world 
sits up and takes notice. It is not the ambitions of the rich and pampered 
elites that have really ever shaped the world, it is always the hungry, the 
impoverished, the slum dweller, the forgotten who shape the world and give 
society impetus and focus. Throughout history, contemporary history and 
today, this has often been the case. When you and I dream, and when we want 
to make our lives better, and have what the rich and powerful and the 
pampered take for granted, we change the world, and we change ourselves too. 
This is an important point. Why shouldn't you have a better education, a 
better job, a good business, a nice house? Why shouldn't you dream, have 
ambition, believe that good things can happen to you? They can, and they 
will, if you are prepared to dream, work towards the goals you want, and 
look at life in the long-term. Nothing happens overnight, but takes time and 
a change in attitudes, life goals, outlook and personal ambitions. Even the 
very idea of your dreams taking shape and hold in the real world is in 
itself for many working class people a revelation, something that I think 
many working class people do not do or do not believe is possible for them. 
It is possible, but it takes time to shape a good character and a winning 
mindset from a mindset and lifestyle that might be used to negative 
realities and situations of many different kinds. It is a revelation, and a 
revolution in thought processes that shapes the world we live in. Thinking 
alone will not bring about change, but thought and action combined can bring 
about the results everyone desires. Everything built, written, made, cooked 
and so much more besides is after all merely the result of someone's idea at 
some time or other. So, the world revolves on thought processes. For a 
working class person, sometimes the only thing you may have are wonderful 
ideas, and dreams of a better life. What starts in the head, can take shape 
in reality. It is holding onto the dream, and pursing it that make dreams 
worthwhile.

As working class people, we have a latent energy that generally is 
underdeveloped and underused, an energy that often comes out negatively or 
destructively in some way, to the detriment of that person, or others around 
them. It is understanding this very potent force, this nervous energy, and 
harnessing it to our better advantage, that any person can make a better 
life for themselves. To waste such enormous potential, such enormous energy, 
is to waste one's talents, dreams and goals and to muddy the path that we 
can all find if we look hard enough. It is accentuating the positive, and 
downplaying the negative. It is being magnanimous in success, and 
matter-of-fact in defeat. It is always being open minded to a better life, 
and resilient in finding that better life. It is using that powerful energy 
for positive results, and making our own lives and the people around us 
better, happier and more productive. It is moving on from such passing 
systems as class, racism, and injustice of very kind, and finding a better 
place spiritually, emotionally, economically and the place very much where 
you wish to be. Of such is the reality of the enormous human potential each 
of us has at our fingertips, assuming we make use of it. When working class 
people unleash this energy, it is an energy that is unstoppable, and 
properly controlled and directed, can take the lowest person to the highest 
place and the best outcome. It is this that I myself labour under at this 
time, and this idea that nourishes me and gives me hope.

Working class people are naturally and obviously more democratic and 
egalitarian in nature. It is something I have known, about myself and 
working class people in general, for a long time. Those born without 
inherited wealth or privilege of any kind seem, in most cases at least, to 
believe almost instinctively in social justice, democracy, egalitarianism 
and equal relations of every kind. It is strange in fact why working class 
people are attacked so, when these beliefs come to most working class people 
almost by default. They are good beliefs, they make the most sense, are the 
basic tenets of many religions, including of course Christianity, and to all 
people in the world are the values that each individual wants for him or 
herself and family, friends and the like. They are self-evident, need no 
real explanation, and the world over craves them; where they are, in nations 
and societies, people desire them the more, where they are not, in military 
juntas and tyrannies, people desire them, cry out for them and have 
revolutions to acquire them! They are, by all accounts, highly desirable 
virtues. And because there is and has been, a societal enmity towards 
working class people, working class culture, working class ideology and 
values, it goes without saying that values such as equality, social justice, 
egalitarianism and a more fair and equal society are dismissed and often 
also held in contempt. Do you see what I am trying to say? That a society 
based on genuine working class values, not in some hippy-dippy, or 
Communist, or even political way, but a heartfelt and honest way, would be a 
society that promoted justice and equality as a matter of course. This would 
involve a fairer wage system, a fairer tax system that took into account 
people's ability to pay, a less centralised and more localised bureaucracy, 
more accountability from our public servants, a nationalised public 
transport system to name but a few important things. The knock-on effect of 
such just and fair policies, though taking a while to adapt to, would make 
Britain healthier economically and socially, and would make Britain a nation 
more genuinely at ease with itself. We would be, in almost all senses of the 
word, citizens of a free nation and not subjects of a once great country but 
now living on past glories. I know which I would choose given the chance. 
And I know what many other British people would choose too given the same 
chance. It is what many of us have only ever half-dared to dream. Class and 
prejudice harks back to a bygone age of unspeakable divisions of all kinds, 
that, for the most part, have thankfully been eclipsed or forgotten. It is 
living on past glories, or looking to build a better tomorrow for us all. 
The choice, I believe, is yours and mine.

The injustice of vastly unequal resource distributions is at the heart of 
the real problem with the class system, in fact any system which is based on 
some form of unfair difference, be that class, racism, religious 
differences, language and culture differences, chauvinism and so on. The 
wealth distribution in the world is so badly out of tilt, that even in the 
wealthy parts of the world, like Britain, America, Continental Western 
Europe, there is much poverty and lack of opportunity, even when we are 
surrounded all the time by the trappings of wealth. Class, racism and so on, 
justify the divisions, give them a form of credibility, the mark of 
respectability even, to what is, frankly after all, base and unjust 
division. The 'philosophy of insanity' as I mentioned before, allows those 
who already have more than they might possibly spend in a thousand 
lifetimes, to accumulate more wealth, pay less tax and be engaged in the 
pursuit of accumulation for its own sake, even at the price of health, 
family relationships and their own genuine quality of life. On the other 
hand, those in the world who have very little, and lack any real 
opportunities to get on, are hindered from even having in many cases a 
normal and adequate standard of living. This seems accepted without question 
all over the world, and it is certainly accepted in Britain, with few if any 
noticeable qualms. It is, if we were being completely and utterly honest, 
insane; insane policy for an insane world. How do we challenge injustice as 
working class people, as ordinary people who might not have any social power 
of any kind, or create any real ideas how to do this? We challenge it by 
debating it, bringing it into public and political arenas, by challenging 
the often cosy middle class conceptions that poverty in the world is just 
about big corporation greed, and those at the very top of the tree. We 
challenge it by looking at the divisions between middle class and working 
class lifestyles, and the vast gulfs between the job expectancies, life 
chances and general all round opportunities between middle class people and 
working class people. We challenge it by looking seriously and honestly at 
those people, who, claiming to be on the side of justice, are not really on 
that side at all. We challenge it by looking at so-called left wing parties 
and groups, and really wondering whether groups full of usually moneyed 
middle class politicos really want anything to change at all, and whether 
much of what passes for left politics in Britain, are people either on a 
guilt trip, or those playing at being rebels until their career begins to 
take shape. No one should resent anyone else trying to get on, we all want a 
better life, but a little honesty, a little working class realism into the 
mix might do all of us a little more good. It is for to us to challenge 
injustice wherever it is, and to hold out for better lives ourselves. The 
bell tolls for you and me as well, not just posh rich people. It is for 
working class people to challenge all the prejudices that surround class, 
even when everything seems to be against that. Challenge racism, challenge 
chauvinism and challenge the British class system, and challenge those who 
defiantly refuse to debate it until they accept that class is as much an 
injustice as any other bigoted and small minded and nonsensical prejudice. 
It is the prejudice in Britain that dare not speak its name, it is the 
prejudice that is, time and time again, brushed under the carpet, and the 
prejudice that, incredibly enough, is rarely mentioned even in equal 
opportunity statements and equal rights charters and organisations! Is this 
not an incredible state of affairs, that the very prejudice, the very 
small-minded prejudice that still shapes Britain's social, economic, 
political and even religious spheres, is conveniently airbrushed from the 
picture? It is to me, and to many more people too. We have allowed people to 
speak for us, been silent for far too long. We have allowed class prejudice 
to fester, without challenging it, and without challenging the people who 
benefit from it, and the people who pretend it is not an issue. If you are 
working class, it is an issue every day of your life.

More top jobs, more power, and more opportunities must be made available to 
working class people, who should at all times challenge the notion that 
certain jobs and lifestyles are available only to those who already come 
from privileged backgrounds. The idea that because someone comes from a 
wealthy background, an already privileged background, and then gets a top 
job merely because of this, is an absurdity and a serious setback to 
democracy in a modern first world country. Surely, to spread the wealth 
around, and to ensure a healthy democracy, a more democratic and 
meritocratic society is needed, and certainly whatever those in privileged 
positions may believe, working class people desire and demand a fairer job 
market, and a bigger slice of the pie. We should also look at the role of 
charity too, and ask why it is often moneyed and middle class people who get 
the plum jobs in these organisations, and more often than not, it is poor 
working class people who have to stand on the street corners rattling tins 
in people's faces as volunteers. We should challenge this obscene reality, 
and understand that charity's absolute role is to take from the haves and 
redistribute to the have-nots, starting with giving poor and working class 
people some key jobs in these very self same charities. A working class 
person should think hard about keeping those who already have comfy 
lifestyles, in those lifestyles, while working class people the length and 
breadth of Britain struggle to get jobs paying just over minimum wage. 
Perhaps it is better to buy a 'Big Issue' on the street, and give directly 
to those, but I am not advocating a revolution, only a revolution in 
thought. When we challenge hypocrisy and injustice, wherever it is and in 
whatever form it takes, we then see how rotten and corrupt such injustice 
is, and that what is usually held together by such injustice and corruption 
is, after all, easy to challenge. Fight injustice with justice. It is an 
irresistible force. Working class people should challenge society's 
hypocrisy and double-standards on very personal and local levels, and also 
in general and more global terms. A working class person should hold out for 
a better job and a better life and not accept that someone, whatever their 
social status, has any more right than anyone else to simply get a job or a 
better life before you. Challenge this notion in your own life, and you will 
find a better life whilst changing the world too. We have nothing to lose 
but our chains!

A democratic society, one where the best person gets the job regardless of 
their social background, will see a society where people are held 
accountable, sportspeople begin to win instead of nice middle class boys and 
girls losing everything all the time, and a more fairer, tolerant society 
that is genuinely more at ease with itself. The injustice of the class 
system makes victims of us all, and allows evil and intolerance to go 
unchecked. A fairer society will to a large extent, put right the wrongs and 
injustices that have been allowed, and historically were allowed, to go on 
in Britain. If we challenge racism, then we have to challenge all forms of 
prejudice, be that economic, social, geographic and wherever it is found in 
the British Isles. So many of us have been duped, duped into accepting 
second and third best, duped into remaining silent and duped into thinking 
we are only fit to keep our heads down and let someone else have a better 
lifestyle. It is when a person challenges injustice, deeply unfair 
injustice, that society slowly but sooner than later changes for the better. 
We should challenge hypocrisy wherever we see it, and speak out against it, 
eloquently and honestly. We should challenge the very notion of a class 
system that allows some people to own vast amounts of wealth, and others to 
struggle and scrimp and save just to make ends meet. We can promote 
fairness, and believe in equality rigidly and egalitarianism rigidly and 
demand fair wages, fair prices for the businesses we work in or want to own 
ourselves, and safe streets for the areas and places we live in. With a 
sense of equality come notions of justice, and with justice comes the notion 
of fair play. It will be the working classes, not the 'enlightened' and 
liberal middle classes and wealthy and out-of-touch upper classes, who will 
make the world fairer, safer, more equal and more just. We are grounded in 
such notions, whereas those who practise hypocrisy and all sorts of double 
standards know within themselves that their actions are hypocritical, that 
their standards are false and without real conviction. We have the courage 
of our convictions, and if we are genuine about a fairer and more just 
world, false standards of all kinds will be washed away, and more fairness 
and justice will enter the world. If one in one thousand rich or powerful or 
wealthy people sees the justice in equality and a fairer economic system, 
that is one person we have won over. We can work with the people who wish to 
work with us, and around the people who don't wish to work with us. But this 
isn't about the great and the good, the comfy and the privileged, let them 
write their own manifestos if they can work their way through the lies, 
half-truths and double standards many of them are mired in. This is about 
the so-called ordinary people, the people who more often than not do hard 
and boring jobs for low pay.

Importantly, if people want to attack and tackle any justice, they must talk 
about it, openly debate it, write about it!!!! No more hush-hush or brushed 
under the carpet, in talking and writing and debating about the class system 
we bring it into a public forum. In challenging injustice and intolerance in 
our very own lives, we help to challenge injustices in the whole world. A 
working class person should not be ashamed of their background, but must 
live in the knowledge that he or she has the same rights as anyone else. 
These are beliefs and ideals I have formulated over long periods of my life, 
a life that, like many people, has had its ups and downs. I believe firmly 
that, although the world is an unjust place at best, and though injustice 
and hypocrisy and double-standards need tackling and taking on, it is always 
in a positive sense; if a person has a class problem, or a racist problem, 
or has taken to themselves any small-minded prejudice, it is in the end 
their problem and should be left their problem. We should challenge 
injustice with justice, negative realities with positive and hopeful 
aspirations and ways of living, and in the end, perhaps surprisingly, not 
indulge in any form of class war or resentments, but find what is genuine, a 
genuine way of life, the way of life that a sense of conviction, honesty and 
being courageous can win. These are not idle words and they are written with 
conviction to instil others with the same sense of worth I now have myself. 
It is when ordinary people dare to dream that society changes; when we the 
downtrodden and poor stand up to be counted and demand a fairer slice of the 
pie, that we win, albeit grudging, respect. But the real issue is finding a 
better life, and a fulfilling life and making society better for all of us, 
regardless of the class we come from, the colour of our skin, the background 
we come from, our gender, religion or lack thereof, and so on; a society fit 
for heroes and heroines of all kinds.

We must also, as we challenge injustice and hypocrisy, learn to live better 
and more wisely; refuse to shop in establishments that are over expensive or 
patronising; refuse to keep someone else in wealth who isn't contributing in 
some way to the community; think about low wage economies, think about 
justice as a broad issue. It is challenging all the injustices, the social 
injustices, the economic injustices, the great disparities of wealth between 
the rich and poor, the allocation of all types of resources, where as in so 
many cases, often those who have, seem to get more and more. When we 
challenge injustice, even in our own very personal lives, we challenge the 
very heart of the hypocrisy, which is a grossly unfair economic reality, as 
much evident in the modern world as in poorer and less developed parts of 
the world. Most injustices revolve on the deeply skewed economic reality at 
the heart of the world's system. The Bible states quite clearly: 'For the 
love of money is the root of all evil'. Isn't it curious how those who are 
often rich and powerful, in spheres such as business, the Church and higher 
society of all kinds, claim the higher moral and religious and political 
ground as well? So, not content with having material wealth and privilege, 
they want the spiritual and philosophical power as well? How convenient! 
Much of Left politics, and it seems church and charity organisations, are 
all about a veneer of political correctness and 'goody-two-shoes' rhetoric, 
whilst at the same time creating and upholding the divisions and injustices 
that, circa 2004, are still dividing Britain. We should challenge wealthy 
lefties, and wealthy politically correct individuals, to see if they are 
'true' or merely using slogans to justify their domination in other spheres. 
How interesting that for all the charity work and the splendid words, 
Britain is almost at the bottom of the modern nations for child poverty, 
wage slavery, horrendous pensioner poverty and whole areas that lack basic 
amenities, and where people are either out of work or in low paying and 
contract-labour jobs. If we do not talk about this, and bring it into the 
public forum, the so-called liberals and 'concerned' will happily ignore it 
all day long. How can the fourth wealthiest country in the world be so 
divided on terms of wealth?

We know in our hearts that so much injustice goes on, that it is often 
impossible, is impossible, to tackle it all. Everywhere there is poverty, 
bad housing, lying and often useless politicians of all political hues, 
corruption, injustice, class-prejudice, racism, bigotry, bad public 
transport, rundown areas and a general apathy about it all. Few of us have 
escaped the apathy and the indifferences that such injustice inevitably 
brings with it. But, we are living in a new age, I would call it the age of 
awareness; we know the workings of the world. It is a hard and unfair place 
at its very best, but at least we are wise to this. Never before in fact has 
their been so much knowledge available, and so much personal freedom, at 
least in the West, even if often we waste these freedoms. The freedoms 
today, the freedoms we take for granted, have been hard won; we have a duty 
to live in ways that even our grandparents could only have dreamed about. 
Yes, it is an incredible world out there, with marvellous opportunities, 
even for working class people from poor backgrounds; I am proof of this. We 
challenge the injustice of the whole world by, in the end, finding 
ourselves, and being ourselves. Not hiding behind a clipped accent, or a 
make-believe world, but where we face the world square in the eye, proclaim 
who we are, and stand up and be counted. The working class kid from the slum 
may just find a better life, who knows?

A working class revolution is one where the people at the bottom are given 
first credence, and where the reality is accepted that ordinary people shape 
and change society, not some supposed pampered elite, that does little more 
than drain taxes and live lifestyles of ancient Chinese emperors; society is 
for the majority of ordinary people. We should challenge unjust privilege of 
every kind, and expect local politicians and the people claiming to 
represent us, to do just that. We should ask for accountability and think 
about local people and local issues. We working class people in the cities 
should challenge the notion that all the good jobs should go to a middle 
class elite that has little or no interest in local issues. We ourselves 
should hold out for these top jobs! We should be better, and work harder, 
and aspire to better jobs and lives ourselves. In this alone there is a 
balancing out of the great injustices that England has been party to since 
anyone can care to remember. You need education, ambition and to dream a 
little, no, to dream a lot. A good education is one of the keys. Also a 
sense of optimism, and the ability to see your life in the long-term; a new 
life and outlook does not and will not come overnight. Then the working 
class from the wrong side of the tracks and the wrong accent, won't be in 
the wrong place, he or she will be in the right place, whoever they are, 
whatever they have been and wherever they have come from, and whatever 
poverty or hardships that entailed. Then we will see that the world was made 
for us too, not just the worthy and genteel, that God created the whole 
world for all of us. The bell tolls for you too, and there is a place in the 
world for every one of us.

http://openlyclassist.org.uk/archsub.html

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