[g8-sheffield] Oppenly Classist..

[Dan]

All philosophers, who find
Some favourite system to their mind
In every point to make it fit
Will force all nature to submit

(Swift)

Whenever people get power, they will make a world in the image of their 
dogma - and they'll make it in the flesh and bones of whoever gets in 
their way.  Whether it's the hateful 'middle class', or 'reactionary 
elements of the working class' that the Bolsheviks would shoot - its 
just falling into the same pattern.

Dan
----

zerosevenfour two wrote:

>
>
> 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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