UK report into racism – Economic Justice vs Social Justice

ByMartyn Bradbury

A controversial UK report into racism has found something that class Leftists have been arguing for sometime, and that is that inequality is far more driven by socio-economics than identity…  

The report added that evidence had found that factors such as geography, family influence, socio-economic background, culture and religion had “more significant impact on life chances than the existence of racism”.

The report also said there is an “increasingly strident form of anti-racism thinking that seeks to explain all minority disadvantage through the prism of white discrimination” which it said diverted attention from “the other reasons for minority success and failure”.

…while people of colour are more likely to be in poverty, there are more white people in poverty… 

People in Black and Minority Ethnic families are between two and three times as likely to be in persistent poverty than people in White families. For example, three in ten people (28%) living in families with a head of household that is from a mixed or multiple ethnic background, are in persistent poverty, compared to 10% of those living in families with a White head of household. However, 80% of those in persistent poverty live in families with a head of household who is White.

…the middle class identity politics crew have of course been triggered by this UK report because the idea that white people are just as damaged by the socio-economic carnage of free mark capitalism (as opposed to their identity ubur allas lens) is heresy.

The Identity Politics Left has lurched into ‘Social Justice’ territory which alienates more than it attracts. As a class left supporter, I believe the demarkation of power in society is between the 1% and their 9% enablers vs the 90% rest of us.

Economic Justice does more than banning Gay Conversion, criminalising speech or gerrymandering the legal system to ensure anyone accused is found guilty, it redistributes wealth and makes direct provision to the cost of every day living. Beneficiaries and working class people care less about pronouns and the correct pronunciation of te Reo than they do about how to pay next weeks rent and power bill!

Pure temple doctrine divides & alienates. Broadchurch universals build solidarity.

I’m not interested in social justice wokedom any more, it is a minefield of competing schisms throwing vitriol at one another.

Twitter outrage is woke righteousness porn for the middle classes. A puritanical razoring where the self elected morality police publicly shame and cancel anyone for not using the language protocols of the conclave.

I am interested in Economic Justice and the immediate welfare of the poorest amongst us while providing immediate life condition upgrades.

We need to be kinder to People and crueler to Corporates.

When the woke have finished arguing over who is most right and who is most wrong, they can join in.

How do we use the power of the State to universally subsidise the lives of the poorest in a way that is meaningful to them? Paying higher benefits is one way but the vile MSD finds ways to claw any of this increases back the way thy did with Labour’s last pitiful rise.

Let’s push for policies that have a direct impact on the lives of the poorest so that educational and quality of life standards actually rise. Let’s take direct cost out of people’s pockets just for existing.  Removing public transport costs and kids breakfasts and lunches would have a dramatic impact on the lives of the poor.

Let’s ensure taxation is targeted at the corporates and the wealthy while subsidising the costs of the poorest.

I present the 10 point Left wing Economic Justice Plan for Aotearoa New Zealand.

1: Feed every kid in NZ a free nutritious and healthy breakfast and lunch at every school using local product and school gardens with parents paid to come in and help.

2: 50 000 State Homes for life built using the best environmental and social architecture standards using the public works act to seize land and immediately start building satellite towns using upgraded public transport hubs.

3: Free public transport plus vast infrastructure upgrade for climate crisis.

4: Doubling welfare payments and student allowances minus any bullshit claw backs from MSD plus Living Wage universally adopted as minimum working wage.

5: GST off fresh fruit and vegetables and essentials like tampons, toilet paper, condoms, oral health plus a sugar tax.

6: Free Dental services for everyone through public health.

7: Debt cancellation – student loans, welfare overpayments, beneficiary debt, easier debt cancellation.

8: Taxation focused on corporations like financial transaction tax and first $10 000 is tax free.

9: Renter Rights – (rent freezes, end accomodation payments, long term tenancy arrangements) plus universal union membership.

10: Properly funded public broadcasting with TVNZ advert free and merged with RNZ alongside properly funded journalism through NZ on Air with more money for the Arts and Science. If you can’t have good public journalism, the right wing media will destroy these other 9 advances. 

Don’t tell me we can’t afford any of this, we just shovelled $60 billion into the pockets of property speculators, we can shovel a tiny fraction of that into the mouths of the poorest.

While the middle class Identity Politics clique continue to find ways to divide us with social justice, economic justice can be a populist working class antidote to the alienation of woke cancel culture.

In 2010, the 388 richest individuals owned more wealth than half of the entire human population on Earth

By 2015, this number was reduced to only 62 individuals

In 2018, it was 42

In 2019, it was down to only 26 individuals who own more wealth than 3.8 billion people.

This isn’t a democracy, it’s fast becoming a feudal plutocracy on a burning Earth.

Every aspect of our existence is monetarised for big data to sell us more stuff we can’t afford. We are alienated and anesthetized by a consumer culture that keeps us neurotic and disconnected. Our work, our existence, every move we make are all built to suck money to a minority class that sits above us while under neoliberalism, globalization, financialization, and automation, our existence as individuals has only become more disposable.

The intellectual response and solutions from the Identity Politics Left to these challenges are all white people are racist, all men are rapists and anyone supporting free speech is a uniform wearing Nazi.

Neato.

An election changes a Government.

A revolution changes the State.

We need a democratic revolution, not neokindess.

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11 Comments

  1. ‘I believe the demarkation of power in society is between the 1% and their 9% enablers vs the 90% rest of us.’

    Absolutely, Martyn. And the gap between the rich and the poor is widening at an ever-faster pace, as is the control of society by acquisitive sociopaths. Global corporations wield more power than most governments.

    If you think you are going to change this system by voting in a rigged election system (rigged to deliver more of the same), you are deluded.

    1. Oops. Error.

      ‘And the gap between the rich and the poor is widening at an ever-faster pace,’

      That should be:

      And the gap between the rich and the poor is being made wider at an ever-faster pace,

  2. I don’t understand why you would want student loan debt cancelled Martyn. Yes the boomers got free university but many of the woke middle class sjw people you talk about have student loans taken out for useless degrees such as gender studies, social science and Liberal arts. Why give them a free pass?

    1. Yes why help those getting an education to help others and themselves as a social good, (sarcasm) better to cancel MIQ expenses for global travellers (and apparently so easy to apply for ‘hardship for MIQ places)’, while students who in the 1990’s were paying 10% student loan interest compounding daily but get zero sympathy, no cancellations of debts, or media attention.

  3. Good article. Tired of the woke propaganda on race, that is driving inequality by not focusing on the reality of what is going on with globalism and turning people against each other based on identity rather than working to make things better (aka equal wages for woman – haven’t heard that in a long time, as politicians focus on transgender rights (I have no problem with transgender rights, but 50% of the population are woman so a huge benefit for equality to focus on that! rather than constant distractions of fights that people never actually won) .

    Invisible Children
    by Brian Easton October 12, 2018

    “Shortly after, I discovered that measured poverty in the country was dominated by children and their parents. This was a revolutionary finding at the time and it took only four decades for it to become the conventional wisdom. Even today, you will find people who focus their poverty discussions on beneficiaries, ethnic minorities, single-parent households, and those in rental accommodation. The research evidence points to the most common household in poverty is a Pakeha couple with children living in their own house (with a mortgage) and being dependent upon wages That is because the group is the largest, so even if its poverty rate is lower than average, there are more poor.”

    https://www.pundit.co.nz/content/invisible-children?rq=children

  4. NZ needs to develop a more inclusive work force and society including people who are disabled, neurodiverse and older/younger candidates getting plum opportunities (not just non paid ‘volunteer’ or cheap work). NZ for the last 2 decades been faning inequality through exploited race based labour with employers who are committing frauds and supplying poor goods and services on the back of preferential migrant labour that is less likely to dob them in (aka cash, illegally, visa labour), that has become dominant in NZ and getting worse and worse every week.

    Groovy Greerton showroom opens up a world of possibilities for the disabled
    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/groovy-greerton-showroom-opens-up-a-world-of-possibilities-for-the-disabled/FWQZPZ4PUPJWEY6376S7HPU6YI/

    (good on these people and a good initiative, but still would be good to see disabled people in well paid jobs, too)

    These major tech companies are making autism hiring a priority
    Instead of a traditional interview process, new programs use month-long workshops and mentorships to prepare autism spectrum candidates.
    https://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/autism-hiring-initiatives-tech

    45 and unemployable – warning to Kiwis that ‘ageism is alive and well’
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/106856517/jobs-warning-to-over-45s

    Went into Bunnings the other day and got assisted by a guy who looked well over 75 years of age, yes he moved slower but he knew what he was doing and knew about the products and gave good advice. There is no such thing generally as the ‘perfect’ employee! In many cases, NZ’s problems start by not taking advantage of the labour that has a lot of benefits, all around them and also very beneficial for our ageing or diverse population.

  5. I question the underlying assumption that throwing taxpayer money at the problem will help or solve anything. I favour “productive justice” where every NZer of working age can engage in useful activity as their abilities and skills allow, can develop new skills via on the job training, be paid fairly for their time and the skills they contribute and work flexible hours so that they can enjoy the resulting job satisfaction and have time to attend to the other responsibilities in their lives. That’s where I see a huge void exists in our society and I think that NZ would be better off if everyone who had skills was contributing according to their level of ability and not looking to the state to fund their needs.

  6. Surely educating families to only have the children they can afford would be better than automatically feeding every child that was born. This would help the climate as well as over population is a major factor.
    Increase the benefit for those that truly deserve it especially those with life long health issues wether physical or mental as too many fall through the cracks at the moment.
    If the State built enough homes for rent these would act as a check on the private market and eliminate the need for draconian rent control.
    Free dental is a great idea and floride in all water would help along with a sugar tax.
    I feel the costs involved taking GST off certain items could easily out way any benefit but I may be wrong.

    1. Kiwi’s did only have the children they can afford, the neoliberals quickly imported in low skills workers to have as many kids as they can to fuel consumption and keep wages and poverty continuing in NZ. aka

      “Zara’s mother, Aileen, a nursing support worker, came to New Zealand first on a student visa in 2014. She was joined by her machine operator husband, Arnold, 41, two years later after she got her work visa.

      They have another daughter, Zia, 8, and a son, Aaron, 15, who have also come as dependent children of worker visitor visa holders.

      “We didn’t think Zara needed a visa at birth to remain with us because she’s born in New Zealand … she didn’t have a passport and wasn’t travelling anywhere,” Aileen said.”

      P>S you don’t earn much as a nurse support worker and having 3 children… etc we are importing in people who are having large amounts of kids. The Kiwi’s – have a static population. The right wingers want the poor to have more kids. Long term our welfare system will not be able to sustain it.

      “More than one in three households are contributing nothing to New Zealand’s tax take.

      A table from Finance Minister Bill English’s office shows 663,000 households – or 40 per cent – receive more in tax credits and other benefits than they pay in tax. Thousands more are neutral contributors, or are close to it.” https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/81429047/small-number-of-taxpayers-bear-the-brunt-of-new-zealand-tax-bill

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