Privilege Bashers: Beware

A few days ago, Metro (December 18, 2009) carried a piece on the Queen travelling on Capital First Connect from London Kings Cross to Sandrigham. Her Majesty was commended for reducing her Carbon footprint by using scheduled train services over the year. This, the piece suggested, was a lot greener than that of her son Charles jetting off to Copenhagen (like the many others) to lecture the world on how to save planet earth from pollution. The piece, however, quickly went on to become more cynical by noting that perhaps the real reason Her Majesty went by train is because all the private jets have headed to Copenhagen, as did all the limousines having had to travel miles from other European countries, as Denmark could not source the necessary amount required.

What strikes me from this news item is how easy it is for one group in their egalitarian and ecological zeal to assume the high moral ground, oblivious of the inconsistencies of their own positions, what they themselves aspire for, and are actually involved in.

This attitude is there in Labour and especially middle class efforts of wanting to remove all the privileges of those born with “golden spoons” in their mouths, and those attending Independent and Grammar Schools and those whose postcode is not like theirs. Lest you read me wrongly, I am all for an egalitarian society and for equality of opportunities for all and it is a disgrace that we live in a world with so great a gap between the people who have and those who do have – both between nations and within a nation.

The reality, however, is that egalitarianism and a level playing field are wishful thinking. Just look at the way one Party pledged how it was going to reform the House of Lords. Well, some of the fiercest critics having been made life Peers, now truly enjoy the privilege to the extent that you would be excused for believing that they were ever the same people who “preached” against privilege. And where do you think those who advocate “all comprehensive schools” send their children for their education? Are the sons and daughters of privilege bashers those on the battlefronts in Afghanistan and Iraq? Who really wants to drink a cup of tea, play cards with or have a conversation with all and sundry? The reality is that privilege, like the poor, will always be with us. Animal Farm is just as applicable to us as it is to Communist regimes!

But back to the related ecological point of the article: it is certainly true about all the jetting around to get to a summit intended to make a case for saving the planet has also caused more pollution by the chosen means of travel to get there. Newspapers and journalists can gloat about this and take the high moral ground. But they need to remember that they also do the same to get there in order to get news that will make money. And to make this news readable they will have to use rolls and rolls of paper – rain forest in effect - to print not only news, but so much that should neither be read nor seen on television. This is besides the fact of the carbon footprint that all their online papers will create as a result of the energy used to drive servers and computers.

What we do with our privilege is what is important: for starters we can begin by being honest about who we are, our intentions, the jealousies that drive us and the greed(s) that has/have become our orienting framework. Let’s be honest and open in our criticality: this will carry more integrity for us together to take a moral high ground as we challenge each other for the benefit of the whole of creation.

© copyright jagessar December 19 2009

Living Lies: Tony Blair’s Distorted faith

Tony Blair is again in the news. He loves the spotlight, even though the public is once again presented with a politician – now a self-acclaimed man of faith – who will lie to you straight in the face. It would be an interesting exercise if someone has the time to do an in-depth scrutiny of his speeches in relation to war against Iraq to reveal the contradictions, inconsistencies in his speeches.

Here is the man who was reluctant to discuss his Christian faith while in office, but has now turned global priest to help save the world through faith and religions. Someone should examine his head. I leave his heart for the divine to plumb its depths!

One inconsistency that looks like a real joke is this: that while his faith did not affect his decision to go to war – it did help to sustain him through the conflict (as he quoted to have said). He goes on to explain that one’s faith cannot help one to make a right decision but it can sustain one after making the decision.

What utter rubbish and a disgrace to the flip side of faith – that is faithfulness. Sure, one’s faith does not provide one with a fixed blueprint to the making of right decisions. But surely, there are enough examples from the Christian faith in relation to values and morals that could have pointed to why we should not have gone to this war based only on the premise that one sophisticated liar thought there was another dangerous meglaomaniac who needed to be taken out. Over a million people in this country, including all the Christian churches, protested – yet he saw it fit not to listen to these voices. It may be that Blair is the only person in the UK with a direct line to the Divine!

But what is even more disgusting is to suggest that having gone to war it was his faith that sustained him! I wonder what the Divine will make of this inconsistency. Faith sustains but faith has no role to play in the sin of creating a “one eternal hell” for Iraqis or murdering lots of innocent people (collateral damages). How convenient it is to use faith and by implication the Divine for one’s selfish end – like some puppet always there to soothe one’s feelings - not to challenge one’s immoral acts and decisions that will have devastating consequences.

It is not only the BNP who have hijacked the Christian faith for their selfish and disgusted motives. They have an accomplice in Tony Blair, albeit from a different angle: he has hijacked the Christian faith and presents us with a face of faith and God that will justify immoral actions: not one that calls him or us to accountability. Blair should be heading for the confession box of his local Catholic congregation or whenever he stops by the earthly throne of St. Peter in Rome.

© copyright jagessar December 13 2009

Greed Reigns: Going Alternative

One would have expected that with the financial crisis and our present economic woes that we would learn many lessons – as the politicians and financial experts are keen to point out when interviewed and lost for words. My distaste for the phrase “lessons are to be learnt” has to do with my dismay over the number of times this has been uttered, when in reality nothing changes. Old habits die hard – they just re-invent themselves. As events over the past weeks have revealed, greed is quite difficult to control. It is hyper-active. And those (individuals, financial institutions and corporations) who have been among the main culprits in our economic demise continue to demonstrate how they do not intend to change an iota.

Money not only talks: it rules and in very strange ways it continues to dictate our lives. Banks, Bankers and financial institutions that/whom we have had to be bail out through the public purse continue to dictate policies ranging from exorbitant payments/salaries of huge sums of money to all forms of immoral defence and excuses to justify these. The figures we are talking about will not only break my calculator: it will make the budget of some majority world country look like peanuts. This is besides the fact that all our talk about ethics appear like something from the Stonehenge.

Can we wholly blame conscienceless individuals and a system for this situation? Where and how have we become accomplices in such a system built on an illusion, good enough (while it has its run) to give us handouts that make us feel worthy, rich and part of something going somewhere? Perhaps, the Dutch economist Goudzwaard is correct to note that our economic system can be compared to us being caught in a traffic jam in a tunnel with the traffic flowing only in one direction: we can neither move forward, backward or sideways. The only safe place is forward out of the tunnel even though the road leads over a precipice.

How can economics operate with a moral conscience if banking technocrats and bureaucrats see no responsibility in earning smaller salaries? Are these people of faith? If they are, how do they connect their faith/belief to responsibility for the common good? What do faith communities say to such folks who may be members and supporters?

Is it possible for ordinary people to make a difference? I certainly think that we can use the power of protest more constructively: those who are shareholders may wish to help change policies rather than only thinking profit. We may also wish to be more radical in our protest: take our monies out of banks that are unethical. And forget supermarket financing and credit cards! Don’t be duped. Perhaps we ought to contemplate alternative banks. Why not? Why do we have to stick with immoral economic nonsense? Why wait for politicians to remedy this situation. The bottom line for politics is that economic interests rule and call the shots even though these are crumbling like dominoes all around us.

Here is the seven headed dragon multiplied a hundred times that is the prevalent evil the day. There is no knight in shining armour ready to slay the beasts and its many avatars. We can, however, individually and as small communities act by going alternative: do not use unethical banks; invest ethically; do not go into debt; live within your means; why do you need more than one credit card?; pay your credit card off immediately; if you cannot, then bin it as soon as possible; why not try bartering (a faith community is a good space to start such an initiative). Faith communities can certainly take the lead on this. There are loads of other ideas online.

See for instance:

http://www.socialedge.org/discussions/responsibility/alternative-economic-structures

After all: a journey of 1000 miles begins with the 1^st step (Korean wisdom saying). Do not wait on someone else to take that step! Act now!

© copyright jagessar December 4 2009