MODERN SLAVERY25/03/21
The world couldn't be more polarised now after Trump's dictate; social and economic issues are now viewed from their opposing ends.
On the one end; China's development advances the standards for its people; on the other end, US's development advances the standards for capital or profit. But Trump went further to separate the two spheres by nationalistic barriers. This is obvious in covid-19 vaccine distribution; rich countries accumulate vaccines for themselves while poor countries go without.
This conflict is closer to home in Capitalism vs Socialism. True to tribal fashion and nationalistic sentiments: parties to the right see profit for the private business sector; parties to the left see opportunities to advance standards for the people.
More precisely, the previous government put in place social and financial policies to increase rent and mortgage demands therefore profit, but at the consequence of accumulating homelessness. The so-called 'rockstar' economy was a success for the right wing private sector while the poor were living in cars on the street. And that was the beginning of the housing crisis now crippling the whole country. Well, almost. The few rich are manipulating the cost of housing to gain extreme profit.
Now, the current government put in place policies to slow down the cost of housing and reduce homelessness, but a right wing landlord passes the costs on to tenants. And this sets the guidelines for the established right wing media among its followers to pursue.
And the so-called debate is simply showing political colours and who has the loudest roar. It doesn't resolve anything other than trying to place a square peg in a round hole.
Let's zoom this shot closer, a pensioner receives $320 a week; his/her rent is $350 a week. The deficit is prompted by MSD but the Welfare system is now effectively to support the rich. A working person might be lucky to receive $600 a week and more than 50 percent of his/her wages is paid to the landlord. That means more of his/her working life is to pay for the landlord.
Capitalists among landlords have now effectively force the worker to work half his/her life for nothing. That's effectively slavery! Pensioners have worked all their lives contributing to a system but on retirement they get no security or should I say their security is transferred to the landlords.
Modern slavery is the manipulation of the means of survival by the few for the benefit of the few. Even the elderly, the young and sick are defenceless in such a dictatorship.
Most if not all of us Christians feel repugnant to the sight of older folks wonder aimlessly on the streets without the security of a support system in place. We are offended by the sight of a mother making bed for her children in a van for the night.
Under the force of a modern system of capitalists and landlords upon us, the lack of quality of being worthy of human respect has violated our conscience. The helpless is victimised by someone else's doing. But the most atrocious is being aware of the crime but unable to do anything about it.
We say in declaration of rights that everyone has a right to property, but only that barrier are put in place to make it impossible on the basis of ethnicity and status. For us, a structure selects membership to a property.
We say that no one should be held in slavery. Well, if we are helpless to the forces imposing the conditions that we have found ourselves in and there's nothing we can do to free us, that's slavery.
Red herrings of polarisation ignite the vibration of political divide keeping us apart and stagnant, while the social consequences wait for no one. It's a dark time during Easter 2021, consciously aware that innocent folks have fallen victims of a modern imposition.
Even people as young have paused their lives from learning and working under the spell of modern slavery. It's unfortunate those caught in a great suspense through no fault of their own, what's to become of them in the future if they survive.
This has to be a call for us this Easter, to clear our conscience. And that is to materialise a community spirit by opening our homes and gatherings to include the homeless. Maybe we can donate some money, clothes, food etc., to reinstate the community.
How can we transcend the material from the grave to the consciousness? Someone was saying if we open our homes to the homeless, the number could be reduced. That's probably not ideal for a number of reasons. But we can be proactive in finding suitable accommodation, or support social policies towards lowering housing costs. We are not taking political sides, rather we are doing work for the honour and respect of human dignity.
It's a great theme for Resurrection!