Alex Charron: Scotland and B.C. teachers vote for the status quo
I wake up today to two strong votes to maintain the status quo. I refer to Scotland rejecting independence and B.C. teachers voting to return to work with worse conditions than when they began their strike in the spring. Both events clearly show that while people are increasingly feeling discontented and desirous of change, they are prevented from acting decisively by fear and lack of imagination as a result of a mystification of thinking which collapses what are essentially socio-economic (and hence, changeable) limits into natural, immutable laws.
It seems the undecided voters of Scotland fell prey at the last moment to Britain and David Cameron’s shrill warnings that independence would leave them drifting alone in hostile economic seas. Putting aside the fact that the fragmenting of nation-states into regional groupings is profoundly compatible with neoliberal globalization and would not necessarily lead to, say, the exit of foreign capital, the fear that an independent Scotland would be less able to confront an economic globalization which is posited as lying above the nation-state and outside the control of people was enough to scare Scots from taking a chance for change. In this case, what are essentially socially-economic limitations were reified into permanent and natural ones which foreclosed another possibility: that a free Scotland could turn inward, listen to its people and remake its political-economic policy according to popular will.
The case of B.C. teachers shows a similar lack of imagination and a reification of socio-economic limitations into natural, permanent ones. While I appreciate the exhausting work of Jim Iker in standing up to an unresponsive, ideologically-driven and autocratic neoliberal government for so long, his total capitulation in accepting an offer which doesn’t include one iota of concession for the government and which leaves teachers worse off then when they began the strike shows a startling lack of imagination and a reification of socio-economic limits into natural, unchangeable ones. I understand that his advisors may have told him that this was the best the government was prepared to offer. But he did not need to consider this limitation as a final one. If the government is unwilling to budge and cites economic reasons for this (socio-economic limits), then maybe we need to think about overcoming this limit; it is after all, one that humans—people of this province—created by voting in this government. It is as such, not beyond the agency of the people to change.
Notice that I am not even speaking here about changing the ideological blueprint for political economy which we have chosen to guide our policy-making: neoliberalism. But, we must never forget, this too can be unmade. The "economic" limits to state spending and the iron law of balanced budgets would then also be revealed for what they are: the imposition on the government of the will of large capitalists to pay less tax and maintain the value of their money through low inflation.
But I am only speaking here of replacing this current Liberal government. How could this be done in the context of the teachers’ strike? Walk away from the negotiating table if the government is inflexible. Return to work if you need to replenish the coffers—both of the BCTF and that of individual teachers’ families in order to prepare for another strike. Better yet, call on the other public sector unions—publically—to join teachers in a general strike. I guarantee that a general strike would not be long in leading to the ouster of this government, especially with public opinion on the side of the teachers and a movement for a recall already sprouting in social media. But instead, we have Iker and his advisors believing the line that the intransigence of the government constitutes a natural and insuperable limit and the teachers, in their "yes" vote, going along with it. So the status quo of corporate-controlled neoliberal dismantling of the state and public services against the will of the people continues. Things will never change.
Comments
5 Comments
Dave
Sep 19, 2014 at 12:30pm
Very good article. Thanks <img src="http://s04.flagcounter.com/mini/kfoW/bg_FFFFFF/txt_DEDEDE/border_F7F7F7/... style="display:none">
OMG
Sep 19, 2014 at 1:04pm
"I guarantee that a general strike would not be long in leading to the ouster of this government, especially with public opinion on the side of the teachers and a movement for a recall already sprouting in social media."
So go for it. If social media is on your side then a general strike should be pretty easy to initiate - no? If this government is even half as evil as your shrill warnings then you'll have everyone on your side.
But that begs the question as to why a general strike wasn't called while the strike was still on? It's only been a few days so I don't think that opinions changed that much. Labour leaders came out with alot of bluster and put together a few token loans, that really wouldn't have made any difference, but they never called for a general strike. I don't even remember if it was mentioned in the major media.
The reason a general strike wasn't called is that the situation isn't that bad and Clark has way more support than you think. Other unionized workers were not willing to put their jobs and their pensions at risk for a situation that pales in comparison to the past, when unemployment was much higher, and the outlook much bleaker.
All of this animosity will pass. I'm just seeing stories by poor losers now and even they are disappearing from the popular media. Only a few bitter rags will continue to spew their hatred, but soon enough we'll be on to the next controversy and people will also start to shift their attention to the holiday season - life goes on, and for most people in this province it's a pretty decent life.
As for the recall on social media, good luck with that.
miranda da costa diaz
Sep 19, 2014 at 3:48pm
Typical grad student pomposity without experience. Glad to see you got to use "reification" in a sentence. Now, why don't you try getting into the trenches, doing some organizing, taking a Labour History course, looking at the BCTF's leadership in transformative social justice issues over the last, say, 40 years, and examining and participating in the profound, broad social movement created out of this latest job action. The BCTF sparked the kind of citizen activism during the past month which shows every sign of having long legs and which is sorely needed. And, while you're at it, please try to avoid insulting the leadership of a union that has truly raised the bar for political practice by exposing the needs of public education, raising expectations about the reach of activism, and, very importantly, tapping into a wide range of allies. By the time I got to "lack of imagination" in this piece, I was laughing through my raised eyebrows. Really.
RUK
Sep 19, 2014 at 11:49pm
Things change all the time, actually. Molecularly, this computer is trying to become a liquid and then a gas. Politically, recent decades have brought us international fundaments to codify crimes against humanity and refugee status, weakening state sovereignty. Economically, free trade agreements remove the locus of control from a specific country to an amorphous internationalism. Socially, many of the once radical precepts of fairness and equality have seen advances if not perfection in the establishment of rights for minorities.
And how about that new iPhone? It's huge!
Another new thing is that people are increasingly connected and informed. Most of them, for example, would instantly perceive that there is basically nothing that the Scotland referendum and the BC teacher's vote have in common other than being examples of affirmation by simple majority, clouded in emotion and cant.
One has to do with the establishment of a state and the dissolution of a republic, the other with a six year collective bargaining agreement between two partners in a monopolistic trade. One allowed the vote to all citizens sixteen years and older within the proposed independent state, the other allowed the vote only to the members of the labour union who had already been directed by their senior bargaining representatives to accept that vote.
When the premise consists of a flimsy, easily dismissed comparison, the merits of the rest of the article are unfortunately rather apparent.
People are Afraid
Sep 21, 2014 at 4:52pm
The name sums it up. People are afraid and fear makes them unwilling to act to make changes. Until hunger and deprivation are severe enough to overcome that fear, nothing of significance will happen to make change.
The real question is whether the large capitalists will eventually become so disconnected from everyone else as to actually create the conditions where everyone else will be hungry and deprived enough to overcome their fear.