Baltimore

The city of Baltimore has been convulsed in recent days and news reports in Ireland and  Britain seem intent on  insisting   this is an isolated incident – a black US citizen died while in police custody and this sparked off riots and looting and the National Guard is restoring order and peace – that is the story we hear.

But that is not the story at all. In the USA as well as in other countries  there is a shocking and  dangerous situation in which racism, inequality and dying cities , waste of public money in fighting lost wars, refusal of adequate education and health systems all go along with the expenditure of  billions of dollars  donated by individuals and  corporations to have their chosen candidates elected to presidency and other public offices. Those who adversely criticise Washington policies  or practices are brushed off as anti-American. The opposite is the truth – those who reveal what is happening and the extent of physical and cultural poverty being created – not just happening - in the Unites States of America, arguably the richest  country in the world and where great riches have been narrowly accumulated rather than evenly shared, these are friends of America, and best friends at that. It is sad and frightening to think that  a nation  hailed as a land of freedom and justice can be  forced into creating  extreme wealth for a few and poverty for many with, increasingly,  little in between. This is a situation, ironically, from which the ancestors of  many present-day Americans fled when they left Europe to escape injustice and the selfish corralling of wealth.

If we continue to pretend that riots or disturbances or trouble – whichever  term we like to apply to them – are isolated responses caused by isolated incidents, and if we continue the pretence that such incidents are caused by “ a few bad apples” rather than by systemic lack of discipline in dealing with power and wealth we will never  solve the national and  international problems of how we  suffer from each others’ rampant ambitions. Our persistent and increasing worry has to be that since all political unions are certain to break up eventually, the USA cannot be an exception. All political unions break. At   present Europe is in a delicate uniting  mode after centuries of division and turmoil  while the USA takes union for granted. But union , a united people, a nation with one central power and allegiance is never forever. A  combination of extreme wealth, increasing poverty, racism, under-valuing  one’s own citizens  in cities losing their sense of purpose this and much more means the corroding of what held the USA together , what we have   called the American dream but is in fact a dream of humanity which we believed had found a realisation in America. Such corrosion can lead  individual states to believe they could do better for themselves.  No-one is likely now to wish for that. But better not to foster the angers which make it possible.

Meanwhile people are grieving not just because of the pain but because they worked so hard to make sure the pain  need not happen. Our friends in the Catholic Worker  houses ,  the peace groups,  all  the companions  working for justice and recognition of the people’s dignity , these are keeping alive – however difficult and lacking in resources they may be  – keeping alive the idea and the ideal of a better way of life for all .  If they stop in despair through lack of public conscience  and through the unwillingness of powerful people to enrich themselves by enriching their fellow citizens there are no voices left.

We  dare not and need not  let that happen…….

Power Struggle

Angry criticism of politicians, political parties and  politics is increasing.  

One trouble with this is that as people become convinced  not only that individual politicians or political parties are no good , but the political system is no good and politics is no good either , the next thing is  a demand for firm, sure, and strong  government. And that, unfortunately can mean a dictatorship. Or a government  formed without   being selected by those whom it governs. Such a government may do things good, bad or indifferent  but it will certainly be hard to  shift. 

People say , Oh, that could not happen here, wherever here happens to be, but it can happen anywhere. In Britain during the Wilson years it may  have come  near to it . What you need to get that result   is a strong and growing public distaste for politics , enough people able and willing to pose as a ruling class and enough military and police support to make the coup  successful at first stroke. That is a lot to require but it has happened and what has happened can happen. In Ireland and Britain there is outspoken and cultivated disdain not just for politicians and political parties but for politics. Strangely, some of this is cultivated by media who could be the first to suffer in an authoritarian regime.

In every system there are struggles for power, media strength against political  party strength, religious power against secular power,  impatience among the military and police about their hands being tied , between commercial interests and human rights interests and many  more.  Such struggles for power and influence go on all the time with one section becoming uppermost then another. And in  vast countries like the USA  or India  the visible power of money is almost beyond belief as  billions, not  mere millions, are demanded – and made available – to gain political power in  societies where millions of people are in poverty and cities are dying. Strangely, while such power groups are battling it out for supremacy, commentators may still be writing about national conflicts as if they were contests between religions or the result of people not being able to live together in peace if they are left alone. As  present and future elections  in Britain and Ireland proceed  political commentators have to decide  whether they will give us their own opinions which they are entitled to have, or critical analyses which we are entitled to have, whether they will look  at situations professionally and analyse whose   military, financial, religious, strategic interest is involved.

In Ireland this   was often avoided  by dividing the population notionally into Catholic and Protestant and describing the political situation as the result of this division, while all the time   strategic military issues, financial issues, control of economies and much else were at issue in Ireland. This  time round opinions  may become  stronger and analysis weaker as passions rise and sides are taken. That is not going to help anyone. It will not help even the writers who do it  because one day they may find they need to say No to a demand for an  authoritarian regime and will find that having neglected to analyse what was happening to themselves and their readers their only developed weapon is satire or insult which now they dare not use. At the beginning and end of it all, perhaps  safest for us to remember is that whatever we may  think of politicians or political parties they are entitled to respect, as people first and  foremost and as elected or possible elected representatives of the people after that. That is a formidable claim to courtesy. And it still leaves us plenty of room for being  as critical  of policies and promises as we want to be.  Strong, sure, firm government is what we want but we have to be careful about how we try to get it.