Duck and Cover

Duck and Cover was one of the winning stories performed by the wonderful Lin Sagovsky at the 'Women and Girls' Liars League event on August 11th.

Read it or listen to it here or watch 👇

In the Rising Tide of the Right Hope Springs Eternal

Watching Jeremy Corbyn being announced as the new Labour leader I said to my Mum that she would remember this day in the future. That she would remember being in London the day Corbyn took his first step to becoming Priminister in 2020.

I look back to May and the day the Tory's won the election. I also broke my arm that day but this event was totally eclipsed by the more far-reaching event which promised 5 more years of  the rising tide of the rich, cutting the poor off from opportunities, flooding already deprived areas more poor, leaving some people stranded without a paddle and some just drowning in debt. The rising tide does not lift all.

I remember talking with former colleagues about the changes we hoped to see in Labour. In some ways I was relieved that the Labour of May 8th didn't win. I wanted a Labour left to be in power not a middle-right. Back then Corbyn wasn't even in the picture. And in less than four months my hopes have been realised.

So, when people say he hasn't a 'hope' of being elected in 2020, I remember in May that he wasn't even in the race which he won today. If that can happen in four months, imagine what can happen in five years...

On Capitalism: True or False

Steve Lambert installation at 2 Degrees Festival outside Charity Shop in Tower Hamlets, London

'CAPITALISM Works for me' said the large, lit-up sign with large True and False digital counters on each side. On a podium were the words, 'In my life this is...' and underneath were True and False buttons to be pressed to vote and be counted.

Marx's “callous 'cash payment” of capitalism is why I answered 'False'.

Capitalism, much like democracy does not work for those in a power minority. The power minority are the people, whatever the number they are, who have the least power through political sway, economic leverage or strength of ability. They may be a majority in numbers but a minority when it comes to power.

A great power minority are the children of the world. The first twenty years of life may be the largest percentage in terms of being 35% of the worlds population but when you consider them in terms of strength of ability, economical or political sway, they have little power. The five year old can't vote or run for government. They can't use their spending power as a consumer or run or build business. They do not have the ability or strength to engage in the 'fight or flight' response, both figuratively and developmentally. 

According to Oxfam 'half the global wealth is held by the 1%' (Guardian, 2015). 

Another power minority, despite the great number, are the poor. And the limitations associated may as well be the same as that of a five year old. The may be able to vote but despair breeds apathy. They may be able to run for government but costs and lack of opportunities may be barriers. Lack of spending power and the inability to be able to work towards delayed gratification because the immediate situation is so pressing means little left over for anything other than survival.

And although this is written in the affluent society of one of the major cities of the Western world where we may have a higher standard of living than in other places, we still have poverty.

How can anyone say that Capitalism works when in Britain today, Tower Hamlets, a borough in East London, book-ended by the illustrious Canary Wharf and the City of London, has a child poverty rate of 49% (BBC, 2014).

Does that work for you?

Raised by Wolves - So much for keeping the wolf from the door!

The nature nurture debate continues, but does it matter if you have genes that give you a good start in life when you could end up being raised by wolves?

The fairy tales like Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book or earlier tales like that of Romulus and Remus all had happy endings. They didn't worry about the critical times for language acquisition or other such needs of a child. Real life Mowgli syndrome is an altogether more disturbing story, and one which doesn't even have to include four legged animals. In the case of Genie a ten year old girl brought up in isolation from human social contact, the animals who raised her were humans. There has been no happy ending there.

Of course we think this is an extreme case of horrific abuse and that most children who suffer abuse don't to that extent, that they have some measure of a quality of life. And we reckon it doesn't happen that often anyway.

However....

• 23% of people report being physically abused as children (WHO)

 And what about deprivation?

• 1 billion children in the world are living in poverty ...that is 1 in 2*
• 100 million children are stunted or under weight**
• 640 million children have no adequate shelter*
• 400 million children have no access to safe water*
• 270 million children have no health services*
• 120 million children have no education*

And because of this...

• 3.1 million children die a year because if poor nutrition**
• 1.4 million children die a year from a lack of safe water and sanitation*
• 2.2 million children die a year because they are not immunised*
• 18, 000 children die every day because of poverty (UNICEF)

Sources: *Poverty Facts and Stats by Anup Shah

** World Food Programme Hunger Stats

So much for keeping the wolf from the door!

So how about nearer home? In Tower Hamlets, the East End of London there is a child poverty rate of over 50%. How can this be ? How can a London borough book ended by the illustrious City and the financial district of Canary Wharf have children living in poverty, and so many ?

The government committed to ending child poverty by 2020, however, according to the Guardian (2014), the Institute for Fiscal Studies predicts that by 2020 it will increase by 39%.

So much for keeping the wolf from the door !

So what happens to the children in the world who avoid or survive the abuse and deprivation? Do they grow up to do better than the previous generation or is their behaviour conditioned by the wolves that raised them? Whether children experience the animal-like carnivorous greed for food or the capitalist 'Wolf of Wall Street' greed for money, they will be conditioned by the extended capitalist media family, this wolf in sheep's clothing.

'We best measure a society’s true worth by how it treats its youngest members ‑ the girls and boys who would one day become tomorrow’s parents, citizens and leaders.' 

Anthony Lake, Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

Will our children grow up to be wolves too? Are we committing to an ever spiralling vicious circle and widening gap between the rich and poor? Creating a more unequal society. And more and more children in the world dying from neglect?

When we discuss the nature/nurture debate we do so as if the nurturing is a given. However I would contend that the word 'nurture'  is a contradiction in terms when it comes to children being raised by wolves. And that, considering the way that children are treated by the human animal, at times it would be kinder to throw them to the wolves.

So much for keeping the wolf from the door!