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The workers
“Saluez, riches heureux, /“Salute, you happy rich, Ces pauvres en haillons / These poor in rags Saluez, ce sont eux, / Salute them, they’re the ones Qui gagnent vos millions” / Who earn your millions” Song by the Penn Sardin of Douarnenez, 1905. Wealth in Europe and America has been and continues to be built…
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We’re all in it together
The Republicans, Richard Nixon with the opening up to China in the 1970s and Ronald Reagan with the relocation of manufacturing to Mexico in the 1980s, put quantities of products on the market at lower prices than before. This was presented as a gift to purchasing power. It gave people more disposable income. Landlords then…
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Work, it’s an all-or-nothing option
In Greek, Roman and Eastern antiquity, work was seen as a necessary evil. If possible, others were made to do it for you. The earliest references to work in Mesopotamia depicted gods imposing their tasks on men, because gods were stronger. Value in antiquity was not work, but knowledge, information and the arts. In medieval…
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Retirement pensions
Why should we pay pensions higher than average incomes to people who have earned their money by polluting without any solidarity with the rest of the people or with future generations (oil, nuclear, pharmaceutical industries, banks, etc.)? If they earned more than the average salary when they were working, they were able to invest their…
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Immigration
The images are frightening. We see caravans of migrants crossing Central America on their way to the United States. We see boats filled to the brim off the coast of Florida or in the Mediterranean. In border towns, we see hordes of young men on the streets, destitute, jumping the barriers of detention centres, living…
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The Red and the Yellow
Red scarves against yellow vests in France or White Supremacists against Liberals in the United States. These are two current examples of a pattern that is repeated throughout history. When the authoritarian power feels so threatened that it thinks its police will no longer be enough, it mobilizes part of its population in a reactionary…
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What you work for matters!
Peaceful environment for privileged people or efficient people who manage to live peacefully together and become priviledged? “Work must be placed above all competitive struggles. It is not a commodity.”. Albert Thomas “My Life is My Message” Gandhi The basic income should be insured so that workers are not compelled to work for immoral causes.…