“There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.” Warren Buffett – Good Reads: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/123058-there-s-class-warfare-all-right-but-it-s-my-class-the
“Terrorism is the war of the poor. War is the terrorism of the rich.” Ustinov Peter: https://www.grainesdepaix.org/fr/ressources/sinspirer/aphorismes/le-terrorisme-est-la-guerre-des-pauvres-la-guerre-est-le-terrorisme-des-riches
What does this war involve?
In France, as elsewhere, the role of national education is to educate future citizens and reduce inequalities in opportunities for success. There is no will on the part of governments in the pocketbooks of the ultra-rich to fulfill these missions. The school system lacks resources and serves as a day-care center for parents who work far too much.
Goal 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries – UN: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/inequality/
Working full time doesn’t give you the time to learn enough to be an active citizen. The ultra-rich want to tire the population out of thinking. Bullshit jobs are multiplying. There’s absolutely no need to work so much and so far from home. Harassment at work is on the rise. Burn-out and depression are on the increase. This work makes people sick, and the cost of ill-health linked to stress, industrial food and sedentarism is borne by taxpayers. It requires nurseries and schools, as well as after-school care, which are also paid for by the taxpayer. The environmental cost is also significant: traffic jams at office hours, larger roads to manage them, overcrowded trains, distances travelled by car to get to work, and so on.
The TV licence fee is paid by all citizens. However, this television does not enable them to acquire the knowledge they need to vote in full knowledge of the facts. The public would be stupid, and it would be to boost ratings that they would be offered only entertaining content. When it comes to public television, it should show experts who explain their research.
Newspapers have been bought up by billionaires, who control the press and thus the public’s access to information. The press is no longer a counter-power.
In France, the social gains achieved by the Fourth Republic with the Front Populaire are called into question.
Social security is under increasing pressure. Fewer and fewer drugs are reimbursed. Country hospitals have closed. There are medical deserts.
Union staff leaders benefit from this state of war, as they sell protection to frightened individuals. Strikers have to go back to work having obtained only crumbs. “Unionists are so used to doing nothing that when they go on strike, they call it a day of action,” said Coluche. He also said: “Getting 18 million unregistered guys to go on strike isn’t a problem, but getting them to go back to work when their demands haven’t been met, that’s harder for sure.”
Unemployment is significantly shorter. “On TV they say every day: ‘There are three million people who want work’. It’s not true: money would be enough for them,” said Coluche.
Retirement benefits have been reduced.
The cost of housing continues to rise, making it impossible for the poorest people to live close to where they work. The majority of owners are the ultra-rich and elected officials who raise prices to make even more money.
Restos du coeur has never had so many people to feed. Precariousness is spreading everywhere. On a global scale, the majority of the population is hungry. When people ask for better conditions, they are met with weapons of war. It is the states in the hands of the richest that are violent and refuse democracy.
In the United States, many children only eat at lunchtime, thanks to school meals. It’s not right that in such a rich country, children go hungry.
School Lunch: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO): https://youtu.be/-YypArYDcjA?si=SnbKExrX0kXJ8c_o
People should be able to eat food that is healthy for them and sustainable for nature and respectful of the farmers: food from organic permaculture and animal well-being. They should afford a good housing.
Cyril Dion’s experiment with 150 people chosen at random to meet with experts and decide what needs to be done for the environment, shows that all citizens are capable of understanding the issues at stake if they are given the means to do so. They’ve even done a better job than the professional elected representatives, graduates of the grandes écoles and servants of the ultra-rich. The latter were quick to dismiss most of the measures proposed by the 150.
Les 150 – des citoyens s’engagent après la convention citoyenne pour le climat | Documentaire LCP : https://youtu.be/d87ebaDlq7M?si=C9FTlq2UJuL_2YtU
The richest are responsible for the world’s biggest ecocides: they destroy forests such as the Amazon rainforest, pollute mines, destroy the seabed, impose conditions on farmers such that they destroy the land, which is in danger of becoming sterile through the use of chemicals, and mistreat animals. What’s more, chemicals such as pesticides are causing the extinction of countless species of animals.
They benefit from huge tax breaks to pay little tax. Their companies receive public money (for example, during the pandemic). Public money is spent to prop up the banks when they have taken unreasonable risks and caused losses for these rich people.
Épisode 4/44 : Les ultra-riches fuient-ils l’impôt ? – France Culture: https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceculture/podcasts/entendez-vous-l-eco/entendez-vous-l-eco-emission-du-lundi-16-septembre-2024-9946758
They pretend to play the game of sharing power with the people as long as it doesn’t challenge their supremacy. But if there’s a risk of real change, they don’t hesitate to use force. Take, for example, the bloody repression of the May Day demonstrations in Chicago.
They pretend to play the game of sharing power with the people as long as it doesn’t challenge their supremacy. But when there’s a risk of real change, they don’t hesitate to use force. Take, for example, the bloody repression of May Day demonstrations in Chicago in 1886.
International Workers’ Day – Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Workers%27_Day
Another example is the Paris Commune of 1870-71.
Paris Commune – Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Commune
Or the repression led by Mrs. Tatcher when British miners wanted to save their jobs. The same goes for Latin America, where demonstrations were harshly repressed.
During the yellow vest protests in France, demonstrators were attacked by the police, who let the troublemakers operate to justify police violence.
Some of the ultra-rich, like Putin, wage war and it’s the citizens who serve as soldiers, many of whom die in combat.
Pourquoi les riches s’enrichissent et les pauvres s’appauvrissent ? – TV5 Monde: https://information.tv5monde.com/economie/pourquoi-les-riches-senrichissent-et-les-pauvres-sappauvrissent-75048
Ce que les riches pensent des pauvres – Sciences Po: https://www.sciencespo.fr/fr/actualites/ce-que-les-riches-pensent-des-pauvres/
The class war in American politics is over. The rich won.- Vox: https://www.vox.com/2014/9/3/6098677/the-class-war-in-american-politics-is-over-the-rich-won
In ancient times, just before Athenian democracy, the people lived in terrible poverty and there were demonstrations. Faced with the demands of the poor, the oligarchs swore an oath to do as much harm as possible to the poor. When Solon became the first mayor of Athens, the rich preferred to throw their fortunes into the sea rather than pay taxes. A century later, when Sparta threatened Athens, the descendants of the oligarchs betrayed the city and massacred the Athenians. Sparta, along with Alexander, rewarded their treachery by installing them as tyrants. This was the tyranny of the thirty.
Thirty Tyrants – Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty_Tyrants
The civil war in Rome pitted the oligarchs against the plebs because the oligarchs refused to allow the law to limit their wealth, as proposed by the Gracchus brothers. Julius Caesar defended the people. After his triumph over Pompeii, the oligarchs went so far as to assassinate him. The assassins defended themselves by accusing Caesar of wanting to be emperor. There was nothing in his lifetime to corroborate this claim. Caesar had said he didn’t want to be emperor, but tribune of the plebs, i.e. the defender of the people against the rich, a position that existed in the Senate. He did say that he wanted to apply the Gracchus laws.
Military campaigns of Julius Caesar – Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_campaigns_of_Julius_Caesar
If you live as if there’s no war, you’re putting yourself in danger.
Deux amis (Gérard Jourd’hui) – Chez Maupassant S01E04: https://youtu.be/jjW9Nh_k-us?si=A8Eydj3LFVMlyyiu
Indeed, this war kills: pollution-related illnesses, illnesses linked to stress and exhaustion, illnesses linked to malnutrition (e.g. hunger or diabetes), the fact of not being properly cared for, police attacks on the population (as during yellow vest demonstrations, for example), wars of power, climatic catastrophes (such as fires, floods, storms or tornadoes). And like any war, it costs taxpayers dearly… not to mention the destruction of nature and the environment.
The police and army should defend the people rather than protect those who have seized power without regard for the will of the people.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
