In my previous column I mentioned that I had the fortune to attend a conference sponsored by the Council of Canadians entitled, “Making Waves – Sinking the Harper Agenda.”
One speaker in the plenary sessions “Uniting Against Austerity: Strengthening Solidarity in the Movement for Economic Justice,” was John Hilary, executive director of War on Want from the UK.
Hilary pointed out that there are similarities on both sides of the Atlantic when it calls for the assault on social fabric and the “shrinking of the State.” This was a good reminder for us of the slashing of transfer programs to the provinces in the 1990s of the Chretien government when Paul Martin was the finance minister – all in the name of deficit reduction.
Hilary also reminded us of Canada’s attempts at the Rio Summit, along with the UK and US to get water as a human right thrown out and to have water treated as an economic commodity. He also described how Canadian and UK mining companies are forcing natural resources development in other countries, often against the wishes of local populations.
Spain has a 50 per cent youth unemployment rate, over one million people accessing food banks and a policy of locking up garbage so it won’t be stolen by hungry citizens.
Greece is slipping into anarchy while Prime Minister Cameron in Britain has stated that 500,000 public sector jobs are to be cut, adding to the 2.5 million workers currently unemployed. Social benefits are being drastically reduced, disability recipients are committing suicide and the first attempt at hospital privatization is failing. At the same time, there has been a five per cent tax cut to the richest while the corporate tax rate dropped from 26 per cent to 22 per cent.
After painting this dismal picture, Hilary offered a solution how citizens can fight back. The first thing to do is to win the argument. People need to be mobilized to counteract the spin that somehow the public sector is responsible for this disaster.
The next step Hilary suggests is campaigns, the strongest being at the local level where citizens stand up for their clinics, libraries and playgrounds, for example. There also needs to be a way of getting back the more than $150 billion in corporate taxes that have not been paid, and a financial transactions tax needs to be introduced so that bankers can pay for the crises they have caused.
The third plan of action that Hilary talks about is through politics. The structures of power need to be challenged. He talked about European coordinated general strikes that were to take place on November 14. According to him, citizens need to unite against the global agenda that challenges our beliefs about what our society should be.
I agree with Hilary that ultimately it will be political decisions that get us out of this mess. After all, political decisions are what started this slide that has been responsible for the progressive widening of the gaps between the very rich and the middle class and poor.
There is absolutely no reason that we should allow multinational corporations to dictate our agenda. We should not be signing trade agreements that increase the cost of pharmaceuticals, prohibit local municipalities from favouring local procurement or that allow those corporations to sue our federal government if they feel they have been unjustly treated.
It is not fair to place the burden of our crises on government employees by slashing jobs and programs that protect our citizens and our environment. People who make a good wage, whether in the public or private sector, contribute to our economy by buying houses, cars and by travelling and spending money in our local businesses. The best way of supporting small business is by retaining and strengthening well-paying jobs in our communities.
It is certainly time for Canadians to “make waves” and to mobilize against the ruthless Harper administration.