An outbreak of coal black irony in Vienna
Unhappy with globalisation, sundry trade unions have formed the International Trade Union Confederation, and joy of joys, the boss man is one of ours, one Guy Ryder, a man so obscure he does not merit a wikipedia entry. The ITUC brings together 309 unions from 156 countries, but even so manages only a rather feeble combined membership of 166 million
This is the lead story in Libération this morning, but I will be stunned if this makes any of the national dailies tomorrow. However, doubtless it will merit a denunciation from at least one of the papers of the extreme left for violating some tenet of Marxism.
Anyway, so how are the comrades going to change the world for the other 6 billion of us? They are going to have a global day of action for defence of union rights. And following on from the inevitably huge success of that, they seek to change globalisation so that it serves the interests of workers, the unemployed and the poor. I'm sure the big cheeses at the WTO are cowering behind their desks and refusing to take calls even as I write. Presumably none of the workers work for multinationals, or ever buy food or products from outside their home markets, or use technology invented in other countries so therefore their opposition to globalisation is understandable.
This is the lead story in Libération this morning, but I will be stunned if this makes any of the national dailies tomorrow. However, doubtless it will merit a denunciation from at least one of the papers of the extreme left for violating some tenet of Marxism.
Anyway, so how are the comrades going to change the world for the other 6 billion of us? They are going to have a global day of action for defence of union rights. And following on from the inevitably huge success of that, they seek to change globalisation so that it serves the interests of workers, the unemployed and the poor. I'm sure the big cheeses at the WTO are cowering behind their desks and refusing to take calls even as I write. Presumably none of the workers work for multinationals, or ever buy food or products from outside their home markets, or use technology invented in other countries so therefore their opposition to globalisation is understandable.
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seek to change globalisation so that it serves the interests of workers
Because we all now how tens of millions of workers across China, India and other developing countries have lsot out massively. Instead of starving on their subsistence farms, they are earning a wage making things in factories.
How terrible.
Yes, isn't it terrible the way multinationals drag people away from subsistence farming at gun point and force them to work for so much less money?
speaking of pointless action by left wing dickheads there was a report that their are "calls" from the local govenment authority to give street cleaners 24 hours off just to show us all how important it is that we shouldnt drop litter.
Add that to me reading that some fat oaf in birmingham is on 91 grand a year for changing lightbulbs and I felt rather depressed. we are fucked.
PH- You shoudl rejoice when someone is paid so much for so little. It proves the incompetence of the system. If the Govt were competent with its loony ideas we would truly be living in a Big Brother state. They are however, falied lawyers and teachers who are able only to cock things up.
Those Union boys are onto something with globalisation though. What a disaster it has been, the largest fall in global poverty in the history of man andthe largest jump in lifespans; all since the dawn of true globalisation in the last generation. Who wants this when you could have the glories of the winter of discontent?
I approve of trade unions whose opposition to despotism is , in the end , more reliable than that of "intellectuals". There are exceptions , of course . the tube drivers , the teachers and in general any I come up against in my life .
Courtesy of the retained eaten cake society
"intellectuals" are indeed very dangerous people.
I am with Goebbels and Pol Pot on that one , too much time thinking not enough time doing.
Maybe ITUC would like to roll back globalisation rather than challenge it. Wouldn't that be popular.
One of the delights of this country is that anyone who styles him or herself an 'intellectual' immediately becomes an object of ridicule.
One of the delights of this country is that anyone who styles him or herself an 'intellectual' immediately becomes an object of ridicule.
Probably why we have always laughed at the French.
The Germans are also very suspicious, like the French they have turned out a large number of philosophers although unlike the French their food is shit.
I recall eating in a traditional German restaurant that had been recommended and asking for a selection of puddings, then found out that the Hun eats sausage as a pudding!!!!
That and lots of berries. dreadful place, all the women look like men.
Its true that intellectuals are ridiculed . Manual workers are despied and the "quizzling" clerks scoffed at . This leaves meeja people who are mostly responsible for the above .
Do you know any meeja people Croydonian ?HMMMMM?
I like to imagine PHITCH is a mercenary tapping into lap top "somewhere in the dark continent", where he is backing a right wing dictator.Shaving with a big knife ...
Mr Newmania
I live in London and sell data (its a new business venture) and prefer a Gillette.
I was offered the "golden" opportunity to go and do security work in Iraq two years ago, I declined, too old and too moral.
I am just beginning to make some decent money again with the added benefit that nobody is trying to kill me.
N - You've got me bang to rights there. I'm even in the business, after a fashion.
PH - A wise choice I think. Fifteen or so years back once got as far as scribbling down the recruitment number for the Foreign Legion when I saw it advertised at a French railway station.
"I live in London and sell data"
the perfect cover story . ok ok nuff of that balderdash. Good luck
C
I actually wrote off to the French embassy when I was 16(+:
apparently you had to be 21 and my grandfather found the letter and told me off and told me to join the British army as he had.
Later on I served in two regts with a chap who had been a legionnaire, they chucked him out as his eyesight wasn't so good, odd that two British "teeth" regts took him in. every month he used to receive a copy of the legion magazine le kepi blanche they send it to all ex legionaries.
Apart from weaklings they only turn down two types, queens and rapists, murder or anything else is ok as long as you tell them when you sign on, then you will never be handed over to anybody. Having completed a certain amount of service you were/are automatically entitled to join the french police, so in theory you could have a Gendarme who is a convicted murderer.
le kepi blanc
Think it is quite a tough one to join these days because of all the Serbs and the like longing for a scrap. Mind you, the FFL has not exactly been throwing its weight around recently, bar Gulf War one.
Apparently Arthur Koestler was a Legionnaire.
Think it is quite a tough one to join these days because of all the Serbs and the like longing for a scrap
So no room for a couple of middle aged English men contemplating one last adventure before settling down to die ?
Maybe the Spanish Foreign Legion is less picky....
phitchens - "I sell data."
Retrieved from bin bags outside banks?
Retrieved from bin bags outside banks?
Verity no , that would be my Romanian cousin Bogdan. (+:
I provide IVA practioners with lists of people who could do with their services (dead beats).
Lists of people looking for a mortgage/loan to finance brokers.
Email lists to banks and supermarkets , or lifestyle data.
Looks like you and I both doing jobs that would bewilder the average child. I think the only people I know who do 'normal' jobs are lawyers.
You would be suprised how many people are going bust, maybe not.
One of my current potential clients made £2.6 million from arranging IVAs last year , this years projection is just over £8 million.
They spend £450,000 (with others ) on marketing.
This country is screwed.
£450,000 a month
I remember having an argument with a woman who thought it was OUTRAGEOUS that Nike had factories in Indonesia and was paying BELOW MINIMUM WAGE to children who SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN SCHOOL. It was EXPLOITATION of Third Worlders.
I tried to explain that without the well-ventilated factory and doubtless subsidised canteen, these children of 12 or so would not be studying to be nuclear physicists and neurosurgeons, but would be spending their days picking over the giant garbage tips in Jakarta or walking along the gutters looking for one cent pieces, breathing in fumes from the tens of thousands of ill-maintained motorcycles, cars and lorries.
But she wouldn't have it. We were ROBBING THIRD WORLD CHILDREN of their educational opportunities. I told her the factory was probably the pleasantist, cleanest and quietist place those children had ever been in in their lives. For the first time in their lives, they wouldn't be hungry because Nike would provide a nutritious subsidised lunch of local food for them. And they would have money for their family's evening meal.
I tried to explain that there would have been incredible competition to get those jobs when they heard about the factory, and that it would have been the brightest and most ambitious who got in. Yes, they will work in the factory for the rest of their lives (if they're lucky) - but they do not see that as a bad thing. They have a secure job. The grinding worry about finding money for food was gone from their young shoulders - and it is the responsibility of every family member, even six-year olds, to find pickings that they can sell for a penny or two. Or beg.
The factory would provide basic medical care. They'd be working in well-ventilated surroundings cooled by ceiling fans.
To someone who had been spending his life in the baking Equatorial sun picking through burning rubbish tips - giant, half a city block squared, compost heaps - this was the equivalent of dying and going to heaven.
When these people marry, they will have the income to bring up children who can stay in school until they're 18. Some very bright
18 yr olds may win government grants to university. So in two generations, the factories of Nike and others will have enabled these people to move forward a distance that would have been inconceivable to their parents.
Why does the left always want to take away and denigrate? Nike isn't doing all this out of the goodness of its heart, of course, which I think is what the problem is. They are doing it for SELFISH reasons. But this is how capitalism works. People improve themselves and play a role in helping the world to go round and creating wealth.
I sincerely do not understand lefty reasoning. Do they honestly not understand all this, or are they just bitter, destructive and controlling people who are furious that some people got away? I asked her if she'd ever been to Indonesia and, of course, she dismissed me with, "that's not the point" - meaning she hadn't.
What about chimney sweeps?
It is almost impossible to find one in London these days, we need some of those small boned Asian children.
The average Mcdonalds fed British child is completely unfit for purpose, If you can find one willing to climb up a chimney and remove soot they get stuck and then sue the innocent householder.
Poles are also useless, they have big ears that get stuck, although give the Slav his due he doesn't sue you if you kill his child, as long as he collects the days wages.
Verity, how much does a small Mexican chimney sweep cost?
V - just sublime. I think our left leaning chums short circuit over the idea that anyone might achieve good things except through setting out to do so.
Croydonian, I think you're right. That elevating living standards is a by-blow of capitalism infuriates them because the improvement wasn't instigated by a committee (quango = even better) and a Five Year Plan. To hell with all the people who are grateful for their change in circumstances.
phitch - People living in tropical countries tend not to have fireplaces or chimneys. Dunno why.
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