Nowwethepeople

Ute Mueller: Response to Discussion Starter 3.

As I perceive it Now We the People is an attempt to mobilise all progressive forces who may feel increasingly disenfranchised and betrayed by the so-called 'democratic processes in this country and who have been sitting back over the last decade or so watching with disbelief the disintegration of the entire social and civil fabric, to join forces and formulate new policy directives that would be more inclusive of the great majority of the people and more beneficial to them than our current political arrangements.

Hawken et. al. points to the fact that social systems have a dual role. Like ecosystem services, they provide unmonetised but very valuable 'social system services' in the form of "culture, wisdom, honour and a whole range of values, attributes, and behaviors that define our humanity and make our lives worth living." … "unsound methods of exploiting human resources can destroy the social integrity of a culture so it can no longer support the happiness and improvement of its members."

In Australia it has to be seen that our current social situation, especially that of the working arrangements, including workers' rights, conditions remuneration etc. has been set in place by consecutive ALP governments with the consent of the Unions, who are too close to that party for their own good and who seem to be unable to distinguish between party affairs and Union responsibilities or aims.

It is clear that the Coalition government pushed the ALP - Union arrangements much further than we all would have expected in our wildest dreams, but we have to see reality as it is and acknowledge the shortcomings of the policies of the political institutions we feel ideologically more close to as well as those of the Coalition government. Problems can only be rectified after they have been acknowledged.

It is in that context that I feel the Discussion Starter 3 has shortcomings. While it provides much information on the status quo in relation to the reality of the current work situation, it lacks definitely a sober analysis.

Also, not all the problems cited are caused by globalisation. For example the situation of outworkers has been an appalling one for the last one hundred years in this country, affecting consecutive migrant populations who made a slow ascent within the social strata in past decades, but seem to be stuck under the current situation.

While the Discussion Starter points to many dilemma's we are experiencing on the national level, the questions are very much geared to the individual experience at the workplace and they can only be useful as a means of supporting the process of becoming aware of the existential misery of the individual participating in the workforce. They do not help to find a way out of that situation by leading the participants in the discussion to an understanding of the diverse forces that created the situation on the national and global level, nor are they helpful in finding solutions to it.

We are all aware that in the presence of globalisation and multinational companies who only follow the profit line, the power of national or state governments is very much restricted, even if they were inclined to look after the national wellbeing. The vast majority of the world population that is living in developing countries is even more prone to those neo-imperialistic pressures than a country like Australia is. On the other hand there are middle nations, like the Scandinavian Countries, that have been more successful than Australia in sheltering their populations from the worst effects of globalised capitalism. Maybe we should have a close look at their policies and adopt whatever would be beneficial to us in the short term.