Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

The Royal College of Nursing is balloting all of its UK members for strike action for the first time in its 106-year history . Let’s hope this goes ahead and be effective. Related Labour leader refuses to back striking workers

A very good piece! UK Brexiteers’ libertarian goal

“I find it a remarkable irony, incidentally, that up to about the end of the Second World War, if not later, European (or Christian) civilization was triumphantly declared to be the creator of the modern world but that now, confronted with a menacing future, it is more common to hear people talk about humanity’s self-destruction – as though the peasants and working classes of the world had the same responsibility for that future as the industrialists, politicians, military careerists, bankers, and arms manufacturers.” — British anthropologist Talal Asad

With a few rare exceptions, "most governments [of the developing countries] have not been willing to act counter to neoliberal policy. The links between the leaders of these countries and the hub of decision making in most industrial countries are multifarious. Some of the ruling presidents, in particular in Africa, were brought to power during the Cold War, or owe their positions to it. Some are in power because they helped the elimination of or allowed the overthrow of heads of states who, like Thomas Sankara, the President of Burkina Faso and assassinated in 1987, wanted to commit their country to alternative, locally generalised development and social justice. Others simply prefer to follow the neoliberal current for fear of being destabilized or overthrown. But there is another factor of conservatism that works in favour of large debt and should not be underestimated. Most governments, both left and right wing, try to gain the goodwill of the local capitalists who have eve...

No, wealth isn't created at the top