I believe we’ll have plenty of opportunities in the coming years to fight for what’s right and stand on the right side of history.
Everyone I know would like to think that in 1930s Germany they would’ve resisted the rise of the Nazi party. I’m not friends with anyone who voted for Trump. I don’t know anyone who voted for the Conservative Party or UKIP in the UK. Most of my Canadian friends would never vote Liberal Party or Green let alone the CPC.
BUT
And this is a big but…
I know a lot of people who think people on welfare are parasites. I know many people who don’t like the idea of someone getting some “benefit” they didn’t earn. They don’t like the idea that some people might get something they’re not entitled to. I know people who are very concerned about the fate of veterans and the mentally ill ONLY to justify their distaste for refugees. They don’t like their taxes spent on the marginalized until it’s convenient to justify their nativist xenophobia. Our justice or health care systems don’t fund many of the programs and services that could decrease economically disadvantaged and oppressed minorities’ contacts with both law enforcement and institutionalization, but many make the argument that healthcare should be rationed or privatized so we spend less taxes on it.
Many people think the anti-fraud barriers to social benefits and justice are excellent value when really all they do is keep marginalized people from applying because they don’t have the right documents or access to gatekeepers who will validate their claims. If you don’t have a family doctor, you can’t get a referral to many specialists. If you have high-need chronic conditions, it can be difficult to maintain a relationship with a primary care provider.
If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that society is held together by the labour of the people we value and pay the least. I believe human kind would’ve descended into madness and civil unrest if not for the Walmart shelf stockers, daycare ECEs, Amazon warehouse pickers, grocery store cashiers, Skip The Dishes drivers, and online sex workers to hold it all together for us.
There is a day of reckoning coming. We have seen it start with the George Floyd protests, The Great Resignation, and the move to remote work. People are tired of the status quo and they have a lot more time to notice what’s going on in the world around them. We see the injustice. We see the corporate greed. We see that shit is fucked up and stuff.
Now we just have to remember that without us, the people, there is no economy and no corporation can survive without us. Let’s stand on the right side of history and be there for each other.