Tuesday, January 29, 2013

a brief comment about an election

"....when people wax lyrical about families, and talk about how noble someone is if he can point to seven rich forbears in a row, he believes that the praise is coming from people whose vision is entirely dim and short-sighted, unable, because of their lack of education, to look always at the whole, and work it out that everyone has had countless forebears and ancestors, including thousands and thousands of rich men and beggars, kings and slaves, foreigners and Greeks, in every case.  When people give themselves airs over a list of twenty-five ancestors, and trace their descent back to Heracles, the son of Amphitryon, it seems extraordinary pettiness to him; he laughs at their inability to get rid of the vacancy of an unintelligent mind, and work it out that it was just a matter of chance what sort of person the twenty-fifth back from Amphitryon was, and what sort of person the fiftieth back from him was...." (Plato, Theaetetus 175, transl. John McDowell)

I watched about five or ten minutes of a recent debate between two Czech politicians who both wished to be Presidednt. I missed the actual debate, but briefly witnessed the interchanges between the politicians and the audience. And, I did so with the background of having heard various comments about the candidates (expressed by Czechs in English).  Mostly I heard praise of various forms for the way in which Karl Schwarzenberg presents himself in public.

Prior to witnessing that brief part of the show in which audience participation was allowed, I had read that TOP 09, the party of Karl Schwarzenberg,during the 2010 election, had used a video in which young people were urged to threaten their grandparents that unless they voted for the Right they would never again visit them.  (Švihlíková 2011, p. 199)  Moreover, the actual policies of the party, as well as the decisions of recent governments, have made life harder for the elderly.  Pension increases have been cancelled.  The Value Added Tax increases have meant higher prices for food, medicines, and books.  As a recent commentator (Svoboda 2013) pointed out, these affect primarily families who have children but a low income and the elderly.

These government policies are a familiar form of class warfare (often called "austerity") which has been practiced in the name of economic "common sense", but which have always had the same result wherever they have been practiced:  In every case the incomes of the wealthiest have risen, and those of the middle-class and poor have fallen.

With that background, when an elderly war veteran asked Schwarzenberg about these issues (obviously he did not use the words I have used), Schwarzenberg's response was to claim that these policies have had good results. 

One might doubt that claim.  However, no one did. 

However, what was even more disturbing was the way in which the elderly war veteran was treated.  The moderator rather pompously complained that the "game" had "rules", and that by speaking at excessive length, the elderly man was breaking them.  However, he was allowed to have his say.  (I shall have to watch the video again, but as I think I recall now, the audience was sympathetic toward the war veteran.)

Shwarzenberg's first response was cranky.  He complained about the length of the war veteran's speech, with words to the effect of "finally, a question".  (Finally, when a non-politician is allowed to speak in a public space, there must be "rules" and limits---lest what?  During an election we are bombarded with inane pictures and slogans of the candidates, and people are submitted to the torture of their words--- but for an ordinary citizen to speak just a little bit is somehow dangerous or impolite....... No, that can't go without complaint!) (note)

Now, first of all, this was supposed to be a chance for real people--non-politicians---to speak.  I believe they were pre-selected, which is, itself, a bit artificial; but put that aside.  Here was a person who Schwarzenberg was potentially representing, and when this person spoke, Schwarzenberg was impatient, and, I would even go so far as to say, disrespectful.  Moreover, his disrespect was very unoriginal; it keyed off the reaction of the Moderator.  A respectful, independently-minded person would have ignored the Moderator's silly complaint and would have focused upon the core of the question.  Instead, we had a proverbial two-against-one scene setting maneuver which only managed to suggest that the question of the old man wasn't important or was somehow defective.

There is, however, a further irony here.  Schwarzenberg has a speech impediment. (The Economist 25.1.2013).  Words do not flow from his mouth in crisp, clear packages.  In that he resembles the elderly pensioner war veteran. Therefore, how ironic that Scharzenberg should express impatience with the retired man.  After all, Schwarzenberg takes it for granted that people will patiently wait as he expresses himself.  A similar respect was not accorded the war veteran.

There is an important difference, however.  Schwarzenberg is very rich.  He is surrounded by people who assist him, as he undoubtedly has been since the time of his early youth.  He is, in a word, privileged.  And, his impatience toward the old man who was asking a good question--a perfectly reasonable question---is evidence of his real attitude toward ordinary people. 

In fact the elderly pensioner seized on exactly the right point:  how could Schwarzenberg represent ordinary people?  And the behavior of Schwarzenberg toward the old war veteran precisely proved the veteran had hit upon the truth.

(Note:  These remarks are not any kind of endorsement for Schwarzenberg's rival, Milos Zeman.  On the contrary, I have witnessed the sort of thing that people describe as Mr. Zeman's rhetorical skill up close, and I was happy to escape after doing so.  More importantly, one might doubt whether Zeman is any less willing to practice "austerity" than is Schwarzenberg---despite his official position as a "leftist". The question of policy---the question of the results of words and deeds--is more important than so-called skills in public speaking or one's origins as a peasant or a prince.

References

"The Czech presidency:  Prince to Castle" Jan. 25, 2013, by K.S., The Economist, accessed 26.1.2013; http://www.econmist.com/blogs/easternapproaches2013/01/czech-presidency


Ilona Švihlíková, "The Czech Republic:  Neoliberal Reform and Economic Crisis", in Gareth Dale, ed. First the Transition, then the Crash; Eastern Europe in the 2000's.  Pluto Press, London 2011, pp. 187-202.

Jiří Svoboda, "Groupthink Schwarzenberg":, 25.Ledna 2013, Neviditelný Pes, accessed 25.1.2013

Note
The day of the election, I was horrified when I took a bus to the train station.  Everywhere in the bus I saw the grinning face of one of the candidates.  Throughout the bus hung plastic grips with the face of the candidate---a truly nighmarish scenario.  What has that got to do with democracy?  Nothing.  It is more like a scene from Dante's Inferno.  And someone is supposed to vote because they see a grinning face everywhere? (Or perhaps is the only result that they will have nightmares?)  ((I seem to hear someone say:  Is it different in the USA?--And I say, "Alas, no--except, of course, that public transport is less common there......---But that only means my complaint (that the advertising during campaigns is inane and idiotic and has nothing to do with democracy) applies in both places.)



Monday, January 28, 2013

despair and abandon


The doctors have kept my mother and father alive

but

something is missing:

help that's not there.


My parents are alive,

but,

they are socially isolated.

They have not got the comfort of children

nearby.

They have not got the comfort of their children's children

nearby.

And why?


Help is rationed to them now as it always has been,

un-generously.


Generosity is devoted

To sharpening the tools of a bloody economic system

that serves a small minority.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

July 2009

Returning to El Paso

That time when I went home,
I arrived late,
and an unexpected gift was waiting for me:

Behind two doors,
opening them,
unlatching the one,
stood my father,
and his arm moved,
not exactly waving,
but there was a gesture full of meaning,
not a wave,
not a salute,
far from being a port-de-bras,
and nothing like a child tossing a brightly colored ball,
but,
it was a gesture which fit exactly,
his age,
and health conditin.

It was a joyous semi-demi-wave,
a clear and unambiguous expression of sheer joy,
and his love for me.

I was amazed, dumb-founded,
and could only register, notice, see it,
and remain full of it,
absorbed by it.

And now I am no less,
standing back in amazement,
in admiration and wonder,
silenced by this mystery:
that he should feel so happy,
at the mere sight of me.

Pardubice
27 October, 2012

the cliches of the French (sorry about the accent gap)

Here it is,
the cliche word,
solidarity!

My father,
schooled in the ways of Capitalist Error,
aka,
The McCarthy Period,
or the McCarthy Terror:

would never say
he tips out of .....
solidarity.

But it's true.

He can remember,
only too well,
what it was,
not to work for a salary,
not to have benefits,
but to work anyway.

As if it were yesterday,
he remembers.

And out of respect for what he remembers,
he would like to tip.

Ah,
but you say he's showing off?

Yes, maybe,
that too.

But don't kid yourself.

His memories are real.

Poetry or not

With the beginning of the new year, I begin a new cycle of poems---poems of Despair and Abandon.  You, dear reader, have the benefit (?) of my uncensored thoughts, my rough drafts.  So, be warned.  I do not promise prettification or commodification.  If you want the glib visuality and cliches of so-called  social networks, you won't find that here.  You have been warned.  No successes, no achievements, no proud accomplishments; but, yet, perhaps, on a good day, only life itself.....


Poems of Despair



My mother is working,

working today,

as she has every day of her life.



But, no;

it's not like every other day.



There is more urgency,

more crowding,

less generosity in the neighborhood than when she was a child,

less generosity

because others are working,

with crowded urgency.



She is working,

and her labor does not count among the statistics

of the unemployed or employed or discouraged workers;

I would call her a worker who is not allowed a retirement,

a worker who is not allowed peace,

a worker who is not allowed rest.



Do you tell me that what's done out of love should not be called work?

Then, what do you call it?

As she struggles to carry food from one room to another,

struggles because her leg is frozen,

her back in unceasing pain,

and because her husband is hungry,

and if she doesn't do it,

no one else will.



All that out of love?

Yes, of course,

but don't distort it to fit your greeting-card sentiments.

It is a struggle,

It is effortful,

It is difficult and demanding,

and there is little leisure or rest in her days.



She is caring for her husband:

She will feed him,

Clean him if he dirties himself at his toilet,

admonish him to be careful,

help him put the telephone alongside his ear,

and she will arrange his doctor appointments,

and her own.



She will manage his eighty-seven year old life,

and her own of eighty-six years.



And she will not have much time to laugh at a joke,

unless her helpers manage to find something funny.



She will nurse her aching leg,

and try to stay on schedule with her own pain-killers.



Pain-killers? 
Do they kill the pain?
Not at all!
No, they are merely  pain moderators,
pain diminishers,
not pain eliminators.

A man in the train suggested to me that my mother was addicted,
that if she cries and cannot sleep when deprived (for months) of her medicine,
she must be an addict!
 
That threw me.
I thought about it and thought about it.
And I thought about the cruel discomfort
which my mother experienced
only because
a cruel system of Don't-Care
is designed to say NO easier than Yes.
 
Addicted?

What a stupid, easy suggestion!

There is nothing the doctors can do for her,

No cure available.
No way to make her back young again.
No way to reverse a lifetime of arthritis pain,
only now become more intense.

There is no cure for her constant pain,

pain which doesn't go away even when she takes the medications.



A degenerative condition,

A life of pain as a reward for a long life,

A short life with intense pain

because the medical systém managed to keep her alive

until now,

when she could enjoy the peace of old age,

but, more importantly,

so long as she is alive,

various companies and even hedge funds will have access

to the funds accumulated in my parents' Medicare account.

They will be rewarded for my mother's suffering.




Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Compare and contrast

In order to keep your mind working, dear reader, please compare and contrast the following;
 
1.  Consider the following job description which recently appeared in my emailbox:
 
"We are seeking an active and engaging Substitute ESLInstructor who loves to teach and doesn't stop thinking about the job when class ends." 
 
"Substitute"==That means part-time--and the worst sort of part-time, part time with no predictability.
I suppose part-time means: without benefits. (E.G. no health insurance)
 
And you are supposed to think about your job even when you are not paid to do so........
 
(I am a teacher.  I've been a teacher for all of my adult life.  I know what it means to think about the class outside of class........And I know what it means to be fair, responsible and professional toward students.  But I can't imagine spending every minute of my waking hours thinking about a part-time job. Yes, I know the ad. didn't say think about the class all of the time, but it's moving in that direction.)
 
2.  a selection from Milan Kundera's novel, "The Unbearable Lightness of Being":
 
He did things which he didn't care about at all, and it was beautiful.  Suddenly he understood the happiness of people (who until then he had always felt sorry for) who practiced a profession to which they were not compelled by an inner "it must be", and who could forget about it in the moment when they left their workplace.  Until then he never understood the happiness of that indifference.
 
(my translation)
 
3.  A paraphrase of a popular (recurrent) thought (expressed outloud) of Richard D Wolff:
 
One thing you know is:  Your employer is not going to pay you 25 dollars an hour unless, as a result of that hour, he is going to make more than 25 dollars.....

4.  My suggestion:  in part the problem here is commodification, and the invisibility (to the author of those words) of class struggle.  Of course, we should love our lives, and the working part of our lives.  However, when you work for a wage, things are not so easy.  However, I would suggest that the author of those words is still suffering from the mystification of capitalist social relations.

5.  The character in Kundera's novel, Tomas, finds it rather liberating that he doesn't need to worry about his work outside of official working hours.  Would he feel that way if he worked a minimum wage job without benefits (e.g.,health insurance) in the contemporary USA?  I suspect not.  During communist Czechoslovakia, health insurance was universal.  Tomas has none of the worries of a contemporary American low-wage worker. 
 
 
 

Saturday, January 19, 2013

social stratification

I have to confess,
that when I heard these words,
I also seemed to hear,
the sound of a thousand rusty shovels,
digging, digging, digging,
tired bodies moving,
working hastily,
aiming to cover up,
the still living body of something unspeakable,
to cover it up,
while it was still alive.

f*** this computer

It is intolerable.  The mousepad is hyperactive no matter what adjustments I make.
And now I can get a peek at scholarly articles, but the Adobe whatever crashes every time.

There has been no computer revolution (if revolution is for the better) in my life.

And, as I lack the luxurious free time of a Tenured or Retired Professor, it is all I can do
to keep my weekends free.

I fear that mental degradation is the only alternative.

Thanks a lot Mr. Computer Man!  If I were Dante I'd be able to express what I think of you.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Cabbages and shoes

Half my life I've tried to stand back,

not be seen,

not be noisy,

waiting patiently,

hoping to be noticed;

just so I could buy a head of cabbage,

or a pair of shoes that weren't going to fit anyway.

I kneel in awe and reverence,

humble and trembling,

kneeling before the great god,

mighty and heartless,

the new god,

whose name is "The Market".

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

unimpressed

To hear the managers at Apple talk about it, you would think that ordinary citizens in the USA are beating down their doors, demanding new technology.... Myself, I am unimpressed. Our technology cannot provide me with shoes that fit. And, this has been, for me, a life-long problem. The last time I purchased a pair of shoes that actually fit was in Bratislava in 2007 or 2008. Since that time I have shopped for shoes in Prague, Vienna, and El Paso, Texas, and, in every case, I have come up without a pair of shoes that fit properly. Nor do I believe that my problem is unique. If I look at my father's feet, I can see his toes have been squeezed together from years of shoe-wearing. Toes that are constricted do not provide a stable platform for walking, and the act of constriction does not encourage the free circulation of blood. (Forgive me for saying the obvious. But those obvious facts, it would seem, are poorly served by our so-called high tech culture.) What we have here is not civilization, but rather the opposite.

Saturday, January 5, 2013

El paso assholes are at it again

Boom- booom---BOOM........ Ad nauseam Great, just what I want to hear......again Boom. Boom. Boom. ... Get me out of here!

corporate criminality

Wal Mart and the death of one-hundred and twelve people in Bangladesh... http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/06/world/asia/3-walmart-suppliers-made-goods-in-bangladeshi-factory-where-112-died-in-fire.html?_r=0 BTW There were some reports that workers at this factory were also owed back wages. So, that means you can not only work in a dangerous work environment, but also, you may actually not be paid---or paid late, and never paid all that you are supposed to be getting..... The moral seems to be: there is nothing that a capitalist won't do in order to increase profits...............