The title comes from a wonderful poem by Dylan Thomas, I quote it here not because of old age and the rage against death's dark embrace; but as an allegory to the struggle against the destruction [by the insidious maneuvering of the right] of social reforms so hard fought for .
The fight against pension reform in France is all but over the law has been passed and awaits final approval by the senate, it is all but a done deal and should become law next week. In the country there is a certain admission that something must change, however it is in the manor[sic] in which it was done and what further theft reforms does it herald.
The Great Recession and the theft from the middle classes to bail out the elite on a truly global scale will go down in the history books as breathtaking in both its scope and audacity. The strikes here must go on as they highlight the knock on effects of this fiscal pillage, and how in the end we are all going to be expected to pay for the few fortunate uber-rich.
We seem to have forgotten at times just how dire the struggle was for what many now take for granted; health care, education, retirement, health and safety in the workplace, and of course the right to strike were won against all the odds. Now are we prepared to give them away without a fight?
Some would say that you should stop striking when you have lost, I would say that it is essential to continue before the next little reform passes into the books. Both sides of the pond we are witnessing a slow and determined erosion of our rights by sold out governments whose only aim is to please the tiny minority of the elite. We can see the deluge of furtive private and corporate money flowing without end, and those behind this usurpation of democracy do not even have to declare themselves as being a part of this blatant take-over.
I say "Rage, rage against the destruction of our rights".
And Fox Noise is getting in on the show in the US.
Privatizing social security might even make the Great Recession highway robbery look like mere petty theft. In the US the social security excess has already bailed out many decades of unpaid for tax cuts to the wealthy, unfunded wars, and corporate welfare. Imagine what would have happened if all that money had been tied up in the private sector.
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A reminder of that great Dylan Thomas poem
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Don't wait until it is too late to have your say.