No wonder poor working class communities always work against their own interests. They were brainwashed into conformity by middle class teachers at school. Now they conform to what is imposed upon then in their poor communities. They never ask questions because they haven’t got a clue as to what is going on around them and the powers that be want it that way.
Much is said about how the middle class left are obsessed with international issues at the expense of local and national issues. International issues are very important, but so are local and national issues. People who are interested in local issues are always looked upon by the internationalists as being parochial and narrow minded when in reality they are not.
Many British left-wingers believe that it is impossible to address the issue of trying to emancipate British working class people who live in poor working class communities. These left-wingers believe that the British working class actively participate in their own subjugation by the dominant culture that exists at every level of our civic society. What the left have failed to see is the deeper problem, which is the cultural perspective of poor working class people and how the powers that be within our civic society have put structures into place to perpetuate that cultural perspective. These oppressive structure and procedures, which permeate every level of our civic society, i.e. the media, local government, housing, community and the most important one being our schools. No one ever bothers to look at the issue of how our children are taught. Many middle class left-wingers are teachers who willingly teach are children through a school syllabus and national curriculum that contains within its centre a neo-liberal ideology that avoids the teaching of the humanities and other studies, which are conducive with emancipation. British children are not taught how to shape and create a world that they want, they are taught to adapt to a world that is being imposed upon them.
When British working class kids leave school many of them are like brainwashed automatons, they know nothing about how local or national government operates. These kids grow into adulthood with no understanding of how their community interacts with local government service providers. This lack of understanding leads to the community being subjugated and oppressed by those same local government service providers. These middle class service providers come in all sorts of guises i.e. council officers,Government Office civil servants, councillors, regeneration administrators, community outreach workers, housing association officers and so on. All of the latter bodies of people use a community participation methodology that on closer scrutiny represents the dominant culture agenda and what that dominant culture wants to impose onto the community. Again, many middle class left-wingers work in all of the above-mentioned agencies.
Empowering people in poor socially deprived communities will involve changing their cultural perspective and in so doing instilling in them the importance of developing a better sense of civic responsibility. This will involve teaching children to be critical and creating a school syllabus and education methodology that contains within its centre a philosophy that is conducive with emancipation. Attention should given to the present lack of open democratic procedures within our communities. School children should be taught the importance of organising themselves in such a way as to take the power of decision making away from service providers and putting it were it rightfully belongs, into the hands of community itself.
Adult community members are hesitant when it comes to the issue of taking direct action to bring about change. Unfounded fear of the system is mainly to blame for this hesitancy, especially within working class communities. George Orwell spoke about the latter mentioned issue in his book “The Road to Wigan Pier” he wrote:
A person of bourgeois origin (middle class) goes through life with some expectation of getting what he wants within reasonable limits. Hence the fact that within times of stress-educated people tend to come to the front. They’re no more gifted than the others, their education is generally quite useless in itself, but they are used to and accustomed to a certain amount of deference and consequently have the cheek necessary to a commander. That they will come to the front seems to be taken for granted, always and everywhere.
But petty inconvenience and the indignity of being kept waiting about, having to do everything at other peoples convenience is inherent in working class life. A thousand influences constantly press a workingman down into a passive role. He does not act he is acted upon. He feels himself the slave of some mysterious power. (George Orwell, The Road to Wigan Pier 1937).
Although many books and documents relating to community participation and empowerment methodology have been written on Merseyside and throughout the UK by well meaning people the fact still remains that most, if not all of these books, especially the ones which have been given centre-stage, fail to investigate the real reasons behind and relating to the lack of community participation in poor socially deprived communities and why the residents who live in these areas have to a large degree lost any real sense of civic responsibility.
Many British left-wingers believe that it is impossible to address the issue of trying to emancipate British working class people who live in poor working class communities. These left-wingers believe that the British working class actively participate in their own subjugation by the dominant culture that exists at every level of our civic society. What the left have failed to see is the deeper problem, which is the cultural perspective of poor working class people and how the powers that be within our civic society have put structures into place to perpetuate that cultural perspective. These oppressive structure and procedures, which permeate every level of our civic society, i.e. the media, local government, housing, community and the most important one being our schools. No one ever bothers to look at the issue of how our children are taught. Many middle class left-wingers are teachers who willingly teach are children through a school syllabus and national curriculum that contains within its centre a neo-liberal ideology that avoids the teaching of the humanities and other studies, which are conducive with emancipation. British children are not taught how to shape and create a world that they want, they are taught to adapt to a world that is being imposed upon them.
When British working class kids leave school many of them are like brainwashed automatons, they know nothing about how local or national government operates. These kids grow into adulthood with no understanding of how their community interacts with local government service providers. This lack of understanding leads to the community being subjugated and oppressed by those same local government service providers. These middle class service providers come in all sorts of guises i.e. council officers,Government Office civil servants, councillors, regeneration administrators, community outreach workers, housing association officers and so on. All of the latter bodies of people use a community participation methodology that on closer scrutiny represents the dominant culture agenda and what that dominant culture wants to impose onto the community. Again, many middle class left-wingers work in all of the above-mentioned agencies.
Empowering people in poor socially deprived communities will involve changing their cultural perspective and in so doing instilling in them the importance of developing a better sense of civic responsibility. This will involve teaching children to be critical and creating a school syllabus and education methodology that contains within its centre a philosophy that is conducive with emancipation. Attention should given to the present lack of open democratic procedures within our communities. School children should be taught the importance of organising themselves in such a way as to take the power of decision making away from service providers and putting it were it rightfully belongs, into the hands of community itself.
Adult community members are hesitant when it comes to the issue of taking direct action to bring about change. Unfounded fear of the system is mainly to blame for this hesitancy, especially within working class communities. George Orwell spoke about the latter mentioned issue in his book “The Road to Wigan Pier” he wrote:
A person of bourgeois origin (middle class) goes through life with some expectation of getting what he wants within reasonable limits. Hence the fact that within times of stress-educated people tend to come to the front. They’re no more gifted than the others, their education is generally quite useless in itself, but they are used to and accustomed to a certain amount of deference and consequently have the cheek necessary to a commander. That they will come to the front seems to be taken for granted, always and everywhere.
But petty inconvenience and the indignity of being kept waiting about, having to do everything at other peoples convenience is inherent in working class life. A thousand influences constantly press a workingman down into a passive role. He does not act he is acted upon. He feels himself the slave of some mysterious power. (George Orwell, The Road to Wigan Pier 1937).
Although many books and documents relating to community participation and empowerment methodology have been written on Merseyside and throughout the UK by well meaning people the fact still remains that most, if not all of these books, especially the ones which have been given centre-stage, fail to investigate the real reasons behind and relating to the lack of community participation in poor socially deprived communities and why the residents who live in these areas have to a large degree lost any real sense of civic responsibility.
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