Peace, Poverty and Deprivation (A new Peace Party Statement)

By JOHN MORRIS, National Organiser

Care's fair ... it only seems right that government should address inequality wherever possible
[pic: equalityuk.org]

The ‘free market’ is anything but free. Any advanced financial and economic system has to be underpinned and regulated by law – it is never, as some argue, simply a natural and therefore inevitable phenomenon. Contracts are legally enforceable, debts have to be paid; and the notion of property itself depends on our definition of ownership and the laws determining acceptable mechanisms of exchange. This being so, we have a democratic right and a social responsibility to determine how our financial and economic systems should be constituted.

The current arrangements have evolved to benefit the rich at the expense of the poor – that’s what being rich or poor means. Where there is competition for resources the rich will always win. Thus the rich acquire the power to determine the structure of the financial and economic systems, and are then able to control the media to ensure their widest possible acceptance.

Deprivation is an inevitable consequence of this imbalance of power. The rich, who by and large control the economy, have no emotional stake in the well-being of the poor, who are seen solely as ‘workers’ and ‘consumers’. And because the media promote the views of their owners most public discourse also regards them in that light. Ameliorating the lot of the poor and deprived therefore has to be justified in ‘economic’ terms. 

For example, ‘early interventions’ to help deprived and unhappy children are promoted on the grounds of ‘cost-effectiveness’ – it’s more expensive later on!

The Peace Party rejects this approach entirely. Poor people matter as much as rich people. 

Unhappy children need support, encouragement and love regardless of their parents’ financial status, and independently of the likelihood of their becoming criminals later in life. To suggest otherwise is to imply that an even better intervention would be one that could prevent the cost and inconvenience of a subsequent life of crime without addressing the underlying problem, just as long as it was cheaper.

The Peace Party will work for an economic system that exists for the public good rather than for private profit. The focus of government intervention has to be shifted from the maintenance of
financial interests, many of which are aggressively inimical to those of society as a whole, to what used to be called the ‘common weal’. 

It goes without saying that the needs of the vulnerable, and particularly of children, will be at the top of the priority queue, but it also has to be recognised that it will be a long haul. The arguments have to be made and the drift towards public disengagement from politics has to be reversed. And critically the myths that serve to support the received economic wisdom and that seek to justify the ‘austerity agenda’ need to be dispelled.

In the mean time we will support those who work tirelessly within the current structures to mitigate their worst excesses, and wish them well. 

But we must not lose sight of the real objective – a peaceful and equal society where the alleviation of deprivation, poverty and all forms of avoidable suffering are the concern of everyone, including the government.

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