THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM - THESE ARE THE POLICIES NOBODY IN THE LABOUR GOVERNMENT IS TALKING ABOUT

TAX JUSTICE has published a paper on how to manage our economy and be true to the values of social justice. Here it is below; it's well worth a read. I shall print it off and inwardly digest and spread the word. Just a couple of pictures this time:

Osborne was the chancellor between 2010 and 2015; he and Cameron followed policies that meant the poor, weak and vulnerable bore the brunt of their plans to reduce the size of the state. Now Reeves and Starmer are also targeting the most needy in our society - and yet there are billions of pounds of surplus wealth waiting to be redistributed in the interests of a fair and decent society. Why are they not following

FRUITS OF THE MARAZION QUAKER LIBRARY (13) - AKALA (2018) NATIVES: RACE & CLASS IN THE RUINS OF EMPIRE

I am very grateful to Jo Wren, a Quaker in our Marazion Meeting House community, for recommending Akala's book for inclusion in the library some weeks ago. I am also humbled that I had never heard of Akala - an award-winning hip-hop artist, writer, educator and social entrepreneur - before. Shame on me. I try to keep up with what is important in the political and social spheres - but Akala's name and work remained unknown. 

Akala in 2014

Here is a section of the Wikipedia entry for Akala:

"Kingslee James McLean Daley (born 1 December 1983),^[1] known professionally as Akala, is a British rapper, writer and activist from Kentish Town, London. In 2006, he was voted the Best Hip Hop Act at the MOBO Awards^[2] and has been included on the annual Powerlist of the 100 most influential Black British people in the UK, most recently making the 2021 edition.^[3][4]"

Make no mistake - Natives is a vital book for understanding our society and our history. David Olusoga (see my blogpost link here: Rob Donovan - Author: FRUITS OF THE MARAZION QUAKER LIBRARY (8) - DAVID OLUSOGA (2020) 'BLACK AND BRITISH - A SHORT, ESSENTIAL HISTORY') wrote in the Guardian: 'Part biography, part polemic, this powerful, wide-ranging study picks apart the British myth of meritocracy'. The Independent noted that Akala's 'Natives' was 'A potent combination of autobiography and political history which holds up a mirror to contemporary Britain.  

Akala explains that the purpose of his book is to examine how the seemingly impersonal forces of race and class have impacted and continue to shape our lives, and 'how easily I could now be telling you a very different but much more common story of cyclical violence, prison and part-time, insecure and low-paying work'. 

In Chapter 1, Akala provides a devastating analysis of Britain in the 1980s, the decade of his birth. We were and are a racist society and he lays the historical reasons bare. Such racism cannot be understood without grasping the power of class. In short, 'whiteness', to quote James Baldwin, 'is a metaphor for power'. Those who have exercised power in the world have been and still largely are white. Blackness is bad; whiteness is good. This was why, in spite of all the sufferings of poor people in Britain, there was a 'Keep Britain White' campaign that sections of the working class supported. Akala's maternal granddad