Mike Jenkins - Welsh Poet & Author
  • Mike's Blog
  • New Book!
  • About Mike
  • Contact
  • What's the point?
  • The Climbing Tree
  • The Fugitive Three
  • Publications
  • Red Poets

WE NEED A REVOLUTION

1/16/2010

0 Comments

 
   The closure of the huge Bosch automotive parts factory at Miskin is yet another kick in the goolies to the Welsh economy and both the Senedd and Westminster seem powerless to prevent such tragedies or to alleviate suffering afterwards. Re-training schemes are all very well, but people have few alternatives in times of recession bordering on Depression.

   When it was set up in 1991, the multi-national company Bosch was given a massive grant of £21 million by the Welsh Development Agency towards that plant. Like many private industries it was lured by public finance ( our money, in other words) to locate in an area of then cheap labour. Will Bosch now pay back every penny of that grant to the Welsh people or, at least, use all of it to compensate workers who've lost their livelihood? Like Hoover in Merthyr, Bosch will move elsewhere ( in their case, Hungary) where labour costs are 65% cheaper.

   This is the harsh reality of capitalism and until we actually replace it with a completely different society based on equality, justice and full democracy, this scenario of boom and bust will continue. Already, it echoes the 1980's and the dark days of Thatcher when unemployment was used as a weapon to keep wages down and virtually destroy the Unions. After the election ,whichever party is elected , we will see an onslaught on public services which will make even Thatcher seem liberal-minded.

   Merthyr Tudful has barely enjoyed the boomtime at all and here, as elsewhere, unemployment is inextricably connected to drug-taking, crime and prostitution. People of all ages are being seriously affected and Merthyr has one of the highest rates in the whole of the DK ( Disunited Kingdom ), especially with the 'hidden unemployment' of incapacity benefits taken into account.

   Long-term solutions must be on many different levels. We need to create a society based on producing sustainable goods, not serving the greed of property ownership. Above all, we need a banking and industrial system based on co-operatives and nationalised utilities and transport links ( i.e. both rail and bus). The mistake in the past was to run nationalised industries like private enterprises : decisions should be made from below upwards, with managers elected from the shop floor in a true democracy.

   The Senedd must devise a plan to alter the whole nature of our economy in the coming years, instead of tinkering with a system which is bound to fail.  Credit Unions should be linked to a plethora of local co-ops ( industries, shops and pubs ), with the knowledge that all investments would go to help these, while any profits from them would be ploughed back into the Credit Unions to help those in financial difficulties. At the very least, the Senedd ( when it has power to do so) must declare a policy of nationalising water, energy and rail companies and running them to benefit the Welsh people . Only then, can we reap the rewards of water pumped to English cities, take control of alternative energy sources and ban opencast and plan a railway network which joins all parts of the country in a feasible and economic way.

   Unemployment must be the number one priority of Senedd and Westminster . From Holyhead to Newport, Wales has suffered more than anywhere else in the DK. So many young people are leaving school with no hope of a job ; so many graduates are finding their qualifications do not guarantee employment and so many skilled workers are being flung onto the tip of redundancy and left to smoulder there.

   A revolution is essential . A revolution of consciousness and awareness that capitalism cannot deliver and there are alternatives. It is not a matter of 'socialism in one country', but I do feel that Wales must find its own way, based on sharing and co-operation. We do not need models from the past, but we do need to draw on our history and the people of the 1831 Rising in Merthyr ,the Chartists and protesters of Rebecca , for inspiration for a future where ideals are the tracks and most people will get on as passengers.


  
     
 EM'TIED  LIVES

I done it all

f'r my famlee,

I worked all owers

an didn ardly see

my two little ones.

 

My missis workin on-a tills,

we paid f'r nursree.

It gutted me

t come ome late

an find em in bed orready.

I kissed theyer cheeks

an promised all-a olidays

we'd ave eventually.

 

It woz jest a letter,

I even joked t Debbie -

'If issa bill

put it where it b'longs.....

in-a bin!'

 

I couldn bleeve it,

on'y a coupla months

we adn paid up :

wha with the eatin,

food goin up ev'ry day,

scrimpin f'r value stuff ;

we don' even smoke,

go out on Sat'days down-a club.

 

All tha tv talk bout 'negative equity'

it me slap in-a face

like I'd bin mugged,

'repossession' a word

never thought I'd read

in a letter to us.

 

All-a thin's we'd done t the ouse

an I int even andy,

conservatory an a combi boiler.

Issa tidee area an all,

the kids cun play safely.
 

 

 

 

Don' know where we'll go.

My mam's is a small terrace.

She'd ave us tomorrow,

but Deb is so cut up

she stares inta distance

an lissens when I rant -

' Whassa fuckin point?

Why ave we bothered?

All ese yers working so ard?'

 

It's easy f them politicians

an them experts on-a telly,

sayin thin's ull turn agen,

sayin it's on'y tempree.

F'r us, it means ower lives

re em'tied, ower futures

stole like the bailiffs

come an took furniture away.

 

Wish now I adn toiled

my bollocks off doin overtime

an put the presen' first,

played with Shane an Faye,

read em stories till they slept.

An when Deb sayz

we'll afto start agen

I glare at er like she's crazee,

like she've learnt nothin.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.



    Archives

    November 2019
    September 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009
    September 2009
    August 2009
    July 2009
    June 2009

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photos used under Creative Commons from johnharveypegg, Dai Lygad, joncandy, victoriapeckham, David Holt London, aeneastudio, fromthevalleys-, Metro Centric, andymag, David Bergin Photography, villunderlondon, @markheybo, joncandy, Martin Pettitt, Between the Shadows, joncandy, johnkell, olivia.barrie, villunderlondon, Lake Worth, MittenStatePhototog, frankieleon, robynejay, joncandy, mcaretaker, Thomas Leuthard, Knight Foundation, joncandy, Joybot, brownpau, Iburiedpaul, villunderlondon, amit_gaur, abegum, simonw92, beeveephoto, Aislinn Ritchie, Shannon Green Photography, joncandy, Nick J Webb, Vish Menon, AberCJ, gcoldironjr2003, joncandy, World Can't Wait, jonl1973, Watt_Dabney, petejam70, Kerndav, MJ Klaver, joncandy, Daquella manera, spratt504, joncandy, ashleigh290, Glyn Lowe Photoworks., afanatochka, r.nial.bradshaw, themendingnews, rikkis_refuge, Matthew Straubmuller, joncandy, onnola, final gather, funktionhouse, marioanima, joncandy, Dai Lygad, joncandy, Guttorm Flatabø, brittreints, garryknight, villunderlondon, wonker, Martin Pettitt, joncandy, tnarik, AJC1, simonw92, wardyboy400, joncandy, Bombardier, joncandy, Cargo Cult, joncandy, joncandy, SeanOConnor2010, Feral78, comedy_nose, Abode of Chaos, mkairishstudies, joncandy, avail, Jörg Weingrill, Gwydion M. Williams, Leshaines123, KiltBear, eisenbahner, Capt' Gorgeous, Francis Storr, New Chemical History, Matthew Black, jc.winkler, Gwenael Kere, Karen Roe