A planned strike and work to rule on the eve of the olympics by border control staff has been described by the government as 'shameful'. We should all jolly well pull together and support the olympics okay yah!
I know that there are some issues oveer the numbers who participated in the vote for this strike. The general point though is surely that the purpose of strikes is to get attention, show frustration, cry out, indicate what will happen if proposed cuts go ahead. In this instance some 8000 jobs are at stake with implications for those involved which will go far beyond the few weeks a hyped up sporting event will last.
When government want to control strikes or other forms of protest - they are okay as long as they don't cause any disruption, I worry - for they become a form of stage managed 'let the peasants let off steam in the corner sort of thing' - or a bit more philosophical and less polemical - they become managed by the 'spectacle' of the system of consumer capitalism for its own ends.
What is shameful is government preoccupation with national image when the Emperor is in fact naked.
Oh sorry 'Lord' Coe - I am whinging - or better a moaning Scot.
Recent Comments