A young woman, mother of four,
Elaine Morrall, aged just 38, dies. No doubt in some grand office the details will be recorded, name, address, date of birth, date of death, cause of death, then it will be filed, then forgotten. It will not be recorded as another unnecessary death from this cruel, vindictive ideology of capitalist greed and inhumanity.
Elaine had health problems, was on benefit, but had her benefits stopped because she missed an appointment regarding universal credit. Why did she miss her appointment? Well because she was in intensive care, in hospital. Elaine died alone, in her home, wrapped in a coat and scarf, she wouldn't put the heating on until her kids came home from school, she couldn't face the bills to keep warm. This is not an accident, this is cruel deliberate punishing the poor and vulnerable. There is not just the fact that Elaine died a horrible lonely death, but what will happen to her kids? Their lives have been difficult up to this moment, living in circumstance where their mother had to choose between eating, heating, now their lives will be shattered by the loss of their mother under these circumstances, what of their future, carrying the trauma of this ideological driven callous blow. No doubt our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, will cry "SHOCK", "DISGRACE", then move on to the latest the rapturous news of the new addition to the UK's biggest benefit family, the Windsor mob, the latest sex scandal and how much such and such a football club paid for a player. But, will anything change?
This unnecessary tragedy is played out with callous vindictiveness, performed by puppets who see fit to carry out the ideology of their lords and masters, regardless of the consequences to those involved. This all takes place to a backdrop of millionaires and billionaires who shuffle their ill gotten gains from tax haven to tax haven, so as to avoid paying their fair share of taxes. Our country is awash with wealth, while unfortunate individuals wrap themselves in coats and scarfs to keep warm, because they can't afford to pay the heating bills.
This is 21st. century Britain, the sixth richest country on the planet, a country where an army of parasites, the few, enjoy private jets, multi-million pound yachts, millions stashed in off-shore tax havens, pomp and ceremony of royalty, and the many struggle with poverty and deprivation, choices of eating or heating in our cold cruel winter.
Elaine Morrall's death is not an anomaly, it is the pattern of our society, for the vast majority, it is day to day struggles for a decent living, while we are surrounded by wealth plundered from the efforts of the ordinary people. This is capitalism, this is how it has always functioned, centuries of a system that fails miserable to see to the needs of the ordinary people. It would be naivety in the extreme to think that it can function other than it does. For justice for Elaine and the countless thousands in similar circumstance, capitalism must be destroyed and replaced by a system based on mutual aid, co-operation, sustainability and freed from the cancerous greed driven motive of profit. only then will we be able to see to the needs of all our people. Will we wait for another few Elaine Morrall type deaths, how many will it take?
Visit ann arky's home at
www.radicalglasgow.me.uk
