Reclaiming what's ours.Ask most people what it means to live in a democracy and they will tell you it’s having the right to vote, the right to turn up to a ballot box twice a decade and put an X in a box. But when the whole political system is set up in such a way that whichever box you cross it will be corporate power and profit that wins, surely it’s time to ask ourselves whether we are living in a truly democratic system?
It is clear from the recently launched manifestos that little will change whether it’s blue or red that enters Number Ten in May. To name but a few examples, both parties are committed to supporting low corporate tax regimes to ensure corporations can continue to reap maximum profits. Likewise, both are committed to pushing through the unjust EU-US free trade agreement – TTIP – which explicitly places profit motives above public services, environmental standards, labour rights and would even allow companies to sue governments if those governments’ policies threaten profit losses – an inherent assault on democracy itself. Furthermore, neither of the two major parties are promising to take the urgent action needed to tackle climate change.
Instead of leaving fossil fuels in the ground, both parties are committed to continue fracking for shale gas, maximising revenues from UK petroleum reserves and express only minimal commitments to renewable energies. While on austerity, the Labour Party has given no meaningful commitment to reversing the attacks on the poor and the cuts to public services that have been unleashed under the past five years of Conservative rule. In other words, the manifestos make clear that there will be no overhaul to the current status quo which ensures profit is put before both people and planet meaning our political system will continue to represent the needs of the top 1% of society.
