Why have we been landed with such a pessimistic start to the year? Because enough people voted for chaos last year. And why did they do that? Is it really because Eastern Europeans have taken over the UK, and Mexicans are saturating the US? The reason why so many people thought immigration must be cut down was that they thought with fewer immigrants, they would get the good jobs back.
But those jobs were long gone. The wealthy elite behind the Brexit and Trump campaigns have for decades been moving production plants and jobs abroad; weakening unions so those who still have a job at home feel insecure; squeezing out higher productivity from local workers and paying them less; and forcing them to borrow more while they pocket higher returns themselves.
As for the immigrants, they pay taxes, they buy locally produced goods and services, and help the British and American economies. But they also make for convenient scapegoats, so the wealthy elite, instead of admitting to greedily destroying good jobs and decent pay, stoke anti-immigrant campaigns and carry on exactly as they have done.
Of course destabilising the EU and throwing international relations under a cloak of uncertainty are hardly going to help the UK or US thrive economically. And when those jobs people desperately want fail to materialise, the pied piper will be playing the old ‘just too many immigrants’ song again. For some, racism is a handy diversion. But for many, it will ultimately ring hollow. Most people just want a job that will give them a sense of achievement and pay them a fair income.
But the wealthy elite who can now get the EU regulators off their back or whose friends have got a seat in the US administration, are not about to give up their exploitation of the 99%. So someone has to rally the resistance.
And the starting point of that resistance? Jobs, jobs and jobs. Don’t for a moment fall into the trap the grinning xenophobes have set. Focus on what people are really concerned about. Tell them that the encroachment on pay and working conditions must end. Tell them the resources of the nation will not be set aside to help rich bankers and owners of properties ad shares, but will instead be channelled to invest in sustainable industries that will have a long term future for everyone. Tell them they will have a democratic say about the remuneration in the companies they work in so pay differentials reflect the worth of what people put in, not the talent of those who know how to sneak money out.
There are many jobs that need to be done, and there are many looking for jobs to do. The wealthy elite will want to keep using the smokescreen of immigration to hide their self-serving deals. But they can be exposed. And when a real deal for jobs is put on the table, optimism will at long last return.
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