About the time I was writing the post quoting the passage on where all ruin starts, a terrorist attack was carried out in Domodedovo airport in the south of Moscow. To think about it, between 7th and 11th I visited England briefly, and now this… Apparently, British, German and Bulgarian citizens are among either victims or casualties, and I pass my condolences to them and their families, as well as to Russian and Independent Countries citizens who suffered in the tragedy. Today is the day of St Tatiana, the patron saint of the Moscow State University that I graduated from, however the traditional annual celebrations have been cancelled by the head of the University.
People are asking the usual “what can we do about this?” and, symptomatically, they don’t know the answer. I think the answer lies deep within ourselves. Over the past century, especially its second half, we’ve got so used to the idea that the State is the panacea against every evil that it will probably take another world war to shake us out of this frame of mind. Even for a second, I don’t deny the State its power; but as I wrote before, we expect too many rights for ourselves which we are reluctant to trade for any duties.
The attack was reportedly carried out by someone from the Caucasus region, and this may well result in a worsened attitude to those “foreigners” who come to work in Moscow. Right now in Moscow the sentiment against the so-called Gastarbeitern from the former Soviet republics (Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Azebaijan) is largely negative. The only problem is, in my district in particular these Gastarbeitern sweep the streets, clean the snow and dirt, and sometimes offer a welcome difference in not drinking alcohol or debauching. Muscovites argue that the State should provide workplaces for its citizens (i.e. Russians), first and foremost. But, looking at my fellow people, I cannot see any single one of them taking a broom in their hands and going to clean the yard. They think the State should provide for this; so the State provides those who are willing to work.
If there is something unnatural or illogical about the above situation, does it have to do with the State who is fulfilling its duty to provide for us; with people who come to Moscow to make money which they cannot do in their countries; or with Muscovites who want to be done to?
Speaking of airports, if the entire police force is sent there, passengers and their friends will complain about the omnipresence of the police. If there is not enough police, they will complain that the State doesn’t care for their safety. And it looks like it will never occur to any single one of them that they could do their bit in protecting themselves and the rest by being vigilant, by reporting unattended luggage and anything suspicious. Yes, we may start hearing funny stories about what people found suspicious, but who cares if it minimises the chances of such tragedies recurring?
Someone said that the price of freedom is a constant vigilance. If we are properly bent on living in a free (and terrorist-free) world, then it’s time we reconsider our responsibilities.
2 Comments
There's so much I could say about this, mostly in agreement. The situation about “migrants coming here and stealing our jobs” in Britain is not dis-similar to the Gastarbeitern in Moscow. This always raised several questions in my mind.
1, how un-skilled or unsuitable do the British unemployed have to be in order to have “their” job stolen by (as we are led to believe) barely literate, unskilled, foreigners.
2, who is paying these foreigners?
The latter is, I feel, the pertinent point. As we live in a neoliberal, free market, society, then labour becomes a trade-able commodity that will go where there is demand. The demand being – employers eager to pay as little wages as possible to maximize profit. This ties in with jobs going overseas (something of a very sore point on Teesside with the closing of the last steel works last year, to move to a plant in India). Profit motivates the employer, which attracts the cheapest labour. And the reason profit is king – because these same people who complain about jobs going to foreigners demand everything to be as cheap as possible, regardless of where it came from or how.
I've always known we live in a market democracy, where your purchase is your vote; there are many companies and products I boycott.
It's part of the “eternal vigilance” spoken of by Thomas Jefferson that you quoted. the responsibility lies as much with the consumer who supplies these profits as it does with the profiteers themselves.
Of course, this would only work perfectly in a system with fluent and complete information available for the consumer/citizen to make their choices, and that's where Edward Bernays and his sorcery of marketing comes in!
Ian (eyeswideshut75, from middlesbrough and flickr)
Hi Ian,
Thanks so much for the comment! Oh, and thanks for Thomas Jefferson – I've read that quote so long ago I really forgot who said it 🙂
I'm not hugely versed in what's happening with employing immigrants elsewhere in Europe, but in Britain employers, apart from cheaper price to pay for the service, also seem to be motivated by the Equal Opportunities Act. On this note, I think we should distrust companies who call themselves “ethical”. Very often this is exactly what conceals a focus on cheap labour.
Funny we started talking about marketing, I've worked in Advertising in 2007-2010, including direct sales. It is amazing how even the latter is misconceived and mistaught.
Take care,
Julia