Mama SRL

[edgtf_dropcaps type=”normal” color=”#d6a67c” background_color=””]I[/edgtf_dropcaps] started writing about this topic after seeing the news about the tragic unjustified death of a man in the USA when interacting with a man of law. It’s an unfortunate incident and the reveal in the media of those images has lead to a “revolution” in the hearts of the American citizens and not only. Life matters is what you hear all over. No matter the colour of our skin we are all entitled to justice, it’s what the voices keep saying around the world. Life matters is the idea behind such statement. It’s the most important right of any democracy and I believe we are all looking at USA as a perfect example of a leading democracy that has already survived for over a century. As a child raised with the illusion of a promise land, the United States of America keep disappointing me with such examples. I am not living with the hope that their life is better, only that things have settled better based on the general experience of each European citizen that has migrated to America years ago. I believe USA and Australia, probably also New Zealand, are areas where people have restarted their lives from scratch and, having learned from the mistakes of other societies, they have implemented a better system.

In the past century these systems did not fail in front of the citizens except on scarce moments. But it happens everywhere that there are exceptions. After some attacks in Australia, some laws corrected the flaws and it still seems like a dream land in terms of safety. Strange enough is that Europe has initially used the Aussie land to send jailed man and nowadays it’s pretty difficult for immigrants to get in although locals are very used to the racial mix. Still, even through multiple filters apply, any system is not completely flawless. Sometimes it seems life doesn’t matter. And that is when society is raging against the system.

Maybe in the United States of America there are places where the interracial conflicting pressure is very high although for some time it seemed as a peaceful zone. Of course for a long time there have been areas where only certain ethnicities were living and there the poverty was high and therefore the fear of these inhabitants stepping out to other ares has become normality in the mind of the others. I believe also throughout the history of the United States they haven’t managed to impose total peace in certain counties since the War of Secession and that turmoil has been transmitted from generation to generation. Life matters seems just a statement.

And now I remember an answer received back in 2006 from a British citizen in the context of Romania’s joining to EU states and the gentlemen replied: “Of course we will have you in, do you think we [the Brits] enjoy washing our own toilets?” And it was then that I understood that we, even though still white people, but the poor people of Europe, are the cheap work force fit for the lower jobs, assigned to former known slaves. Obviously it made me think. But I don’t believe I can change such mentalities too soon without a cultural and social diversity present in our childhood. As we didn’t live such normality, probably our kids will accept as being citizens of the planet all mankind no matter the race or ethnicity. And you can imagine there are areas in the United States of America where getting rich based on the goods of the Earth has not brought along a special education. I am talking about a minimal democratic education to offer this possibility of seeing men as equal despite their race, to offer the employee a respect for his work and living in a world where rich people should not think less of the poor people. All life matters. Especially the poor ones as they choose how tall the rich will stand. Remember the French Revolution and learn that it’s those standing below you who may „help” you fall.

There are societies where, because of the big number of poor people, the rich cannot isolate themselves in rich areas and that means they have very little extravagance to show, but it is important to have security at all time. In such places it’s mandatory to give jobs to the poor people: to have someone cleanup your house, to have someone cook, to have a driver, etc. But over there people are educated step by step and they grow the respect for the one working for him. On the American continent some adventurers arrived, they left on a journey to the unknown on a ship, then they got on a horse and they owned a piece of land, they started working the land, and justice was done by gun, which was a rare thing in the aristocratic Europe of those days where the fight was between the luxurious royalty and the extreme poverty of the regular people. The regular Europeans didn’t have guns to make themselves justice in front of the noble men and they had to “enjoy” them with their good or bad habits. No life of a servant mattered to the noble men, while in the new found land of promise there was no such separation so you could see an apparent equality of chances. The regular American citizen has the freedom to get arms even nowadays during the current pandemics and due to the constant news mentioning the lessening of the supplies in the stores, they do so. The American society is a powder keg which found the perfect mix for an explosion. Of course at the moment this is not the right message transmitted by some street events: vandalism is still an act of violence and cannot bring back anything but more violence. And let’s not forget we speak of a big number of people which has been directly hit by this crises in sensitive areas: their private pensions have decreased once the stocks have fallen, their medical care system, which is totally private, cannot cope with the current virus, the lack of social protection in case of so many jobs lost can make people go out and fight for their rights. The latter brings out a lot of repercussions in the capitalist mentality: all of them have credits with high debts, so a month off payment means they won’t be able to pay the bank rate. So you can imagine what this means to the regular American to realize he is not protected at all in front of job loss, illness and not even entitled to a pension. Their pensions are private funds. They are the ones suffering when stock fluctuates. So probably just the 2008 crises – when the state has jumped in to save most of them, fearing that a revolution may start otherwise, nowadays the current situation may lead to a similar solution to avoid an actual disaster.

Still those protesting are looking to distance themselves from the vandalism associated by the press to the actual peaceful and current pandemics social distancing respectful protests. I believe the next generations will be more tolerant and will lose the hatred against other races as they are raised in a multicultural society and giving up traditions. All life matters and we should be very protective of that. It’s why we also have life protective laws and why we grow a better life every day.