Below is a presentation of the basic plan, in three stages, for our new pressure group called What About Classism? The idea in presenting this here is to give people a general feel for the overall direction we hope to move in and how we intend to get there.
Stage One:
In 2015 we focused on the conceptual development and presentation of the basic ideas for what became What About Classism? This involved many meetings followed by lots of thinking and consideration. As the ideas came together they were presented in the format of a simple website. One of the features of this site is a page where people, who like what they see and would like to get involved, can Register. This brings us nicely to stage two.
Stage Two:
2016 will focus on promotion and recruitment. As part of our promotion and recruitment strategy we will utilise other online communities such as ZNet (where blogs on What About Classism? will be posted in the coming months) and FaceBook (where we will be promoting our website via our What About Classism? FaceBook Page). Our hope for this year is to get 100 people registered and then to call a meeting where we can formalise our new pressure group. This will involve electing people to posts, writing a constitution and setting up a bank account. Changes to the website will also have to be made to accommodate these developments. Once all in place we will be able to move on to stage three of our plan.
Stage Three:
All being well, by 2017 we will be able to focus on actual campaigning! This may sound like a long way off but it is actually less than 12 months away and, as highlighted above, we have lots of important organising to do in between now and then. What specific campaigns we engage in will obviously be decided by the membership. In the meantime, however, there is a Campaigns page where suggestions for possible activities are presented to give people an idea of the kinds of organising and activism we might engage in.
That, in a nutshell, is it! We hope that this short presentation gives you a better idea of what we have in mind and will give you more confidence in registering with us to ensure that stage two is successfully completed within the next 12 months. However, if you have any further questions or need clarification on anything then please ask away, either below in the comments facility or via our Contact page. For those of you who have not yet visited our site here is our Mission statement, which has recently been slightly modify in response to feedback (main changes are highlighted in bold):
What about Classism? is a pressure group that has been set-up to advocate for the recognition of classism as a specific form of social discrimination that has its roots in rigged economics. Our mission has two main components:
- To create an open and safe space for people from all backgrounds – regardless of sex, race, age, ability or class – to explore classism as a form of social discrimination and to find creative solutions to overcome this obstacle to economic justice and social progress.
- To work towards putting classism on a par with other already recognised forms of social discrimination – such as racism and sexism – both in terms of (1) the level of awareness of the general public and (2) within the eyes of the law.
The various aspects of these two components are to lead to appropriate institutional reforms in order to reduce, and ultimately eliminate, classism. Please see our Get Involved and Campaigns pages for suggestions on how this could be achieved.
Finally we should all understand that unless those who register help with promotion and recruitment we are unlikely to reach our target for stage two of this plan. Here then are seven suggestions – numbered but in no particular order of preference – of activities that can be undertaken by anyone who would like to help with promotion and recruitment:
- Like our FaceBook Page.
- Share our FaceBook Page with your contacts.
- Add content to our FaceBook Page.
- Visit our website.
- Share our website with others.
- Register at our website.
- Produce content – blogs, videos, artwork, etc. – for our website.
Thank you!
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7 Comments
Mark,
I understand where you re coming from , it’s just I might need a couple of concrete examples to make a little clearer the notion of classism being on par with racism and sexism (which I know it is) . Seems silly I know, but it’s just for me. For some kind of clarification. I kind of think I know what you mean and agree but…..
I also wondered whether or not you have recieved any feedback from Marxists regarding the idea. I know, I think, where you may be coming from, but it is an area Marxists often feel they have covered. Just wondering about this.
And is the group mainly UK centric. It’s not that I’d join necessarily, just want to know. Seems that way, at least for now.
And I know you have the pairing of classism – work/economics but what of a more direct and specific pairing classism and remuneration. A pairing that may bring the role that markets play in the creation of classism. Always good to get markets in there. Classism and markets?
Oh, and classism-remuneration could bring into vision the minimum wage and its use as a human rights violation, rather than some sort of charitable good thing. My position here is not that it must be done away with and everyone left to fend for themselves, that would be absurd (which market/capitalism actually is). But rather to point to the need for a minimum wage as an example of how wrong and rigged the economy is. That we even need to be thinking about a minimum wage is a blight on our ability to organise society humanely. It is an example of classism as a human rights abuse.
Hi James,
The argument is based on two facts about racism and sexism that simply do not apply to another major form of social discrimination, namely classism. The first fact is that mainstream media and the general public talk about racism and sexism all the time – or at least these terms are part of the common currency of discussion around social discrimination / human rights – and everyone knows what they are talking about. That simply is not the case with classism. The second fact is that there is anti-discriminatory legislation (the Equality Act 2010) in place to protect people against racism and sexism. Again, this simply is not the case with regards to classism. So what we mean when we talk about putting classism on a par with racism and sexism is simply to address these discrepancies.
I have not received feedback from anyone who identified themselves as a Marxist – but it would be most welcome! – but the idea that they have this covered is a bit of a joke for two main reasons. First of all, generally speaking, Marxists have a terrible human rights track record so are not in a particularly strong position to criticise anyone from a human rights stand point. Secondly, as an ideology, Marxism is basically classist. I say this for two reasons: (1) it has no vision for a classless economy; and (2) the way in which it has manifested (its strategy for achieving communism) has been classist. You could argue that Marxism is, or has become, the ideology of the coordinator class and I think that there is lots of evidence to supports this position.
The way in which What About Classism? has been set-up is as a UK based pressure group. However, we have had people sign-up from outside the UK – which is fine – and we are open to exploring the best way forward with anyone interested in this particular approach to promoting economic / social justice. One possibility is to work towards some kind if transnational network but for now we want to focus on getting something here in the UK up and running.
I think that your suggestion of pairing classism with remuneration / markets is a good one but more as specific topics for blogs, etc. After all, these fall under the broader and already existing category of “classism and work / economics” and we don’t want that list to get too long.
I would say the say in reply to your suggestion about the minimum wage as an illustration of how rigged economics is a human rights violation – it would make a great blog or article or whatever.
Anyway, thanks for your interest and let me know if you have any other questions or suggestions, etc…
The war on capitalism needs warriors, not latte sipping hipsters hiding in “safe spaces” trading emoticons.
I am not sure if this is meant as a serious comment or a joke – but if the former then perhaps you could say what it is you are pointing to, Mike, and how your criticism fits in with stage three of the plan outlined above?
That aside, I would argue that addressing classism goes beyond capitalism as the traditional alternatives to this form of economic order (think socialist and cooperative economics – many of whom portrayed themselves as warriors in a war against capitalism) in large part have and continue to be classist.
The basic point here is that being a warrior against capitalism – whatever that might entail – is not necessarily sufficient to bring about economic justice. To get a better idea of what I am talking about here you could take a look at some of the suggested material on our Recommendations page: http://www.whataboutclassism.org/recommendations/
Pretty sure the war on capitalism doesn’t need people dropping vitriolic commentsl from the safety of their computer chairs, on others actively trying to move things forward. Are we EVER going to learn that venomous criticism without providing ways to improve efforts DOES NOT HELP ANYONE?
Hi Paulo –
There is a lot of frustration and fear out there and not for no good reason – but, as you seem to be suggesting, we do need to work out ways of addressing this and find ways of working together in productive (and maybe even enjoyable) ways.
Anyway, that aside, I would be interested to know what you think of the plan or if you have any suggestions for improvements, etc…
Hope you are well!