>I mean really. Were we all in jail Monday or what? Beause, really,
>in the end, that is exactly what we were. We were there _by force_
>and yet everyone wanted to pretend that isn't what brought anyone
>there. Let's see... I get laid off or whatever. The job market
>stinks and in order to collect what I'm entitled to, what I've been
>paying for in my taxes and will be paying for for the rest of my
>life, I have to play some game to prove that I'm actually trying to
>find work. Uh, yeah. at 35% of our former wages, I'm guessing we are
>ALREADY MOTIVATED!
>
>What would have happened if we just didn't go to the godamned thing.
>What would happen if we walked out after realizing we weren't
>getting a lick of real help finding a job? _Why_ did we sit there?
>(rhetorical question). But, boy, wouldn't it be nice if people could
>say, "You know what? Fuck you and fuck this workshop. The system is
>just rotten to the core. Every single person here is expalining to
>us exactly how screwed up the hiring process is. Every single one of
>you is presenting evidence that the system is BROKEN. The best you
>can do is tell us that our goal is to game the system. Let's get
>this straight. There are some odd thousands of people without a job
>in the county. 50 of us are in this room and you're giving us tips
>on how to game the system so we have a leg up on the rest who won't
>be called in for this special workshop?
I went to sone of those a couple of months back. Presented by an intersting chap who came from Trinidad, via the USA. He was a business consultant who does this sort of seminar at a token rate out of some kind of misplaced sense of civic duty.
Except only three of us turned up. I was there to cause trouble, but this was pointless, of the other two, one, a towering bloke about six foot six, made his contempt clear by turning up an hour late and sitting right by the door. The other was a teenager who was only interested in talking footy and seemed out of his depth on everything else.
This was some kind of motivation theme I gather. The presenter used a written test to grade us into different personality "Archetypes", in line with one of these American psychobabble he had picked up there. Fascinating how easily people can get sucked into this nonsense.
>Oooooooo. I was so pissed. First, it irritates me that bit about
>"there's nothing you can do about it." Yes, I know there is nothing
>an individual can do. But there were fifty of us in the room and
>there are tons of other people sitting in workshops for the
>unemployed across the country. Manpower! There IS something we can
>do about it, together!
Fifty, wow, I'm envious. That's what I was hoping for. You can't work a crowd of three people up into a rebellious mob no matter how hard you try. But fifty people being subjected to that kind of humiliation has real possibilities.
The best technique is to wait for the slightest hint of contrariness from someone else and then loudly back that person up. If you time it right you other people will feel they should moan as well. Then you can sit back and just reinforce the others by loudly cheering them on and booing anyone who has the temerity to try to bring order.
Oh well, better luck next time. Better still, don't rely on luck, go prepared. Psych yourself up beforehand, get some interjections prepared - something along the lines of "Are you telling us that its our fault because we aren't experts in the art of the resume? Who is, aside from professional personnel officers and the long term unemployed? Next I suppose you'll tell us that the only reason children in Africa are starving is because they don't know how to eat? Its nothing to do with a shortage of food, right? Stop wasting our time."
>Oh, yes, yes, I know that what they need is to get jobs and going on
>about unions or revolution isn't exactly going to help them. It's
>just depressing... the lost opportunities for consciousness-raising.
>It is too bad we can't tap into that.
You can. Make up a leaflet. Find out when the next seminar is on and turn up there. Hand out the leaflets.
If you want, you could even run off a few business cards. In the name of the Florida Unemployed Association, or whatever name takes your fancy. Give your phone number, ask people if they want to come to the next meeting. Just do it. if only one other person takes up the invitation, you have a genuine resistance organisation, albeit one that needs building on, its as simple as that.
> I obviously don't know enough about hwo unions go about things, and
>I know they have limited funds and must concentrate on actually
>creating unions. Still, here are all these people that could be
>educated about the issues so that they will be more primed and
>accepting of the idea of unions when they encounter them. It's not
>just getting people to actively create a union workplace, it's
>creating a population of people that support them in various ways.
>Or something like that -- if any of this makes any sense at all.
It makes sense to me. The whole object of the welfare state is to humiliate the unemployed. There are two kinds of unemployed you see, the deserving and the undeserving. The state has to support the deserving poor, but the undeserving poor can be left to rot. The whole point of welfare is to classify as undeserving, as many of the unemployed as the public and, (this is important) the unemployed themselves, will tolerate.
The object of this exercise is to soften you up, to plant the seed that you are at fault and therefor undeserving. Get people at a weak moment and this is very easy. Those recently unemployed are inevitably at a very weak moment psychologically, so that is the time to strike at their self-image. To crush them like bugs so that they don't have the spirit to fight back.
>Worse, this workshop offered nothing concrete in the way of actually
>writing resumes and letters. Hell, the bozo didn't even hand out a
>flyer with all the tips on it and most peple didn't show up with pen
>and paper. That was because the letter we rec'd really didn't
>explain what we'd be doing that day. I figured it was one of those
>formaility things where you show up, someone pretends to care that
>you're actively searching for work, shows you how to use the
>computers and copy machines, and we'd go home.
>
>It's bad enough that the unemployed are inclined to beat themselves
>up. He was there to make them feel even more miserable so he could
>be their savior. It's a good racket he's got going, gotta hand it to
>him.
Its a dirty job, but someone has to do it. Making life hell for those who do it is also a dirty job that someone needs to do.
Bill Bartlett Bracknell Tas