When cancer patients are declared cancer-free, a process of callous neglect is started that doesn't acknowledge the physical and emotional trauma of treatment or the long, often painful and usually slow process that is misleadingly known as 'recovery. Instead of counselling (all but the luckiest of) patients that they may experience depression, exhaustion and stalled progress, patients are merrily told 'go now, you're (cancer-) free! Live your life! Be happy!'
Clearly, a PhD is NOT like living with cancer, but the after care is comparable. We are told 'go, be free! The world is yours!' The reality is quite different. The application inbox for unpaid internships of UN, EU institution and many other sector jobs is populated with PhD grads. What's that all about? Marx shone a spotlight on the exploitation of workers by capitalism. Throughout much of the late 19th and early-to-mid 20th Centuries, workers worldwide rose up to demand better conditions and reasonable pay. Countries shackled by exploitation threw off their colonial masters and tried to build a better, fairer future for all. And now, in the rich countries of the free world, workers of all levels of qualification, experience and sector, are required to give their labour for free. And we're all okay with that?? Which of these great, proud companies and institutions will stand up in this, the second decade of the 21st Century, and say 'we will not exploit our workers. Your intellect, your struggle, your labour and your lives have value. As long as we exist, we refuse to employ slaves. We will not steal the labour of our beating heart'? Are there no institutions in our free world who will put their principles to the test of fair and equal treatment? You trained us. You told us to go out and do our best, invest in our futures. And your thanks is to steal the best that we have. Welcome to the free world of the 21st century. What's free? Your labour and plenty of lies.
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AuthorHow to identify myself... a deeply concerned citizen of a fucked-up world, swinging with circadian regularity between esprit de vie and deep, black despair. PhD, entrepreneur, author, international experience, woman (should I add chromosomes to my list of qualifications....?) Archives
May 2020
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