I have a chance to, as Quakers would put it, speak truth to power at the Treasury Committee of the House of Commons this morning.
My friend Dr Atul Shah does so in a different way today, with an article in the Guardian Higher Education under the title
Q: What did universities learn from the financial crash? A: Nothing
This is well worth reading. What Atul makes clear is that there is a hunger amongst students for a real understanding of what the power of finance does in our society.
I'll remember that when teaching this afternoon.
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Those of us familiar with Arnold Nesbitt, died 1779, his family and their connections will agree entirely.
he makes a hugely important point (via David Graeber) that the public haven’t got the language to critique what is going on and the financial sector benefits from opaqueness.
There is an answer: A large scale resurrection of the WEA with a nationwide program of classes on how money/finance operate today in syphoning wealth/exploiting the resources of underdeveloped countries and rip us all off on a world scale. We need the teachers willing to do this as people like Karl Polanyi did in the 30’s.
Of Course, neo-liberalisms first move was to destroy adult-education and life-long learning facilities in the 80’s onwards leaving many with nothing but dumbed-down crap on the mainstream channels.
Why academics are not doing more in this area BEATS ME! They seem to be happy to chatter to their own academia-class without penetrating outside it-a wake up call here is needed.
Without any background in economics or finance, I’m trying to do my little bit locally speaking to my CLP and local sixth formers whilst at the same time coping with poor health.
Much, much more needs to be done!
if the sleepwalking continues we face social upheaval on a monstrous scale.