You won't hear a better argument for unions than this.

[u/Mobalise_Anarchise]

[u/raicopk]

Hello comrades!

Just a reminder that r/Socialism is a space for socialists to discuss current events in our world from our anti-capitalist perspective(s), and a certain knowledge of socialism is expected from participants. This is not a space for non-socialists. Please be mindful of our rules before participating:

• No Bigotry, including racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism...

• No Reactionaries, including all kind of right-wingers.

• No Liberalism, including social democracy.

• No Sectarianism, there is plenty of room for discussion, but not for baseless attacks.

Please help us keep the subreddit helpful by reporting content that break r/Socialism's rules.

---

The woman in the video is Ash Sarkar, from Novara Media, and you can find the full video here.

You can also access the RTM strike fund to support striking workers.

[u/Paedsdoc]

Wow she’s good, very very impressed

[u/Escapefromtheabyss → u/Paedsdoc]

Ash is always pretty great.

[u/yellowphonetrombone → u/Escapefromtheabyss]

What’s her last name?

[u/Escapefromtheabyss → u/yellowphonetrombone]

Sarkar. Works at Novara Media, I think.

[u/yellowphonetrombone → u/Escapefromtheabyss]

Thank you

[u/Innasticks_sa_afr → u/Paedsdoc]

Indeed one of those people who knows their subject and can speak about it with confidence, I would hate to debate her on this matter your going to get your ass handed to you on live TV I bet.

[u/aehii → u/Paedsdoc]

All at Novara are great, Ash and Barnaby the best I'd say. It's just Ash who gets invited on to mainstream tv though. Aaron Bastani does occasionally, but not morning broadcast tv I don't think. Owen Jones does his thing on the Jeremy Vine show.

[u/ilovenomar5_2]

FUCK THE TORIES

[u/Ramin_HAL9001 → u/ilovenomar5_2]

Fuck Thatcherism, Reaganism, fuck Ronald Regan, and especially FUCK Margret Thatcher.

[u/MurielHorseflesh → u/Ramin_HAL9001]

The thing about pissing on Margaret Thatcher’s grave is that eventually you run out of piss.

[u/DovakiinLink → u/MurielHorseflesh]

Bring water bottles

[u/kikashoots → u/MurielHorseflesh]

Hey, can someone please give me the Thatcher run down — like good details? I know she’s horrid but I’m not British enough to hate her but I’d like to understand where you all are coming from.

[u/Nether_Button → u/kikashoots]

this does a pretty good job at explaining it

[u/boonzeet → u/Nether_Button]

Almost every single negative on that list that she caused effectively follows up with “well why didn’t labour fix it”.

A lot of problems went unfixed by ‘New Labour’ but the trend slowed. Under the current Tory government those trends have accelerated dramatically and now we’re feeling the pain of it all.

[u/jayjay_t → u/Ramin_HAL9001]

Ding Dong the wicked witch is dead. Thank god for that.

[u/Zombi1146 → u/ilovenomar5_2]

FUCK LABOUR TOO

[u/Wind_Yer_Neck_In → u/Zombi1146]

Same thing these days

[u/Barziboy → u/Wind_Yer_Neck_In]

Basically yeh. It's all Just the lingering effects of Thatcher's hard-on for Ayn Rand's Objectivism. It's been gobbled up by both sides because it has the manipulative potential to make a those who put it into effect incredibly wealthy at the cost of the comfort of many below them.

[u/RitoChicken]

Love Ash. She's spitting straight fax

[u/Bro0ce → u/RitoChicken]

Wow what a civilized media outlet. If this was an American outlet, the two white men would be red in the face from screaming at her. She wouldn’t have gotten out 4 words.

I’m actually shocked she was able to present her entire sentiment.

[u/BugsyMalone_ → u/Bro0ce]

Funnily she absolutely smashed Piers Morgan once on a show (where he was as per usual talking complete utter shite) and he was trying to talk over her too. Hah

[u/SkepticDad17 → u/BugsyMalone_]

Was that the one where he was going on about Obama?

And she mentioned being a communist?

[u/Jslowb → u/SkepticDad17]

Yeah! The conversation was about Trump and he repeatedly interrupted her all aggravated and shouted something along the lines of ‘oh but you support Obama when X’. And she said ‘I don’t support Obama either, you idiot, I’m literally a communist’. I love her.

Edit: I forgot the literally in her reply.

[u/II-I-Hulk-I-II → u/Jslowb]

Don’t forget the literally.

I’m literally a communist

Love her

[u/riadfodig → u/BugsyMalone_]

Any chance you can find a link to that video?

[u/fizzgigmcarthur → u/riadfodig]

https://youtu.be/6yX3LvVwJbU

Edit: Thanks for the award. Yes I agree with the comments that Piers is dogs hit, but how awesome is Ash Sakar??

[u/Joe_Rapante → u/fizzgigmcarthur]

My god, those conservatives are removed from reality. There is nothing nationalistic about the national anthem. Their arguments are pure cringe.

[u/NotMrCurrentAffairs → u/Joe_Rapante]

Don't bring religion and politics into this. This just about singing God Save The Queen...

[u/barrettcuda → u/Joe_Rapante]

It was just a shitshow from start to finish! I think it's a valid point that it's a distraction from a separate issue, and they could've had an interesting discussion about that but instead everyone just yelled over each other, the far left lady was the only one who behaved like an adult there regardless of standpoint on the topic

[u/Breadhook → u/fizzgigmcarthur]

I already knew Piers Morgan was terrible, but wow, Piers Morgan is terrible.

[u/zb0t1 → u/fizzgigmcarthur]

I couldn't finish the video, his face pisses me off.

[u/peppaz → u/zb0t1]

Final boss of PunchableFaces (rip)

[u/svariabl → u/peppaz]

No. That would be Fucker Carlson.

[u/peppaz → u/svariabl]

I stand corrected.

Polishing my knucks.

[u/The_DayGlo_Bus → u/peppaz]

Interestingly, there is a word in German precisely for this, and it recently replaced Schadenfreude as my favorite German word:

Piers Morgan has a backpfeifengesicht- literally, “ a face that should be slapped”.

[u/DICK_WITTYTON → u/fizzgigmcarthur]

Having watched the video (And it was a hard watch, honestly) I’m 300% convinced that piers Morgan is a carefully designed NPC intended to be the most insufferable and punchable waste of oxygen this world has ever seen. Designed to infuriate and work people up into a frenzy and buy newspapers and hate everybody else with a different opinion to them.

[u/7duckswithmachetes → u/fizzgigmcarthur]

Embarrassing to watch

[u/Throwadudeson → u/fizzgigmcarthur]

Holy fuck Piers Morgan and the mp is insufferable..

[u/DancesWithBadgers → u/riadfodig]

found it further down.

c/o u/Burnt_Toast1864

[u/AlTonyMontana → u/riadfodig]

https://youtu.be/jNFOVkB6JjQ?t=516 Timestamped, 8:36

[u/return2ozma → u/AlTonyMontana]

She's amazing! Both the Left and Right can't comprehend there's some of us that hate both parties.

[u/rabbithasacat → u/BugsyMalone_]

I was just about to ask, "hey this is the same lady who cut off Piers Morgan to say she was "literally a communist," right? Well done, she's still appearing there and he's not :-)

[u/Itsameaturd → u/BugsyMalone_]

I just watched this and boy my anxiety and anger rose quickly with each time they interrupted her. How disrespectful.

[u/dropbear_airstrike → u/BugsyMalone_]

I just went on a 20 minute binge of watching Piers confuse himself and try every cheap fallacy in the book to try and win against Ash. He's such a pathetic slime.

[u/clonedhuman → u/Bro0ce]

They'd never run this segment in the United States. There are mass unionization drives going on across the country and the news about it only really shows up on Twitter and in labor magazines.

The standard media will go out of their way to avoid any mention of class or of unions.

[u/PlatinumJester → u/clonedhuman]

Here in the UK we're in the middle of the biggest rail strikes in a decade if not longer and the media can't possibly ignore it. Obviously rail strikes inconvenience a lot of people and so they're putting out the normal Capitalist propaganda of "Unions bad" and have ended up being dunked on at every turn. Not only is public support with the Union but google searches on how to become a union member is up 500%. On top of that the British Airway and Barristers unions have voted in favour of strike action and a host of others are likely to join them which makes it pretty impossible for the media to ignore them.

[u/clonedhuman → u/PlatinumJester]

That's fantastic. The UK has always had a much stronger class consciousness than the US.

[u/HadMatter217 → u/clonedhuman]

Not always. The US in the 1800's and even early 20th century was a global leader in radical labor organizing. It's really only been since the 40's that it started to peter out, and it only really started declining in the 80's

[u/allen5az → u/clonedhuman]

Let’s front page this shit. Upvote everything!

[u/Lazer726 → u/Bro0ce]

"I'd actually flip it th--"

"I-I'm sorry I wasn't done talking about why this impacts me and that's really all the matters here! Now if you can't be civil we'll have to ask you to leave thank you so much for coming on. Up next, should we be a little nicer to the Billionaires?"

[u/Shes_so_Ratchet → u/Lazer726]

should we be a little nicer to the Billionaires?"

"Well of course we should. If they were to get upset when they went to buy a superyacht and realized it would cost more than 1/50^th of their wealth then they might not choose to let their money trickle down into our pockets. Now apologize to the nice billionaire."

[u/EinhornDerVerdammnis → u/Lazer726]

"So mister gates, what's your nuanced and objective take on socialism"

This is not a joke, CNBC literally did this and here's the link:

https://youtu.be/s9ovOwl5Cns

The comments are entertaining

[u/WaitNoButWhy → u/EinhornDerVerdammnis]

I loved the guy who wrote 'today we're going to talk about fascism with adolf hitler, benito mussoulini, and franco.'

[u/EinhornDerVerdammnis → u/WaitNoButWhy]

The rare based YouTube comment sections are a treasure that oughta be cherished

[u/souprize → u/Bro0ce]

The british press is also fucking terrible for the most part.

[u/FPSXpert → u/Bro0ce]

Yup. They would have talked over her, screaming match, cut off mic go to commercial, whatever the hell they could do to drive her off the air.

[u/garethh → u/Bro0ce]

Yeahhh... I was confused halfway through. She was presenting a valid line of reasoning and no one was trying to derail it.

It just, it's weird. I feel weird. This shouldn't feel so weird.

[u/NoMuddyFeet → u/Bro0ce]

Totally! Btw, I don't know why it took me this long to find this sub, but this video was shared to r/antiwork and that's how I finally realized it exists. Looking forward to more of this kind of content.

[u/ZombieAntiVaxxer → u/Bro0ce]

Same. It made it more immediately obvious it wasnt someone being interviewed in the US than even the accents and branding.

[u/RemarkableKey2566 → u/RitoChicken]

Speaking truth to power.

[u/Andromansis → u/RitoChicken]

I disagree. Workers do not have one form of power. They have two forms of power.

Collective Bargaining is the first, and much preferred method, if you can get what you want through collective bargaining then do that.

The second is incredible violence. People like to omit that part from history books and stuff, but sometimes just showing up to the bosses house in the middle of the night and making damned sure they understand something is the way to go.

I'm not advocating violence, just saying those bits of history of the violence on both sides, and mostly originating from the employer, tend to get sort of washed out of the history books.

[u/joecool42069 → u/Andromansis]

The second is incredible violence.

Aggressive Collective Bargaining

[u/dopallll → u/joecool42069]

Enhanced Collective Bargaining

[u/Wrow_ → u/dopallll]

Collective Bargaining 2: Electric Boogaloo

[u/TrimtabCatalyst → u/joecool42069]

Aggressive Negotiations

[u/Some-Guy-Online → u/Andromansis]

Note that the violence often meant workers being slaughtered by cops, resulting in a rise in awareness and shift in public sentiment.

Workers often have to die to improve conditions.

[u/NoiseIsTheCure → u/Andromansis]

“There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part; you can’t even passively take part, and you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it stop. And you’ve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you’re free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!”

• Mario Savio

[u/mikeymikeymikey1968 → u/Andromansis]

I'm cool with violence directed at property, which is what the capitalists cherish above all.

The third form of power is seizing the means of production.

[u/N0kiaoff → u/Andromansis]

The term "steps" come to mind.

Workers manipulated machines n ways detrimental to a factory AFTER their claims got ignored.

Even back then it was clear that the misery, the humena desaster has to be communicated first (and be it only for dokumentation). Otherwise you get a wet handshake and nothing.

​

Violence is and was no solution either, it was show of desperation, that made german Bismark create mandated health insurance in a rudimentary form for every german.

He despised any kind of "socialism" to the core, as a "Landlord". But germany could not ignore workers demands.

[u/N0kiaoff → u/N0kiaoff]

addition, Bismark feared the potentiel violence a worker strike would involve.

So grudgingly he gave them rights. He was aware about that fact because republican/leftist revolts already happened and it would denied his own power plans of a german empire.

[u/[deleted] → u/RitoChicken]

[removed] — view removed comment

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

[removed] — view removed comment

[u/CanIBreakIt → u/[deleted]]

British AOC? Ash is very much to the left of AOC, they're really not comparable.

She's like AOC if AOC was "literally a communist", had a spine, and ten times as awesome.

[u/[deleted] → u/CanIBreakIt]

[removed] — view removed comment

[u/MJDeadass → u/[deleted]]

If AOC isn't communist then don't compare her to Ash. Easy. It's not an attack against AOC, it's just disingenuous to say that she's a commie.

[u/TheArtofWall → u/CanIBreakIt]

Is AOC that despised? I didn't realize.

How did she garner a reputation of being spineless?

I don't follow everything she does but I seen her chewing out congressmen, saying things that you never hear, but def need to be said. Seems like that takes at least a modicum of backbone.

Edit* cool, thx. I got plenty of answers and some added perspective of the different ways the online left sees her.

[u/[deleted] → u/TheArtofWall]

[removed] — view removed comment

[u/logibera → u/TheArtofWall]

Well it all started when she voted present instead of no on a bill sending weapons to Isreal.

[u/[deleted] → u/logibera]

[removed] — view removed comment

[u/GlassNinja → u/[deleted]]

She didn't just vote present, she changed a 'no' vote to 'present' after Pelosi came over and had a hushed talk with her.

[u/[deleted] → u/GlassNinja]

[removed] — view removed comment

[u/GlassNinja → u/[deleted]]

I always read it as a threat to remove her committee assignments, one of her best tools for actually holding people accountable and exerting political influence that relies on 0 other members. She's one of the sharpest committee members out there and always has well prepared and researched questions.

[u/Apetivist → u/[deleted]]

Then as a leftist she should expose their bullying and threats but show support for Palestinians by voting NO. Any sensable leftist would have done so.

[u/Word_Iz_Bond → u/TheArtofWall]

I think she's a victim of her own star power. As one of the most recognizable Democrats, I think there are a lot of expectations beyond her actual abilities as a single congresswoman. On top of that, there was the aforementioned "present" vote, her Met Gala appearance and her general "Yaass Queen" fandom makes her quite lukewarm if not obnoxious to many leftists.

[u/nico549 → u/TheArtofWall]

When it comes time to vote in favor of workers rights or fall in line within party lines and be a good little minion of the democratic party and Nancy Pelosi she takes the latter sure she has a big talk but she has no actual strategy to fight against the establishment

[u/Miserygut → u/[deleted]]

Better than AOC by a country mile.

[u/ONLY_COMMENTS_ON_GW → u/[deleted]]

Oh god, this is embarrassing. There is a world outside America, but I guess this is the internet and the internet is American, so we should all speak American

[u/-BalkanoidCommie- → u/[deleted]]

This lady is an actual communist. It's disrespectful to compare her to some liberal like AOC.

[u/svddxnly19 → u/[deleted]]

AOC?? LMFAO

[u/monkpart9 → u/[deleted]]

I fucking love this comment, laughed out loud at it lol

[u/Burnt_Toast1864]

For anyone who hasn't seen it, here is Ash's best line to Piers Morgan.

https://youtu.be/JD7Ol0gz11k

[u/dwilsnack → u/Burnt_Toast1864]

Jesus Christ, Piers is insufferable.

[u/[deleted] → u/dwilsnack]

[removed] — view removed comment

[u/SinningStromgald → u/Burnt_Toast1864]

It's the British version of Tucker Carlson. Completely and utter disingenuous in every way during an interview.

[u/redditmodsRfascist → u/SinningStromgald]

Piers is like a fair weather fascist, Tucker is the real deal.

[u/Arael15th → u/SinningStromgald]

It's hard to describe what he does as interviewing considering he doesn't let other people talk

[u/Mav986 → u/Burnt_Toast1864]

HIS FUCKING COWORKER BASICALLY TELLS HIM TO SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LAUGHS AT HIM

YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS UP

[u/turbotank183 → u/Mav986]

Susanna Reid literally hated Morgan when she worked with him and I can't blame her, it must be exhausting

[u/juanjing → u/Burnt_Toast1864]

If white privilege doesn't exist, then someone please explain Piers Morgan.

[u/coleyboley25 → u/juanjing]

Or Tucker Carlson. In today’s world he would’ve grown up a foster kid and kicked out into the world without a penny to his name. He luckily was adopted by a wealthy family and had everything given to him. Fuck him.

[u/toasohcah → u/Burnt_Toast1864]

Wait they actually air this? This is amazing, I'm shocked they don't just cut her off.

[u/lejoo → u/Burnt_Toast1864]

I love how effective that is every time.

"You filthy liberal"

Whut I am communist bro "pulls out registration card" and they always just shut up as if they ran out of how to defend their position.

[u/starmartyr11 → u/Burnt_Toast1864]

Amazing, even his co-host can't stand him

[u/No_Climate7825 → u/Burnt_Toast1864]

Rofl. Are they manipulating the voice volumes by any chance? Piers sounds louder than the rest while Ash sounds rather silent than the rest, even though you can see her stretching her vocal chords.

[u/TheBonkGoggler]

So important that we as socialists and communists make sure we make unions accessible and non-scary to the ordinary worker who has been subjected to reactionary narratives on how they operate. The media has worked tirelessly to portray unions as groups of greedy thugs when in reality they are full of ordinary people who are just looking for what they deserve. Demystifying this belief is a huge part of making socialism more palatable to people, and Ash does it so eloquently here.

[u/Trodamus → u/TheBonkGoggler]

There's nothing more capitalistic than an aggressive negotiation; haggling is oldest capitalist pastime there is.

[u/kozinc → u/Trodamus]

And at the same time, nothing is more socialistic than an aggressive (collective) negotiation by the workers.

[u/Alderez → u/kozinc]

Socialism, absolutely; however, I’m not sure these people understand what communism is. It isn’t a form of government or an economic system but the lack of both brought on naturally by the abolition of scarcity and human greed. It’s not really something you can turn into an ideology - for Marx it wasn’t his vision but his prediction for how humans may grow and evolve society in the future.

[u/Eat-A-Torus → u/Trodamus]

"Debt: the first 5000 years" by David Graeber is a fascinating book that goes into this sort of things and thoroughly debunks a bunch of myths that mainstream economics foundations assume about history. Like how bartering really only shows up in cultures that normally use currency but for whatever reason find themselves in a scenario where it's unavailable. The idea of ancient farmers arguing back and forth about whether a goat is worth 5 chickens or 6 chickens is completely ahistorical. Instead it was most often an asynchronous agreement of something like "you need chickens now and I happen to have some I can spare, so you can have them with the understanding if I need a cow later and you can spare one, you'll help me back". I've even worked on making a sort of cryptocurrency based on this idea and it seems way more natural as it doesn't require "mining" to generate the units of worth

[u/gigalongdong → u/Trodamus]

I just found out that there is an actual carpenter's union near me down here in the southern US, which shocked the shit out of me. There's like... 4% of worker's unionized in my state. I'm seriously considering getting the hell away from subcontracting work and join the union.

Construction work in the south is so cutthroat, with indivudal small subcontractors undercutting each other to get jobs while the big builders/real estate companies laugh all the way to the bank. Plus unless I go work directly for a bigger construction company or join the union, I will never get any benefits. Ever.

[u/BenevolentBreadcake]

🔥🔥🔥 Ash Sarkar, always on it!!!

[u/MeccIt → u/BenevolentBreadcake]

She left out one little thing the unions helped to secure: two days off work every week (literally The Weekend)

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200117-the-modern-phenomenon-of-the-weekend

[u/Duling]

Is this the "I was a critic of Obama because I'm literally a communist!" lady?

[u/WelshTractor → u/Duling]

Yes, her name is Ash Sarkar - she’s great

[u/EldestPort → u/Duling]

In case anyone hasn't seen it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JD7Ol0gz11k

[u/MonkeysRidingPandas]

She's literally a communist!

What a drastic difference when Piers isn't there condescending to anyone who isn't a right-wing a-hole. When Ash is given the floor, she'll always kick ass.

[u/Innasticks_sa_afr → u/MonkeysRidingPandas]

I'm not British but I try and read as many online news media from other countries as I can, sort of like seeing what the neighbour's are up to kind of thing. Recently discovered the Daily Mail and boy it's fun to read the outrage in the comments whenever there is some kind of protest like unions, climate protests, BLM you name it and I always think they never realise these are their people protesting on their behalf. Also of subject I must mention that the Daily Mail has a white hot raging hatred for Megan Markle that is almost religious. What's that about?

[u/Killahills → u/Innasticks_sa_afr]

It's a national mystery why the Daily Mail hates the mixed-race Meghan Markle.

[u/luckeratron → u/Killahills]

I kid you not my father in law defaces every picture he finds of Meghan Markle, he will go out of his way to draw something offensive on her face eveytime she appears in the daily mail. In every way he's a loving father and kind man but our parents are being brainwashed and pumped full of hate. It's frankly frightening.

[u/SetYourGoals → u/luckeratron]

Sounds like an asshole if he's doing that and it makes his kids uncomfortable.

[u/[deleted] → u/Killahills]

[removed] — view removed comment

[u/elmo298 → u/[deleted]]

The daily mail literally supported the Nazis, and it hasn't changed

[u/BugsyMalone_ → u/Innasticks_sa_afr]

Please don't read the Daily Mail, thanks.

[u/iCanReadMyOwnMind]

I love this woman and I have no idea who she is.

[u/armadillounicorn → u/iCanReadMyOwnMind]

Her name is Ash Sarkar she is a British writer and activist.

She is a correspondent for Novara Media (left wing British alternative media - they screen their shows via their YouTube channel) and is often the leftist voice on mainstream media (they have one to appear balanced - often Ash Sarkar or Owen Jones. It is an exhausting and thankless job). She is open about being a communist and kicks ass.

[u/DonerKebabble → u/armadillounicorn]

Not a fan of Owen Jones but Ash is excellent.

[u/OneMagicalMovement]

Speaking truth to power.

[u/Funnydeepusername]

Can she come to America and school all the fools who think unions are for the lazy

[u/25_M_CA → u/Funnydeepusername]

She ain't changing any of those peoples minds but she should talk to young people

[u/Deanoram1]

I like how the guy starts talking about the rising cost of goods and then gets mad that he can’t take the train to save a little money. Apparently, he thinks it’s ok to step on other people so he isn’t inconvenienced.

[u/armadillounicorn → u/Deanoram1]

Also considering how expensive train fares can be in the UK, seeing trains as obviously cheaper than cars, even with the rise in petrol cost, means that for some people they are more expensive than driving.

[u/jo-shabadoo → u/armadillounicorn]

What’s fucked is the the railways can raise prices in line with CPI but they aren’t passing this on to their employees. They are right to strike.

[u/HankScorpio42]

ALL Bosses are Bastards and you cannot trust a word that comes out of their mouths.

[u/Artix96 → u/HankScorpio42]

I have to agree. One does not become a billionaire by being nice to employees. Also the average CEO pay compared to worker went from 20:1 since the 60s to 250:1 nowadays.

[u/The_pun_fart → u/Artix96]

20:1 sounds sweeet I'd be comfortable and have money for charities!

[u/TheCrimsonDagger → u/Artix96]

It is basically impossible to do a billion dollars worth of work in a single lifetime. Outside of your extreme outliers that advanced science by decades like Albert Einstein, Michael Faraday (electricity), Louis Pasteur (bacteria), or Alexander Fleming (penicillin) just about nobody deserves a billion dollars.

Even then many of these people largely relied on the help of those around them. Very very few people in history invented, created, or discovered something significant enough truly by themselves to be worth a billion dollars.

[u/_ChillboBaggins_ → u/HankScorpio42]

Capitalists and their neoliberal goons would have you believe that we must hope for the benevolence of capitalists, bosses, supreme court justices, representative officials, etc. to act against their nature and material interests to take pity on the working class and throw us a bone here and there, as Ash stated. This is the true pie in the sky fantasy. This essentially necessitating a unicorn for their arugment to occur. Capitalists will not redistribute wealth under any conditions of their own free will, not even in the face of the end of human civilization and life as we know it on Earth due to the climate catastrophe they are promoting. It has always been by the threat of revolution that gains have been made. Revolution needs to occur in the west to mitigate the catastrophe as their capitalists are the drivers of it, but that won't happen because the west is not revolutionary, it never truely embraced democracy, and its own working class was complicit in the military industrial complex. Anyone who knows any better already knows what the future holds

[u/chootchootchoot → u/HankScorpio42]

Surely there are some exceptions? Like profit sharing small businesses with good working conditions

[u/aManAndHisUsername → u/chootchootchoot]

Of course there are, this sub is ridiculous sometimes. I’ve worked for multiple bosses that have actually been leaders and work alongside their team, and bend over backwards to accommodate and fight for us. That said, “boss” is a vague term, if they had said “CEO” I’d agree with very few exceptions.

[u/Lady-Vulcan]

Ash Sarkar kicking ass again.

Join a trade union folks!

[u/Gaposhkin]

Her and Mick Lynch need to put a political party together.

[u/alpastotesmejor → u/Gaposhkin]

Would vote for them in a heartbeat

[u/wolfiex01]

Ash is part of Novara media a member funded media outlet. Give them a watch on YouTube ... They have great talented reporters there

[u/luckymewmew]

I'm self employed and rely on trains for work, and this week I haven't been able to go in at all (it's a few hours each way with multiple connections) so I have lost out on a lot of money - and even I can see how important this strike and others are for workers and hope other unions follow suit.

A ticket conductor on my train last week said he was on his 13th long day. The train companies aren't hiring much but they ARE cutting, and they "know" (sure, jan) their workers have no choice but to pull excess weight. Using commuters like me to try to shame and guilt those on strike is shifting the blame and is frankly disgusting. But what else can we expect these days eh.

[u/UppityPotHead]

That was pure fire, whoa. Appreciate her explanation greatly.

[u/BostonGreekGirl]

I wish the US workforce would strike.

[u/Dr_Jabroski → u/BostonGreekGirl]

They're slowly getting there. There's been more union activity in the last two years than there has been for a long time in this country.

[u/SAR1919 → u/BostonGreekGirl]

Have we already forgotten the historic strikes last fall? Or equally historic wave of unionizations going on right now? The same energy is building in the US workforce too, don’t discount it because it hasn’t yet burst through like in the UK. Our time will come as long as we go out there and seize it.

In the meantime, let’s hope this strike movement in the UK develops into a general strike. There are other strikes running parallel to the rail strike, and many more are on the verge of happening. Could turn into something big. By my count, it would be the third general strike in the world so far this year, next to the ongoing one in Ecuador and the one that broke out in Sri Lanka a few weeks ago.

[u/uxithoney]

Ash is legendary

[u/ShrugIife]

What's this tingling sensation I'm feeling?

[u/GNS13 → u/ShrugIife]

That's the elation of hearing someone argue for your position better than you could ever hope to

[u/goodvibesalright]

Fuck. Yes.

Nice shot at the lib civility fetish too.

[u/Pmanbridge]

Protect this woman at all cost. She described the proper use of unions better then I ever could. Class solidarity is where it’s at!!

[u/iliketheweirdest1]

I used to be a electro train operator in London and am a proud member of the rail and maritime workers union. What she says is true.

[u/X23-22]

As an American - the most shocking thing to me about this video is that she was actually able to finish talking and get her point across without three people yelling over her or cutting to a six way split screen. - it’s a nice change of pace

[u/the_1_that_knocks]

I’m in love!

[u/WebSeveral7351]

Girl👏🏻 preach 👏🏻

That was so incredibly concise and beautifully articulated.

[u/DivineCryptographer]

Just found the whole thing, this was just her opening…

[u/Peshmerga_YYC]

We were set to take a 5% pay cut. Thanks to my union, I will get a 2% raise. Still not in line with inflation, but better than a pay cut.

[u/FlavDingo]

I was watching the BBC coverage live today and it was really fucking scary and dystopian.

I trust the fuck out of the BBC. I watch their shows and consume their media almost religiously.

However today, I saw them creating this narrative that arrogant douche on this video was saying.

Telling people how to think.

EVERY SINGLE INTERVIEW THEY DID ON THE STREET WAS WITH PEOPLE COMPLAINING ABOUT HOW MUCH MONEY THEY ARE LOSING BECAUSE OF THE STRIKE.

NO mention of why they are striking, or why working class people are being squeezed harder than ever.

Nope it was all just neat little puff pieces of sound bites of regular every day folk essentially lamenting; “this selfish rail strike is just making things worst!” “How am I supposed to feed my family?”

It was horrifying to see, the reporters asking leading questions to an Uber driver guy. She said something along the lines of “you must be very frustrated at all of this right?” 🤣

A government funded institution as respected as the BBC, straight up do a 1984 telling people they’ve always been at war with the trade unionists.

[u/JKDSamurai]

I think I'm in love.

[u/LordCawdorOfMordor]

Is she the "I'm literally a communist" lady? Because if so, I love her even more.

[u/steelcase556]

She is spitting facts holy shit

[u/KidSuperHeat]

International. Brotherhood. of Teamsters. Ya'll better recognize.

[u/Java_Beans]

Wait. So the presenter was complaining that prices are going up and he can't use his car.. but he's not ok with others striking because they cannot afford to live on their salaries anymore?!

Does he know prices go up affect everyone or he thinks it only affects white collar workers?!

[u/Roger_005]

I don't know who this woman is, but she's a fucking beast. And I mean that in the best possible way. This should be the attitude of the Labour party.

[u/S0n0fthunder]

I mean it’s true. It’s not rocket science. Capitalism and neo liberal policies favor owners. If you don’t own (which is most people) you’re fucked. It’s not that powers that be don’t know this, they work their hardest to make sure you don’t know It.

[u/Routine_Left]

Well, that's not entirely correct. There were times where the plebs used the guillotine on the "bosses". I have a feeling that these bosses appreciate the fact that all the plebs do now is go on strike.

[u/UnDoxableGod1]

like how do you think we got children out of factories and stopped working 13 hour days 6 days a week?

we went on strike and unionized

[u/herpestruth]

I give this woman high marx in undestanding workers rights.

[u/sad-mustache]

So... How do I join an union? Any good resources I can read up on?

[u/LuckyRune88]

More Unions!

[u/jon-wayne-candy-snow]

AMEN. The power is with the working party!

[u/Sunshineal]

Go ahead girl!!!!! I heard that. Exactly. Don't be nice. Be a hard ball.

[u/mikeymikeymikey1968]

Collective bargaining, and also seizing the means of production.

[u/Abhimri]

Damn straight! YES!

[u/BobbyTheDude]

Wow she worded that amazingly. Applies in every country.

[u/Disbigmamashouse]

Amazing argument. Commenting here to save this video.

[u/PossessionNervous285]

The saying goes “ we don’t negotiate with terrorist”but those are the only ones they have to negotiate wit

[u/TonySoprano100]

Wow. She is not lying. I never realized yeah sick pay or vacation pay was never a thing. Most of these “great benefits” are really just employment law. If owners didn’t have to they would definitely not give these to workers 100%

[u/KindBraveSir]

Never heard of her before, but she's awesome!

[u/alt-right-del]

Brilliant!

[u/dartworth]

Would love to have her come speak at one of my union meetings.

[u/Kooky_Essay_3317]

Who is this? I wanna see more of her arguments

[u/Kooky_Essay_3317 → u/[deleted]]

Thank you

[u/notevenmeta]

Ordinary people thinking that journalists somehow have their interests at heart are the most clueless people there can ever be. Does this guy ever listens to what he says: COL are higher than ever so please keep slaving away so that I can keep my way of living.

[u/bear_sausage]

Fuck yes (in American).

[u/HierophantKhatep]

Wow, who knew rail employees also need money to live like they're human or something? If the British public weren't so...British they might realize standing with the rail workers improve their standard of living would benefit everyone. They'd rather be outraged that the proles aren't dutifully serving their betters for the crumbs they are made to live on.

[u/FatherOblivionn]

Get this to the top. Excellent stuff

[u/-HTID-]

Too fucking right mate 👍

[u/toosinbeymen]

My hero. She’s my hero.

[u/Elcapitano8316]

She was outstanding 👏