Sunday, April 08, 2007

Pensioners: another illustration of how the weak are treated in a capitalist society

Pensioners: another illustration of how the weak are treated in a capitalist society


pensionersFor the past twenty five years Britain has drifted on the maxim that there is no such thing as society. The fragmentation of society has been like the breaking of a glass window. Some from amongst the individual shattered pieces are large, strong pieces with jagged edges capable of serious harm. Others are thin splinters which can further break even under the slightest pressure. Children and the elderly generally fall under the categories of the weaker sections of society. They often need support from society. But when society has become every man or woman for themselves those support mechanisms are lost.

Families have become more mobile, travelling to pursue employment opportunities. Older, retired members will remain where they are as moving for them is a net cost, and not a net gain. Increasingly, both husbands and wives have to work to meet ever increasing costs of living, as well as ever increasing aspirations, leaving less time for the children and the grandparents. Historically, the pension helped to fill this gap. It was a safety net for people in their retirement. But at the same time that the concept of society was broken by Margaret Thatcher, so was a link between a rise in national earnings and a rise in the state pension. In the aftermath, pensioners became relatively poorer, and were encouraged to save in private or occupational schemes.

In 1997, New Labour came to power, promising ‘things are gonna get better’. Within months of coming to office Chancellor Gordon Brown needed to fill a budget deficit to square his public spending plans. Several alternatives would have faced him. Firstly, he could have raised tax on the super wealthy, who hoard surplus quantities of wealth – targeting those with the most capital. Secondly, he might have raised taxes on income, which hits middle income earners hard and which is politically unpopular. In fact he chose to amend tax rules on pensions. This option targeted the elderly, retired community or those nearing retirement who had saved for years. It was something that would not become immediately obvious to people overnight in their pay packets. It was an option that had no powerful vested interest groups opposing it. The treasury minister and Brown’s former key advisor Ed Balls admitted this week that the judgment was necessary to “promote long-term business investment in the UK, which has risen by 50% over the subsequent 10 years." Meaning if big business is okay, stuff the pensioners.

Pensioner poverty in Britain is huge. Last year 24,650 people in Britain died as a result of cold related matters according to Age Concern. They also say six out of 10 older people are at risk of becoming malnourished. Furthermore up to 14% of older people aged over 65 years in the UK are malnourished. According to the Department of Work and Pensions, in the three year period 2001/2 to 2003/4, 22 per cent of pensioners in England were living in households with relative low-incomes.

These are shameful statistics, masking the tragic lives of thousands.


MUSLIM COMMUNITIES


Muslim communities living in capitalist societies need to remember some basic matters to prevent falling prey to these powerful societal forces that have harmed so many elderly people. The Qur'an says in the meaning:

“Your Lord has commanded that you worship none but Him, and be kind to parents. If either or both of them reach old age with you, do not say 'uff' to them or chide them, but speak to them in terms of honor and kindness. Treat them with humility, and say, 'My Lord! Have mercy on them, for they did care for me when I was little'.
(17:23-4)

In Sahih Bukhari it is narrated by Abu Bakra that the Prophet.(saw) said "The biggest of the great sins are: To join others in worship with Allah, to be undutiful to one's parents, and to give a false witness." He repeated it thrice, or said, "....a false statement," and kept on repeating that warning until we wished he would stop saying it.

Beyond this, wider family members whose own personal needs and surplus requirements are met, may be obliged to help weaker or poorer family members, if they are blessed with surplus wealth.

Islam also teaches us that our neighbours are not to be neglected, allowed to freeze to death or go malnourished – regardless of their background.

Ibn 'Abbas told Ibn az-Zubayr, "I heard the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say, 'A man is not a believer who fills his stomach while his neighbour is hungry.'"

In short, even if in a capitalist state there is no such thing as society, we must be certain that there is such as thing as family and community – regardless of whether these are Muslim or non-Muslim family members or neighbours.

MUSLIM SOCIETIES


In Muslim lands there has been a drive is to implement the capitalist system encouraged by international monetary institutions like the World Bank and IMF. Indeed this was accelerated by the direct colonisation and occupation in areas like Iraq and Afghanistan.

This must be resisted unless we wish to see generations of destitute pensioners and rampant individualism. The role of a government in Islam, the Khilafah, is not to tax till the pips squeak, nor to raid pension funds. Rather it is summarised in the words of Abu Bakr As-Siddiq as he assumed the position of Khalifah.

“The weak amongst you shall be strong with me until I have secured his rights, if God will; and the strong amongst you shall be weak with me until I have wrested from him the rights of others, if God will.”


These principles characterised the sense of justice in the Khilafah (Caliphate). They unpinned specific policies that emerged from the Ahkam Shariah regarding the economy. Those Shariah texts above and others about parents, the elderly, orphans and neighbours define the type of community that an Islamic state would be made up of. However, specific economic policies do lead to effective safety nets for the weak. The state is obliged cater for the needs of people when they are unable to do so themselves, or when their close family does not have the surplus to help them.

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