Nerve 16 - Editorial

Nerve 16 Editorial
GROWING RESISTANCE

Those that run the country think economic growth is the way to get us out of the recession. Just to confuse us mere mortals, they call this 'post neoclassical endogenous growth theory'. For them 'Growth' is about transferring public money into private hands and then leaving the market to 'work its magic'. For this they need to convince us to buy things we don't need and consume ever more. It's about bigger profit margins, satisfying shareholders and investors and enhancing their lavish lifestyles.

But for all the 'growth' "society is more unequal than 50 years ago, and there are more working age people living in poverty than ever before."*
Economic growth at the same time as massive cuts in public spending just doesn't add up.
Growth, to us, means growing healthy children, nurturing their skills and creativity in thriving communities.
Instead of the cuts, why not end the war in Afghanistan and stop the production of Trident and other weapons. Introduce an average wage and do away with bonuses.
Use the thousands of empty luxury flats and other unused dwellings on Merseyside for the homeless and badly housed.
NERVE has continued to support those who provide a counter to the grinding consumerisation of society, and who get together to shape the future of their communities; the 'Guerrilla Gardeners' of Cairns Sreet for instance. And what about the schools from Bootle to Toxteth who have started community gardens. The council should extend these projects by helping people to use derelict land for leisure, or to grow food, instead of importing it.
NERVE 16 looks at the local cuts in expenditure. We investigate some of the private places where public money is being channelled. And we discuss alternative ways of tackling the recession.
One of the areas already targeted for spending cuts are the arts. People have always expressed themselves, their feelings and their resistance through art and culture. NERVE is a platform for this expression and we have some inspiring art in these pages.

Next Issue of NERVE

Over time there have been many accounts of the vision that greets people as they enter the port of Liverpool. Today a mile long metal mountain lines the banks of the Mersey. Who would have thought that the second port of 'Empire' would become the scrap capital of Britain. What is barely glimpsed is the low wage, hazardous hell. This is part of the post-industrial landscape, where our politicians believe in a fairy tale notion of regeneration as a way of restoring the lost prosperity of Liverpool.
Contributions welcome.

*Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, quoted in the Guardian 24.05.10.

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