You made a vital point on state reverence for life.
On another note, one can experience that help you describe from unknown people in Nigeria but also in England, although in different ways.
I have a problem though, with seeing with you on your total denunciation of an English social system that does the following:
Provisions from the state for the individual and families
1. Provides free health care, some of which it even extends to foreign students who are seen for free by doctors.
2. Gives you money to sustain yourself and your family if you are unemployed or if you need extra money to take care of your children's fundamental needs.
3. Provides highly subsidised housing for low income earners
4. Provides primary and secondary schooling free in environments the quality of which many African school children might not even be able to imagine. If you dont put your children in school, you must justify your action.If you say you are teaching them at home, the inspector will come and inspect your facilities for home schooling.
5.Provides free school meals for children from families that need it.
6. Can give you money to start a business
7. Can provide funding free to you for a range of initiatives involving your self and public development
8. Advertises on buses that they will pay you for going to school beyond your teenage years
9. Provides bursaries to citizens for their education
10. Has raised the cost of university education from almost nothing to thousands of pounds but has in place a scheme in which you dont need to repay the money for your education till you start working, something like that but I dont have the details
11. Has a powerful emergency response service that enables you to call police, fire or medical services at no cost through the same number from mobile or landline and get an instant answer and rapid response of police, ambulance or fire men based on the gravity of the situation.
Non-state provisions for the individuals and families
12. Enables you to easily get overdrafts and loans from the bank based on your income, and without collateral, up to a point.
State provisions for everyone living in the country
13. 24/7 electricity supply
14. 24/7 water supply to various taps in your house, with the water heated as it comes out of the tap.
15. 24/7 gas supply to your house, accessible through mechanical devices in the house, not through the dangerous portable gas cylinders.
16. Largely immaculate roads in all villages, towns and cities and the roads linking them.
I will never forget my cycle ride from London to Cambridge in 2007, 3pm to 3am, 10 hrs non stop, largely at night in winter, long nights and short days, without seeing a single pothole, on roads largely through villages, and I arrived Cambridge without incident.
Even better, I met someone the other day cycling from London to Norfolk, perhaps double the distance I cycled. If I had been sure of my route, I could have cut the cycling time by half. In Nigeria, the Benin-Lagos distance is short enough to cycle and good cycle networks in places like Lagos could do wonders for traffic and do wonders for relaxation, health and the environment.
17. The provision of transport by bus provided by the state and by train and air provided by private business. These fares are variable depending on time of travel and length of time the trip is booked before the journey, age of the commuter, along with distance. Fares are reduced for older people-forgotten the age range, and in London, the last I knew, children did not pay for buses and perhaps trains.
18. Standard of living and level of security that in many neighbourhoods makes fences unnecessary
19. Abundance of means for self education through a strong culture of educational materials from books to films, affordable as first hand , second hand or borrowed from a powerful although now reduced library network that in places like London puts a library in every locality-dont know exactly how the distribution is organised but that is the impression I have. You can belong to public libraries all over the village, town or city you live in and borrow from them all. You can belong to all the many public libraries in London, for example.
You can also use university libraries at the various universities. Also available is the British Library, where Karl Marx is described as doing much of his work and where the flounders of the most influential 20th century magical order of the West, the Golden Dawn, described themselves as finding the manuscript on which they based their school.
20. The free availability of a thriving cultural network through which you can develop yourself to any level you wish. You decide the range of your ambitions.
These include a rich network of museums that will take you round the world, museums, more than one, in perhaps every city, museums covering science to technology and art.
These also include a thriving culture of generous sharing of knowledge through conferences and lectures.You would have to ration time to attend the various lectures and conferences which are free at Oxford, Cambridge,University of London with its various universities that make it up such as the London School of Economics, Imperial College, University College, London , plus the so many universities and related venues all over the country.
My understanding of England is that even with basic funds just to keep alive, have a roof over your head, pay basic bills and educate yourself from humble beginnings, you can achieve anything.
To me, these people are in heaven.
It is not a perfect heaven , but it is heaven.
Brief comparison between Nigeria and England
How can I cope without 24/7 electricity?I hate noise so I dont want a generator. Will I need solar power? How accessible and cost effective would it be?
How can I cope if I am not able to order books from India, and most of the world to arrive at my doorstep, at times within two days of making the order? In the search for knowledge, one's aspirations ideally, should be global. What is the scope for achieving that in Nigeria?
How can I cope with an environment when travelling by road could be a high risk venture accident, as on the infamous Lagos-Benin road, such as if one wants to attend an art show in Lagos?
Is it possible to go everywhere in Nigeria by air?
I lived in Naija for decades till 2003 but the difference England and Naija makes Naija look primitive.
I wonder how enlightening the Nigeria-England/capitalist critique you make is particularly helpful in the light of the vast disparities between the two countries.
Whatever is agitating the English, we might need more incisive answers, although a police representative makes a point similar to yours about poverty levels.
toyin
On 9 August 2011 08:56, tope fasua <topsyfash@yahoo.com> wrote:
Eric AyoolaFor once I disagree with you. Are you saying they should be shooting and killing people like some 'third world' country will do? Why is the UK, France, USA and co in Libya? Is it not for the same reason that the govt there is suppressing its own people's 'protests'? Why is it okay to protest violently in Libya, Egypt, Tunisia and Syria, and not in Europe?I think what is up is that the lies are coming out. Some of us warned them when they started pontificating about Africa. Indeed many societies in Africa are much better than these European societies which have largely ridden to prominence and dominance, on the tears, sweat and bloods of the peoples of African nations (I admit our own ignorance and stupidity too, which is still ongoing).When these protests started in Tottenham, they said it was a black thing. The guy that was killed was Jamo (Jamaican) guy. WWII was triggered by this kind of violence too, occasioned by the killing of Marinus Van der Lubbe. Hitler used the opportunity of dealing with the Communists to start a pogrom against the Jews in 1933, dovetailing into a World War later. I saw several postings on BBC and other websites, where people came out of the closets and started abusing NIGGERS and asking foreigners to return to their countries. So much for modernity and political correctness, it seems we are all still savages at heart.But it quickly morphed. There is anger in the land. There is poverty, serious poverty in the UK. There is an ever-present air of despondency and hopelessness. I lived there in 05/06 and was depressed for most of that time. I know what it is like. People take to alcohol. The pubs are the thriving businesses. Football is thrown in the mix to make people forget their problems. But for only a while. In fact people spend the little they have on alchy and supporting their teams. It is a silly life through and through. People are quite snobbish, minding their own businesses, but the furnace in the minds of people have been seething, and have now burst into the open. We should have known. The last mass protest organised in Central London, easily dissolved into a looting spree, with protesters entering restaurants and fast food joints. Even the Ritz at Green Park Station was not spared.So in quick succession, we have seen the Turkiyes of Haringay on the streets. They own Wood Green area. They are not fighting the blacks but the state. We have seen the Indians and Pakies of Walthamstow come out in great anger. Birmingham too, with the large immigrant population. In Liverpool, English (Liverpudians), have joined in expressing their frustration. The one that freaked me out was when I saw the Hasidian Jews who dominate Stamford Hill in London, confronting the police in their Jewish garb, skirts and hats all intact! Jews?! I thought they had all the money? So Jews are broke these days too!!? Wow...The UK has a serious problem on its hands. So also does the USA. In Europe, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, in fact the whole shebang is in trouble. Serious social and economic trouble. The age of lies is petering out. The mass media will not be able to save them this time. And even when calm returns - as it will soon - the poor people have seen that they could discard the illusive toga of being 'first world citizens' - who barely survive from hand to mouth - and take to the streets to show to the whole world that their govts have been living a lie, prosecuting wars abroad at great cost, while the aristocrats pocket even the proceeds of those wars.What is at stake is the total cremation of Capitalism. The process whereby a few people continue to acquire and acquire, is one of the greatest frauds ever invented. The 'invisible hand' which we were promised will 'redistribute' wealth once the rich have made it, has failed dismally. In fact, it is called 'invisible', simply because it doesnt exist. So also the social order based on snobbery and self-centredness, has unravelled. At least we have some of that left in Africa. It is called social capital, and it is measured by how long a person could survive without money, if dropped in any city, from the skies. In Africa here, there are people who survive of food they gather from 'owambe' parties, and their skins are glowing. Apart from that, anybody from your village is your 'brother' - ask the Igbo people - and could generally branch in your office on his way to Kaduna, just to 'greet' his brother. Woe betide you if you dont find him 'something'. In Europe, everybody works on a budget, and many people die in their rooms, or in the open where they sleep, with no one caring a hoot!It is therefore high time for us to elevate and reexamine our current social and economic systems, and see if there are a few things we can lend Europe as to how systems should be run, not to acquiesce and kowtow to their shenanigans and accept that our systems are inferior through and through. Much less, we should never egg them on to start brutalising and by extension, killing their people, in the name of ensuring peace; the peace of the graveyard none the less...Have a great day. And stay out of the trouble spots.Tope
From: "ericayoola@aol.co.uk" <ericayoola@aol.co.uk>
To: NaijaObserver@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, August 8, 2011 11:43 PM
Subject: ||NaijaObserver|| London BurningI fully blame Boris Johnson, David Cameron and Nick Clegg and the whole leadership of the coalition government for their soft and non-chalant approach to the situation. Why are we not calling the army in? Why are the police using ineffectual batons and shields? What about using water canons, rubber bullets, CS gas, taser guns etc etc. This soft approach is crazy, it is irrational and it is non-intelligent. These people are animal, they ar criminals and they should be treated as such. The copy cat criminality will continue all across England, indeed the UK, if this soft approach is carried out.
And they want to cut police number.
Cameron, Clegg and Boris all ought to resign.
Eric Ayoola.
Sent from my BlackBerry smartphone from Virgin Media
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