"Generational Fairness Is Why I Am Where I Am Today"
A story from a Gen Squeeze mom and board member and Happy Mother's Day wishes from our team
Happy Mother’s Day, to all the mothers out there! On this special day we are sharing a letter from one of our Gen Squeeze moms. Board Member and Advisor Verena Rossa-Roccor (and her lovely family, pictured below) has been involved with the organization for many years. She wanted to tell you all about why she thinks our work is so important and explain why you should get involved too.
But first, a short video about how we can help moms feel healthy, valued, and supported all year round…
Now take it away, Verena!
I was the first person in my entire extended family to go to university. My grandparents lived through two World Wars, my parents were born in 1945 and 1949, respectively, and grew up in post-war Germany. Within only one generation, my family went from poor, working class to me having (almost) three graduate degrees. You may think that someone had to make great sacrifices for that. But that wasn’t the case. Thanks to a socially progressive system in Germany, my parents were able to build wealth on average salaries, send their three children to tuition-free university, and now live a comfortable life on their pensions. I, therefore, came to appreciate the importance of government social spending for the wellbeing of everyone early on.
Sadly, the positive trajectory that I and my parents enjoyed is far from guaranteed for my own children. We currently (temporarily) live in the US and despite the fact that both my partner and I are highly educated and employed, the costs to raise children take a big chunk out of our income (currently almost 40%). And I am not talking about the $2,000 bassinet or the $1,800 stroller. Those are non-essential luxury goods. What isn’t luxury, in my opinion, is high-quality, affordable and available (!) childcare, paid parental leave for both parents, and affordable (if not free) higher education for everyone. If an equitable society is what we strive for, giving everyone a realistic chance to pursue a career and build their family’s wealth is essential. Canada is getting there, not least due to the $10 a day daycare initiative that was co-championed by Generation Squeeze. But lots remains to be done.
As we all know, our generational contract is not just broken in the social sphere. It is also broken in the natural sphere. My children’s generation will inherit a world where entire countries will become uninhabitable if we stay the course we are currently on. My heart breaks for them and I cannot sit idly by and watch it happen.
In both areas, the gap between what we know should be done and what is actually done is large. And the reason for that isn’t a lack of knowledge or a lack of shared goals. It’s a lack of political will. But thankfully, we live in a democracy. And democracies, flawed as they may be, have one significant advantage: we, the people, have (some) power. But implementing that power is tricky. In my own PhD research, I focus on strategies to influence climate policies. I have learned that one needs to be very strategic if one wants to have an impact. The world of policy and politics is a messy one, governed by relationships, value systems, and stories. In my many years of volunteering for both partisan and non-partisan initiatives, I always thought our strategies fell short of really understanding the essence of what the political system is.
That is why I am thrilled to be a part of Generation Squeeze. This organization has a deep understanding of what it takes to create change. With only a handful employees, the reach and access that Gen Squeeze has is unparalleled. As an organization, we opt into democratic structures and processes – and encourage others to do the same. We are not only aware of the realpolitik that exists within these structures but know how to navigate them. Individuals can’t fix these systemic issues, but collectively, we can. Being part of Gen Squeeze gives me hope that my children’s generation will be able to flourish just as my own generation has. And it gives me hope that we can restore a fair and equitable generational contract.
We’d love to hear your story - you can share it with us here. We bring our supporters' stories to meetings with elected leaders and public officials to illuminate problems and motivate them to take action. Your stories can also help inspire and inform other members of our community.
Have a great rest of the weekend!
I very much liked "the gap between what we know should be done and what is actually done is large. And the reason for that isn’t a lack of knowledge or a lack of shared goals. It’s a lack of political will." I agree. So if we are in agreement that political will is the crux of the problem. We must come to an understanding of what shifts political will. It seems to me, by the general unfairness in spending on older Vs. younger generations in most government budgets, that the politicians understand very much that it is the older (historically larger) segment of the voters that they want to please. They are confident that these people will be returning in droves to the polls and they are happy to keep them more than comfortable in their retirement at the expense of younger and future generations. The older people attend political events, they call their MPs and MLAs, they organize against the high rise buildings in their cherished neighbourhoods. Politicians, as Generation Squeeze has always said "respond to those who organize and show up". We have to find a way to convince people to organize and SHOW UP!! And showing up is more than just voting. The university students, the single moms without childcare, the 30 year olds who can't afford to move out of their parents' home; What will convince them to use their voice? Because when you talk to those people they are frustrated to no end yet doing very little to advocate for their needs and the needs of their children.
The unfairness has been widely felt written about since the Thatcher, Reagan... Mulroney neoliberalism captured the scene with a deregulated corporatism that led to what Sheldon Wolin called inverted totalitarianism. I call it Corporate Totalitarianism where people are reduced to consumers rather than citizens. It’s not total totalitarianism, yet. There is still space for the public to organize to protest-engage. Public space was merely filled by corporatism because we became a consumer society that vacated public space for consumerism over civics. Corporations-corporate power was merely filling that space we left vacant because we valued the ease and comfort of consumerism over civics. As a consumer society we lack the knowledge of civics-the time and inclination for civics and the skills at civics. We are left as passive consumers complaining rather than a society of citizens with knowledge of civics and skills as activists actively engaged in civics. Astra Taylor did not have three graduate degrees...but was rich with insight from experience-civic engagement. She became part of organized protests and created the Debtors Collective. Where are the young people out from behind their screens protesting for universal access to education and universal housing for all? Their message could be as simple as “We are not asking for utopia but to merely have what other Western social democracies have.” The space for civics is still there but gets smaller and smaller as we are less and less inclined and skilled at using it. Corporatism will naturally fill space left vacant by the public. Corporatism is what’s squeezing out the interests of the public. There is only so much we can do writing ever so eloquently and insightfully behind our screens. Most of it is reinventing the same wheels of more equitable policy- describing the same wheels of misfortune described decades ago by scholars. That’s why I found urgency in telling Generation Squeeze to listen to Astra Taylor’s Massey Lecture’s she placed emphasis on activism-civic engagement out from behind our screens. ASK NOT what older people can do for you but for them to join you already out there collectively organized in large numbers. You, the most oppressed must be seen and felt demonstrating your WILL first. Like in all movements against oppression it the oppressed that first must be seen out protesting in the streets. That’s not happening, and it may never happen if enough people are satisfied with their success from the clawing- scraping to get by and doing better than the worse off...in getting that second or third degree behind their screens siloed off technically well connected. Because we lack understanding of civics but are merely reactionary consumers, we are set with the high possibility of having two neoliberals lead North America one highly illiberal fascistic in Trump the other Poilievre's sloganeering pitched perfectly to consumers who are indeed too dumb for democracy and too stupid for civics. I too have graduated from university 3 times and my most valuable lessons-insights came outside of schooling but on the streets gaining experience interacting face to face with people.