Emad Barsoum writes: There will be Hope

My brother came to me in an anxious manner wondering why my last two articles expressed no hope for a better job nor a better workplace, due to the unfair acts of some of the entrepreneurs and the business owners from one side, and some managers as on the other. “It left me with a bitter feeling” he added. I smiled, calmed him down a bit, and said, before I explain to you why I see that the employment market and the relationship between employers and their employees is going in an unfavorable direction, even before I state the many reasons why this is happening, allow me first to remind you of the Article 23 of the “Universal Declaration of Human rights”, which states:

(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. (2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work. (3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favorable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection. (4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Confidently I asked him, do you see any of these declarations prevail these days, after more than seventy years since the declaration of human rights came out? He stalled for a while, then with a lower voice he nodded his head, sadly saying, “Now I see...” I looked straight to him and said, I rest my case. Although what was expressed in some previous opinions show no hope or little hope for the present and future value of human assets, there is always hope in a better future, and if there is no hope there is no life. Nevertheless, for the hope to evolve into reality everyone must speak about the unjust situations, the abuse and exploitation of the workforce. To have a better future we must be fearless of stating the truth. If there is a real democracy then we have the right to speak out, even if those whom we elect to stand up for our needs and rights are unwilling to fulfill their sacred duty, it is then that we have to reconsider whom to choose in the future, those who owe nothing to the donors and wealthy supporters. Yet above all we have to free our minds and souls from the non-democratic, dark age rule, and pathetic concept of Political Correctness, which gives some people in power and, or, some people with significant wealth, the right to run the society in the fashion they desire. Indeed, political Correctness is the modern mother of all evil, and will be discussed thoroughly in our next meeting together. We cannot cure the illness without first acknowledging it, without addressing the cause and remedy, then unquestionably, there will be Hope.