People in Nairobi complain about the rent and cost of living, just as people in Newcastle or Frankfurt.

@AwetTesfaiesus @PedroLeal_ @die_Leo @ScottishGreens @ZackPolanski

I think I see where you are coming from. But it's still the same system, isn't it?

The slant of the system isn't towards competition, but the opposite. Towards cartels, monopolies and concentration of power. Get rid of competition, then squeeze.

The 90s and 00s saw a lot of privatization, often at the municipal level. Like hospitals or housing. By now, this has condensed into a few big players.

@AwetTesfaiesus @PedroLeal_ @die_Leo @ScottishGreens @ZackPolanski

And they squeeze for all they got. They have the capital to snatch up any asset that becomes available. Coops and private folks can't compete on new plots when they become available. The smaller players have little incentive to challenge them - they can simply follow the price trend.

Landlords in Frankfurt don't charge what it costs to run a flat plus some interest. It's no competition. They charge what others are charging.

@billiglarper @AwetTesfaiesus @die_Leo @ScottishGreens @ZackPolanski unfortunately many people have forgotten that life doesn't happen only around major cities. I live in a formerly rural area which sits around 40km from a major city. It is today a small town and while I can't walk or take a bus/subway to the mall, I can enjoy spending time with my family on the yard and garden, where they can play while I spend my weekends mending fences, mowing lawn, etc. It's a lifestyle choice.

@Hachka @wuppi @ScottishGreens @ZackPolanski @LaChasseuse

I know exactly what live at the bottom end of society feels like. From a decade as a lawyer Social Law, and from very, very personal experience.

Change comes around, if people get together, form broad coalitions, demand change and refuse to give in.

@PedroLeal_ @billiglarper @die_Leo @ScottishGreens @ZackPolanski

For so many, this is by no means a "choice" in the sense, that it was made free of need nor coercion.

But you are right in principle. I advocate for 'rural living' as often as I can.

@billiglarper @AwetTesfaiesus @die_Leo @ScottishGreens @ZackPolanski unfortunately many people have forgotten that life doesn't happen only around major cities. I live in a formerly rural area which sits around 40km from a major city. It is today a small town and while I can't walk or take a bus/subway to the mall, I can enjoy spending time with my family on the yard and garden, where they can play while I spend my weekends mending fences, mowing lawn, etc. It's a lifestyle choice.

@PedroLeal_ @AwetTesfaiesus @die_Leo @ScottishGreens @ZackPolanski

Nice for you. No irony.

I grew up in a village in a structurally struggling region. I didn't leave the state for some big city dream, but simply because I wanted a decent income. And even that's a very relative thing with how cost of living has been rising for decades while wages are shrinking.

@PedroLeal_ @AwetTesfaiesus @die_Leo @ScottishGreens @ZackPolanski

My father, as a welder in public works, could sustain a family on his income. Including building a house and owning a car. Money was tight, but still.

My partner and I both went to university. We both work. Yet my father's lifestyle would be out of reach. We are not poor. But that's because we are lucky to be part of a housing coop, with neither car nor kids. And lets not talk pensions.

@AwetTesfaiesus @billiglarper @die_Leo @ScottishGreens @ZackPolanski a choice is always subject to it's constraints and consequences. You cannot choose not to make a sacrifice, but you can choose which sacrifice you want to make and live with.

@AwetTesfaiesus

Haha!

Als ich den Clip gestern gesehen habe, habe schon ich überlegt, wie ich ihn den deutschen Grünen als Inspiration zukommen lasse.

Das hat sich jetzt wohl erledigt.

So viel besser als Hundeblick im Wollpulli auf Plakaten.

PS: Du hast mich neulich überzeugt. Ich bin eingetreten.

@PedroLeal_ @AwetTesfaiesus @die_Leo @ScottishGreens @ZackPolanski

I'm so fucking tired of the people with the least options having to sacrifice ever more just to make some already rich guy even richer.

@PedroLeal_ @AwetTesfaiesus @die_Leo @ScottishGreens @ZackPolanski

My father, as a welder in public works, could sustain a family on his income. Including building a house and owning a car. Money was tight, but still.

My partner and I both went to university. We both work. Yet my father's lifestyle would be out of reach. We are not poor. But that's because we are lucky to be part of a housing coop, with neither car nor kids. And lets not talk pensions.

@billiglarper @PedroLeal_ @AwetTesfaiesus @ScottishGreens @ZackPolanski Hmm ... People in other EU countries are no better off financially than those here, yet they are more likely to own their own homes. I grew up in Spain, and in many southern European cultures, people have a completely different attitude to life, community, family, and solidarity. They are less focused on the individual and therefore much less egocentric.

@jabgoe2089 Not quite true. And: not yet.

#UKGreens adopted this only recently. So did NZ Greens if I'm not mistaken

@PedroLeal_ @AwetTesfaiesus @die_Leo @ScottishGreens @ZackPolanski

Nice for you. No irony.

I grew up in a village in a structurally struggling region. I didn't leave the state for some big city dream, but simply because I wanted a decent income. And even that's a very relative thing with how cost of living has been rising for decades while wages are shrinking.

@billiglarper @AwetTesfaiesus @die_Leo @ScottishGreens @ZackPolanski but even though you move to a big city to get a bigger income, that decision also entails bigger expenses and other problems... can you honestly say you're happier?

@PedroLeal_ @billiglarper @die_Leo @ScottishGreens @ZackPolanski that was true decades ago, but has long become a lie.

RE: https://mastodon.scot/@LaChasseuse/115941198098862825

People in Nairobi complain about the rent and cost of living, just as people in Newcastle or Frankfurt.

Yet, everybody thinks that this is somehow a local phenomenon: they think: my city isn't working, my country isn't working.

These aren't local issues. It's the same issue manifesting everywhere.

@ScottishGreens @ZackPolanski and #ukgreens is the right topic at the right time. Stop running and look, so hope becomes normal again.