Poverty - harshly, for real

I have been reading Darren McGarvey’s Poverty Safari. It’s a challenging read. It is sub-titled ‘understanding the anger of Britain’s underclass.’ McGarvey tells the painful story of his own (west of) Scottish upbringing, coloured by poverty and all the challenges it attracts. He is realistic and fair. Yes, the system puts people where they are – and it does. But he also recognises the challenges to which folk could rise, but don’t.

“It’s a bit rich to pretend it’s only racists and xenophobes who are unfairly dehumanising sections of the population. I grew up calling Conservatives ‘scum’ and genuinely believing it, oblivious to the broad spectrum of Conservative opinion that exists. Others in my community claim ‘all cops are bastards’ – even the ones who run towards knife-wielding terrorists to protect the public. From a very young age, we are all inculcated into the mores of a tribe and adopt those values often without thought, later mistaking them for our own.  ….  Belief in the virtue of our hypocrisy is one of the few things we have in common in this increasingly divided society.”

McGarvey’s book is an uncomfortable read, but I think it is an important one. My own upbringing, also in the west of Scotland, was very different, but, given his circumstances, it probably wouldn’t have been. We do need to understand something of what causes what goes on.

And we do need to play our part in addressing the issues that poverty provokes. We are too good at not giving them due attention. “Poverty is not a game and it’s going nowhere any time soon. Poverty is here to stay and things will get worse before they improve. That’s the truth our leaders know but don’t have the guts to tell us.”