The Class Politics of Idleness

[love_katz]

4. The false charges against the "idle poor" go back to the Middle Ages.

This tired and false drivel was used to justify the theft of commonly held land through enclosure.
From the theft of common land (which belonged to the community) for the raising of sheep by the wealthy, to the "clearances " in Ireland and Scotland, where people were rounded up, accused of fake crimes and deported to penal colonies, the outright theft of First Nations lands through genocide and false treaties or legitimate treaties that were never honored, it has followed the same basic play book. Blame and punish the poor for their poverty, and aid the wealthy in stealing whatever land and property that the poor have.