'Fall of Giants' by Ken Follett

The story in Fall of Giants takes place before, during and after the First World War and the Russian revolution. As a reader you get to know five families from different countries and backgrounds and how their lives are affected by the war and the times. The story moves you through coal mines and palaces, from the corridor of power to the trenches in the battlefields and the struggle for vote for women. The rich dream of power ant the poor dream of a better life. The main characters cross paths throughout the story and their destinies don’t always turn out they way they had imagined.

My reflections:

This story takes place almost 100 years ago which seems a long time. When I think of the fact that my grandparents were young at the time, it’s easier for me to imagine what it was like though.

It’s upsetting to read about the conditions for the working class. They worked long days in dangerous coal mines from the age of 13 and had almost no rights. Every day was a struggle to put food on the table. The aristocrats on the other hand seemed to move from ball room to ball room in fancy clothes caring little or nothing about the poor other than fear for a revolution. Does it sound familiar? Isn’t that what it’s still like in many parts of the world? Why don’t those with power realize that they will be better off themselves if the people don’t suffer?

What the rich and the poor had in common back then, was that they expected women to be silent while the med were having discussions.  Men of all classes generally opposed to the idea of votes for women. The interesting thing is that the working class argued that who should be appointed officers and to positions of power ought to be decided by brains rather than birth.  It’s a pity they didn’t draw a parallel to the question of women’s rights.

It’s almost hard to believe how narrow minded those with power were back then. Power was exactly what it was about though. The rich wanted power over the poor and the men wanted power over the women. The sad thing is that it’s still like that in many parts of the world. Why is it that so many believe that power necessarily means oppression?

In Russia the poor fought for a better life through joining the revolution, only to discover that they had created a new kind of hell with a different tyrant. When desperate enough, people are ready to fight very hard and to risk their lives for what they believe in which we definitely have seen proof of even today. The change might be unpleasant as there are always men with power that have a different agenda from what’s in the people’s best interest. That’s a risk most people are willing to take when suffering too bad, because if they do nothing, they will lose their hope for a better life – and hope is the last to abandon man.

The Story of STUFF

’The Story of STUFF’ has left me pondering how all the pieces in the line of consumption fit together. It has also made me realize that how the economy is run, might not be in my best interest, but in the corporations’ and the people behind them. At least that is what Annie Leonard believes, and I think she is probably right. With 51 corporations among the 100 biggest economies in the world, it is inevitable that they gain power over the decisions made by governments. And these decisions help the corporations grow even bigger. How do we stop this development?

The consequences of our consumption are polluted air, land, water and climate change. All these affect our well being, not to mention the people at the bottom of the ‘food chain’, the workers that are being exploited in unhealthy factories so that we can keep on consuming.

In the US the peak of national happiness was in the fifties. The reason, apart from the end of world war two, was the growing economy. Unemployment shrunk, people were better off financially than ever before, and the future looked promising. Economic growth has always been paramount for our material well being. Somewhere between then and now however, things got out of control. Owing and buying stuff has become our measure of success. In order to be able to do so, we work harder than ever, and other values in life are lost to us. According to Annie Leonard, the commercials are to blame, and again I am inclined to agree. People are affected directly or indirectly without even knowing it most of the time.

So how do we stop the exploitation of people and resources and save the planet? Where there is a buyer, there is always a seller. The ultimate buyers are the consumers, us. The obvious answer would be to decrease consumption. That is how ordinary people can contribute to the environment. This might create unemployment , but by consuming less, we’ll be able to work less, and that in turn will give us time to rediscover other values in life than STUFF.

Snooping Bosses

More and more jobs involve working with computers. Monitoring employees’ movements on the internet is common in most serious businesses for several reasons. You are not supposed to be surfing or chatting for personal reasons during work hours. What’s more important, the employer wants to make sure that you don’t bring the company down with you if you are caught doing illegal transactions on the internet. I find this perfectly reasonable and don’t consider it an intrusion on privacy.

Monitoring employees through their cell phones is another matter though. Employers are no saints. Of course they would want to amuse themselves by checking up on your movements after work if they had an opportunity to do so. If your company cell phone has been installed with GPS technology that can track your whereabouts, leave the phone at work! You might even find it relaxing for other reasons. But if you are a rising star, moving up the career ladder and want to be available at all hours, by all means – bring the phone, but stay out of fishy places!

Other means of monitoring, like cameras in public places, are more difficult to influence or even to avoid for that matter. To most of us they don’t pose a threat though, at least not in Sweden. Rather they represent security as they are supposed not only to reveal criminal actions but to prevent them from happening in the first place. There is always a risk that technology is being misused, but as with so many other necessary evils, I would say that the advantages outweigh any disadvantages.

With all the monitoring surrounding us, it is a great relief to know that the most important aspect of privacy can’t be taken from us, and that is our thoughts. At least mind reading hasn’t been invented – yet!