A Sabbath for us all: the electric boogaloo
I’ve explored the concept of the sabbath in a way that discusses my history drawn straight from the heart of Judaism by way of Protestant Millerites of the 19th Century. But drawing on his original heritage - I myself am not Jewish nor a scholar of Judaism. But I can verify that often sabbaths were not just for a day but often for weeks or years. The concept of enforced rest is something that a number of cultural traditions and faiths are familiar with. In Judaism particularly, there was famously the debt sabbath where debts were written off every seven years. Something that seems inconceivable in our modern time where debts often last longer and have more impact.
Of the few debts I have incurred, with the awareness of luxury and frugality, is my HECs debt. My HECs debt with a large number of Australians has been indexed to 7% to match inflation but my wages or my opportunities have not had the same increase. I am angry of course, but resigned because there are more important things to discuss. But a debt sabbath would be nice. If money is made up and only the expression of debt then maybe, maybe I can have a debt sabbath too. I’m not earning enough to gain the benefits of paying it back, although I have previously. I will have to shoulder the burden of something I couldn’t even make decisions over. I wouldn’t call that democracy.
The proud labour tradition forged in this country and even in this city, has a very special relationship with rest. It's in the eight hour slogan - eight hours to work, to sleep and to rest. If you go to the Trades Hall in Sussex Street - now infested with Labor hacks but once the radical centre of movement that acknowledged work but also the ability for working people to better themselves and rest; with large libraries stocked with updated knowledge and spaces to collaborate. Such is needed again to have a place that is bustling and loud and places for learning so that our rest is life affirming. How far the mighty have fallen when Labor hacks and their MPs refuse to advocate for the same. The same politicians who approved the HECs debt indexation.
The union movement amongst others is the leader in advocating not just the conditions of work but also the conditions of our rest. Our social condition is determined by the momentum of collective action. It is not hard to pitch to most people that we need more rest. We already have a culture of long weekends and long lunches for rich people. But maybe the economy doesn’t need continuous growth, maybe a recession is what we need (even considering the negative harms of a slowdown). If we go where I think we are heading, it will be the second once in a lifetime recession in the last twenty years. Not a stellar record for the status quo.
The rest is often made in reference to productivity and employment but never in reference to people who actually need it. I think that when we demand rest, it is not because it will improve efficiency or help our economy but because it is fundamental to the wellbeing of communities and their need for regeneration. It is common to hear that laziness and rest are made at the expense of other peoples labour and inconvenience but that also obscures the reality it is needed for our continued existence on this planet. In fact, a slowdown needs to be distributed equitably for best results.
Douglass remarks that “power never concedes without demand. It never has and it never will.” Some sabbaths are not about stopping, but instead changing up and creating spaces for new ideas. And that is what we need to face in the next crisis prone era. A sabbath for us all is the one that we work for and demand.