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Hundreds of thousands of women from the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and other South East Asian countries leave their families to work as maids in order to earn enough money. However, many encounter abuse from their employers or their agents. This is a problem that occurs all over Asia, and Singapore is no exception.

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Is the name "Singapore" becoming synonymous with oppression?

Published: November 4 2008 02:00 | Last updated: November 4 2008 02:00
From Mr Alastair Green.

Sir, Emma Jacobs (Notebook, October 24) noted renewed interest in anarchist, Marxist and radical thought in the light of the current great crash of capitalism. Wondering about the absence of street protest, she also asked: “So where is everybody?”

One part of the answer may be that the streets and walkways of Canary Wharf, the locus of London investment banking, are treated as private property. It is impossible to leaflet, picket, protest or march in this citadel of high finance if the Canary Wharf estate owners withhold permission, despite the fact that in almost every usual way, Canary Wharf is just another public space, open to all. The publicly funded buses run, double yellow lines prohibit parking, The Evening Standard is on sale at the publicly owned Tube and Docklands Light Railway stations, freesheets are handed out, shoppers congregate, the public drives and walks through uninvited, and the Metropolitan Police patrol.

Yet, when trade unions have sought to protest at working conditions at Canary Wharf workplaces, the real police have massed in force to assist the Canary Wharf security staff in chasing them out of this financial “Green Zone”, backed up by the courts. It is quite remarkable that a TV news team cannot even turn up to film at this little Singapore-on-Thames without prior permission and vetting by a private company.

This is a rather naked example of what a Marxist might call the “dictatorship of finance capital”. Other more insidious and little-noticed practices in the world of finance reinforce an anti-democratic insulation of the banks and capitalism from popular discontent or dissent. Companies regulated by the Financial Services Authority probably employ 2-3 per cent of the British workforce, and a much higher percentage in the London area.

Such companies routinely require that their employees tell them (in advance, in writing) of any activity outside work, including holding any position, whether paid or not, in a non-profit organisation, or any political position, elected or appointed, or the delivery of any speech or writing of any article or book – and obtain employer consent for such activities, on pain of summary dismissal for non-compliance. The chilling effect of such stipulations on uninhibited political activity, especially of a critical or unorthodox character, is obvious. Perhaps this is what is meant by “market democracy”?

Alastair Green,
London N5, UK