Comment on Tories and Local Governments Refuse To Approve More Homes

• merridew@feddit.uk ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  They have a bunch of stuff about “promoting fertility”, eg

  the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Israel offer lessons. These countries have managed to increase fertility rates by introducing pro-natal policies — a combination of cash incentives, subsidised childcare, and housing assistance

  which all sounds lovely and idyllic, but in reality the far-right government in Hungary has been throttling access to abortion with new legislation that is

  an extension of the government’s anti-abortion policies, aimed at boosting the birthrate

  meaning that

  legal abortions [have] become increasingly difficult as the compulsory counselling sessions were becoming more aggressive and difficult to schedule

  theguardian.com/…/hungary-tightens-abortion-acces…

  I can’t definitely figure out the angle either. But they are a pro-fertility organisation praising a far-right regime that is implementing regressive “pro-life” policies at the expense of women’s rights, and they are very careful not to highlight the true nature of these policies on their website.

  They’re also headquartered in Texas. So… draw your own conclusions.

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  • Emperor@feddit.uk ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Yeah, that was where my mind was going.

    To stop population decline you really need to go full Catholic on birth control and abortion.

    And to what end?

    Israel’s aim seems simple: they are fighting a demographic war with the Palestinians and the more people they have the quicker they can fill up the Occupied Territories.

    Beyond that rather specific case you can only extrapolate but population decline means you need more immigrants to fill the roles young people would do and that plays into ideas of the Great Replacement.

    That might be going too far and impugning their motivation but if you are praising Hungary’s reactionary policies then something is not right. Even if they are themselves doing this for the purest motives, they’ve rather quickly picked up some unsavoury fellow travellers.

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    • tintory@lemm.ee ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Israel offer lessons. These countries have managed to increase fertility rates by introducing pro-natal policies — a combination of cash incentives, subsidised childcare, and housing assistance

      On the other hand, they are explicity focusing on the increase in social benefits, not anything dealing with anti-choice elements, and praised American Democrats for expanding Paid Leave and Unemployment, not to mention you guys left out this quote

      Next, let’s talk about British millennials. Before we assign them the blame label, it’s worth diving into some history. The birth rate in the UK has declined since 2013, and this decline isn’t floating in a vacuum. Its roots trace back to the austerity measures implemented post-2008 financial crisis. These cuts have deeply affected social care, welfare, and local government. Between 2010 and 2017, private rents soared by 24%, while social housing options dwindled. Adults, particularly young ones, found themselves either stuck with rising rents or moving back in with their parents. Combine this with the growth of precarious employment, and you get a generation deeply impacted by retreating state support and a daunting economic landscape.

      If this was a right wing rag, then they would focus on culture or other nonsensical dogwhistles, but they are clearly hostile towards the right but willing to give praise to anyone who increase social spending

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      • merridew@feddit.uk ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        You can increase social spending and still have contempt for women’s right to bodily autonomy. The two don’t go automatically hand in hand.

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  • tintory@lemm.ee ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Next, let’s talk about British millennials. Before we assign them the blame label, it’s worth diving into some history. The birth rate in the UK has declined since 2013, and this decline isn’t floating in a vacuum. Its roots trace back to the austerity measures implemented post-2008 financial crisis. These cuts have deeply affected social care, welfare, and local government. Between 2010 and 2017, private rents soared by 24%, while social housing options dwindled. Adults, particularly young ones, found themselves either stuck with rising rents or moving back in with their parents. Combine this with the growth of precarious employment, and you get a generation deeply impacted by retreating state support and a daunting economic landscape.

    You forget this part from the same article, which changes the context quite a bit

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    • merridew@feddit.uk ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Not really. If your goal is to undo “retreating state support,” you can do that without praising far-right regimes aiming to restrict women’s rights to bodily autonomy.

      The fact that they gloss over that little aspect is suspicious.

      Their website is conspicuously opaque regarding its funding, and “stop population decline” is curiously close to (but notably more palatable than) the 14 Words, while still acting as an effective dog-whistle for people familiar with those words.

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      • tintory@lemm.ee ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Might be? The site itself has attacked Elon Musk and Peter Thiel (stoppopulationdecline.org/silicon-valley-pronatal…) , so it’s probably not funded by them. It also praises WFH, Paid Leave, Unions at the like, which makes it less likely its funded by the right.

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