Only gainful employment is work? - Don't just accept everyday media speech

Prompted by Ina Praetorius, I, Eric Manneschmidt from Frankfurt am Main – an activist in both the Rhine-Main regional group of the Care Revolution and the Rhine-Main Unconditional Basic Income Initiative – have for some time been lodging complaints with the public service media whenever their reporting ostensibly refers to ‘work’ but in fact means only paid work, thereby rendering unpaid work invisible. I do this both as someone personally affected, who carries out unpaid work in various areas (political activism, art and culture, care work in the narrower sense), but who, due to a recognised incapacity to work, is potentially always under suspicion of being a welfare parasite, and also as a member of a community that I see as under threat. Anyone who is reasonably well-informed cannot fail to recognise that unpaid work forms the very foundation of our society and the so-called ‘economy’, as we are all dependent on it – not least so that we can take up or remain in paid employment in the first place. It is equally important to recognise that not all paid work is meaningful or even necessary[1]. The still-prevailing view of ‘work’ – and, by extension, the debate about the ‘lazy Germans’ who need to be forced into more paid employment – is therefore doubly wrong and poses a real threat to the survival of our society and democracy. For if unpaid (care) work can be carried out less and less, whilst at the same time the natural foundations of life are being increasingly destroyed, we are undermining the very basis of our society.

I welcome others to follow suit – that is, people who also submit complaints when they encounter such reporting that distorts reality – as well as tips on programmes where this is the case.

A continuously updated overview of the complaints, as well as contact details, can be found here: https://bge-rheinmain.org/medienbeschwerden

This text was submitted by Eric Manneschmidt – Many thanks!

[1] See‘Bullshit Jobs’by David Graeber and ‘Schadarbeit’ by Günther Moewes