Irresponsible state?

8) Does children's self-organisation not release the state from its social responsibility?

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Any form of self-help is in danger of being instrumentalised by the state as a cheap solution to problems. But this applies primarily to the welfare states of the Global North, where social achievements are increasingly being eroded. In countries where working children's movements are active, on the other hand, social security and support systems must be strengthened and often built up in the first place.

The movements work in this direction. They try to make the state responsible, for example by demanding that it provide free and qualified educational opportunities also for working children. They also demand that the work of children and youth be legalised. This is the only way to ensure that social benefits granted to adult workers can also be claimed by children.

We cannot avoid addressing the reasons for the children's plight in public. This also means criticising the capitalist economic system as a whole.

Updated: 14.12.2020