London 21/02/1990 Wednesday
Got a letter from my cousin with shocking news. Firstly she said Elmo had died in a car crash on the 26th of December. It made me think of my dream at the end of October, about a car crash. He hit a truck and died instantaneously. Unbelievable! Then our grandad Gennaro. He had a strangulated hernia. He had two operations and nearly died. And me here, all happy. We phoned Rio and talked to my aunt. She said they thought grandad was going to die, and were waiting for the worse to pass before telling us. He’s better now, but lost a lot of weight, sad, and bedridden at home. So sad! I wish I’d been there to help somehow. My bastard uncle sold my aunt’s car to pay the rent of the new shop (they have relocated), and they are on the verge of selling the phone line too… Gabriel will be five tomorrow and Brazil is feeling hopeless under Collor. The future looks bleak.
There are no English classes this week, it’s half-term. Today a guy from the south of Brazil, a Gaucho, went in the shop looking for work, and I really wanted him to work there, but Joe wasn’t interested! Later on I told Joe that people get rich through the exploitation of the workforce. Only through stealing, i.e. exploiting, it’s possible to become rich. All rich people are thieves. Yes, I said that to my boss. He said many rich people are honest and generous. I laughed at his face… Rich people can lie to themselves, and make believe they are honest. But for someone to be rich someone somewhere has to be paid less than they are worth. That’s the capitalist principle. Then they give to charity to alleviate their conscience. They pretend to be saintly by giving crumbs. Giving back 1/1000th of what is rightfully theirs in the first place, what they took away by stealing from the poor.