Tuesday 9 December 2008

The One That Hopes It May Be A Glimpse Of Light At The End Of The Tunnel. . .

"The country doesn't have a government to protect it," he said. "Citizens are experiencing a multiple crisis: a social crisis, a crisis of values. People have lost trust in the government."
Where is this?

Zimbabwe? Britain?

"We won't show any leniency," he said. "No one has the right to use this tragic incident as an excuse for acts of violence. At this critical time, the political world must unite to condemn those responsible for this disaster and isolate them."

Myanmar? India?

It is unclear what measures the government is considering after a third night of chaos in Greek cities after the death of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos on Saturday.
Oh. Greece.

A very interesting article in the Grauniad (brought to my attention by EU Referendum) contains what I think is a startling passage of text given the publication it is in:

With many struggling to make ends meet, and one in five living below the poverty line, there is growing anger at the tough fiscal policies of a government determined to reach the prescriptive benchmarks set out by Brussels and rein in budget deficits. The disaffection has been exacerbated by allegations of corruption and a series of scandals implicating members of Karamanlis's inner circle.

I've always tried to avoid the Guardian, it is just as sanctimonious as the Daily Distress and the Daily Fail but people seem to give it more credence as it is printed on big paper. That being said, I've noticed a wavering of their stance during recent weeks, especially in their online content. Because I'm a masochistic old sod I listen to Victoria Derbyshire's phone in show in the mornings on BBC Radio 5, normally I have to turn it off after a while because it fills me with rage and despair in equal measure, but again over the past few months I've noticed more and more people espousing the sort of policies that sit very comfortably with a Libertarian agenda.

There's a big difference between people wanting the same as us and 'connecting' with us, I suspect the reflex action will be to vote Tory to kick this lot out, then a good number will realise they've voted for more of the same and will go back to Labour. We could be in for a spell of electoral tennis, but the seeds have been planted and are starting to germinate. What is even more encouraging is that due to the Libertarian's limited resources we can't really claim credit for it, these ideas are being formed independently of us, something which is sure to send panic through the big three once they cotton on.

EU Referendum says:

"Fear and despair are what these riots are about," the Guardian piece ends. This may not be simply riots we are seeing. This could be revolution – the revolt of the masses against the corrupt élites.

It is possible that is the case, but I doubt it. Revolution is very nearly always a counter productive thing, it is divisive and normally ends in an extended period of blood letting. That is never good inspite of what righteous devotees of whichever creed has taken over will claim. Proper change is evolutionary rather than revolutionary and is much more stable. However if the causes behind the civil unrest in Greece are as the Graun claim, it could very well be the catalyst to a gentle revolution of people rejecting the centralist, power stripping and authoritarian patterns of the EU and major party politics over Europe and putting themselves in power rather than the platitude mouthing professional political class.

Now that would be a good thing.

1 comment:

The Refuser said...

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/ambrose_evans-pritchard/blog/2008/12/10/greek_fighting_the_eurozones_weakest_link_starts_to_crack

Sorry about the length of the link Wolfers. I quite like Ambrose Evans Pritchard mostly because he is a euro sceptic. His take on this is (if I am understanding it correctly) that the troubles in Greece will soon be coming to Spain and Italy etc. The efforts to bring all these countries under the yoke of a single currency are starting to unravel.

The Greeks have always had a much more active communist/socialist party than most of the Euro zone, but as the noose tightens I think we will see this kicking off in more countries. I wouldn't like to bet on the euro's long term future, at least in it's present form. Maybe an elite group of countries like Germany, Austria and the Benelux countries will form a breakaway group. The high value of the euro is crippling the economies of the "pigs" and the measures they are having to take will become increasingly unpalatable for a big chunk of the population.