There is no mistaking that a righteous anger is currently building across many societies and nations. The Occupy Wall Street Movement, British riots, Arab Spring, Greek riots and Spanish “los indignados” (the indignant ones) movement are examples of this. Some will dispute bundling such diverse occurrences together, but I’m certain that they are all representative of the same social development.
The core outlook of the righteously angry is strongly anti-banker, anti-rich and anti-corruption; it expresses a powerful sentiment against the system and the market. People are proclaiming that they are not commodities to be bought and sold. Theirs is a quest for change and transformation.
People are saying they have had enough. Had enough of the unfairness. Had enough of the callousness of the super rich. Had enough of being consigned to the margins, to eke out an existence, while seeing the super rich lavish even more outrageous benefits on themselves. Had enough of governments ignoring the issues and pandering further to the super rich. Had enough of being handed the bill when the banking minions of the super rich bring the economic system to the verge of collapse. Had enough of bull dust about wealth “trickling down”.
If this righteous anger is not addressed, there is only one logical outcome. It will build into violent confrontations. The forces of “law and order” (read authoritarian oppression) will be pitched against the angry masses and the outcomes will be bloody and compounding.
Why aren’t there even the first signs of a rational response to this righteous anger? Why isn’t there any acknowledgement that the anger has origins in the operation of an outrageously skewed system of inequality? Inequality of wealth. Inequality of opportunity. Inequality of consequences - the super rich 1% and their minions flout the law with impunity, while the 99% face draconian penalties for minor infractions.
The answer is that the massively wealthy 1%, (and there is no disputing that they are massively wealthy), are not only disdainful and dismissive of the remaining 99%, they understand perfectly well that in order to maintain their position of power and wealth they must outright deny that there is an issue.
The super rich, despite bleating in their media organs about “not understanding” what the protests are about, are very aware that a general movement for change and transformation must be met with a solid wall of denial and an escalation of the oppressive internal security state.
Trouble is, we are reaching the point where the widespread understanding that the “emperor has no clothes” breaches the solid wall of denial.
The result will undoubtedly be chaotic, violent and bloody, and perilous for many of the righteously angry. Look to the current situations in Syria and Bahrain for models of the future repressive state apparatus is full flight against its citizenry.
Current limited freedoms of assembly, free speech and petitioning for change will be progressively closed off. Anger, pent up and actively push down by reactionary police states will erupt into street violence and disorder of a massive scale. When you have nothing more to lose, the worst that the enemy can do to you loses its ability to cower you. Trafalgar Square and Times Square will mirror Tahir Square.
Failure to acknowledge and address the massive stresses that are being engendered in our societies will have chaotic consequences. Already we have seen initial skirmishes of varying intensity, and the impact that rising poverty is having on escalating suicide rates. We can expect the phenomenon of finding “internal enemies” to escalate. Watch out gypsies, Jews, gays and any other minority group that can be easily targeted in order to distract blame from the real perpetrators of our current crisis.
The immediate future will see more aberrant forms of capitalism such as warlord capitalism, e.g. Nigeria, and drug cartel capitalism, e.g. Mexico, overpowering the vestiges of democratic institutions. We may also soon witness significant acts of economic terrorism on a large scale, when ruthless mafia capitalism thinks that its criminal investments are under threat. Authoritarian capitalism of the Chinese model is more likely to flourish and democratic capitalism wither, as resources are directed away from the welfare state towards the internal security state.
All this bodes ill for a world of 7 billion people where it is imperative that significant economic resources should be now being deployed to ensure the well being and sustainability of the 7 billion. Also significant resources should be being deployed to remedy the negative impacts of global warming. Instead, the future holds promise of increased risk, increased violence and systemic failure of current economic infrastructure. We could well witness a significant massive decline in world population as the highly integrated world economic supply chains break apart under the strains of failing capitalism.
We stand on the brink of the abyss and the 1% are resolutely standing behind us and shoving us forward towards chaos.
Afterthought: In writing about future probable violent scenarios I am in no way advocating for the use of violence. I am totally in support of peaceful non-violent advocacy for change and transformation. My point is that everything to date indicates that the oppressive security state will choose violent suppression as their modus operandi in responding to the genuine grievances of the 99%.