As the world financial meltdown grows, more citizens are taking to the streets to riot and rebel.
A fascinating piece in the January 21 Times details the growing citizen rebellions and riots in response to the global financial meltdown. It begins with a look at three countries that have not had protest cultures but are now on the verge of detonation: Iceland, Bulgaria, and Latvia.
Reports the Times:
"Icelanders all but stormed their Parliament last night. It was the first session of the chamber after what might appear to be an unusually long Christmas break. Ordinary islanders were determined to vent their fury at the way that the political class had allowed the country to slip towards bankruptcy. The building was splattered with paint and yoghurt, the crowd yelled and banged pans, fired rockets at the windows and lit a bonfire in front of the main door. Riot police moved in."
In Latvia, a traditionally peaceful citizenry has turned. Reports the Times:
"In Latvia – where growth has been in double-digit figures for years – anger is bubbling over at official mismanagement. GDP is expected to contract by 5 per cent this year; salaries will be cut; unemployment will rise. Last week, in a country where demonstrators usually just sing and then go home, 10,000 people besieged parliament."
LSE economist Robert Wade warns that the world is approaching a new tipping point. Wade says that starting from March-May 2009, we can expect large-scale civil unrest.
"It will be caused by the rise of general awareness throughout Europe, America and Asia that hundreds of millions of people in rich and poor countries are experiencing rapidly falling consumption standards; that the crisis is getting worse not better; and that it has escaped the control of public authorities, national and international."
Looks like those 20,000 combat-hardened U.S. troops were brought back stateside for "civil unrest" duty just in time.
One fortunate thing in the United States is that the election of Barack Obama has bought some time. With the feeling of hope and change in the air, the storming of the barricades may be forestalled, at least for a while.
But the final driver is how people are living; is there a roof over their heads and food in their bellies. If things don’t reverse – if job loss, personal savings loss by theft of Wall Street and banksters, hoarding of credit by the banksters, and home loss aren’t turned around soon, we may very well see here what’s happening in Iceland and so many other countries. Let's hope not.