We need a repertoire of transgressive contention.
Because Ilargi is spot on:
Debt always has to be paid down, restructured or solved through some combination of the two. For now, the negatives of both options are laid squarely on the shoulders of the people of the various afflicted nations, instead of on those of the folks who incurred the debt. It seems unlikely that this will continue much longer. Surely, there must be one nation where enough voices can come together to say: no mas?! So far, little action. Protests in Britain, Ireland, Portugal, but nothing anywhere near massive. Nothing that even seriously disrupts an economy or society.
I saw some footage early this morning on BBC that sort of says it all. The news presenters compared the student protest marches outside yesterday with those inside, some sort of sit-down. The latter were praised for being peaceful, the former derided for being violent. Which they weren’t really, there were just the odd few token people who threw stuff, a few among many thousands who just marched. And those few could easily have been paid to throw that stuff by the government. The message being that both the BBC and the government had rather see you sit in a room than march on a street. Much easier to control.
As long as we don’t escape that sort of controlled environment, nothing will happen. It’s all about the difference between a financial crisis, which most people continue to believe this is, and a political one, which it actually is. This crisis is entirely political because, for instance, politicians don’t protect their electorate from predatory institutions and practices. Because those predators are the ones who have the real political power (re: campaign finance). Because, see Ireland, banks and their stockholders are still being made whole on their losses, without restructuring, without haircuts, at the cost of the people. Who still have no clue what is going on. It would be a good thing if that would change. A very good thing. For you. For your children.
Where do you think the €100 billion or so
or moreinvolved in the Irish bailout ends up? This money is used to pay off the gambling debt of Irish bankers to global banks, to Deutsche, Société Générale, and eventually to the same Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan that are in the center of all these miserable stories all over the globe. That is what has to stop. And until that happens, it makes no difference who you vote for in your elections, no matter where you are.And if anyone tells you it’ll all be alright, you just ask them what they suggest we do with the debt. Shoveling more and more into your own kids’ graves doesn’t sound like a great idea, so why do you do it? You’re not going to change this one with a sit-down protest.