Governments across Europe tremble as angry people take to the streets

Teki187

Teki187

Teki187

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France paralysed by a wave of strike action, the boulevards of Paris resembling a debris-strewn battlefield. The Hungarian currency sinks to its lowest level ever against the euro, as the unemployment figure rises. Greek farmers block the road into Bulgaria in protest at low prices for their produce. New figures from the biggest bank in the Baltic show that the three post-Soviet states there face the biggest recessions in Europe.

It's a snapshot of a single day – yesterday – in a Europe sinking into the bleakest of times. But while the outlook may be dark in the big wealthy democracies of western Europe, it is in the young, poor, vulnerable states of central and eastern Europe that the trauma of crash, slump and meltdown looks graver.
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Source - http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jan/31/global-recession-europe-protests

Its nice to see that the people still have some power.
 
Old Gordon will use this as ammo to show that he hasn't single handedly nosedived the country :)

"Its a worldwide crisis" will be uttered again - as normal :)

Shame the UK don't follow our European cousins and stand up instead of being ripped off left right and centre with that British stiff upper lip and a cup of tea!
 
The people will always have the power but far too many are just too apathetic to use it by actually voting; they would rather sit back and moan and hope that someone else does something about it.
 
arc@css said:
That's just it, the people do have the power, if only they could get a bit more organized.
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What will the outcome be though?? IE farmers strike for more cash, but that will just come from tax or people (who are also in a bad financial situation) paying more for goods. Apart from ensuring personal financial income at the expense of others, what are the strikes for?
 
POWER TO THE PEOPLE – John Lennon

Say you want a revolution
We better get on right away
Well you get on your feet
And out on the street

Singing power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people, right on

A million workers working for nothing
You better give 'em what they really own
We got to put you down
When we come into town

Singing power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people, right on

I gotta ask you comrades and brothers
How do you treat you own woman back home
She got to be herself
So she can free herself

Singing power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people, right on
Now, now, now, now
 
So the people are striking complaining about the people they voted in... presumably the people think they can do better... history shows this clearly isn't the case (as evidenced by the general fate of heavily unionised workforces and what regularly happens in this country when the electorate gets it into their head that voting labour is a good idea).

We've got the Labour economic collapse and we're heading for the strikes, it's the 1970's all over again. We'll then need another PM like Thatcher to sort the mess out, which will in turn make that PM very unpopular... Anyone notice a pattern here?
 
Its no longer about which party to me.

It's more about what are they doing with all the revenue they collect.

I want transparency on all things, money in, money out, what for, who authorised it etc.

Expenses, greed, waste, are all word's that spring to mind when I think about any politician or political procedure at present and that's not healthy for long term politics at all.

It should be about running the country efficiently and effectively and not about riding a gravy train of ease and insulation from the common man.

It will probably never happen without some form of large scale social unrest.
 
speedyj said:
Its no longer about which party to me.

It's more about what are they doing with all the revenue they collect.

I want transparency on all things, money in, money out, what for, who authorised it etc.

Expenses, greed, waste, are all word's that spring to mind when I think about any politician or political procedure at present and that's not healthy for long term politics at all.

It should be about running the country efficiently and effectively and not about riding a gravy train of ease and insulation from the common man.

It will probably never happen without some form of large scale social unrest.
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Absolutely agreed, unfortunately as there are far too many people who expect the government to take responsibility for them, any attempt to curtail unnecessary government spending tends to be opposed by the electorate.

The government should be as small as possible and as efficient as possible, without pandering to the demands of the electorate to make someone else pay for something they want.
 
Your point is well made.

There has to be a lot more personal, social and financial responsibility in this country (and many others for that point).

Ofcourse the examples of greed and corruption in parts of the government do nothing to help this process in the first place.

Lets face it, most people must be starting to wonder why so many elected and unelected officials (ministers, lords, police, local authority etc etc etc) now seem to work against them and not for or on behalf of them.

I suggest all these people sit down, read Mr Orwells classic and have a good think about things..........
 
Dolph said:
So the people are striking complaining about the people they voted in... presumably the people think they can do better... history shows this clearly isn't the case (as evidenced by the general fate of heavily unionised workforces and what regularly happens in this country when the electorate gets it into their head that voting labour is a good idea).

We've got the Labour economic collapse and we're heading for the strikes, it's the 1970's all over again. We'll then need another PM like Thatcher to sort the mess out, which will in turn make that PM very unpopular... Anyone notice a pattern here?
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labour always destroys the economy (they have always only known how to borrow and spend) - what amazes me is that people are still surprised when it happens, again.
 
simulatorman said:
POWER TO THE PEOPLE – John Lennon

Say you want a revolution
We better get on right away
Well you get on your feet
And out on the street

Singing power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people, right on

A million workers working for nothing
You better give 'em what they really own
We got to put you down
When we come into town

Singing power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people, right on

I gotta ask you comrades and brothers
How do you treat you own woman back home
She got to be herself
So she can free herself

Singing power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people, right on
Now, now, now, now
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A fine example of terrible music and lyrics ;)

On topic, this is not really anything new but it will feature in Brown's speeches about how he hasn't really done that bad.
 
Teki187 said:
S
Its nice to see that the people still have some power.
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??

power to do what exactly - walk around in the street being angry?

Were in the middle of an economic downturn, a bunch of proles deciding not to work for a day or two and go on a march is going to achieve precisely naff all in the grand scheme of things.
 
dowie said:
??

power to do what exactly
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The power to change things.

If for example half the UK decided to strike, they would be FORCED to change what ever they were striking about.

We have power, we just don't know how to use it.
 
Teki187 said:
The power to change things.

If for example half the UK decided to strike, they would be FORCED to change what ever they were striking about.

We have power, we just don't know how to use it.
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This is only a good thing if the people striking have a clue of the consequence of their demands.

Previous strike driven issues (see the 1970's, MG rover and the miners) have proven this is clearly not the case.
 
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