And so it begins.







http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11432579

So true but they do not bribe the politicians enough. Banks have spent hundreds of millions bribing politicians around the world.

I expect a general strike or two. Riots galore, especially once the cuts happen.

+1

It’s going to hurt - and people don’t take this kind of thing lying down.

No they won't. I expect at least a country or two in Europe to collapse into revolution. Ireland will collapse but not sure if the public will rise up. Several east European countries will collapse, and Greece will probably become a military dictatorship again to restore order. Hungary looks very vulnerable as well. Though once the revolutions start watch the coalition abandon austerity just long enough to avoid problems here.

It may not be the fault of the "proletariat", but protesting isn't going to fix anything. If people riot, it will only precipitate a fall into total chaos.

Burning things down is not constructive. It's economic suicide. If you can't do anything constructive, at least don't make things worse!

Eton, Oxford University, NatWest Tower...

Far from it. Austerity measures are what is destroying Ireland. The government pledge to guarantee Allied Irish Bank customers is what is doing a lot of the damage. Riots might end up burning a few buildings down but without it the economy will collapse under the austerity measures because they will be worse. Riots will make governments think about what they are doing.

JJ, chaos would be a nice change. The system is at fault here and the only way to change that is to not consent to the rules of the system. Rioting is one way to do that.

That said:



This is patently untrue at worst and massively optimistic at best.

It got rid of Maggie. I am not suggesting it as a course of action. I am just commentating.

Surely it would depend on where you riot?

Burn Toxteth and nobody would bat an eyelid. Burn Tatton and Tunbridge Wells? That's a whole different pint of prawns...

A strongly worded letter to The Times would probably be just as effective in "changing the system", and would not devastate the lives of hundred's of innocent individuals.

Yes but do you honestly think that the coalition make policy depending on the contents of the Times letters page? What about the Viz letters page or what Nicola, 21 and 36DD from Dartford on Page three of the Sun?

That's just the problem. The innocent individuals in question are dependent on the system. Just like people en masse aren't prepared to make the required sacrifices and alter their lives significantly enough to, for example, reduce oil consumption - they also aren't prepared to endure some sacrifice and rioting to get through to a new era.

There are 65 million of us and at most, several 10s of thousands of "them". If we chose together, to stop paying tax, or stop going to work, or whatever, there's no way they could stop us. We are each of us individuals and thousands of years ago, we didn't need governments or austerity measures or whatever. We lived our own lives however we wanted and worked in small teams to take care of our community's needs.

Now, everybody wants an iPad, a nice car and house etc. and they don't want anyone to rock their boat. The French revolution brought us a change from feudalism to capitalism and I'm beginning to wonder if another big change might be needed.....

- Marko Ramius

It's been a long time since I've heard from him, but it's always welcome