Children of the Revolution (22 feb 2009, Guardian UK)

QuoteA heavy chain binds the iron gates of the philosophy faculty of the university of Athens, the city where the notions of philosophy and of university were invented in the shadow of the Acropolis. But this does not mean that the building is empty, or that there is not effervescent discourse in progress; quite the reverse, the place is teeming with people and ideas. It has been - as have thousands of colleges, schools, city halls, offices and every other kind of building across Greece - occupied. Put under occupation by, in this case, the students. So that the walls, inside and out, like every wall in Athens, are lined with the slogans of the insurrection which propelled the most tumultuous and prolonged riots in a European city since 1968, after the killing by police of a 15-year-old, Alexis Grigoropoulos, as he chatted with friends on a street corner on 6 December 2008.

Mainstream media portrayals of civil unrest in Greece and other parts of the world have been almost uniformly negative, casting the rioters by turns as lazy hooligans, violent anarchists and their actions as wholly unjustified. This article presents a somewhat different perspective on the whole affair.

Mina.

I didn't even know something was up.

Maybe, just maybe we are heading for another '68 (+ '77 in Italy).

Not sure whether the population in the US and UK has sufficient political awareness to take this on effectively. Just like back then we are facing the end of an unsustainable era, an Ancien Régime that has become fossilised and geriatric despite the election of the likes of Obama.

These situations occur rarely and can bring great progress, God willing.

Quote from: imaz on February 25, 2009, 10:50:59 AM
Maybe, just maybe we are heading for another '68 (+ '77 in Italy).

Not sure whether the population in the US and UK has sufficient political awareness to take this on effectively. Just like back then we are facing the end of an unsustainable era, an Ancien Régime that has become fossilised and geriatric despite the election of the likes of Obama.

These situations occur rarely and can bring great progress, God willing.

Hmmm. There is huge opportunity in the world at the moment. But opportunity can also see things turn immeasurably worse.

My concern is that all the fear and uncertainty in the world is pushing people more and more towards the radical right - conservative evangelism in the US, ultra-nationalism in Europe, that sort of thing, and too often in the last century we've seen exactly where those forces lead - Nazi Germany, South African and Israeli Apartheid, Stalin, Lenin, Mao ... damn it's a big list. 

I just hope revolutionary voices like those in Southern Europe and Africa and South America and the like can be loud enough to prevent things from going in that sort of direction.

Mina.

They hanged a banker in effigy today at Marble Arch in London. (Fitting, because Marble Arch used to be Tyburn where thousands of common criminals were hanged with big parties.) Can't imagine there to be riots though.

Quote from: mina.m->-bleeped-<-ie link=topic=56542.msg352554#msg352554 date=1235582901
Hmmm. There is huge opportunity in the world at the moment. But opportunity can also see things turn immeasurably worse.

My concern is that all the fear and uncertainty in the world is pushing people more and more towards the radical right - conservative evangelism in the US, ultra-nationalism in Europe, that sort of thing, and too often in the last century we've seen exactly where those forces lead - Nazi Germany, South African and Israeli Apartheid, Stalin, Lenin, Mao ... damn it's a big list. 

I just hope revolutionary voices like those in Southern Europe and Africa and South America and the like can be loud enough to prevent things from going in that sort of direction.

Mina.

The far right is certainly a growing threat in many countries, never believed I would see a fascist (Fini) as Vice Premier in Italy for example.

Don't believe however they have sufficient backing to take power here in Europe anymore as Coups seem to have gone out of fashion in the last decades.

As regards your list I agree with it all except Lenin. It was really Stalin with the concept of socialism in one country that messed things up. Of course this was anticipated by western intervention in the civil war which created his paranoid siege mentality.

Things could have gone a different way and maybe one day they still will.

Quote from: Pica Pica on February 25, 2009, 11:37:02 AM
They hanged a banker in effigy today at Marble Arch in London. (Fitting, because Marble Arch used to be Tyburn where thousands of common criminals were hanged with big parties.) Can't imagine there to be riots though.

They should have hanged the effigy at a soccer match.  The rioting would be a given.

Quote from: imaz on February 25, 2009, 11:47:18 AM
As regards your list I agree with it all except Lenin. It was really Stalin with the concept of socialism in one country that messed things up. Of course this was anticipated by western intervention in the civil war which created his paranoid siege mentality.

Not to mention the Nazis knocking loudly.

QuoteThings could have gone a different way and maybe one day they still will.

I hope so, though I don't believe state-controlled communism would be any better in the long run than capitalism. Both create and enforce a rigid class-structure in society, which inherently destabilises that society because of discontent from the bottom classes.

Mina.

If real change is to made, risks have to be taken. '68 nearly was a reality here in the US until the power structure (right wing principly) squashed it by violence.

Gennee