The next austerity fire
- By Earl Bousquet
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China.org.cn, August 19, 2011
The debate will continue as to what really is to be read from the writing on London's burnt walls. But the tendency towards defiant anarchy in Britain is no different to what's happening in other European states also with large immigrant communities that feel marginalized or abandoned, or consider themselves victims of anti-immigrant policies. Similarly robust reactions have also been seen from trade unions and citizens in other European capitals – Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy – where billions are being spent to avert a continental financial meltdown.
The euro zone is under debt management stress. Germany's production and growth has almost ground to a halt, forcing the German chancellor and the French president to again meet to discuss how to prevent the European debt crisis from reaching Berlin and Paris.
Chaotic responses can also be expected in the U.S., where America's reduced credit rating and debt management problems have led to fears of another global recession and the impact of federal spending cuts. The storm clouds are gathering in Washington, with President Obama's ratings at an all-time low, unemployment growing and growth still sluggish.
The emphasis in Western capitals is on finding quick solutions. The U.S. and Europe have so far spent hundreds of billions of dollars on bailouts, neglecting the communities most affected.
Major Western governments usually implement policies that see the banks and corporations bailed out first, while average citizens lose their homes and jobs – and still have to suffer higher taxes and increased cuts in their social benefits.
The policies being adopted to contain financial contagion and restore national creditworthiness will further pummel millions of poor people, sparking protests commensurate with the depth and scale of cuts and austerity measures.
The British government's robust response has quelled protests and saved London, but the embers are still smoldering. Britain may have been temporarily spared further mayhem, but history has shown that such blazing protest fires, after being hurriedly and forcibly extinguished, can easily be rekindled.
London's ashes and embers are still red hot signals to everyone elsewhere that no one can predict when or where the next fire will break out.
The author is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:
http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/node_7107878.htm
Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn
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