France. They gave us the French Revolution (1789–1799), a period of political and social upheaval in the history of France and Europe. It was a bloody and heroic challenge to the French structure of government. The monarchy had absolute power with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and the Church.
People died in the name of liberty, equality, and fraternity. These changes were accompanied by violent turmoil, including executions and repressions. The European power structure of the time trembled because the message from France was loud and clear. The chaos caused by the new form of democracy was controlled by Napoleon, the emperor.
This time France is shaken again by the free-market (“liberal”) ideas of Mr. Sarkozy. Recently he was confronted with what some hard-left union leaders promised would be a replay of 1995. On Wednesday, November 14th railway, bus and metro workers brought France to a standstill on the first day of a rolling, open-ended strike against similar plans to end the special regimes. On November 20th teachers, town-hall staff, post-office workers and other civil servants were due to strike. And militant students had put up blockades on 20-odd university campuses. In two cases, riot police were sent in to clear them.
In a democracy the masses ask. The politicians give. Until there is no more money. Stagnation. Changes need to be made. The masses resist. In France, Germany, and Italy people do not want to give up the acquired rights.
Then, a Napoleon or Putin comes, followed by new revolutions to regain the lost freedoms. And, like the ebb and tides of the ocean, political systems come and go. New promises are made and the masses scramble to get a bigger piece of the pie in the name of liberte’, egalite’, fraternite’.
Democracy becomes socialism, which is the dictatorship of the bureaucracy. Europe is ahead of us. But we are moving steadily in that direction as we make every effort to isolate ourselves from the rest of the world.
More on http://www.peterdag.com/.
George Dagnino, PhD
Editor, The Peter Dag Portfolio
Since 1977
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