The G20 fiddled as London burned with passion.  People from all over descended on the city.  Once more unto the breach Shakespeare said and so they came.  CNN, that bastion of unbiased and insightful news, giggled at the foolish simpletons who clashed with police commenting that the protests would have no effect except perhaps on Gordon Brown, the host.  His public image moving forward in his career might be tarnished.  Oh how sad.  Well let the CNN info-tainers chuckle away.  The result is just to put these passionate people in some pretty fine company.  Thomas Payne, Thomas Jefferson, Karl Marx, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King.  All of these icons of past days were laughed at, their ideas considered absurd.  Gandhi said, “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win!”  So I guess those of us who believe there is something to shout to or at our leaders have reached the second stage.  We are making progress .   And from recent events stage three seems to be warming up in the bull pen. 

Inside the imps of imperialism plotted their next move.  With illusion worthy of the great Harry Houdini they declared they had pulled a diamond out of the dung.  With a trillion dollars to developing economies and a vague promise of greater regulation they announced that they would avert a depression.  Translation:  they can keep the system they so love, which benefits they and their friends greatly.  By so doing they also avert what might be the greatest political upheavals since the Great Depression and the revolutions of 1848.  At least they hope they will.  The trillion dollars is to be dispensed through the IMF and the other usual suspects.  It will come with a heavy dose of liberal laissez-faire political doctrine as is the wont of these agencies of the imperial powers.  These institutions all operate on weighted voting so that the major economic powers can control the show.  Bye-Bye any concept of justice.  States will be told to reduce spending in areas such as education, health care and social services.  These things are all under attack in our own societies so it is necessary to keep THOSE people even worse off. 

Outside people cried for real change.  Shouted to have their voices heard.  The were corraled into small areas by police, a procedure called kettling.  They were not allowed to leave the area.  Parents who had to pick up their children at school were refused.  And by extension, frightened children waited, many probably terrified when parents who were always on time were hours late.  But the British courts had approved the practice.  There were no washrooms.  People were forced to find privacy where they could.  Ostensibly this was done to prevent property damage.  After all property is far more important in our society than people.  But even this formal response to the media, when questioned, was a lie.  Each individual in each area had to submit to be photographed and give particulars before they could leave at end of day.  This violates British law but as we know in Canada the “Law” is above the law. 

So why go through this indignity.  Millions of others sat at home and did nothing, content that their leaders would look after them.  It is simple.  Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young put it in a song called Ohio, “How can you run when you know?”  The people in the streets of London knew and they could find their way there, their voices trumpeting the collapse of the walls of the Bank of England.  Others know and they write their politicians.  Others write letters to editors or blogs or let their friends know.  None of us can change the world by ourselves.  But if we all do our part.  Whatever it is.  The world will change and it must.

Photos retrieved from Guardian UK online (see link in sidebar under News).

I also agree with the Right Wing pundits that the current stimulus packages are misguided.  I am being kinder here than they tend to be but then don’t expect me  to start agreeing with them whole-heartedly.  I haven’t gone off my nut yet.  The Right is arguing that the stimulus is wrong because it is communism which they equate with state / government ownership.  Communism does not necessarily mean state ownership but I will leave aside correcting this delusion of theirs as I don’t think they are interested.  Besides, it would involve thinking and their is only so much you can ask of the pin-headed Right.  But the stimulus is misguided for two basic reasons.  First it may not work.  If it doesn’t, can the taxpayer come up with another trillion or so dollars next year when the current funds run out?  The answer is probably not without seriously affecting our quality of life and will we be in a mood to ante up more money after the stories of lavish parties and bonuses that have surrounded this first effort?  At the very least it will be a hard political sell.  So the current solution has not left us many options in the event of failure.  It’s an all or nothing venture and the public is not prepared for the nothing.  The second reason that the stimulus package is misguided is its intent.  It is intended to fix the current system and that is where it loses me.  As I said above, we can expect these down cycles, some to the point of creating serious economic and social hardship, as long as we have a capitalist system.  Maybe it is time we thought about something different. 

Capitalism is the most dynamic economic system mankind has ever devised.  And we did devise it.  Capitalism is not nature as some like to present it.  Capitalism can create more wealth in a society faster than any other economic system we currently know of.  However it also creates great inequality which leads to social tension and requires a more coercive state.  We can keep putting band aids on the old girl but the fundamental problems will not change.  Karl Marx was absolutely correct (I would never say he was right as that would be blaspheming against my faith) when he wrote that capitalism contains its own gravediggers.  EVERY time capitalism has been allowed free reign to operate, unregulated and unchecked, it has collapsed upon itself.  Compare the heady days of the 1920s to the equally heady days of the 1990s and beyond and you will see many similarities.  We know what happened in 1929.  That is history.  We do not know yet whether it is repeating itself now but even if this recession does not pan out into a full depression it is already as, or more, severe than any other recession since the Great Depression.  Not to blow my own horn but I have been expecting this big implosion since the 1980s when the move to laissez-faire first rolled into full swing.  Anyone with a basic understanding of history could have predicted the current situation.  When it would happen was always a mystery but that it would happen was never in question. 

The new question becomes, now that we are in a major bust cycle, what do we do about it?  Another band aid?  Or transplant surgery?  It is a tough question.  So let me give you an easier one.  Do you want your grandchildren to lose their house and have their lives torn apart by another recession / depression?  If you support those who want to just put a new band aid on the old girl then the answer is yes.  Think about it.