REVOLUTION



ETUC ACTION SITES 14 NOV 2012

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) is not a radical organization that acts rashly without considering the impact on Europe’s families and businesses. Their rationale for coordinated protests states:

The European Day of Action and Solidarity 14^th November 2012, is organised by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), with the slogan: "For Jobs and Solidarity in Europe. No to Austerity”.

The intention is to remind governments that many regions have unacceptably high unemployment, particularly in the 16 to 26 age group, which suffers 20% unemployment in London and 50% in Madrid. Such lost generations are the stuff of revolutions because when all reason fails - fit, strong, physical, impatient youth turns to apathy and then to mindless violence.



The mindlessly violent Bolsheviks in Russia in Spring 1918 invited all Bank-Deposit-Box holders to attend with their keys – and confiscated all the contents. This yielded only a few hundred millions of roubles, in contrast to the 50 billion National Debt including 11 billion roubles owed to foreign governments. The large values, the billions, were in land and industry - owned by a few aristocrats. The Soviet banking system remained chaotic and dysfunctional until recently. Nobody benefits from revolution.

The wealth gap today is even wider than in Russia or France before their revolutions. And today’s global transborder cash aristocrats are just as careless and sociopathic as the worst Emperor, King, Grand Duke or Princess Marie Antoinette of those bloody times. Today the mob is in the billions, not millions, and they all have cell-phones and your addresses.

Like the aristocrats of old, today’s controllers of capital are sitting on vast fortunes, some are indulging in conspicuous consumption, and both rich individuals and corporations are refusing to invest. They will not circulate “their” assets which is the lifeblood of any economy. Money must circulate or the body dies. This is not only the $21 trillion buried in tax-havens, but the far larger sums frozen on-shore by cautious savers and company treasurers.

The major difference between 1920 and 2012 is that the Real-Economy, enabled by The Knowledge-Economy and its computerised automation is inarguably and visibly the greatest wealth-producing machine ever dreamt of. The seven billion strong Mob will get really pissed off and more than slightly rebellious if the paper economy, the Money-Economy, the bookkeepers, organised by our governments and self-important capitalists, sits on its flaccid hands any longer and threatens to sabotage the wealth producing automated farms, mines and factories.

The paper system does need overhauling from time to time, needs a shakedown, modernising and reshaping, so as to go forward in better health. But the world does not need austerity designed to steal more from the poor and give it to the already rich; or payday loans at 3,500% APR. The reverse is required. As the Real-Economy becomes ever more automated; as necessity jobs disappear and are given to machines to do; the fantastic, unparalleled wealth of the world economy has to be fairly distributed. The governors have to govern intelligently – the banks and corporations have to invest hugely in infrastructure and 21^st century new industry (which will be automated with few factory jobs) – and the rich capitalists have to come out of comfortable early retirement and risk investing.

Otherwise – they (and probably many of us ordinary folk) will all follow Marie-Antoinette to the scaffold. Even her position, youth, beauty and her innocence of worldly matters did not melt the hearts of the hungry, cheated, angry mob.

If you are currently in charge of the money-economy, you are strongly advised not to whine “But there’s no money – the nation is in debt – you must all suffer more”. Do say, “We are globally repatriating $21 trillion from tax-havens to repair all deficits and are globally investing another $50 trillion into the future of mankind and this wonderful planet”

For your own and for all our sakes …Get on with it!  

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