We have talked a lot about the financial crisis and what should be done, but one thing I find surprising is that nobody in the United States really talks about the possibility of civil unrest and/or riots around the world. I am not sure why that is, maybe because it just hasn't happened here in so long, or maybe it is more of a cultural thing, but I thought I would start a thread and ask what you think about the possibilities of this happening around the world, and even here in the United States.
Europeans do take to the streets, mostly in peaceful protest, though there have been recent notable exceptions. In
2006 French youth got a little out of control and started burning vehicles, etc, which went on for months and was very embarrassing to the French government. In
2008 Greeks went on the rampage sparked by the killing of a child in Athens, but people seem to believe it escalated quickly because of fuel from the current financial crisis. The riots lasted for about three weeks, destroying buildings and property, etc, before quieting down. More recently, in late 2008 and even now,
Icelanders have been protesting because of the extreme disarray in their economy and the devaluation of the currency. The notable thing in my opinion about the Icelandic protests is that Icelanders aren't really the protesting type. French people will protest to celebrate their birthday, but Icelanders are a rather serious lot. With unemployment at 8.3%, up 1.6%,
Latvians have taken to the streets, and in January
10k+ Latvian's tried to force their way into Parliament. Trend ? Or business as usual ?
Is civil unrest on the uptick, is crime on the rise, could it happen here ? What say you ?
I'm interesting in hearing what you all think about this, also from people living outside the United States, what factors you think drive this kind of behavior, do you think it's on the rise or not, etc. Hopefully the conversation won't break down into yet another U.S. partisan political debate.
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