Global movement of hopelessness and desperation

This year has seen a number of popular protests against the reigning systems raging across the world from Egypt to New york. Some of them have overthrown long established authoritarian governments as in Egypt and some continues to threaten the exisiting systems as in Greece. A curious student in history and culture would love to ask the question to himself what binds these protests together in an increasingly connected or should I say “globalized” world ? Here are few factors that I believe are responsible about these protest movements and how they may continue to influence us.
An increasingly hopeless people turns agitated

Having a look at some of the major countries like for example Greece , Spain , Italy , Egypt , Tunisia and the United States where the protests are taking place one can find a common pattern in these protest movements. It will be an understatement to say that the reasons of economic inequality and unemployement are the only reasons behind these protests. There is a sense in the wider world that the governing systems are unjust and those who are in the position to make decisions regarding the lives and livelihood of the people are just not interested in making decisions that reflect the best interests of the people. This is particularly true in countries like Greece and Spain where the governments of these countries are talking about harsh financial austerity packages which brings about increasing taxes and cuts in education and medical care; all measures which have to be bore by the shoulders of the common people. As a natural reaction there are lots of emotion in the streets of Athens , Madrid and Rome against their governments as well as the multilateral institutions like the EU and IMF. In United States the famous American dream seems to be turning into nights of despair and desolation for many people. Every recent economic statistics from America suggests that the last two decades have seen the incomes of the middle and lower classes remain stagnant and the incomes of the richest sections of the population have grown considearbly higher. The modern American narrative has been to promise Americans of a better life than their parents if they happen to work hard enough. But since the present generation of middle and lower income Americans have not seen any substantial increase in their incomes and livelihoods there is a feeling of hopelessness amongs the American people. The feeling of hopelessness has been strengthened by the feeling that the American government is not playing the role of the honest broker that it should play in the capitalist economy. People have started to believe that the bankers and financiers instead of ending up behind bars have gone home with much fatter and bigger paychecks after their reckless policies which brought the financial ruin of 2008.
In case of north Africa , the sense of hopelessness have been doubled with the popular sense of impotence to do anything about the corrupt governence in their countries. The suicide of Mohamed Bouazizi illustrates this point very well. These have been the reasons that are driving the protests in these countries.


Practical solutions are required

The global movement of hopelessnes and desperation can protest all day long on the streets but until and unless they come up with practical solutions in an organized way they will not be able to solve their issues that they are looking so earnestly. The economic and social issues facing the countries in question are diverse in nature so their solution could not be monotonous. For example , the people in Egypt need to find a way to face the possible starvation that is looming over their fates in not too distant horizon. What Egypt needs desperately is more cultiviable land to feed its hungry populace. The would-be rulers in Egypt (if the military junta currently controlling Egypt allows free and fare elections) need to find out ways to bring back the billions of dollars that are currently residing in swiss bank accounts of friends of Mr. Mubarak and then use those resources to find out cultiviable lands around the World mainly in countries like Australia , Canada and the US and elsewhere. These are the types of solutions the would-be rulers in places like Egypt and elsewhere needs to think and come out with. One thing is sure that once even some practical solutions can be implemented to the problems of economic inequality then in the modern age of facebook and twitter similar approaches can be learnt and used by people in rest of the World.


Notes
1. Global Peace Index : http://www.visionofhumanity.org/wp-content/uploads/PDF/2011/2011%20GPI%20Results%20Report.pdf
2. Riding the wave of discontent : Stephen M. Walt : http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/10/17/riding_the_wave_of_discontent