Since the Euro zone has fallen into recession, some political parties have been making good use of the atmosphere of uncertainty and disapproval that is upon Europe regarding politico-economic decisions.
After marking a historic victory on the Senate, the French left is enthusiastically looking forward to the Presidential elections, to be held in 22 April and 6 May 2012, knowing now that voters’ intentions are on their side, specially, in the side of François Hollande who, according to the Libération‘s survey, is the most likely to defeat the incumbent: Nicolas Sarkozy, who has seen how his poll numbers depress along with economy. Alain Juppé, Minister of Foreign Affairs, has seen his stock rise within in the President’s own party UMP (Union pour un Mouvement Populaire.) and is the favourite to succeed Sarkozy.
The affairs seem to repeat in the Iberian Peninsula, where economical uncertainty has also spread to political fields. In Spain, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has been bombarded with reproaches coming from the leader of the opposition Mariano Rajoy who has blamed him for the rising in the unemployment rates (16% or two and a half million people) and a deficit of 250.000 million Euros. These feelings of discontent have echoed upon the Spanish who have Rajoy and the PP (Popular Party) as the leaders of the desired shift in Spanish politics as Rajoy promised to not increase taxes, a fiscal policy that Zapatero adopted in order to attack the Spanish deficit.
Here in the UK, we arrive at an island where the syndicates are planning to boycott David Cameron’s policy of cutbacks in the public sector; sector that also had to suffer the government intervention when it comes to cutting workers to cope with the financial crisis. Even though the Bank of England has pumped £75bn into the banking system, the fear of inflation also rises. This concern has led to the Prime Minister’s popularity to drop.
Greece, the country where the genesis of the first recession that has gripped the continent since the introduction of the euro occurred, is on a moment where people’s unhappiness has reached its boiling point. In Athens, the Aganaktismeoi (a group of activists) who were marching in Syntagma Square to express in front of the parliament their anger had to be controlled, some of them, with tear gas by the police, to which they responded with stones and bottles. In addition, the syndicates of the Peloponesian peninsula have arranged strikes as a backlash for the cuts made by Karolos Papoulias’s government who was reelected last year with 266 votes in the country's 300-seat of the parliament. The Hellenic nation, despite the financial support (€110 billion) given by the IMF and the countries of the Euro area, still can’t get out of its deepest downturn. And, consequently, the venting of anger of the citizens against the government can’t wait.
The austerity times have resulted in times of bonanza for politicians of rival parties who have been enchanting and seducing the ears of the Europeans, at the expenses of the leaders who see how their projects and their policies to face the crisis fall apart. Some of these tendencies are starting to show up on the superpower The United States, in which the movement Occupy Wall Street started a romantic battle against economic greed to defend American’s welfare. Their first demonstration (on September 24) with a background of waving flags above a torrent of people with a lot to say, was an ecstasy of marching, screaming, running and pepper-spraying that finished with a positive response by the Americans who were watching it at home or from their cars. The movement partly inspired in the Arab Spring, has also gained plenty of followers in Washington D.C where demonstrations are starting to take place.
Occupy Wall Street has persuaded people to be on their side with appealing slogans like “Lost my job found an occupation”, “I am here for you because you are here for me” or “the American dream has been stolen from the world”, always thinking on changing things into an idyllic reality where everybody helps each other and hold hands. However, in the real world things are totally different; whether the shifting of powers that is happening in Europe and even the one that is taking place in North of Africa were made with noble instincts or not, sometimes, the revolutionists end up doing the very same as what they rally against, not for having lost their passion, but for being deterred and discouraged by the laws of reality. The most sensible actions to deter recession are being made right now by our presidents and PMs. A change in the latter would only/probably signify [just] a change of faces, but with the same policies to battle crisis.
Occupy Wall Street: A real revolution requires more than a game of words to tantalize the general public, who are easy to convince in moments of crisis.