If all politics is local, all economics is global: this week's panic on stock markets knows no bounds. Rage at economic systems that offer them little hope of a better life has driven millions of ordinary citizens onto city streets from London and Cairo to Santiago and Tel Aviv.
The faltering economies of the US and Europe have also changed the geopolitical rules, dimming the prospect for western military intervention in global trouble spots and hastening the end of existing expeditionary deployments in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.
The scale and social consequences of the emerging crisis became visible this week as share prices plunged, while the streets of one of the world's great financial capitals burnt. Sure, the events in London were triggered by police shooting a young black man, but the scale of the outrage - and its character, in the form of leaderless mobs of looters with no political demands - reflected the alienation of a whole generation of inner city youth, who have no stake in the system and nothing to lose by breaking its rules. (The rioters also showed the power of mobile phones and social networking in the hands of a self-conscious insurrection.)
No comments:
Post a Comment