"Revolt of the Masses II"
The empire's edges tear and fray in
a fiery clash of cultures and ideas...
by Bill Bonner
Youghal, Ireland - "A rhythmic chant…savages bedaubed with paint…feathers in their hair…and scalps at their waists…They dance wildly around a fire, as if under the spell of a demon…or a god. Perhaps they are celebrating the capture of new slaves…perhaps they are preparing their captives for a feast…at which, they are the main course…Or maybe they are just celebrating a change in the seasons….making a plea for rain…an appeal to the stars…the forces of nature over which they have no control…But wait…these savages are us…
We are looking at ourselves. Perhaps not as we would like to be. Certainly not as the elite would want us to be. But we are not clay…to be molded by 21st century policy makers and influencers. Instead, we were shaped by millions of years of trial and error…and fired in a white-hot oven of episodic disaster – famine, war, drought, flood, cold and pestilence. The results – the cracked pots – are all around us.
Hooligans and Miscreants: Last week, here in Ireland, we saw the mischief we humans get up to, from time to time. The Washington Examiner. "Irish police have arrested 34 people for participating in riots that broke out after an Algerian-born immigrant stabbed five people, including three children."
Prosecuting those who broke the law, including the Algerian immigrant who stabbed five people, should have been the end of the matter. But the Irish government is sensitive about the fact that their immigration policies, which have led to almost 20% of the country’s population being foreign-born, are unpopular. The pace of mass migration has been particularly dramatic in Ireland, with almost half of all migrants in the country entering in just the past five years.
The rioters are easily dismissed as hooligans and miscreants. But is that all there is to it? Is it just about immigration? Does anger increase, until the riff-raff erupts…or the ‘deplorables’ vote for Geert Wilders or Donald Trump? That’s what the press and the politicians tell us. In the simpleminded approach of the propaganda press, immigration = good; those who oppose it = bad.
Unmentionable Origins: The Financial Times, a reliable mouthpiece for the global elite, was quick to see the challenge. In the Netherlands, Geert Wilders won a solid victory by running for Prime Minister with an anti-immigrant message. His “victory is a warning for Europe,” says the FT. A warning of what? The FT: "…a political earthquake…[Wilders’] success will embolden other anti-immigration, Eurosceptic populists who are hoping for big gains in European parliamentary elections in June…" That is, politicians might begin to care what the masses really think!
The Prime Minister of Ireland (Taoiseach), however, hopes they don’t think at all. He intends to use the riot as an opportunity to crack down on ‘hate speech.’ Rather than address the problem, he proposes to make it unlawful to say anything about it.
Already, the press here in Ireland goes to great lengths to avoid mentioning that the person who set off the Dublin riots was an immigrant. Here, as in the US and most of Europe, the elites in the government as well as those in the media, regard it as unthinkable that immigrants could pose a problem. Giving his immigration status would be like reporting that he was overweight or liked chocolate pudding – totally irrelevant.
But immigration is a problem. And not the only one. The Western Elites have created a very uncomfortable and unsustainable world. Their governments spew out ‘printing press money’ and are almost all going broke – rapidly building up more debt than they can service, let alone pay. They are also setting much of the rest of the world against them – the “Global South,” the BRICS – with their financial sanctions and high-handed military policies. Their ‘green agenda’ too, along with immigration, debt and petty-fogging regulation, almost guarantee that younger generations of native-born citizens will not enjoy the same freedom and prosperity as their parents.
The Frayed Edges of Empire: We count on our civilized elite to guide us away from our primitive instincts to a more enlightened world. And we expect our democracies to enable the wisdom of the masses to (eventually) express itself. But what if politicians were beholden to big money lobbyists rather than the voters who elect them? And what if they were just rigging the system to suit themselves and their sponsors?
Since WWII, ‘The West’ led the world. The West was led by America. And America was led by its elites. While pretending to do good, these elites actually did very well for themselves. The rich got richer and richer. By contrast, since what the French call the “the 30 glorious years” – the ‘50s, ‘60s, and ‘70s – the working classes have made little material progress.
Insisting on obedience, the elites stirred up wars and caused misery at the edges of the empire. Nicaragua, Honduras, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Serbia, Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Ukraine, Israel – the wars seemed endless and senseless. Millions of people died. While millions more refugees – immigrants – sought a better life in Europe and America.
Western elites – particularly in the US – profited by selling firepower to keep the wars going. Then, a tide of immigrants lowered wage costs…leading to higher profits for elite capitalists. They own the assembly lines; they don’t work on them. The new immigrants competed for jobs – but not with the elite, whose jobs at the top were generally safe from foreign competition.
New refugees needed housing too. But they didn’t put the rich out on the streets; they competed for housing mainly in the marginal neighborhoods, not the good ones. And finally, immigrants vote, as soon as they are able. And whom do they vote for? Do we have to ask? Yes, they vote for the elites who favor further immigration. But wait. This is not just about immigration. It’s about the Revolt of the Masses. Stay tuned…"
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