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Editorial See other Editorial Articles Title: Europe, a catastrophe in the making There are strikes and riots all over the place and Europe is a catastrophe in the making. Yet the nearer it gets, the more Pangloss tells us it will never happen. “Nonsense, my dear fellow,” and a sneer appears on his face, “have you had too much coffee?” The rulers of Europe are pompous, self-important and, above all, complacent. They tell us that they know what they are doing; they assure us that they, and nobody else, should be in charge; and they confidently proclaim that “All is For the Best in This Best of All Possible Worlds.” To cap it all, they say that, if there is anything wrong, it is merely the result of the usual few malcontents stirring trouble whenever the opportunity arises. To listen to these rulers you would think they were the Optimist Philosophers of eighteenth century France assuring people that all is for the best in this very best of worlds and everything is part of a beneficent Grand Design. The Optimist Philosophy originated with Gottfried Liebniz in 1701 who was attempting to solve the theological problem of why there is evil i.e., if God is omnibenevolent, omnipotent and omniscient, how do we account for the suffering and injustice that exist in the world? “All is for the Best” was Liebniz’s answer and the French aristocracy, egregiously pompous, self-important and complacent, realized that it gave the justification for their remaining in power forever. So they gave financial support and social distinction to the Optimist Philosophers who were the intellectual, moral and spiritual defenders of the existing social and economic order. The job of the philosophers was to divert and, preferably, smash, any intellectual criticism of, or protest against, the status quo for fear that it might lead on to something worse. And let nobody think that “All Is for the Best” was just a silly joke. When powerful, social, economic and political interests are bent on upholding their position, they will ruthlessly crush anybody who, in any way, dares to criticize the existing social and political order. This is why Voltaire, the writer and philosopher, could not always live in France: sometimes he had to live in England, or just across the French border, in Switzerland. Voltaire had a problem. How could he ever hope to make a successful challenge to an endlessly cruel and oppressive society in which all the cards were stacked against him? Reason could never suffice; argument would be dismissed as trouble-making; and prison, or worse, awaited the pamphleteer. Fortunately for the human race, his response was the brilliant one of laughter. In his novel Candide, or Optimism (1759), he finished off the Optimist Philosophers by satire and ridicule. The philosophers were claiming that war, earthquakes, rape, tidal waves and disease should be welcomed as part of God’s Great Plan and Voltaire’s hero, Candide, accompanied by the puerile, specious, dribbling Optimist Philosopher Pangloss, sees disaster after disaster. Then, no matter how awful the disaster, Pangloss rushes in to assure, “Don’t worry, Candide, All Is for the Best. This is part of God’s purpose!” There comes a point, however, when even the most naïve student (and Candide, as his name suggests, certainly started out as naïve) realizes that he is being lied to and that the quicker he rejects Pangloss and all the Optimist bromides, the better. So when is today’s Candide going to realize that he is being lied to? The official Eurozone unemployment rate is 11.4 percent. For young people the percentage can be doubled; and then add on several percent for government lies. Spanish unemployment is 25 percent overall and 53 percent for young people. The figures for Andalusia are 34 percent and 65 percent respectively. The European Statistics Office, Eurostat, says that 18.2 million people are out of work across the seventeen Eurozone countries that share the euro currency. The figure is much higher in the wider twenty-seven-nation European Union with twenty five million people without a job. Further rises in employment are expected. The EU member states are struggling with deep unemployment and the associated nasty social consequences in circumstances where the existing Optimist Philosophy says that All Is for the Best and that making things worse (as in the ever-increasing austerity) is part of God’s Grand Purpose. When the emergency started for Greece, its national debt was about 120 percent of GDP. As a result of austerity, it is now 170 percent and rising. The European crisis, starting with Iceland, has spread to Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Greece, Spain and large areas of Eastern Europe. It is metastasizing at a horribly fast speed and France could be the next to go down. “Don’t worry,“ smiles Pangloss, “Any spot of trouble can be got over by selling something, a bridge or an island, anything will do, and then everything will be back to normal.” Really? There are strikes and riots all over the place and Europe is a catastrophe in the making. Yet the nearer it gets, the more Pangloss tells us it will never happen. “Nonsense, my dear fellow,” and a sneer appears on his face, “have you had too much coffee?” But Pangloss should remember that the laughter engendered by Candide lead people to realize that they were being lied to and it was not long before the laughter turned into the rage of the French Revolution. RS/HMV A Visiting Professor of Binary Economics at Trisakti University, Jakarta, Indonesia, Rodney Shakespeare is a Cambridge MA, a qualified UK Barrister, a co-founder of the Global Justice Movement www.globaljusticemovement.net, a member of the Christian Council for Monetary Justice. His main website is www.binaryeconomics.net. Shakespeare is also Chair of the Committee Against Torture in Bahrain. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 1.
#1. To: Tatarewicz (#0)
The only thing missing from the mix is Africans. As reported by John Derbyshire, a current joke in the Balkans: Two peasants, Josip and Petar, are sitting at an outdoor table drinking slivovitz when a black man strolls by. Josip: "Look at that! Do you think they're all as black as that where he comes from?" Petar: "I'd guess so." Josip: "Wow. What on Earth do their Gypsies look like, then?"
There are no replies to Comment # 1. End Trace Mode for Comment # 1.
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