A long hot summer of rage (FT Comment)

Quintus · Post by **Quintus** » 25 May 2010, 22:50

On the plus side the "long hot summer" bit sounds promising!

On the brink of a new age of rage

By Simon Schama

Far be it for me to make a dicey situation dicier but you can’t smell the sulphur in the air right now and not think we might be on the threshold of an age of rage. The Spanish unions have postponed a general strike; the bloody barricades and the red shirts might have been in Bangkok not Berlin; and, for the moment, the British coalition leaders sit side by side on the front bench like honeymooners canoodling on the porch; but in Europe and America there is a distinct possibility of a long hot summer of social umbrage. Historians will tell you there is often a time-lag between the onset of economic disaster and the accumulation of social fury. In act one, the shock of a crisis initially triggers fearful disorientation; the rush for political saviours; instinctive responses of self-protection, but not the organised mobilisation of outrage. Whether in 1789 or now, an incoming regime riding the storm gets a fleeting moment to try to contain calamity ...

In the sinkhole that is the eurozone, animus is directed at unelected bodies – the European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund – and is bound to build on itself. Those on the receiving end of punitive corrections – in public sector wages or retrenched social institutions – will lash out at their remote masters. Those in the richer north, obliged to subsidise what they take to be the fecklessness of the Latins, will come to see not just the single currency but the European project as an historic error and will pine for the mark or franc. Chauvinist movements will be reborn, directed at immigrants and Brussels diktats, with more destructive fury than we have seen since the war.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4526d52c-6506 ... ab49a.html

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 26 May 2010, 10:54

The chance of a popular backlash against the culprits in these financial shenanigans would be the plus side for me.

At the very least, the survival of a crisis demands ensuring that the fiscal pain is equitably distributed

+1

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 28 May 2010, 21:33

What we need is a low-Carbon Molotov for eco street battle.

Post by **kenneal - lagger** » 29 May 2010, 04:05

RenewableCandy wrote:What we need is a low-Carbon Molotov for eco street battle.

A hand held, solar powered laser would do nicely!

RogerCO · Post by **RogerCO** » 01 Jun 2010, 13:34

RenewableCandy wrote:What we need is a low-Carbon Molotov for eco street battle.

Would ethanol from sustainably managed sugar plantations be ok?

Vortex · Post by **Vortex** » 01 Jun 2010, 13:58

Pedantic mode=ON

The original Molotov Cocktails had NO petrol in them.

They were a sort of early binary explosive : two liquid chemicals which when mixed detonated.

Pedantic mode=OFF

Eternal Sunshine · Post by **Eternal Sunshine** » 02 Jun 2010, 23:17

the fecklessness of the Latins

This bit made me chuckle

RogerCO · Post by **RogerCO** » 03 Jun 2010, 13:31

Vortex wrote:Pedantic mode=ON

The original Molotov Cocktails had NO petrol in them.

They were a sort of early binary explosive : two liquid chemicals which when mixed detonated.

Pedantic mode=OFF

Well according to the fount of all knowledge aka Wikipedia that was actually a later Polish home army variant of the Molotov original which didn't require an ignited wick. An earlier development was to use storm matches taped to the side of the bottle instead of igniting the wick before throwing - light the external match and throw, then when the bottle smashes the lit match ignites the fuel.
The original was indeed just petrol and apparently invented during the Spanish Civil War and then picked up by the Finns against the Russians - the derivation of the name is interesting as well.
Even the Polish self igniting version still had petrol (or equivalent) for the main explosion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov_cocktail
but then what does Wikipedia know?

Vortex · Post by **Vortex** » 03 Jun 2010, 13:47

As a teenager many many years ago a friend of mine made the binary liquid version (not listed in Wiki) : small plastic jar containing liquid A, a waxed card separator disk with a metal weight glued on , liquid B.

This failed to work when thrown, so he then picked it up and shook it ....

I was there - about 6 feet away. The explosion was HUGE. He was hurt - burns, hand paralysed for some weeks. I had my shirt and jacket blown off. I was also burned, mostly with molten plastic.

The main victim however was a privet hedge - the blast went sideways and blew a MASSIVE hole in it.

If the jar had been glass, or if the jar had been bigger, or if the blast had taken another direction, we would have been toast ...