And therein resides the true message of the "irrational" popular protests all around Europe: the protesters know very well what they don't know; they don't pretend to have fast and easy answers; but what their instinct is telling them is nonetheless true - that those in power also don't know it. In Europe today, the blind are leading the blind.

France's constitutional council, which for years had an unshakeable right-wing majority, had a habit as functioning as the third chamber of parliament, overturning legislation it didn't like. This is worse.

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II}

its execution would endanger other constitutional values that should be given priority in an economic crisis: the efficient functioning of the state apparatus, especially in creating conditions for economic growth

there's yer weasel wiggle right there.

good article, he writes well, on tv he tends to get too excited!

it is a good point that the people themselves don't know how and which changes they want, other than to be more comfortable/less miserable.

the best brains have been hoovered into the finance and spin-politics games. fancification of financial instruments (torquemada's finest) and the professionalisation of lying like a rug have removed any reference to reality from the mediated discussions, unless you go outside the box.

how can democracy thrive when there is so little transparency in the institutions, and so much misinformation to confuse people?

we have gone way beyond stalinist sophistry here. the blockquote i use, once translated from newspeak, basically is a memo that the banks and treasury departments have colluded to create a monopoly on finance, and they work by a different rulebook, one of unaccountability to the people.

they can do bank accounts, but that's it. constitutions are so yesterday.

now the police forces are shifting to privatisation and the trifecta is complete, there is no impediment to the commodification of everything, down to our own DNA.

the only panacea is the people educating themselves enough to know better what we want, the elites are blind to anything that isn't about short-term profit, so are well paid to stay that way.

so it's up to us to learn to see, and i am glad this article of zizek's will be read by many. power can only be useful if it's backed by knowledge, and one of the first ways to wake up is to see the cognitive abyss between possible realities and the stupid choices and approaches generally.

the fossil fuel lobbies are the richest on the planet, they are BFFs to the banks, which why Jerome's work is so inspiring, it's the thin end of a huge wedge.

 energy is second only to money in terms if its inarguably central role in all of our lives. it is easier to put up solar panels than to find an alternative economy, so...

we can change our economies by a green industrial revolution, indeed, when the smoke clears and the spin is deconstructed by an increasingly educated populus, it will be the only option left, i believe, especially with climate change moving to centre stage.

once we can see, then we can persuade the elites to see the advantages of opening their eyes too.

It's a fine line between homage, parody, and consumer opportunism. Jess Walter

W/P: 1980's austerity policies in Romania:

The 1980s austerity policy in Romania was imposed by Romania's President Nicolae Ceaușescu in order to pay out the external debt incurred by the state in the 1970s. Began in 1981, the austerity led to economic stagnation throughout the 1980s, being a "sui generis shock therapy" which lowered the competitiveness of the Romanian economy and decreased the amount of exports.

The harsh austerity measures negatively affected the living standards of the Romanians, increased shortages and eventually led to the downfall of the Romanian Communist Party through the Romanian Revolution of 1989.

Important also to keep in mind Zizek's suggested response to all this...while the bloggers on this site may often agree with the analyses of those on their left flank, I'm not so sure they agree to the prescriptions, and I think this is important to kerp in mind as well.

I would be ashamed to admit that I had risen from the ranks. When I rise it will be with the ranks, and not from them Eugene Debs