I have been reading several places of predictions of a summber of unrest in Europe as a result of the financial crisis. The Financial Times wrote of May 1 protests this morning. Here is part of a quarterly report from Stratfor with their take:
New regional trend: The impending ‘Summer of Rage’
Europe is on the path of an upcoming storm of social unrest that London Metropolitan Superintendent David Hartshorn referred to as the “Summer of Rage.” Social unrest has already flared up in Europe throughout the winter months of 2008 and 2009 — most notably in Iceland, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania and Hungary — but the trend looks to start heightening as the economic crisis drags on, governments make tough choices on taxes and spending and the summer (when most Europeans have holidays from work though not as much money this year to relax at the beach) is around the corner. Unrest is being seen by a plethora of groups with myriad causes, including left-wing activists, anarchists, the unemployed, and those on the right with an agenda against minorities, Roma or migrant workers taking jobs.
In the second quarter, social unrest will continue to feed into government instability; governments in Hungary, the Czech Republic and Latvia have already fallen under the pressure, but the governments in Greece, Lithuania, Estonia, the United Kingdom, Bulgaria, Romania, Spain and Denmark all look to be in danger of collapsing.
We’ll see.
