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ChronosBlitz t1_jdugz36 wrote

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen such an absolute revolt by a nations people against the state.

The unions, the students, cabinet ministers, and masses and masses of citizens.

Israel and France’s people are really taking other democracies to task and showing us how you exhibit the will of the people.

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Jillredhanded t1_jduzofg wrote

Germany's pretty lit up too.

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Vegan_Honk t1_jdvdh3w wrote

That ain't gonna be the end of it. Hong Kong is protesting again. Iran had protests, as did Russia. Everyone is tired of this shit.

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Mattho t1_jdwrbx5 wrote

What are Russians protesting? That they can't book summer vacations?

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Brexsh1t t1_jdujelf wrote

It’s laughable to compare what’s happening in France, with that which is happening in Israel. In France, Macron raised the pensionable age by a couple years, in Israel its a power play and attack on democracy.

Also Macron has his hands tied, France like most of the west has an aging population. Old people need carers and a country needs infrastructure and enough skilled tradesmen to maintain and improve it. It’s either raise the pensionable age or actively seek mass migration into the country and let’s face it, because of populist politicians that’s not something that’s going to happen

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musluvowls t1_jdukzh6 wrote

The raising of the retirement age was just the spark in France. That isn't why French youth are uprising. It's because of income inequality and the massive bullshit that's been rained down on workers in every way possible. These protests are linked, and I hope they fucking spread.

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[deleted] t1_jdvl1do wrote

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jackp0t789 t1_jdvvn8z wrote

They have mixed economies as they've realized they can take the good parts of some socialist theories like a strong social safety net, empowering strong unions, and regulating commerce and industry to safeguard against the worst of unrestricted/ unregulated capitalism to protect their people and environment while allowing for much of the free market to exist as long as the rules and regulations are followed.

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PatientCriticism0 t1_jdw26lc wrote

The Nordics are capitalist when describing their success. They are socialist only when explaining why we shouldn't emulate them.

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[deleted] t1_jdvpm7i wrote

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6a6566663437 t1_jduzai8 wrote

France’s pension system has a problem in about 20 years, for about 5-10 years. After that blip, there is no funding problem.

Permanently raising the pension age isn’t the only way to solve that temporary problem.

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[deleted] t1_jdv71vq wrote

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Delamoor t1_jdvck8r wrote

God, if only there was a way of importing workers and not having to rely solely on local birthrates to solve long-term demographics issues.

We could call it... 'shimmigration'.

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[deleted] t1_jdwmdlb wrote

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6a6566663437 t1_jdx511i wrote

The “burden” on those younger workers is money in this case.

2 additional years of work isn’t going to fix that nursing home care problem you’re worrying about.

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Falkner09 t1_jdwvua3 wrote

False. He gave big tax cuts to the rich, then claimed the people need to sacrifice to be responsible. Classic neoliberal bullshit.

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PM_ME_UR_TRIVIA t1_jdxf2di wrote

This is an extremely narrow view of what’s happening in France and omits crucial context which pretty much negates what you’re arguing

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Infinaris t1_jdxmhxe wrote

Israelis are a smart bunch, they see where this shits going and saying hell no. Need to eject their parasitical wannabe dicktator next.

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HoplandTek t1_jdzf6s0 wrote

Norwegians need to follow suit. Our politicians are messing up big time and thanks to general division people don't want to come together across parties and ideologies to fight incompetence and corruption.

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who519 t1_jdvl2mn wrote

Do it. This is the most powerful revolutionary tool in a modern capitalist country. We Americans think that we can fight a tyrannical government with guns (spoiler alert, your AR15 isn't going to stop a bunkerbuster dropped on your house), but a general strike is the weapon the ruling class fears the most.

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mobileagnes OP t1_jdw75s1 wrote

The problem here in the US is people really bought that whole 'temporarily embarrassed millionaires' thing hook, line, & sinker.

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Odd-Employment2517 t1_jdwudj1 wrote

The thing is any armed rebellion in the US would effectively be about killing the economy which is how it could possible effect change. Mercifully no one other than insane lunatics like the 6JAN folks actually want to see America as a nation ruined in that way

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tkp14 t1_jdygfl2 wrote

The stand up routine by comedian Neal Brennan (currently on Netflix) has an hysterical bit about a contest between 100 average Americans with all their weapons and 1 guy in the U.S. military . It is truly laugh out loud funny.

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robexib t1_jdvo651 wrote

A bunker buster on a house would immediately delegitimise a government both domestically and abroad. An armed population can do a lot more than an unarmed one in that instance.

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who519 t1_jdw000m wrote

Yet another person who has watched too many movies. The elite love you guys, they feed you bullshit all day long and you can't get enough. Look at Russia, they have done much worse than bunker bombs on their neighbors and send their own citizenry into the meat grinder without training or weapons. A tyrannical government will do whatever they hell it wants and your peashooter isn't going to stop them. And though I repeat this line ad nauseam on Reddit, your gun is far more likely to hurt you or someone in our family than to save you. Every study has shown this. let go of the fantasy.

The real weakness of any government is economic production. If nobody goes to work and people stop buying specific goods, the government literally grinds to an immediate halt. Sad to say but a general strike combined with boycotts are your greatest weapon, not as cool as a John Wick movie, but far more realistic.

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robexib t1_jdw12iy wrote

Who the fuck expects the flair of a John Wick movie!

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who519 t1_jdw1lvx wrote

John Wick, Rambo, Red Dawn take your pick, all fantasies just like fighting against the greatest military ever equipped and assembled with your AR-15. Have an upvote for the sense of humor though!

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Epicbaconsir t1_jdwibz0 wrote

And how are these strikers going to defend themselves when the government sends the jackboots in? The reality is if we really wanted to overthrow the government we’d need a combination of both. The problem is we’re nowhere near the level of organization necessary for either one to happen.

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who519 t1_jdwkks0 wrote

Are they going to send Jackboots to every single person's house? The beauty of a general strike is you just stay home, you don't even have to gather in the streets. Sure they may send a few groups to make people leave their houses, but they can't do that for the entire country. If you tried to fight them with peashooters, you are going to get massacred. They have cruise missiles, Apache gunships, tanks, chemical weapons, etc...etc...if they are truly a tyrannical government like Russia, they will just kill everybody whether they have a gun or not. But if they have no one to run the factories or feed the army, or keep trade afloat, they are literally powerless. It renders military aggression completely impotent.

Edit: Look what Russia has done to the very well armed citizenry of the cities of Ukraine, they have blown them to shit. The cities are rubble. The military of Ukraine and the equipment being donated to them by the West is what is keeping them in the war, not a bunch of their citizens taking pot shots with AKs.

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Adonwen t1_jdvx58j wrote

After what Russia is still able to do after invading a sovereign nation, nah not really lol.

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robexib t1_jdw0vmn wrote

You mean when Russia invaded a nation that had recently disarm themselves? That one?

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Adonwen t1_jdw258h wrote

Those nukes were controlled officially by the CIS or in other words - the Russian state.

Also - Russia broke the following upon invasion:

"The Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America reaffirm their commitment to seek immediate United Nations Security Council action to provide assistance to Ukraine, as a non-nuclear-weapon State party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, if Ukraine should become a victim of an act of aggression or an object of a threat of aggression in which nuclear weapons are used."

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everythingunder1USD t1_jdw5wi9 wrote

Americans could learn a lot about how to effectively protest from the people in these countries. It's not like the courts are gonna fix things for them.

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klaaptrap t1_jdw7r4o wrote

I assume the police are not armed with machine guns and tanks in order to put down peaceful protests in these countries.

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everythingunder1USD t1_jdwa27p wrote

I'm talking about shutting down the economy by simply not going to work. Done on a mass scale you have a lot of power. And no one can shoot you. Protests can be done in a lot of ways. I thought maybe people would organize like this when Roe v. Wade was overturned.

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starmartyr t1_jdwkgy7 wrote

It's not reasonable to expect people to strike without a union. If I refuse to go to work and my coworkers show up, all that happens is that I get fired. You need an organization to get everyone to agree not to show up.

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everythingunder1USD t1_jdwmhim wrote

If a grassroots movement has been set up when Roe vs.wade was overturned I'm pretty sure people could have organized using social media. Doesn't have to be working class union people, Could be lawyers, tech folks, etc . I hear a lot of excuses but no action. If you won't take a risk you won't make change.

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dak4f2 t1_jdwnw0h wrote

I suggested this after Roe v Wade and women, women!, were furious at me for suggesting a strike.

Copying my comment from above

>All I hear from other Americans when I suggest a general strike, such as after Roe v Wade was overturned, is anger at me for being so entitled so as to 'be able' to not work. They have to make ends meet, they say it's a ridiculous idea and a general strike is only for the privileged who can afford it. They can't think long term to see past their nose, they're in survival and are not in unions that will back them up.

>It's infuriating. The apathy and settling and acceptance is baffling.

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tkp14 t1_jdyfmxc wrote

What you need to understand is that we Americans are raised in a tsunami of propaganda. It’s pounded into us from birth onwards. And you can see it when people who should know better start parroting the words of their overlords. That’s what was driving the anger of people who responded to you. Realizing that you’ve been lied to and manipulated your entire life is a bitter pill to swallow. “We’re the greatest country on earth!” “Our health care system is the best!” “We are so lucky to be Americans!” “Anyone can achieve the American dream!” It’s all bullshit and we really, really need to face that.

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dak4f2 t1_jdyjvhn wrote

I was born and raised in the rural midwest with a crap ton of that propaganda, and live on the west coast now. Am American too fwiw.

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harley247 t1_je0wfde wrote

Problem is that people still have to make ends meet somehow. Some can't just miss work like that which is why some of your coworkers will still show up to work. Just not showing up to work sounds fine until you realize that the company you work for has a lot more money than you and can replace you, even lawyers, tech workers, etc. It just becomes a war of who runs out of money first. Not sure if this is all unions, but the ones I've been in give the worker a stipend for striking. This is why people will not just strike like that without something to fall back on. This is what business owners and corporations created. They want everyone to work paycheck to paycheck without the backing of a union so they can't afford to miss work.

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CarltonFrater t1_jdwc71x wrote

Do you think republicans and conservatives would buy into that? Lol

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dak4f2 t1_jdwnny3 wrote

All I hear from other Americans when I suggest a general strike, such as after Roe v Wade was overturned, is anger at me for being so entitled so as to 'be able' to not work. They have to make ends meet, they say it's a ridiculous idea and a general strike is only for the privileged who can afford it. They can't think long term to see past their nose, they're in survival and are not in unions that will back them up.

It's infuriating. The apathy and settling and acceptance is baffling.

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Fenix42 t1_jdy03uv wrote

I could not afford to lose a days pay until I was in my 30s. Not like, "I dont buy starbucks for a bit" but "we might have to skip some meals," or I am going to have a bunch of late fees. I was usually kiting checks at least a few times a monemths back then.

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Epicbaconsir t1_jdwitss wrote

That’s not going to spontaneously happen without mass union organization and militancy

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CarltonFrater t1_jdwc4vc wrote

In the US protests are politicized as democrat or republican, Americans are sheep. Plus police are likely to use more violence.

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dabarisaxman t1_je0yijd wrote

Step 1: Live in a country where the capitol is within a couple hours travel for the entire population.

Step 2:...

But seriously, I don't think Europeans understand how much bigger the US is than their countries. I went to college in the Bay Area of California, and there were a couple foreign students from England. One day they came by and asked us if we wanted to go to Disneyland with them. They were crushed when we told them that Disneyland was a 9 hour drive away; they had assumed that since is was the same state, it couldn't be more than a couple hours.

That's the issue, and why European protests shouldn't be a model for American activism. America is far far far too spread out for the French model of protests. For example, I'm in the Midwest and priced out a trip to DC for a big planned protest. Would have cost me over $2k between flights, pet sitting, and accommodations. And that's not even counting the issue of lost wages and potentially lost jobs.

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Dark_Destroyer t1_jdvoglr wrote

I am waiting patiently for a revolt worldwide to overthrow these power hungry, tyrannical, oppressive elitists. People of the world are tired of the ruling class because they are destroying and pillaging the planet.

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gothteen145 t1_jdwmnjw wrote

So what was his actual plan here. Did he expect to just put this plan in place and no one would oppose it?

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imgladimnothim t1_jdwu8ay wrote

Holy shit, if there's a general strike, I wouldnt be surprised if Israelis call for a ruling on the status of palestine, one way or the other, instead of this state of limbo. This year could, by its end, be a really good year for this little slice of the world. I hope the best for them

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andorgyny t1_jdxm4uf wrote

Unfortunately I don't think there's any evidence that a majority of Israelis have any interest in doing ANYTHING for Palestinians. Most Israelis support the colonial project.

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golmozak t1_jdy6xu8 wrote

not most israelis support the colonies. most of us actually against them and the problems they cause

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andorgyny t1_jdypwtf wrote

I mean I believe that you are against the occupation but unfortunately this has been polled for years and the occupation is supported by at least half of Israelis, and some polls have that number higher. I live in a massive glass house as an American though, no one is a bigger occupying force than the US.

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uppermiddleclasss t1_jduukok wrote

If you're going to strike anywhay, consider putting up some more demands to improve the nature of your country. I can think of a couple things that could use a change.

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IslandDoggo t1_jduvd01 wrote

That's rich coming from an American.

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