Europeans believe in the power of protest. That's an important thing to remember when Europeans talk politics. Our revolutions weren't - usually - wars of independence against foreign powers, they were revolts against the rulers. The symbolism of this is immense. Even peaceful nations like my own cherish the Moments of Protest when the People Forced The Rulers to change, and we are not just talking leftists and labour moments here, although they certainly have tried to hijack the idea of the Popular Revolt as theirs.
This goes back a very long time but the idea is still strong. We remember how popular protests overthrew East Germany and how other popular protests shifted Ukraine. Just recently riots forced the French government to retreat on youth policy.
So when a European wonders why the American people doesn't protest more strongly it is because to the European mind, protests work.
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Re: hey Matt
Date: 2006-09-30 10:37 am (UTC)This goes back a very long time but the idea is still strong. We remember how popular protests overthrew East Germany and how other popular protests shifted Ukraine. Just recently riots forced the French government to retreat on youth policy.
So when a European wonders why the American people doesn't protest more strongly it is because to the European mind, protests work.