European Protesters Take to the Streets on May Day

As has become the norm, the streets of the major cities across Europe are filled with protesters on Tuesday, May 1 (May Day), speaking out against government spending cuts and rising unemployment. The May Day marches and protests have become such a predictable and expected part of the working year, that one has to wonder what sort of impact they are having nowadays. Surely it would be more worthwhile marching on May 2 to throw a few people off guard. But anyway. The message that most of the people are trying to get across is sound, valid and fair. Of course, when you have this amount of angry people thrown together, the likelihood of there being no trouble at all is slim. When this writer worked for an I.T. consultancy firm in London, May 1 was little less than a nightmare. Wearing a suit on the underground trains on that day was akin to wearing a sign saying "please abuse me, I am a greedy fat cat taking all of your money and spending it on avocado bagels and expensive cars". On a couple of occasions, idiots disguised as protesters would hand out flyers to anyone wearing a suit, and folded into the paper would be razorblades. Anyone wearing a suit must be rich, deserving on contempt and, as a result, deserving of shredded fingers. Crazy thinking, but it meant that we were all advised not to take anything from anyone on May 1. Again, the vast majority of those taking to the streets are doing so because they believe in the cause. This year, they have more to shout about than ever. Twelve European countries are in recession, including Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Denmark and the UK. There is a revived debate ongoing about whether austerity measures being implemented across Europe will stifle economic growth, and all of that makes economic sense. You will hear experts on the TV talk about the cold, hard realities, the math, the necessity for or against austerity. But few people talk about those that are suffering. So before we dismiss the people protesting as rabble, as trouble-makers, or (ridiculously) as left-wing leeches sucking their respective countries dry, how about we take a minute to listen to them today. God knows, they're taking loud enough.