Very good piece about the state of democracy in Europe;
”Here the battle over democracy in Europe becomes part of a far
wider struggle across the world. In 2024, some four billion people
across more than 60 countries are due to vote in national elections, and
the ones for the European Parliament. We might imagine that the world’s
biggest-ever carnival of democracy is something to celebrate. But not,
apparently, for the political and media elites atop our alleged Western
democracies.
These elitists are terrified of the prospect of billions of
people refusing to do as they are told and instead voting as they see
fit. ‘Democracy’ is all very well so long as it suits the interests of
those with the kratos; but if the demos take democracy too literally
seeks to assert their will, that’s an entirely different matter. As one
former member of President Barack Obama’s administration put it, they
believe that you can have “too much of a good thing” and that Western
society “might be a healthier democracy if it were a slightly less
democratic one.” For some liberals in high places these days it seems
that, where popular democracy is concerned, less really could be more.
It should now be clear that, yes, democracy is indeed under threat in
2024. But the danger to European democracy comes from above, not below.
The Brussels elites are determined to hold back the democratic tide.
That’s why they have spent years politically threatening and
financially blackmailing democratically-elected conservative governments
in Hungary and Poland, hiding behind talk of the ‘rule of law’ to
disguise the attempt to enforce the rule of unelected judges and
bureaucrats. Having played their part in installing EU lackey Donald
Tusk as Poland’s prime minister, and turned a blind eye to the new
regime’s purge of its political opponents, Brussels officials are now making plans to
wreak havoc on the Hungarian economy in order to bring its prime
minister Viktor Orbán to heel; and if that fails, to strip Hungary (and
any other dissident nation) of its democratic right to vote ‘no’ in
European Council meetings. In the eyes of the high priests of EU
conformism, Mr. Orban has committed the cardinal sin of repeatedly
winning elections on a platform of ‘illiberal democracy’ that refuses to
accept mass migration at Hungary’s borders or LGBTQ ideology in its
schools.”
While the farmers' protests in France have entered a quieter phase after the government of Emmanuel Macron caved in to some of the agricultural workers most significant demands with a caveat from the French Farmers Union that they were ready to do it all again if the government did not deliver on its promises, in Germany things seemed to be getting even more heated over the weekend.
German farmers get their message across outside Frankfurt airport
Credit: TILMAN BLASSHOFER/REUTERS
Farmers in Germany blocked roads around the country’s busiest
airport on Saturday as protests over prices and red tape spread across
the continent. Hundreds of tractors were deployed to block the streets
leading to Frankfurt Airport after a fuel subsidy cut was
passed by the German parliament on Friday.
Farmers in Germany
have been engaged in massive protests throughout January following a statement by Olaf Scholz’s government that it would cut close to a billion euros in farm subsidies in response
to a domestic budget crisis.
Several huge protests recently gridlocked the streets of the nation's capital and other large cities and forced Berlin
into concessions that included rowing back completely on a plan to make
farmers pay road tax on farm vehicles. However, as we see so often with globalist led governments that give with one hand and immediately snatch back with the other.
This was certainly the case when Scholz's far left coalition first reversed the plan to charge road tax on farm vehicles and then quickly neutered that concession by cutting fuel subsidy. Germany’s farmers’ union has signalled that it will only stop protesting once the subsidy cuts have been completely reversed.
Hundreds of farmers take to the road in tractors
Credit: MICHAEL PROBST/AP
Roadblocks by German farmers were synchonised with similar protests across Europe, as farmers in Poland, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Spain and Italy joined the movement, blocking roads and disrupting business and social life to draw attention to what they see as excessive EU
environmental rules and unfair competition from outside the bloc.
On Friday, farmers blocked border crossings between Netherlands and Belgium with a government website showing long delays on three major motorways.
Meanwhile, a Polish farmers union announced a plan to blockade the border crossings to Ukraine starting on Feb 9.
“The
passivity of the Polish authorities... regarding the import of
agricultural produce and food products from Ukraine leave us with no
other choice but to declare a general strike,” the farmers union
Solidarity said in a press release.
In Greece, farmers blocked
roads in the north and centre of the country as they demanded a reduction
to EU regulation and expidited compensation payouts for farmers affected
by the flooding and wildfires that devastated parts of the country last
summer.
In Romania where protests have happened daily for several weeks, (sorry Romania, we've neglected you but estern Europe is on the periphery of boggart blog's radar,)
authorities have agreed to increase fuel subsidies after farmers there
teamed up with hauliers to block streets and obstruct the movement of food and goods.
French farmers, meanwhile, dismantled
some of the roadblocks they had built on motorways around Paris after wringing concessions out of
the government on fuel duty, pesticides and other environmental issues.
“The
worst of the crisis is now behind us, but the issues we have to deal
with are ahead of us,” Marc Fesneau, the French agriculture minister,
said on CNEWS TV.
Protests have also been organised in Portugal, Ireland, Malta and Cyprus in recent days.
FARMERS' REBELLION LIBRARY
Furious French Farmers Stage Shitfest Protest In ToulouseInspired perhaps by the protests of farming communities in Germany and Netherlands, angry French farmers gathered in the historic city of Toulouse, South - west France this week and dumped piles of farmyard manure on the steps of City Hall and in the streets and squares in fron of other public buildings. Such shitfest protests are a favourite tactic of French farmers when they want to let their government know its policies stink ...
Thousands Of Tractors Blocks Berlin Traffic Over Plan To End Diesel Subsidy Thousands of German truck drivers, farmers, and agricultural workers parked in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin yesterday as another massive protest over the government's 'green' plans to end tax breaks on diesel fuel and subsidies to farmers prevented from getting the best out of their land by loonytoons EU 'rewilding' policies.
German Farmers target nation's vice chancellor in subsidies protest German farmers angered by cost-saving plans impacting the country's agricultural sector blocked the EU state’s vice chancellor from disembarking a ferry on Thursday, in a protest that was criticized by both government and opposition figures. The farmer's ager was triggered by financial cutbacks imposed by EU policy on member state’s agricultural industries have.
Irish farmers protest plans to cull livestock to meet climate targets Farmers in Ireland are protesting government proposals to cull livestock — including up to 200,000 cows — in an effort to meet national and European Union (EU) climate targets.
According to Ireland’s Independent, up to 65,000 dairy cows and 10% of the livestock herd would have to be removed from the national herd every year for three years at a cost of €200m ($215.2 million) if the farming sector is to “meet its climate targets.”
Has The Dutch Farmers’ Party’s Moment Arrived Quite recently, back in March this year in fact, we were reporting a stunning election victory for the populist, centre right BBB party (known as the farmers’ party because it grew out of protests against EU environmental policies which have been making farmers’ lives difficult for years and are now driving our food producers into bankruptcy .
“Why Do European Union Bosses Hate Us?” Livid EU Farmers Hit Back At Green Agenda This blog has been diligent in reporting the rebellion of farmers and ordinary citizens in EU member states against the imposition by Brussels of loonytoons environmental policies such as ‘net zero’ and now the war on nitrogen (a gas that comprises 78% of the air we breathe.) These policies will not ‘save the planet’, which …
Europes Tractor Protests Spread To Germany And Now Include Fishing Trawlers Hundreds of farmers have descended in their tractors on a small German coastal town to protest measures imposed by the European Union as part of the bid to 'save the planet' by reducing CO2 emissions from cow farts. 400 tractors reportedly gathered in Büsum on Wednesday to protest what is probably the most insane environmentalist policy dreamed up by the EU idealogues to date ...
Germany Forcing Farmers To Use LESS Fertilizer To Satisfy EU’s Green Agenda The German government, already reeling from the public backlash against rising fuel prices, the shortage of gas since supplies from Russia were cut off, and the biggest economic crisis in the EU, has now jumped on another 'woke' bandwagon. The socialist led ruling coalition has banned farmers in one of its federal states from properly fertilizing land in compliance with the latest lunacy of the EU's green agenda ...
Dutch farmers block roads with tractors in protest of government plan to seize thousands of farms over “climate change” With the cost of energy and food prices already sky high and set to go higher, the , billionaire psychopaths have declared war on the food that sustains us. The European Union having failed to completely remove the gas essential to all lifeforms, Carbon Dioxide from the atmosphere, is now setting itself up to remove another esstential gas, nitrogen - which accounts for 70% of the air we breathe.
Amsterdam Gridlocked Again As Dutch Farmers Protest EU Green Laws The protests against EU globalism and the unofficial appointment of Swedish baby troll Greta Thunberg as head of European environment policy continue to grow and become more disruptive. Last weeken it was France that bore the brunt of citizens anger, today it was Amsterdam and The Netherlands. In a protest similar to previous ones …
French Farmers Gridlock Paris, Emulate German Protests Against Globalist Environment Regulation Tractors block roads in protest against agricultural industry being blamed for climate change. ( picture: ibtimes.co.uk ) Around a thousand French farmers drove their tractors into the centre of Paris in a protest against new EU regulations which farming organisations and agricultural workers unions against they say are ruining their standard of living and destroying …
German Farmers Eco – law Protest Gridlocks Hamburg German farmers today brought the city of Hamburg to a standstill by dribing their tractors into the city and parking on arterial roads thus preventing movement in and out. The tractors protest was organised to show depth of feeling against new EU environment regulations aimed at greening the economies of successful nations ...
German farmers roll out HUNDREDS of tractors, bring cities to a halt, protesting new EU eco-rules Angry farmers brought trasffic to a standstill by driving tractors slowly through German cities in protest of new green laws aimed at protecting birds and insects. Protests were organised in 17 cities across Germany, the largest in Bonn, where the Agriculture Ministry HQ is located. Angry farmers …
It’s Over For Macron – French Farmers Spray Pig Shit In Paris If you rely on fake news services like the BBC, ITN/Sky and the traditional newspapers for news you will probably have believed the Gilet’s Jaunes protests against the elitist government of Emmanuel Macron are dying down. With unrest stirring in Britan over the Brexit shambles, the government and government – friendly news media are desperate to play down the growing disconnect between the ruling elites and the people …
