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I'm not in a position to understand these transport unions. They have tens of thousands of public cars under their control, and the government absolutely (to me) seems to fear them. They're allowed to do whatever the heck they want generally. Recently, with rising gas prices, they increased fares. The government is supposed to control these fare - and told the unions they can't raise them. The unions raised them anyway and basically invited the gov. to go have sex with itself. In response, the administration passed a new law with strict penalties for impeding transportation and staging these protests without proper approval (ha!). So, in response to that, we have today.kurtdesign1 wrote:Nevermind. I just went to the previous page and read up. I can't quite blame them for wanting to protest but I never quite got the "exit strategy" of a forceful protest if those you're forcing to participate don't actually give a damn. Why would your adversary yield when all you're really displaying is your ability to break a law? Are the unions that powerful that the government would fear them?
Until that last paragraph I was going to bring up that this reeks of a political coup. Political may be too formal a word. Revolution? I'm surprised you are so sure there is not a meltdown afoot. I understand that no where in your mentions was the military so I'm assuming that means you believe they still lie in the hands of the President. If that's the case, I agree with you. That said, in times like these that could mean some of these turn very bloody. Or in situations similar to a few Muslim Brotherhood exchanges from the past 10 years, I'd be afraid of the military turning on the government heads themselves...Kip wrote: ↑Mon Oct 29, 2018 11:34 amI'm not in a position to understand these transport unions. They have tens of thousands of public cars under their control, and the government absolutely (to me) seems to fear them. They're allowed to do whatever the heck they want generally. Recently, with rising gas prices, they increased fares. The government is supposed to control these fare - and told the unions they can't raise them. The unions raised them anyway and basically invited the gov. to go have sex with itself. In response, the administration passed a new law with strict penalties for impeding transportation and staging these protests without proper approval (ha!). So, in response to that, we have today.kurtdesign1 wrote:Nevermind. I just went to the previous page and read up. I can't quite blame them for wanting to protest but I never quite got the "exit strategy" of a forceful protest if those you're forcing to participate don't actually give a damn. Why would your adversary yield when all you're really displaying is your ability to break a law? Are the unions that powerful that the government would fear them?
The difference I see now over the past 3 years' more localized protests is the scale and organization. These unions have tendrils everywhere in the government, and a huge supporter base. Rather than simply use that, they seem to be banding together with angry civic/anti-corruption groups, environmentalist groups, even feminist groups. The Green March is a still-growing 100k+ group that stage huge marches calling out corruption, and gave their support to today's protests. This regional work stoppage is mainly in the central/northern parts of the country, but there are now human chains and fires in the capital demanding president Medina step down over the ongoing Odebrecht corruption fiasco.
The country is certainly NOT near a meltdown, nor even major nationwide strife....but there's a clear trend in that direction. The grumbling is definitely growing at a quick clip.
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