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The revolutionary movement that began in Tunisia at the end of last year has now sparked mass movements in Europe.
Principally, to date, in Greece and Spain.
On the surface, these movements have little in common.
In Tunisia and Egypt,
the people came out in vast numbers to overthrow the hated dictators who,
for decades,
had strangled their economies and presided over police states,
whereas in Greece and Spain,
the protestors are not seeking the overthrow of dictators,
and are not rebelling against a police state
(although both countries can draw on their relatively recent experience of dictatorship).
Beneath the surface discrepancies, however,
the revolutionary movements of 2011 share noticeable similarities
– not just because they are all,
to some extent,
popular uprisings involving word-of-mouth and social networking,
without the kind of fixed organisational leadership
that has been behind previous revolutionary movements,
but also because they are all,
fundamentally,
attacking the malevolent impact of unfettered 21st century capitalism on entire populations,
whether these involve dictators enriching themselves
by facilitating Western exploitation
at the expense of their people,
or the populations of European countries
being told
that they have to pay for the excesses of their leaders and the banks.