Zbigniew Piekarski decries the demonstrations of May protesters.
Oh May! Oh May! Oh May! Once the month of festivals of procreation, now a month of protest marches and displays of social angst. A growing number of citizens are against globalization, against America, against capitalism, against unemployment, against the wearing of furs and against any change of any nature whatsoever. When the social mood becomes pessimistic, markets fall, economies retrench and mass action is "against" rather than "for."
On May Day, Romans marched in a procession to the grotto of Egena to honor the revival of vegetation, dance and sing, imbibe alcohol and procreate. The Anglo-Saxon tribes celebrated by electing a young and attractive couple to represent the King and Queen of May. In the British Isles they were known as John Thomas and Lady Jane, and the festivities were "for" renewal and rebirth.
Hundreds of years later May Day became associated with the "laboring classes." The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions in the United States passed a resolution stating that eight hours would constitute a legal day's work from and after May 1, 1886.
The resulting general strike was "for" something, and the first officially recognized eight-hour workdays were introduced in the U.S. and United Kingdom. However, it is in the nature of man to worship things he does not understand and has no personal experience of. Therefore, the bureaucrats and employees of the state, who dominated the countries of Europe, decided to sanctify "labor" and make the day a national holiday.
Even in recent history the mass events associated with May were "for" something. In the 1990s, the young generations rebelled against the authorities through unofficial rave parties - just as they did centuries before. This culminated in May 1998 with the first "global party" organized via the Internet by the Reclaim the Streets movement. Illegal street parties were held simultaneously in 17 cities across the globe, all of which passed off relatively peacefully.
As the social mood deteriorated, leading the markets on a downward spiral, the protests began to become violent and targeted "against" something. In June 1999, protesters tried to storm the London International Financial Futures Exchange. Dozens were arrested and 150 injured. In October that year, activists in Frankfurt shut down the airport for six hours. November culminated with the infamous "Battle for Seattle." Tens of thousands of demonstrators from nearly 1,200 non-governmental organizations in 87 countries protested against the World Trade Organization.
In May 2001, anticapitalist demonstrations took place around the world with many isolated incidents of violence. In June of that year, Swedish police shot three protesters and wounded one seriously. The Italian police, not to be outdone, shot one protestor dead that July at the G8 summit in Genoa.
Hidden among all this mass action, May 1, 2002, set the pattern for the future. On that day, 90,000 Parisians marched to protest "against" Jean-Marie Le Pen in the biggest demonstration in the French capital since the student uprising of 1968. More than a million French took to the streets in more than 100 towns and villages across the country in opposition to the "fascist."
Before this social mood and economic cycle are over, similar events will multiply. At the beginning of this month 300,000 Parisians marched "against;" in a few more years a greater number will march "for" - for strong leadership - and this will occur throughout the cities of Europe.
May 2003 marks an anniversary of an event of even greater geopolitical significance than Operation Iraqi Freedom, and it forewarns of the possible fate of the Polish nation.
On May 2, 1803, Napoleon sold the Territory of Louisiana to the U.S. (with the help of Barings Bank, U.K.). On that day a deal was signed in Paris, France, whereby a chunk of real estate the size of the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal combined, stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian border, was sold to the U.S. - 500 million acres of the most fertile marijuana-producing land in the states - for three cents per acre.
Part of the reason was that France could no longer defend her territories, as she had to surrender her armed forces in the region to the slaves who rebelled in Santo Domingo and Haiti. They defeated Polish troops whose ranks were decimated by a viral disease known as yellow fever (and far more potent than SARS). France has always blamed the Poles for this bad deal and has waited patiently for revenge.
As befits the mother of European bureaucracy, France will use the most effective weapons at her disposal in order to confuse, demoralize and delay the economic revival of Poland - the paper form and the questionnaire - and she has a fifth column of willing helpers inside the country. In addition, the European Central Bank, which the French wish to control, values policy above people and is determined to create depression.
On the WSE: I am rather concerned that the WSE does not appear to have discounted the possibility that something along the lines of the Insurrection of Kraków of 1846 can occur again.
Remember that the szlachta (gentry) and intelligentsia were determined to secure a new future with the support of the peasants. The peasants did act - but by slaughtering the szlachta and intelligentsia rather than the Austrians. It is said that this was the last peasant uprising in European history. Maybe it was or maybe it wasn't. After all - only the intelligentsia remain.
Zbigniew Piekarski is a portfolio manager based in Warsaw. He can be reached at zbigp@bipnet.pl.
