New reason for protest, violence and uproar – the high prices

A CERTAIN number of countries have always been in turmoil, cyclically, for one reason or another throughout history.

Revolutions have been as a response to tyranny, dictatorships, or to change from one form of government to another. Wars have been fought over borders, water, rivers, dams and countless other reasons.

But recently a new reason for protest, violence and uproar has joined the normal causes of instability: high prices!

Brazil, Argentina, India, France, Sudan, Yemen and Bulgaria are just a few examples of countries that are showing clear evidence of majority population groups that are impoverished, insolvent, cannot afford basic food and fuel and have reached explosive points that threaten to make their countries virtually ungovernable.

Recent protests against uncontrollable rising costs have actually resulted in regime changes and even now, threaten to do something similar in a so-called advanced, First World country like France.

The oddest aspect of this relatively new threat to the continued existence of humans on the planet is that it is not coming from an alien enemy from another planet, nor is it as a direct result of a natural catastrophe brought on by artificially induced global warming. It’s not because of an earthquake, tsunami or meteorite either. Neither is it due to anything as fancy as a nuclear war, flood or drought.

The high prices of commodities have suddenly assumed a magical life of their own. Can price tags, inexplicably, metamorphose into whatever they like just by themselves?

We have heard of robots, computers, cellphones and implants that threaten to take over this world by some enjoined conspiracy.

So is it quite possible that prices, on their very own, will declare war on humanity and finally wipe us out? Actually, it has already happened!