Magazine 42: Reaping the Whirlwind

Much has changed since our last newsletter, both inside and outside Corporate Watch. Recession, increasing unemployment, massive government bail-outs; epochal developments have been dominating the headlines. While the economic world seems to be changing around us and the G20 clash attempting to restructure capitalism in their own interests, might we see an equivalent, or a more radical, collapse or reconfiguration of the political order? Few seem to be considering this. Yet, for some at least, the looming recession represents enforced freedom from work. It raises the spectre that the powerful fear: people with time to spare and motivation for dissent.