20-30 years ago some governments decided that it should be privatised. They never really followed through with that, but in order to make it more "competitive" they cut expenditures. And they did so in all the wrong places, causing huge technical and organisational problems that have degraded the service to this day.
It's ludicrously expensive.. a round trip to London costs me £50 whereas its £30 in fuel and parking. Take a couple of people with you and the price difference gets silly.
Basically there is no incentive to take a train over your own car here, other than avoiding traffic.
Almost sounds like our rail network here, 40k to the city, would cost maybe $5-10 in fuel and generally takes 50 minutes with occasional 3 hour blowouts by road. VS $15-$20 by train and a constant stream of cancellations redirections and issues that see you take 6 hours to get home.
On more than one occasion I was on a train that was 2-3 minutes late to an important station but saying the trains run on time is more important than saying the passengers get to their destination on time so they cancel the train I'm on and replace it with a fresh "on time" service from the stocks. Net result is if you're paying attention and get off the "cancelled" service you're now 20-40 minutes late while you wait for the next one. If you're not paying attention (say reading a book, one of the selling points of trains) you stay on the train and are now heading east instead of North and it takes you 4 hours to get home.
It got so bad a few years ago when they added new lines without actually adding trains and staff that I, a major proponent of public transport, finally gave up and got my license and a car. Never been back.
Wait so if a train is late they cancel it and replace it with a fresh one? What happens to the people on the cancelled train?
Where is this, out of interest?
The people on the late train either disembark their now cancelled/replaced service and wait for the next train going the same way (20-40 minutes, depending on how far up the line you wanted to go cos not all trains went all the way) or if they weren't paying attention they stayed on the train when it was reused for a different route and ended up in a completely different destination - which when you're usually the last stop on the line so are happily wrapped up in your book can lead for a very long trip home.
Brisbane Australia, specifically anything coming in from the Ipswitch line that was late to the Roma Street station, usually trains going to Caboolture or Nambour before they added the new line off at Petrie, no idea how that changed one trip to Redcliffe on the way home was enough for me to get my license especially after a few trips to Shorncliffe.
And nothing beets the feeling of standing at the platform at Milton or Toowong (just a couple of stations south of Roma Street - in fact half the time we'd walk from Milton to Roma St just for better service) to hear your train be declared an express service because it was late, watch it go by half full, see two other regular express services go by half full, knowing you'd have to stand there for another 30 minutes.
It got a lot worse over the past couple decades with the privatisation push. Now its apparently re-nationalised again, but I doubt they'll invest much money between the economical issues from Covid and Brexit.
It's all perspective. As a Brit, it's ridiculously expensive and shite... But it 'works' and UK coverage is pretty good compared to most other nations I think.
I used the DB when I came across from Australia and loved that I could travel from Berlin to Bonn to Munich to Amsterdam and it was such a novelty not to fly it... What am I missing?
Huge issues with trains running late or missing entirely, truly awful customer service in many areas, bad technical reliability, frequent strikes, and so on.
In some large cities, only 60% of trains arrive within 6 minutes. Over some months about 8% of train rides were cancelled entirely.
There even is a meme about the so-called "Pofalla-Wende" (Pofalla turn, named after a politician). This absolute genius proposed to have delayed trains on a two-way trip just turn around before reaching their planned turnaround station, which would then allow it to make all of its return stops in time. Obviously this would completely fuck over passengers who tried to enter or leave at that station, but at least it would lead to lower delay statistics...
When I was leaving Munich to travel to Prague, the German train guy came in halfway through the trip to tell me the train is cancelled.
The train I was sitting on. One hour into the trip.
Cancelled.
I got dumped in some Czech city with a note on a piece of paper and directions to a bus stop.
Yeah I had the misfortune of needing to commute by train for a month once. In that time there were two major (> 1 hr) delays and one cancellation where we got put into busses half way.
I was an exchange student in Germany when a bus strike happened in 2011. The bus drivers still drove at peak hours so that people could get home.
And then there was Stuttgart 21. That was different.
Besides the jokes(yes German humor is a thing and portion of it is around trains. Check out the Wiseguy video someone posted in comments), Deutsche bahn also ensures that people reach destination even during their strikes. For example i was traveling from Freiburg to Kassel and there was a strike asking for payraise. they deliberately plan their strikes during peak season. On the day of strike, They stuffed us all in a bus and moved us to Frankfurt. We were all in a bus like contortionist in a trickster’s box. But yes, we did reach our destination
Except for those covid-deniers idiots which are "strolling around" (idiot-speak for marauding) through cities.
And the police is taking action against the counter-protesting students trying to hold off an angry mob of a hospital.
Sorry for all east Germans, but you guys have some serious problems, man.
Edit: changed anti-covid to covid deniers as that's what i meant
At least most east german Covidiots have the excuse of (some only in their perception, other actually) having been f\*\*ked over in the 90s. Those geniuses in west germany (where this particular movement originated) don't even have that.
> having been f**ked over in the 90s
They fucked themselves largely. Voting for outrageous promises in spite of lots of people already telling them that it was total bullshit at that time.
Most people definitely didn’t vote for mediocre business school seniors to take over their companies and selling all orders to western companies. They didn’t vote for secret contracts killing their workplaces and for knowitall westerners to occupy every high ranking position available.
Yes most companies weren’t able to compete with the free market, but there were some who could compete and a lot of them got run into the ground.
Foron and CAS to name two.
> Yes most companies weren’t able to compete with the free market, but there were some who could compete and a lot of them got run into the ground.
They were run into the ground because they voted for economic policies that ensured just that. Exchanging currencies one to one was what broke the back of the companies that might have had a chance otherwise. If they'd been able to produce cheaper, they might have found their niche.
Add to that the lack of patience that not only believed the lofty promises of "blooming landscapes" but wanted them *now*! There was a chance for a general reorientation of both parts of Germany and they threw it away for empty promises.
Well that’s populism Kohl was the Pear shaped master of.
I agree, that a let’s say five year transitional period like west germany got after the war would have been very beneficial but don’t forget that western companies heavily lobbied against that. There are multiple examples of western companies actively sabotaging eastern ones through lobbying and plainly buying them out and stomping them.
Yes people sadly voted CDU in 90 and 94 but that doesn’t mean it’s their fault that they were f**ked. There was so incredibly latge amounts of economical misinformation out there, spread by lobbyists, western politicians and the late eastern propaganda it was very much a shit show in which the election were held.
There is a simulator called LKW-rangier simulator which translates to Truck-shunting(no idea if this word is correct, deepl told me) simulator. You literally only park big trucks.
Fun fact - Germans work less than the French and Brits (and of course, much less than Americans, Chinese, Russians, Japanese, Mexicans, etc who are extremely overworked in comparison and are in a whole different league altogether)
In fact, an average German worker works TWO WHOLE WORK MONTHS less per year compared to an average American worker
Whatever ordinary Germans are doing to protest and take back the power from the elites clearly works great because they are de-facto closer to achieving the goals of socialism than (almost) all other nations. And they have also somehow managed to be stereotyped as extremely hardworking, which is a double win
The aspects you mentioned are certainly valid, but the amount of income and wealth inequality in Germany has been on the rise for quite a while and it doesn't look like that's going to change anytime soon. Furthermore, quite a few other work related aspects have been worsening, too. So it's slightly more of a mixed bag.
On a side note - working/staying at work long hours is not the same as working hard, let alone effectively. Though I'd agree that we aren't (extremely) hard working.
Excluding the far left (climate change activists) and far right (anti foreigners and now covidiots), Germans are very passive in regards to trying to changing systems. "That's how it is and there is nothing to be done. At least we have a still functioning healthcare system and parental leave so I guess I can live with the current state of the umpteen billion other things that could be improved".
I mean... we do get active and protest... we just do it in accordance with the laws and regulations that exist around them... because we just love to regulate absolutely everything ^^
Nah the UK bud. Should of clarified that.
For those out of the loop. The UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson claimed that the parties that took place at No.10 during Covid lockdown were a work event and not parties. This prompted outrage from the public who had sacrificed so much. Then JaackMaate on YouTube hired a load of people to dance and chant outside Downing Street.
Hell yeah, it's a team building seminar, the team who burns the most garbage cans and piles of tires gets a 200€ coupon, to be spent exclusively at certified wineries.
That is the French esprit de corps my friend.
Another difference is the government response. France: Oh no, people are protesting. Let's fix the problem. UK: Oh no, people are protesting. We'll make protests illegal.
I stand corrected. The neo lib bourgeoisie governments of both countries are terrible and ignore the needs of their people.
Only by the Lords. Tories will just add it back in to the bill and send it back to the Lords.
If they were really desperate, they could pass it by "Act of Parliament" which effectively bypasses the Lords. Last time this was used was by Tony Blair to enforce the Fox Hunting ban. He knew he had to get round the Lords because they all fox hunt, so kept rejecting it. Patel could try something similar, and smirk whilst she was doing it.
There aren't many people I hate, but Priti Patel is one of them. Evil bitch.
[Niche bit of etymology here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tories_\(British_political_party\)#Name), but most people remember it nowadays as "Conservative" -> "Conservatory" -> "Tory", even though that's not how it originated.
I'm scottish so they are pretty much hated by over 90% of our country since we don't vote for them but are stuck with them.
To paint a picture, imagine an elite class of rich people who have utter disdain for the poor and disabled in society. During a global pandemic there first reaction was to steal tax payers money by setting up fake companies that had never produced a thing in there life getting exclusive contracts. While at the same time taking £20 away from the poorest in society.
Think people who only care about increasing their own wealth (landlords love to vote for them and our laws reflect that).
That's the sorta people the torries are, evil upper class cunts. Also extra drama the country is having a meltdown because while everyone was in lockdown they where having boozing parties everynight, even when the queen her self attended her husbands funeral alone for social distancing.
The bill is massively vague so could be used on just about very protest.
It’s also has rules in that allow police to stop and search anyone in the area and as they want to make having an item that could be used to disrupt you could be walking home with some glue in your bag, walk in the general area of a protest get stop and searched and then be charged for having the glue as it could be used to glue hands to roads.
The bill is massively authoritarian and even the police said they didn’t want the bill
Yes - our home secretary is a far right prick who wants to make protesting illegal. She lacks any sense of empathy; she has voted against same sex marriage and argued for capital punishment (currently illegal in the UK). She has worked for the tobacco industry in the past and voted against the smoking ban and has done MANY other awful things. She's awful.
Yeah, but some protest are just about people not understanding that for changes, everybody need to make an effort. Or that the government does not have infinite money.
They even did a loop, kingdom, republic, empire, kingdom again, kingdom but more liberal but not really, republic again, empire again, republic again. Paris even did a communist revolution once but that didn't last long.
Kind of true. French protests have often struck down laws and have brought down governments, but not really because the government is nice, more because the unions are fucking powerful and grind the whole place to a halt
Yes to be a head of state you need to at least be something of a narcissistic sociopath with delusions of granduer. But there's a difference between "were raising taxes to pay for more hospitals" level of cunt, and "I'm actively here to destroy democracy for my own personal gain", Johnson falls much more in line with the latter.
can't you see that was all boris wanted to do as well? see, you're not that different after all, remember you are all in this together, the british elite in their mansions and luxury condos, and you in your... dwellings
[https://www.gamerbraves.com/italian-senators-forced-to-watch-tifa-xiangling-porn-after-zoom-meeting-hijacked/](https://www.gamerbraves.com/italian-senators-forced-to-watch-tifa-xiangling-porn-after-zoom-meeting-hijacked/) no need to thank me
It would actually be good if more people protested like the french, maybe then wouldn’t get so many shit laws and policies
Boris would be gone by now if we were more like the french
They've also got loads of good ones. People don't trust the gendarmes the most there. They're the military police and are cunts. Regional police are generally OK.
Serieux ??? J'ai l'impression que c'est l'inverse en campagne profonde.
Les gendarmes c'est ceux qui savent ce qu'ils font un minimum, et la police c'est ceux qui font du zèle.
Les CRS (aka les principaux concernés ici) sont d'ailleurs de la Police, pas la gendarmerie.
_
Sorry, thought you were French.
Seriously ??? I feel the oppposite in the deep countryside.
Gendarmes are the ones who relatively know what they're doing, whereas the Police are the one being cunts.
CRS (aka the main culprit here) are 100% police.
Protesting in France doesn't change anything. The government doesn't care, they will just send cops to use military grade weapons against the protesters. There are plenty of shit laws and policies passed in France, even when there are massive protests against it.
In 2010, the government passed a law to change the retirement system and make it worse. There were six months of protests, with millions in the streets at its peak. Government didn't care and the law passed.
In 2016, the government passed a law to change work laws. Again, six months of protests, millions involved, and government didn't give a shit, law passed.
In 2018, Yellow Vests protests against the capitalist decisions of Macron's government. The protests went on for 2 years, every week, and was only stopped by covid. Macron didn't give a shit, he sent the cops against the protesters and they used dangerous weapons, some military-grades, which resulted in many being mutilated (lost eyes or limbs). Here is a picture of what the cops did when they tried to end the protest (careful, it's gore): [here](http://lemurjaune.fr/).
And today, for months now people have been protesting against the sanitary pass and how the government attacks people's freedom. The government gave so little of a shit that the laws became way way worse than what people initially protested against.
That’s so awfully wrong. Like 2018, which was mainly about the pension rework, and it got suspended (and still is).
And about the antivaxx protests, I wouldn’t call those "protests". Especially since most french people agree with the law.
I guess we get here a lot of people who wanna make the government look like a dictatorship on purpose.
Dude, stop lying. The protests against the pension started in December 2019. There wasn't even a concept of the law in 2018. And the only reason it didn't pass is because of covid, protests didn't matter at all. The Yellow Vests protests were started over an increase of fuel taxes and the revendications expanded over the weeks.
People going in the street, organizing themselves and demanding some change of the law is literally the definition of protests. And 72,7% of the French people [disagreed with the law](https://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2021/03/17/covid-19-pres-de-sept-francais-sur-dix-opposes-au-passeport-vaccinal_6073449_3244.html). Not that it matters because protests are protests regardless of their overall approval among the population. The 2013 protests against gay marriage were still protests even if most people did agree with the law allowing gay marriages.
Or they'd just ramp up the authoritarian bullshit. Like this godawful Police and Crime bill that the Lords ripped apart and sent back.
Do you really think Patel will look at a riot and go "maybe they have a point?". She's a psychopath. She smirks at the idea of children drowning in the channel. She'll just pass some horrific law to combat it.
Possibly because I was being ambiguous and people thought I was suggesting that the French gov could pass that law (which they wouldn't, only our psychotic government would ever consider that... Or maybe somewhere like Belarus).
Either that or it was Priti Patel downvoting me and now I have no citizenship anymore....
Yeah good luck passing that kinda law in France lol, if people in France were protesting and the government tried to pass a law to stop it they’d go mental. No way the government would last
Better than letting an elected government know they have nothing to fear from defying you because you’ll roll over for them regardless out of fear of disturbing the peace. Temporary chaos is better than long term decay caused by fear of the upheaval that comes with change.
Most of the British public have never had a revolutionary bone in their bodies and in an age where it’s more important than ever for the people to stay on top of their elected servants that’s going to come back to bite us. Democracy only continues to work for as long as the elected representatives respect and fear our collective power as the electorate they are answerable to.
There is an entire subculture of weird Royalty loving middle-englanders who love the taste of boots in this country, alongside a huge proportion of Working class folks who allow their anger to be diverted to their neighbours, rather than their 'leaders'.
Those of us that had any radical sentiments find ourselves burnt out byb the age of about 40, owing to the simple fact of our not making a blind bit of difference.
Unironicaly yes
You think the powers that be will bow down to polite requests?
When it's HK protestors making barricades and lobbing Molotovs they are noble freedom fighters, when it's here, they are violent looters. People said the same shit about MLK, that the marches were violent looting mobs, before they whitewashed the whole deal into "peaceful protests"
So long as no one gets killed or seriously hurt, it's fair game
In the UK, banter is a way of life and our second language.
It's what we all understand best. The more jokes at the PM's expense around this, the more it gets into peoples minds.
Boris a dead man walking. He's using every dirty trick in the book to hang on but yeah it's only a matter of time before his ass is gone.
The best part is because he's using every dirty trick in the book there be no reward of Sir or Lord in the future as he's pissed off too many of his own party.
It's actually fun to watch as every day he gets more and more desperate.
A democracy is only as vibrant as people's capacity to detect and reject bullshit. As mass media becomes better able to maintain mass delusions, democracy won't work as well because the voters aren't living in the same reality and can't even recognize the issues, let alone attempt to address them.
I seriously don't understand why protestors would cause destruction. Yeah, it sends a message, but the people who receive the most message are those who happened to park their car there, or those who happened to have a business there which was robbed and destroyed by protestors. Seriously, if you are angry at the government, be angry at the government. But don't involve others.
Edit: as Teelogas mentioned, I should add that of course most protestors don't cause destruction. The problem is that there are just enough that for a given protest, there is likely a small handful who do cause destruction.
Don't you dare say anything against- my right to wreck shit *cough cough*, take part in democratic protest. I will not change but the world must change for my benefit and only in a way I see fit. If you don't agree you are racist facist baby-killer.
Yea, it's so annoying. These ppl are oftentimes the reason, why riots are seen as something bad, by some ppl.
Like all it takes is one out of 15k ppl to light up a car and that's all that will be talked about.
That also makes the ppl look bad who went to the proteststs for normal reasons.
That is an incredibly simplistic way to look at it. 99% of people don't go out and burn shit just because, nor would they loot and steal if they had a good comfortable life.
First of all it has been documented MANY times and in several countries that riots/violence are often instigated by infiltrated agents to discredit the protest.
Then there is the whole rage and indignation that many people feel when their peaceful protests, their voting and their "legal" ways bring no change at all and prove useless. Most people just throw their arms up in the air and are just lile "oh well", and so the status quo never changes.
Other people get fed up with it and take it out on things, and this is an important point, most often its violence against property and not people, for a reason.
Another point is, historically a lot of big social changes were achieved thanks to violent protests (40 hours week in a lot of countries come to mind for example).
Since it was recently MLK day, I recommend checking out his speeches about this.
You're right, I apologize. I read "UK" where Britain was. That's entirely my mistake.
My point still stands though. I mean even the Irish will unironically admit how good they are at rioting.
Protests in germany: I will work as normal, but will make no overtime at all.
Laughs in Deutsche Bahn!
That is their normal work schedule
[The culture shock of people with an actually functional rail network coming to Germany.](https://youtu.be/9GgS_T1ovjw?t=11)
The Greek state is more functional than DB
Thanks privatizing railroads
What’s wrong with the German rail network? Can’t be as bad as the UK.
20-30 years ago some governments decided that it should be privatised. They never really followed through with that, but in order to make it more "competitive" they cut expenditures. And they did so in all the wrong places, causing huge technical and organisational problems that have degraded the service to this day.
Oh. So it's like the italian one.
hey wait we did that too in the netherlands...
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It's ludicrously expensive.. a round trip to London costs me £50 whereas its £30 in fuel and parking. Take a couple of people with you and the price difference gets silly. Basically there is no incentive to take a train over your own car here, other than avoiding traffic.
Almost sounds like our rail network here, 40k to the city, would cost maybe $5-10 in fuel and generally takes 50 minutes with occasional 3 hour blowouts by road. VS $15-$20 by train and a constant stream of cancellations redirections and issues that see you take 6 hours to get home. On more than one occasion I was on a train that was 2-3 minutes late to an important station but saying the trains run on time is more important than saying the passengers get to their destination on time so they cancel the train I'm on and replace it with a fresh "on time" service from the stocks. Net result is if you're paying attention and get off the "cancelled" service you're now 20-40 minutes late while you wait for the next one. If you're not paying attention (say reading a book, one of the selling points of trains) you stay on the train and are now heading east instead of North and it takes you 4 hours to get home. It got so bad a few years ago when they added new lines without actually adding trains and staff that I, a major proponent of public transport, finally gave up and got my license and a car. Never been back.
Wait so if a train is late they cancel it and replace it with a fresh one? What happens to the people on the cancelled train? Where is this, out of interest?
The people on the late train either disembark their now cancelled/replaced service and wait for the next train going the same way (20-40 minutes, depending on how far up the line you wanted to go cos not all trains went all the way) or if they weren't paying attention they stayed on the train when it was reused for a different route and ended up in a completely different destination - which when you're usually the last stop on the line so are happily wrapped up in your book can lead for a very long trip home. Brisbane Australia, specifically anything coming in from the Ipswitch line that was late to the Roma Street station, usually trains going to Caboolture or Nambour before they added the new line off at Petrie, no idea how that changed one trip to Redcliffe on the way home was enough for me to get my license especially after a few trips to Shorncliffe. And nothing beets the feeling of standing at the platform at Milton or Toowong (just a couple of stations south of Roma Street - in fact half the time we'd walk from Milton to Roma St just for better service) to hear your train be declared an express service because it was late, watch it go by half full, see two other regular express services go by half full, knowing you'd have to stand there for another 30 minutes.
It got a lot worse over the past couple decades with the privatisation push. Now its apparently re-nationalised again, but I doubt they'll invest much money between the economical issues from Covid and Brexit.
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It's all perspective. As a Brit, it's ridiculously expensive and shite... But it 'works' and UK coverage is pretty good compared to most other nations I think.
Thank you for this absolute work of art :D
I used the DB when I came across from Australia and loved that I could travel from Berlin to Bonn to Munich to Amsterdam and it was such a novelty not to fly it... What am I missing?
Huge issues with trains running late or missing entirely, truly awful customer service in many areas, bad technical reliability, frequent strikes, and so on. In some large cities, only 60% of trains arrive within 6 minutes. Over some months about 8% of train rides were cancelled entirely. There even is a meme about the so-called "Pofalla-Wende" (Pofalla turn, named after a politician). This absolute genius proposed to have delayed trains on a two-way trip just turn around before reaching their planned turnaround station, which would then allow it to make all of its return stops in time. Obviously this would completely fuck over passengers who tried to enter or leave at that station, but at least it would lead to lower delay statistics...
When I was leaving Munich to travel to Prague, the German train guy came in halfway through the trip to tell me the train is cancelled. The train I was sitting on. One hour into the trip. Cancelled. I got dumped in some Czech city with a note on a piece of paper and directions to a bus stop.
Yeah I had the misfortune of needing to commute by train for a month once. In that time there were two major (> 1 hr) delays and one cancellation where we got put into busses half way.
I was an exchange student in Germany when a bus strike happened in 2011. The bus drivers still drove at peak hours so that people could get home. And then there was Stuttgart 21. That was different.
Besides the jokes(yes German humor is a thing and portion of it is around trains. Check out the Wiseguy video someone posted in comments), Deutsche bahn also ensures that people reach destination even during their strikes. For example i was traveling from Freiburg to Kassel and there was a strike asking for payraise. they deliberately plan their strikes during peak season. On the day of strike, They stuffed us all in a bus and moved us to Frankfurt. We were all in a bus like contortionist in a trickster’s box. But yes, we did reach our destination
[Relevant wise guys](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXjhszy2f9w)
Except for those covid-deniers idiots which are "strolling around" (idiot-speak for marauding) through cities. And the police is taking action against the counter-protesting students trying to hold off an angry mob of a hospital. Sorry for all east Germans, but you guys have some serious problems, man. Edit: changed anti-covid to covid deniers as that's what i meant
At least most east german Covidiots have the excuse of (some only in their perception, other actually) having been f\*\*ked over in the 90s. Those geniuses in west germany (where this particular movement originated) don't even have that.
I mean I understand living in Stuttgart has to be pretty terrible as well, but there have to be better options than going full anti science
> having been f**ked over in the 90s They fucked themselves largely. Voting for outrageous promises in spite of lots of people already telling them that it was total bullshit at that time.
Most people definitely didn’t vote for mediocre business school seniors to take over their companies and selling all orders to western companies. They didn’t vote for secret contracts killing their workplaces and for knowitall westerners to occupy every high ranking position available. Yes most companies weren’t able to compete with the free market, but there were some who could compete and a lot of them got run into the ground. Foron and CAS to name two.
> Yes most companies weren’t able to compete with the free market, but there were some who could compete and a lot of them got run into the ground. They were run into the ground because they voted for economic policies that ensured just that. Exchanging currencies one to one was what broke the back of the companies that might have had a chance otherwise. If they'd been able to produce cheaper, they might have found their niche. Add to that the lack of patience that not only believed the lofty promises of "blooming landscapes" but wanted them *now*! There was a chance for a general reorientation of both parts of Germany and they threw it away for empty promises.
Well that’s populism Kohl was the Pear shaped master of. I agree, that a let’s say five year transitional period like west germany got after the war would have been very beneficial but don’t forget that western companies heavily lobbied against that. There are multiple examples of western companies actively sabotaging eastern ones through lobbying and plainly buying them out and stomping them. Yes people sadly voted CDU in 90 and 94 but that doesn’t mean it’s their fault that they were f**ked. There was so incredibly latge amounts of economical misinformation out there, spread by lobbyists, western politicians and the late eastern propaganda it was very much a shit show in which the election were held.
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I meant deniers, corrected it
And knowing Germans they would spend that time off playing their [work simulators](http://i.imgur.com/r9m3y6S.jpg)
The thought of some German gent 100%ing New York Taxi driver simulator has my sides in orbit
There is a simulator called LKW-rangier simulator which translates to Truck-shunting(no idea if this word is correct, deepl told me) simulator. You literally only park big trucks.
Maybe Truck Parking simulator
Protests in Japan: I will work normally, and the customers get everything for free. Everything.
Protests in Japan don't exist cuz their government supplies them with all the octopus porn they need
Fun fact - Germans work less than the French and Brits (and of course, much less than Americans, Chinese, Russians, Japanese, Mexicans, etc who are extremely overworked in comparison and are in a whole different league altogether) In fact, an average German worker works TWO WHOLE WORK MONTHS less per year compared to an average American worker Whatever ordinary Germans are doing to protest and take back the power from the elites clearly works great because they are de-facto closer to achieving the goals of socialism than (almost) all other nations. And they have also somehow managed to be stereotyped as extremely hardworking, which is a double win
The aspects you mentioned are certainly valid, but the amount of income and wealth inequality in Germany has been on the rise for quite a while and it doesn't look like that's going to change anytime soon. Furthermore, quite a few other work related aspects have been worsening, too. So it's slightly more of a mixed bag. On a side note - working/staying at work long hours is not the same as working hard, let alone effectively. Though I'd agree that we aren't (extremely) hard working.
The last time the germans tried socialism it didn't go to well. /s
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I suppose you could make common cause with the kurds?
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I’m American, could someone give more context? I’m genuinely curious
Excluding the far left (climate change activists) and far right (anti foreigners and now covidiots), Germans are very passive in regards to trying to changing systems. "That's how it is and there is nothing to be done. At least we have a still functioning healthcare system and parental leave so I guess I can live with the current state of the umpteen billion other things that could be improved".
I mean... we do get active and protest... we just do it in accordance with the laws and regulations that exist around them... because we just love to regulate absolutely everything ^^
It's not a protest. It's a work event.
They wildin out there in France, burning cities for a work event?
Nah the UK bud. Should of clarified that. For those out of the loop. The UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson claimed that the parties that took place at No.10 during Covid lockdown were a work event and not parties. This prompted outrage from the public who had sacrificed so much. Then JaackMaate on YouTube hired a load of people to dance and chant outside Downing Street.
All of these leaders of countries live by the strict rule of "rules for thee, not for me". It's infuriating.
You will only find a handful of leaders in the entire history of mankind who have done otherwise.
Most have the good sense not to make it so obvious.
Hilariously enough it feels like medieval rulers had more consequence to their actions than these days.
You say all that, but you need to wait for the Report from Sue Gray.... you know, Sue, whose boss is Boris Johnson.
It's like having kids marking their own exam papers...
> Should of Should of indeed..
Hell yeah, it's a team building seminar, the team who burns the most garbage cans and piles of tires gets a 200€ coupon, to be spent exclusively at certified wineries. That is the French esprit de corps my friend.
It's tradition.
Actually that's how they celebrate New Year.. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-59847372
At the time they did not realise it was a protest until someone pointed it out afterwards.
Another difference is the government response. France: Oh no, people are protesting. Let's fix the problem. UK: Oh no, people are protesting. We'll make protests illegal. I stand corrected. The neo lib bourgeoisie governments of both countries are terrible and ignore the needs of their people.
Luckily, that law got struck down recently.
Only by the Lords. Tories will just add it back in to the bill and send it back to the Lords. If they were really desperate, they could pass it by "Act of Parliament" which effectively bypasses the Lords. Last time this was used was by Tony Blair to enforce the Fox Hunting ban. He knew he had to get round the Lords because they all fox hunt, so kept rejecting it. Patel could try something similar, and smirk whilst she was doing it. There aren't many people I hate, but Priti Patel is one of them. Evil bitch.
actually just making protests illegal? jesus christ
The protests would only be illegal if they are "noisy or causing a nuisance".... ... So literally every protest. Tories really are scumbags.
I have not known about those "Tories" you refer to until 15 minutes ago, but they seem like they get no bitches.
Conservatives. For some reason the British nickname for them is the Tories. Our equivalent of the Republicans.
[Niche bit of etymology here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tories_\(British_political_party\)#Name), but most people remember it nowadays as "Conservative" -> "Conservatory" -> "Tory", even though that's not how it originated.
That's interesting. Weird that they call themselves Tories too. Particularly those "scholars" of history Mogg and Boris.
Tory comes from the old Irish word Toraidh that means outlaw or thief.
Ah yes, JRM. The right wing pseudointellectual whose published works are seen as total crap by actual historians.
Tory comes from the Irish toraidh. It’s a civil war era insult: toraidh were Irish bandits.
Not Irish bandits. It's just the Irish word for bandits.
Our equivalent of the republicans but probably more central than their Democrats in all honesty. Still scum though.
Yeh. In many ways, far better than their Republicans. But worryingly appear to be slowly creeping closer every year.
I'm scottish so they are pretty much hated by over 90% of our country since we don't vote for them but are stuck with them. To paint a picture, imagine an elite class of rich people who have utter disdain for the poor and disabled in society. During a global pandemic there first reaction was to steal tax payers money by setting up fake companies that had never produced a thing in there life getting exclusive contracts. While at the same time taking £20 away from the poorest in society. Think people who only care about increasing their own wealth (landlords love to vote for them and our laws reflect that). That's the sorta people the torries are, evil upper class cunts. Also extra drama the country is having a meltdown because while everyone was in lockdown they where having boozing parties everynight, even when the queen her self attended her husbands funeral alone for social distancing.
The US used to have Tories too. They advocated that we should suck up and pay taxes instead of declaring independence from Britain
The bill is massively vague so could be used on just about very protest. It’s also has rules in that allow police to stop and search anyone in the area and as they want to make having an item that could be used to disrupt you could be walking home with some glue in your bag, walk in the general area of a protest get stop and searched and then be charged for having the glue as it could be used to glue hands to roads. The bill is massively authoritarian and even the police said they didn’t want the bill
... this shit cant be real, what Vague bills tend to be garbage bills, but this is something else
Yes - our home secretary is a far right prick who wants to make protesting illegal. She lacks any sense of empathy; she has voted against same sex marriage and argued for capital punishment (currently illegal in the UK). She has worked for the tobacco industry in the past and voted against the smoking ban and has done MANY other awful things. She's awful.
Don't forget the bullying of civil servants.
She is hot though
I mean, if you're desperate enough, I guess.... I just don't see it.
A hot steaming turd on the shoe of the U.K.
Hate her, but she’s got an absolute dump truck
Priti Patel is a legitimate sociopath. Of all the people that should not come within an inch of 'power', I think she is a high contender.
The French government doesn’t really fix anything though. They tend to make it up.
"We'll give you 100€ now please shut the fuck until the elections and remember : if you don't vote for us, you vote for the racists"
How few parties can people vote for, given that the only options are 'racist' and 'me'?
There are other parties. They just pretend that they're the only other option and hope to convince us that it's the case.
Yeah, but some protest are just about people not understanding that for changes, everybody need to make an effort. Or that the government does not have infinite money.
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Film the burning bin and then « can we really let that kind of violence dictates our policies? »
In France, they don't fix the problem, they send the police and tell them to use military grade weapons against the protesters.
Wait what, the French police are militarised like in the US? Or is it the gendarmerie that is, given it is a branch of the military?
I mean , it’s France...they literally had all forms of governments in just 70 years and for a century , every protest devolved into a coup.
They even did a loop, kingdom, republic, empire, kingdom again, kingdom but more liberal but not really, republic again, empire again, republic again. Paris even did a communist revolution once but that didn't last long.
I agree. It's a tradition in France. Aux barricades citoyens!
They aren't armed with actual war weapons, but the rubber balls launchers can pack quite a punch.
And pepper spray grenades
> France: Oh no, people are protesting. Let's fix the problem LOL
Kind of true. French protests have often struck down laws and have brought down governments, but not really because the government is nice, more because the unions are fucking powerful and grind the whole place to a halt
Boris is a cunt, is a cunt *BORIS IS A CUNT*
https://youtu.be/fQiGiLJINjo Will never not be relevant
magnificent
Name one elected leader who isn’t.
Yes to be a head of state you need to at least be something of a narcissistic sociopath with delusions of granduer. But there's a difference between "were raising taxes to pay for more hospitals" level of cunt, and "I'm actively here to destroy democracy for my own personal gain", Johnson falls much more in line with the latter.
France: Fire burnin on the streets UK: Fire burnin on the dance floor
French protests have historically been.. uh.. worse than that.
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> for now. 🧐
Calm down bro
it's in his blood.
The Directorate would like to know your location.
Something something, guillotine their heads...
“Worse”… more effective?
If you call creating an empire which is a pretty word for big dictatorship a successful revolution, then yeah.
British folk just want an excuse tae sing and dance
Wdym "sing and dance" they are conducting important business at a work event
It was a BYOB business meeting.
Don't forget the cheese platter
>Wdym Still not sure if acronym or Welsh.
Can't be Welsh, its readable
can't you see that was all boris wanted to do as well? see, you're not that different after all, remember you are all in this together, the british elite in their mansions and luxury condos, and you in your... dwellings
protesting in italy: forcing your senate to watch hentai
Is there a link to such event somewhere?
[https://www.gamerbraves.com/italian-senators-forced-to-watch-tifa-xiangling-porn-after-zoom-meeting-hijacked/](https://www.gamerbraves.com/italian-senators-forced-to-watch-tifa-xiangling-porn-after-zoom-meeting-hijacked/) no need to thank me
Youre a good man. Thank you
no problem brother
whilst talking really loud into your mic
It would actually be good if more people protested like the french, maybe then wouldn’t get so many shit laws and policies Boris would be gone by now if we were more like the french
On the other hand, France got a lot of shit laws and policies. French people don't really trust the police, I think?
They've also got loads of good ones. People don't trust the gendarmes the most there. They're the military police and are cunts. Regional police are generally OK.
Serieux ??? J'ai l'impression que c'est l'inverse en campagne profonde. Les gendarmes c'est ceux qui savent ce qu'ils font un minimum, et la police c'est ceux qui font du zèle. Les CRS (aka les principaux concernés ici) sont d'ailleurs de la Police, pas la gendarmerie. _ Sorry, thought you were French. Seriously ??? I feel the oppposite in the deep countryside. Gendarmes are the ones who relatively know what they're doing, whereas the Police are the one being cunts. CRS (aka the main culprit here) are 100% police.
même sentiment
Oui c’est l’inverse
Wat ?? We love the gendarmerie What we hate is the police, especially those from Bac
Protesting in France doesn't change anything. The government doesn't care, they will just send cops to use military grade weapons against the protesters. There are plenty of shit laws and policies passed in France, even when there are massive protests against it.
I have literally seen their protests change multiple things
In 2010, the government passed a law to change the retirement system and make it worse. There were six months of protests, with millions in the streets at its peak. Government didn't care and the law passed. In 2016, the government passed a law to change work laws. Again, six months of protests, millions involved, and government didn't give a shit, law passed. In 2018, Yellow Vests protests against the capitalist decisions of Macron's government. The protests went on for 2 years, every week, and was only stopped by covid. Macron didn't give a shit, he sent the cops against the protesters and they used dangerous weapons, some military-grades, which resulted in many being mutilated (lost eyes or limbs). Here is a picture of what the cops did when they tried to end the protest (careful, it's gore): [here](http://lemurjaune.fr/). And today, for months now people have been protesting against the sanitary pass and how the government attacks people's freedom. The government gave so little of a shit that the laws became way way worse than what people initially protested against.
That’s so awfully wrong. Like 2018, which was mainly about the pension rework, and it got suspended (and still is). And about the antivaxx protests, I wouldn’t call those "protests". Especially since most french people agree with the law. I guess we get here a lot of people who wanna make the government look like a dictatorship on purpose.
Dude, stop lying. The protests against the pension started in December 2019. There wasn't even a concept of the law in 2018. And the only reason it didn't pass is because of covid, protests didn't matter at all. The Yellow Vests protests were started over an increase of fuel taxes and the revendications expanded over the weeks. People going in the street, organizing themselves and demanding some change of the law is literally the definition of protests. And 72,7% of the French people [disagreed with the law](https://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2021/03/17/covid-19-pres-de-sept-francais-sur-dix-opposes-au-passeport-vaccinal_6073449_3244.html). Not that it matters because protests are protests regardless of their overall approval among the population. The 2013 protests against gay marriage were still protests even if most people did agree with the law allowing gay marriages.
i didnt say it always works but to claim it doesnt change anything is very wrong
Or they'd just ramp up the authoritarian bullshit. Like this godawful Police and Crime bill that the Lords ripped apart and sent back. Do you really think Patel will look at a riot and go "maybe they have a point?". She's a psychopath. She smirks at the idea of children drowning in the channel. She'll just pass some horrific law to combat it.
Why was this downvoted? Priti Patel is a danger. If Boris goes and she becomes prime minister I will genuinely be worried
Possibly because I was being ambiguous and people thought I was suggesting that the French gov could pass that law (which they wouldn't, only our psychotic government would ever consider that... Or maybe somewhere like Belarus). Either that or it was Priti Patel downvoting me and now I have no citizenship anymore....
Yeah good luck passing that kinda law in France lol, if people in France were protesting and the government tried to pass a law to stop it they’d go mental. No way the government would last
You think that arson, vandalism, chaos and danger are good?
Better than letting an elected government know they have nothing to fear from defying you because you’ll roll over for them regardless out of fear of disturbing the peace. Temporary chaos is better than long term decay caused by fear of the upheaval that comes with change. Most of the British public have never had a revolutionary bone in their bodies and in an age where it’s more important than ever for the people to stay on top of their elected servants that’s going to come back to bite us. Democracy only continues to work for as long as the elected representatives respect and fear our collective power as the electorate they are answerable to.
There is an entire subculture of weird Royalty loving middle-englanders who love the taste of boots in this country, alongside a huge proportion of Working class folks who allow their anger to be diverted to their neighbours, rather than their 'leaders'. Those of us that had any radical sentiments find ourselves burnt out byb the age of about 40, owing to the simple fact of our not making a blind bit of difference.
Unironicaly yes You think the powers that be will bow down to polite requests? When it's HK protestors making barricades and lobbing Molotovs they are noble freedom fighters, when it's here, they are violent looters. People said the same shit about MLK, that the marches were violent looting mobs, before they whitewashed the whole deal into "peaceful protests" So long as no one gets killed or seriously hurt, it's fair game
As a car owner, who sometimes parks their car on the street, no thank you..
In the UK, banter is a way of life and our second language. It's what we all understand best. The more jokes at the PM's expense around this, the more it gets into peoples minds.
This is why Boris will probably remain Prime Minister.
Boris a dead man walking. He's using every dirty trick in the book to hang on but yeah it's only a matter of time before his ass is gone. The best part is because he's using every dirty trick in the book there be no reward of Sir or Lord in the future as he's pissed off too many of his own party. It's actually fun to watch as every day he gets more and more desperate.
Boris is probably in that crowd dancing with them.
French don't fuck around when it comes to protests.
We’ve made it an art form.
Protest is only really a real protest if it's in a certain region of France, otherwise it's just sparkling discontent.
These are the moments that make you wonder if democracy works or not
A democracy is only as vibrant as people's capacity to detect and reject bullshit. As mass media becomes better able to maintain mass delusions, democracy won't work as well because the voters aren't living in the same reality and can't even recognize the issues, let alone attempt to address them.
tbh whatever system we have there will be always a problem
I love jaackmaate
Used to think he was a bit of a know it all but this really changed my opinion on him. Good lad
I seriously don't understand why protestors would cause destruction. Yeah, it sends a message, but the people who receive the most message are those who happened to park their car there, or those who happened to have a business there which was robbed and destroyed by protestors. Seriously, if you are angry at the government, be angry at the government. But don't involve others. Edit: as Teelogas mentioned, I should add that of course most protestors don't cause destruction. The problem is that there are just enough that for a given protest, there is likely a small handful who do cause destruction.
Don't you dare say anything against- my right to wreck shit *cough cough*, take part in democratic protest. I will not change but the world must change for my benefit and only in a way I see fit. If you don't agree you are racist facist baby-killer.
Yea, it's so annoying. These ppl are oftentimes the reason, why riots are seen as something bad, by some ppl. Like all it takes is one out of 15k ppl to light up a car and that's all that will be talked about. That also makes the ppl look bad who went to the proteststs for normal reasons.
That is an incredibly simplistic way to look at it. 99% of people don't go out and burn shit just because, nor would they loot and steal if they had a good comfortable life. First of all it has been documented MANY times and in several countries that riots/violence are often instigated by infiltrated agents to discredit the protest. Then there is the whole rage and indignation that many people feel when their peaceful protests, their voting and their "legal" ways bring no change at all and prove useless. Most people just throw their arms up in the air and are just lile "oh well", and so the status quo never changes. Other people get fed up with it and take it out on things, and this is an important point, most often its violence against property and not people, for a reason. Another point is, historically a lot of big social changes were achieved thanks to violent protests (40 hours week in a lot of countries come to mind for example). Since it was recently MLK day, I recommend checking out his speeches about this.
Yeah, if you had a kid who wanted a later bedtime and then burned your car you wouldn't then raise its bedtime.
*THIS IS A WORK EVENT* *THIS IS A WORK EVENT* *THIS IS A WORK EVENT* *THIS IS A WORK EVENT*
Excuse me, this was a work event
They just wanted to show their sick moves lmao
Britishness at its finest
But that's just a work event
Looks like a work event to me?
Protest in Australia : Go directly to Jail . Do not pass Go, do not collect $200
Someone didn't watch the London riots a few years back
This is a work event.
That’s a protest? Looks like a work event to me
Would’ve been a really dark meme if you’d have seen what they do to protesters in india
So true. In India, if you're not burning down at least 3 buses for a minor inconvenience, are you *really* having a protest?
The british are just built different it seems
France is just keeping the tradition going.
The french simply have more experience in the business.
French have long traditions on revolutions.
Uhhh I seem to remember much of London on fire during a 2012 protest.
In case anyone wants to see the full video: https://youtu.be/xXGvy4Rt8vA
Something South Africa and France has in common.
A few months ago Reddit was hating in the guy at the bottom for taking the piss about a German girl during the Euros. Good times
I think the Irish would like to speak to the OP.
FWIW 'Britain' usually only includes England, Scotland and Wales.
You're right, I apologize. I read "UK" where Britain was. That's entirely my mistake. My point still stands though. I mean even the Irish will unironically admit how good they are at rioting.