Freeters and their political impact
“A Freeter (“a Japanese expression for people between the age of 15 and 34 who lack full time employment or are unemployed, excluding homemakers and students” – Wikipedia). Although the Japanese have coined a term for the group, they exist all over the world, and are a social force of underestimated and growing importance. The Japanese are unusual in giving it a name. This is the stratum which provides most of the participants in autonomous activism throughout the global North. In Japan, the Freeters General Union is a political body with a broadly autonomist and anti-neoliberal perspective, which organizes initiatives such as Mayday demonstrations and anti-government protests (see freeter-union.org/mayday/index-en.html). Many of those participating in similar protests in European countries doubtless come from a similar social position.
Read full post, a contribution by Andy Robinson:
Phi Beta Iota: Revolutions come about when preconditions pile up, and then a precipitant occurs. Most of the preconditions for revolution exist around the world, not only in Third World countries, but in the USA and Japan as well. For a precipitant (such as a burning fruit seller in Tunesia, or in the USA, a vivacious soccer mom torching herself on Capitol Hill after a passionate YouTube video condeming the two-party tryanny for treason) there needs to be a mass of individual who a) have time on their hands and b) have above average intelligence and can perceive the criminal insanity of the current situation.
See Also:
Graphic: Preconditions of Revolution in the USA Today
2011 Thinking About Revolution in the USA and Elsewhere (Full Text Online for Google Translate)
