The ongoing global unrest and economic crises🪙remind me of similar disturbances in Medieval England in 1381. After the Bubonic plague (Black Death), caused by Yersinia pestis, swept through Europe, Asia, and North Africa between 1346-1353, almost half of the population of Europe and England was wiped off.
This created a huge labour shortage, causing sharp rises in labour wages🪙 across England. The peasants, who mainly worked as serfs (semi-slaves) on these lands, became rich at the expense of the Lords (owners of the lands), and prices of goods, food, and services also rose substantially, causing unprecedented inflation and hardships.
The aristocracy (ruling elites) tried to control the rising peasants’ wages by capping them and restricting their movements and freedom to change jobs.
Around the same time, England was engaged in a 100 years war with France (1337-1453), which was draining the government’s coffers and leading to the imposition of unpopular poll taxes on the citizenry. All these burdens were exacerbated by the hardships and pandemic losses.
Expectedly, the peasants revolted and marched on London, killing many elites. Similar instances led to the American, French, and Bolshevik (Russian) revolutions. The patterns are clear: economic hardships emanating from pandemics, wars, and taxes, almost always lead to protests and uprisings, and the world is experiencing just that.
As workers are laid off and hunger and unemployment rise globally, as waves of pandemics from Covid to Monkeypox threaten lives and push governments to debt distress, as fuel shortages hit many countries, the masses will revolt. Already, unprecedented strikes have been announced in the UK, France, and Germany 🇬🇧…farmers are marching in the Netherlands, and airport workers are striking in many countries, leading to flight cancelations and baggage losses…
Lufthansa, Delta, British Airways, Norwegian Airlines, Scandinavian Airlines, and several international airlines have canceled more than 2000 flights daily owing to strikes. China is on the brink of an economic crisis as millions boycott loans and mortgage repayment. The Chinese housing market is crashing. The US is now in a recession.
The world is in a state of confusion! The peasants are revolting. Are we on the brink of another precipice? What lies ahead? Or these are the signs of the times? Observers, like myself, are obviously worried…
