Social unrest is starting up in Italy

The shut downs/lock downs are not merely the stopping of nonessential gathering, but the cessation of income. You might not care about missing that birthday party for 94 year old great aunt, Edna; but you damn well will miss your paycheck. Sooner or later, we are going to have to get back to work, regardless of the perils that may cause. Some people are better able to weather the loss of income than others. It's going to be a hard decision. There's not going to be a good time to get back to living.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
The shut downs/lock downs are not merely the stopping of nonessential gathering, but the cessation of income. You might not care about missing that birthday party for 94 year old great aunt, Edna; but you damn well will miss your paycheck. Sooner or later, we are going to have to get back to work, regardless of the perils that may cause. Some people are better able to weather the loss of income than others. It's going to be a hard decision. There's not going to be a good time to get back to living.
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A member of parliament in the UK has been criticised by police for visiting his father on his seventy eighth birthday, (the father was a former MP, and leader of one of our major political parties). It was not a "necessary visit" assert the police, in the terms of a new law enacted last week.

Therefore, our government allows thousands of workers to continue to build a nuclear power station, (a move I agree with BTW), and yet your dad who tried to lead the country cannot have a visit from anyone other than a health professional I guess. I know these are extraordinary times, but are we really saying no one can visit a parent/grandparent for up to a year, or maybe more, and is our current prime minister, when he recovers from the coronavirus he has contracted, to be similarly constrained?
 
People weren’t meant to sit still, lie in bed or become sedentary. Over this past weekend, it rained here Sat & Sun. By 2 p.m. I was ready to start pulling my hair out. My wife even told me to go sit down and read or play some music, just do something. I told her I’m going for a walk. That’s when she told me “...but it’s raining.” I have umbrellas. See ya!. And, off I went.

We aren’t allowed out on the streets unless we have a necessary purpose.
 
Pepper said:
Are you saying when you are on the street you will be checked by some uniformed official? Please explain.
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In Spain people are stopped by the police at random, and at road block , they have to prove where they're going ( trips only to a supermarket/laundry-dry cleaners/ hair salon/ and or medical appointments..only) and their home address and car registrations are noted. If they are found a long way from home rather than tthe nearest place to where they live for their shopping..or medical needs ( and excluding work for which they have permits)...they are fined heavily... and sent back home again .
Those who are self isolating are not permitted to take their dogs for a walk..they're only permitted to take the dog to the nearest patch or lampost, closest to their home, let it do it's business and then straight back home
 
Pepper said:
Spain is not known for a history of democracy @hollydolly, but rather crushing dictatorships, i.e. Franco.
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that was a long time ago Pepper. Spain is a very different place today to Franco's day.

I have a home in Spain which I've had for 20 years. I lived there full time for 10 years until just a few years ago, but I still own mi Casa .....my daughter also lives in Spain, 6 hours from us, and she' has a business, and home and has lived there almost 10 years now...
 
Yes, and you are British with a Glorious History of Democracy from the days of Magna Carta. What happened during our lifetime, i.e. WWII, Nazis, Fascists, Communists, affects all of us presently alive today.

Spain has no real history in democracy @hollydolly and it is Spain, not British folks who live there, that we are talking about.
 
hollydolly said:
I'm presuming then, that Italy has no food banks ... :unsure:
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I would hope the churches do a lot of charitable food pantry/meal prep type work. Problem with many parts of Italy is they're probably many parts just above a third world standard of living so they're probably off a lot of organizations radar as impoverished. In some respects that leads to a nice simple life but when stuff like this happens they're done. Actually some neighborhoods in the US not much better.
 
Pepper said:
Yes, and you are British with a Glorious History of Democracy from the days of Magna Carta. What happened during our lifetime, i.e. WWII, Nazis, Fascists, Communists, affects all of us presently alive today.

Spain has no real history in democracy @hollydolly and it is Spain, not British folks who live there, that we are talking about.
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The spanish live under the same rules as the British expats who live there. Spain is a democratic country now... and has been for decades...
 
WhatInThe said:
I would hope the churches do a lot of charitable food pantry/meal prep type work. Problem with many parts of Italy is they're probably many parts just above s third world standard of living so they're probably off a lot of organizations radar as impoverished. In some respects that leads to a nice simple life but when stuff like this happens they're done. Actually some neighborhoods in the US not much better.
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I've also lived in Italy..Northern Italy near Brescia which is quite close to the city of Verona... when I worked and lived there in the late 80's..it was a very poor one horse town ( not Verona)... but now it's a huge industrial area , but still lots of poverty.... there are many poverty stricken areas in Southern Italy too... and in Sicily particularly parts are very poor indeed.

Like any large western country we in the UK have cities, and towns which are blighted by poverty but at least here there's help, with food banks and social security benefits
 
Pepper said:
Yes, and you are British with a Glorious History of Democracy from the days of Magna Carta. What happened during our lifetime, i.e. WWII, Nazis, Fascists, Communists, affects all of us presently alive today.

Spain has no real history in democracy @hollydolly and it is Spain, not British folks who live there, that we are talking about.
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@hollydolly I 'think' I get her point. @Pepper ...by all means correct me if I'm wrong 🙃 I had a brief fling with an Iraqi native a year or so after the 2010 elections. His family had been here since the 70s if I remember correctly-it was a very brief fling. He said he didn't have much hope for democracy in Iraq since the people had no history of self-governing. He was right. Though there have been elections since 2010, most experts consider today's Iraqi govt as authoritarian.

Same with Russia. The end of the Cold War and dissolution of the USSR didn't lead to self-rule. Putin has been in power for 20 years.

Spain throughout most of its history has had strong monarchist rule or dictatorships and is only one generation removed from Franco. In a Covid-19 situation, they're easier to herd. Not so sure that's a completely bad thing in the short term while trying to 'flatten the curve' during the pandemic. But in the long run, if there's a depression and civil unrest, countries like Spain might easier slip back into not so great forms of government.

Along the same vein, Germany's history came to mind when I read about the German finance minister's recent suicide. They have a gawdawful history of handling economic upheaval.
 
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WhatInThe said:
I would hope the churches do a lot of charitable food pantry/meal prep type work. Problem with many parts of Italy is they're probably many parts just above a third world standard of living so they're probably off a lot of organizations radar as impoverished. In some respects that leads to a nice simple life but when stuff like this happens they're done. Actually some neighborhoods in the US not much better.
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Yes, several places in the US barely above third world standard as well.
 

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