Another human rights activist, Khurram Zaki, has been assassinated in Karachi, Pakistan. Zaki was a prominent blogger who maintained a prominent Facebook site, Let Us Build Pakistan. He had argued against religious extremism and promoted a religiously liberal society. The Hakimullah faction, named after Hakimullah Mehsud who was killed by an American drone strike in 2013, of the Pakistan Taliban took responsibility for the murder.
The rise of populist politics in the US and Europe is one of the dangerous consequences of the Great Recession that began in 2008. The argument, to which I subscribe, is that globalization has economically and politically disenfranchised workers by lowering wages, and that the populist anger is directed toward the elites who have profited from globalization. The evidence supporting this argument, however, is mixed, and Daniel Gros notes the discrepancy in Europe between more- and less-educated citizens in Europe, and how some of the best performing economies in Europe are witnessing the strongest populist response.
Greece has passed the tax and pension reforms demanded by the European Central Bank, the European Union, and the International Monetary Fund as preconditions for additional loans to help the country repay its international debts. The reforms will exact additional pain on Greek citizens as the austerity measures reduce the spendable incomes of most of them. Protests broke out in Greece prior to the Parliamentary vote and one should expect that the protests will only deepen.
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