# Social unrest (france, spain) ... sign of things to come?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-unrest-france-spain-sign-of-things-to-come/1033673>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [October 8, 2026, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-unrest-france-spain-sign-of-things-to-come/1033673 "2026-10-08T15:31:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-unrest-france-spain-sign-of-things-to-come/1033673/1 "2026-10-08T15:31:07Z")

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Hi there,

I am not trying to formulate a “0-hypothesis” here, but I just wonder if those - seemingly unconnected - evevents are the point of an iceberg that is slowly breaking from below through the calm waters.

(mostly interconnected) Stuff like:

- dire job market, esp. for youth/students
- “K-shaped” economy … few get ever richer, most get poorer
- “global housing” crisis
- Inflation -\>again, hitting poor people more than rich ones
- Crappy politicians, 1-2 stand out especially
- AI-related uncertainty that impacts the job markets
- stupid vanity wars (at least 2)
- abusing/weaponizing public services
- lots of bi-polar governments (far-right or left), very little centric governments → lots of political loudmouths
- etc…

it was quite long quite calm - how would you rate the chances of sparks-flying in your country/region for the next 6-18 months?

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**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-unrest-france-spain-sign-of-things-to-come/1033673/2 "2026-10-08T16:12:30Z")

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I have an opinion, which is that much economic unrest is driven by increasingly difficult conditions for the lower 2/3 (pick the fraction you think is best) of the population. These conditions are caused by the increasing power of money in politics, which allows those with money to just not care about such difficulties for the people without money. In the past, this was typically a cycle that ended up with peasant uprisings followed by some concessions, or else followed by outright revolution (“_apres moi, le deluge_”). So yes, I think unrest will get worse, and I don’t know how far that will go.