Germans protest "caravan capitalism."

Eliza King/January 25, 12:15 AM/Entry 2/Global Social Protests

In Germany, there have been protestors in Bochum, who were protesting against Nokia’s sudden decision to move one of their German plants. The plant produces Nokia cell phones and production is being moved to Romania. The locals are referring to the move as “caravan capitalism.” The big fear is that Germany is giving in to globalization, but more than that, the move and subsequent protest strips the workers at the plant of their jobs. There are over two thousand and three hundred jobs that are directly affected by this move. The German government is demanding what it paid Nokia to be reimbursed for the efforts that they put forth for the plant, as their economy will now suffer tremendously.

This is outrageous, but unfortunately a growing problem. Nokia is looking to expand their corporation. They want to do this by decreasing the amount of workers and increasing production. It is quite a regrettable situation, but it happens all too frequently. With job cutbacks, many people around the world are finding themselves without income. In Romania, perhaps, Nokia will be able to have the same job done and pay the workers less. Multinational corporations are progressively pushing the envelope as far as this is concerned. It is only natural that the people of Germany would be furious. I think that their protests are completely justified, although I (sadly) do not believe that it will do anything to change the minds of the company. As long as there are people who will work for the bare minimum, the corporations will use these people as their employees.