As southern Europe erupts in protest at crippling austerity measures, imposed by corrupt puppet politicians at the behest of global financial loansharks such as the IMF, the Spanish authorities have announced plans to further criminalise and crush dissent.

Spanish interior minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz yesterday announced in Congress planned reforms that would introduce harsh new punishments for those involved in organising street protests that "seriously disturb the public peace". A minimum jail term of two years could be imposed on those found guilty of instigating and carrying out violent acts of protest, and organising such demonstrations through social networks would carry the same penalty as involvement in a criminal organisation.

Even more alarmingly, acts of "passive resistance" will also carry harsher punishments under the proposed legislation, and it will be an offence, said Mr Diaz, to "breach authority using mass active or passive resistance against security forces and to include as a crime of assault any threatening or intimidating behaviour". Attempts to disrupt public services, such as the recent blockades of bus and train stations by Spanish protestors during a general strike on March 29th, would also be treated as a crime.

We can expect to see such legislation enacted across the Western world, as governments prepare for the unrest that is inevitably going to spread and intensify as living standards plummet, due to the theft and corruption of the political and financial elite. As unemployment rises, salaries and benefits are slashed, and living costs soar - all to fuel the insatiable greed of a minority of the already obscenely wealthy - it is perfectly obvious that the working and middle classes of the supposedly free and democratic West are going to start rebelling en masse. Indeed, as detailed in a previous article, widespread dissent is actually factored into the plans of those running such globalist financial organisations as the IMF and World Bank.

Greece, Spain and Italy have all seen recent mass protests against austerity, and whilst last year's riots in England were not overtly political in nature, they were certainly a reflection of a rotten system that has dispossessed a whole generation of young people, who have little hope of a productive or comfortable future. During the riots many suggested deploying the army on the streets, and there has been much talk of using water cannons and rubber bullets; this week it was revealed that the British police are considering the use of chemical agents to deal with rioters. How long will it be before such methods, sold on the pretence of being solely for use in violent riots, are used more generally against peaceful protestors and those engaged in acts of civil disobedience?

We are also seeing a concerted effort by Western governments to restrict and control the internet, which again reflects governmental awareness of, and preparation for, coming mass dissent and revolt. Increasingly draconian legislation is being proposed in all Western nations, with the British government currently planning to monitor all digital communications in real time - to "keep us safe from terrorists", of course.

Whilst promoting violence is clearly unacceptable, recent four-year sentences handed down in England to two men who "organised riots" on Facebook (attended by no-one other than the police and the Facebook posters, who were promptly arrested) were blatantly out of proportion with the crimes committed.

Increased surveillance and harsh punishments for those who use social media to speak out of line, are both ways in which governments are attempting to quell the fomenting unrest - creating a "chilling effect" on legitimate protest against the wholesale looting of our economies, and attack on our standards of living, by the banksters and their lackeys in government.