In Newsweek recently, a story about antigovernment anger worldwide discusses the new “open source” groundswell. The technology term of “open sourcing” refers to software that anyone can link and contribute to, such as Wikipedia. The term has been used to describe the Iraq conflict in describing how many diverse groups are united only in their hatred of Americans. Newsweek uses open source to describe the many antigovernment conflicts that have sprung up internationally with no common denominator other than misstrust of government.

In Germany, where protests against the government are very rare, protestors tried to block a railway station from being built in Stuttgart, trees from being planted in Rheinberg and the installation of new cobblestones in Munster. In France, workers protested the raising of the minimum retirement age. In the Netherlands, citizens tried to block a bridge project. These groups were not environmentalists, youth, senior citizens, or any other specific group and the one and only common denominator is citizen anger towards government.

While Newsweek compares this anger to the tea party movement that has swept America, the Times is comparing it to the anger voiced locally about a number of recent projects. The common denominator in Valdosta is the mistrust of government officials decisions on everything from the streetscape program to the proposed biomass facility. And like the groundswell worldwide, this anger isn’t going away any time soon.

Newsweek points out that most all of the projects have been carried out in Europe despite the protests, and that will most likely be the case in Valdosta as well. The one place where citizens have shown their anger most effectively and had a major impact is in the voting booth.

While officials continue to downplay local citizen anger about current projects, citizens are organizing in a variety of ways to affect change the next election cycle. When Sterling Chemical came to Lowndes County in the 1990s, citizens were told the project was a “done deal,” and so it was. Sterling is still here, but those in office at the time aren’t, and the director of the Industrial Authority at the time is no longer here either.

As has been shown worldwide, citizens are tired of being told what’s best for them, having no say so in how their tax dollars are spent, and having their concerns ignored.   

Until officials understand that it is coming from all directions and not just led by a few malcontents, the swell will continue to grow. And those who continue to ignore the anger and frustration do so at their own peril.