Scapegoating

Jerome Kerviel, the Societe Generale trader who ran up the biggest trading loss in history, broke his silence to turn on his former employer yesterday, saying he refused to be a scapegoat for the losses and insisting he acted only to swell the French bank's profits.

The author Max Frisch in 'Andorra' writes a great piece on scapegoating.

It is always the small person, the provincial person, the person who has no voice, who is the object of scapegoating. But sometimes the scapegoat talks back and can change the course of history. Alas, that is seldom.

It is usually big organisations, organisations with histories steeped in control and authoritarianism, which are adept at scapegoating.

Scapegoating always involves bullying and injustice.

Hopefully, in time, we will be allowed hear the full story of Jerome Kerviel.