The Age of Global Protest

Popular protests are connected nan rise, and they are progressively going global. Over nan past 5 years, celebrated movements demonstrating against fiscal austerity and corruption person brought down antiauthoritarian governments from Europe and Latin America to Africa and Asia. Pro-democracy protests successful authoritarian countries person besides proliferated, pinch respective having succeeded successful ousting long-ruling leaders, arsenic successful Sudan and Algeria. Now nan emergence successful power and nutrient prices caused by nan warfare successful Ukraine is driving different activity of cost-of-living protests.

And pinch nan advent of caller connection technologies and media platforms, what happens anyplace tin beryllium seen everywhere. The messages and actions of pro-democracy protesters successful Hong Kong, for instance, inspired and guided demonstrators successful different continents. The Black Lives Matter protests successful nan United States during nan summertime of 2020 were peculiarly resonant. Building connected hundreds of years of world abolitionist and anti-colonialist protest, nan demonstrations—sparked by nan May 2020 sidesplitting of George Floyd by a achromatic constabulary officer—spread quickly astir nan world. In summation to opinionated successful solidarity pinch U.S. protesters, demonstrators successful Europe, South America and Asia connected nan activity to their ain experiences of colonialism, racism and authorities unit perpetrated by their governments.

New connection technologies and media platforms are not only raising awareness. They are besides enabling movements successful different countries to study from and prosecute pinch each other. The leaderless pro-democracy protestation activity successful Thailand was connected to groups guiding akin efforts successful Hong Kong. There is immoderate concern, though, that nan easiness pinch which protestation methods and strategies tin beryllium shared mightiness obscure nan magnitude of activity required to shape effective movements that tin successfully execute governmental change. As a result, nascent efforts could splinter aliases neglect because protesters are not adequately prepared to support them, peculiarly erstwhile they are challenged by authorities forces.

Meanwhile, governments are actively looking to incorporate nan emergence successful civilian resistance, deploying violence, arsenic successful Myanmar, Iran and astir precocious Kenya, to crush serene protests. During nan coronavirus pandemic, galore countries utilized pandemic-related restrictions connected gatherings arsenic a pretext to curb demonstrators and apprehension activists and journalists—a strategy deployed from Algeria to nan Philippines. Other repressive regimes, for illustration Russia, Belarus and Saudi Arabia, target dissidents for unit and abduction abroad, calling world attraction to nan believe known arsenic transnational repression.

WPR has covered world populist and societal protestation movements successful item and continues to analyse cardinal questions astir what will hap next. How will governments respond to protests driven by nan world power and cost-of-living crises? Will anti-mining protests successful Latin America win successful making nan greenish power modulation much just? Will world protests against Israel’s onslaught connected Gaza change nan people of nan Israel-Hamas war? Below are immoderate of nan highlights of WPR’s coverage.

Our Most Recent Coverage

Kenya’s Protests Are About More Than Tax Hikes

Protests that gripped Kenya’s superior successful precocious June were ostensibly astir a taxation bill, but successful reality nan roots of nan grievances tally overmuch deeper.

More Coverage of Protest Movements

• How Argentina’s feminist activity is fighting backmost against President Javier Milei’s war connected women’s rights.
• How Palestinian civilian nine has played a cardinal domiciled successful efforts to hold Israel accountable for its actions successful nan West Bank and Gaza.
• Why Georgia’s “foreign agents” rule sparked specified monolithic protests.
• Why angry farmers have Europe moving scared.
• Why Latin America’s mining backlash has world implications.

Editor’s note: This article was primitively published successful October 2020 and is regularly updated.