[We live in tumultuous times. Since 2011, every year seems to have brought more protests, more rebellions, more uprisings — and 2014 has been no different in this respect. Indeed, the past year has seen some of the most spectacular mass mobilizations and some of the most persistent social unrest to date. A genie has been unleashed from its bottle and refuses to go back in. At the same time, it is clear that the days of innocence are over. There is less patience for drum circles or endless deliberations over process. Faced with a relentless assault by the neoliberal state, protesters now simply seek to secure some of the most elementary ingredients of a just, humane and democratic society. Millions have marched to demand answers in the case of the missing 43 students in Mexico, to secure justice for unarmed people of color murdered by racist police in the US, to express solidarity with the heroic Kurdish defenders of Kobani, to save the lives of hunger-striking prisoners in Greece, to resist draconian new anti-protest laws in Spain — and the list keeps on growing. We have learned as well. We have all seen that, in many parts of the globe, the hopeful uprisings of recent years have taken a decisive turn for the worse. In Egypt, the vicious counter-revolution that took off in earnest in 2013 was solidified with the election of the US-backed tyrant Abdel Fattah el-Sisi this year, culminating in the recent acquittal of the former dictator Mubarak himself. Meanwhile in Syria, three years of civil war and state brutality have given rise to a monster — the self-styled Islamic State — which went on a rampage through Iraq and Kurdistan over the summer. In Egypt, Libya and elsewhere similar extremist forces are on the rise. Revolutions are not to be taken lightly... Looking back, if 2014 has shown us anything it is that none of the structural causes that gave rise to the post-2011 cycle of struggles have ever been truly addressed. In many ways, as the world financial system and global economy continue to careen into the abyss, while state violence is ramped up in order to deal with the increasing social unrest in response to ever widening social inequalities, the worldwide wave of mass protests and outright revolts is only likely to further intensify. In fact, it now looks like the only effective strategy capable of restoring a sense of “order” to the ancien regime is the Egyptian approach: to sacrifice all democratic pretensions with outright state repression in order to instill an all-pervasive sense of despondence and hopelessness. For a while in early 2014, the world appeared to be going down the latter road — towards ever greater despondence and demobilization. But recent months have provided hope that other outcomes may still be possible, not just in Europe, Asia and the Americas but even in the midst of the horrors of the new Middle Eastern wars. Indeed, it seems that the winds of change are slowly picking up again. Around the globe, grassroots movements appear to be re-finding their footing. What if 2011 was really only just the beginning? The mere thought triggers goosebumps. If 2014 was anything to go by, the decade of the protester may yet be ahead of us. And who knows what possibilities may still lie beyond?] roarmag.org/2014/12/protests-2014-global-uprisings/?utm_source=pulsenews&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+roarmag+%28ROAR+Magazine%29
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 21:26:56 +0000
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