A generation in protest

ON SEPTEMBER 1, there were 30 anti-government protests globally, according to Carnegie's global protest tracker. In the 12 months prior to this, the world witnessed 159 anti-government protests in 71 countries. What defines these protests is an overwhelming participation from youth. “The proportion of people willing to participate in demonstrations has increased to its highest levels since the 1990s, and the number of protests has also risen in this period,” says a Unicef report. Massive protests have caused change in regimes in Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

- By RICHARD MAHAPATRA

The youth-led protests are driven by mass appeal and without formal leadership. They are happening in more informal political spaces and seeing a change in agenda—from being against liberalisation in the early 2000s to climate justice to food and energy inflation; and now to direct action for a change in regime to inequality and the feeling of marginalisation. According to a study, youth protests aiming at regime change, like in Bangladesh and Nepal, have grown since 1990. Interestingly, the protests are seen across poor, developing and developed countries.

One analysis says that from November 2021 to October 2022, protests against the cost-of-living crisis (including food and energy inflation) triggered 12,500 protests and riots in 150 countries. Students led nearly 10 per cent of the protests. In many cases, protests for local issues spread to neighbouring countries. For instance, the Arab Spring in the 2010s started from protests in Tunisia against economic hardship that spread to Egypt, Libya, Syria and Yemen.