Emerging
Features
Securities In this section: 13: The Season of Militancy: Global Responses to Political Failure 15: Working-Class Apathy or Poor Strategy? Explaining the Limitations of XR 17: The Power of the ‘Gram: Virtual Agency in Human Protest 19: 30 Years Since Alexanderplatz: Brexit and the Regression of Liberal Democracy In a renewed age of protest, political systems across the globe are finding themselves under intense scrutiny. From South America to the Far East, 2019 has been characterised by a virulent strain of political unrest. In the following articles, the rise of militant tactics will be assessed alongside the increasingly prevalent role played by social media in diversifying the field of protest. Despite this, the historical precedence of traditional peaceful protest is something which cannot be ignored. The 30 year anniversary of the Alexanderplatz demonstrations in East Berlin demonstrates the strength mass support of liberal democratic values carries, something which can be applied to the increasingly polarised environment which has developed in Britain as a result of the Brexit conundrum. On the domestic front, the varied responses to the actions of Extinction Rebellion suggest the unsettling features of protest are not just worrying in their immediacy, but also in their divisive
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long term impacts. A broader understanding of protest is therefore crucial if security and social cohesion are to be maintained.
The Season of Militancy: Global Responses to Political Failure By Ellie Muir Amidst a global breakdown of confidence in the political systems which govern citizens, an era of dissent has emerged. Protest can be a powerful political tool for influencing change and history reveals as much. Today, popular protest has seemingly become the
only option left for citizens to secure progressive change. As a result of this global wave of protest, government attempts to combat dissent have become increasingly authoritarian, posing a significant threat to the freedoms of the demonstrators. 2019 has been a year characterised by protest, from the UK to Hong Kong, Bolivia to Lebanon, Chile to France. Popular protest does not appear to be a trend lacking longevity. In the Edwardian campaign for female suffrage in Britain, Women’s Freedom League (WFL) leader Charlotte Despard said ‘there are times and seasons in human history when civil disobedience is the highest duty we can offer to our generation’, and it seems the international political climate today resembles this season of human history. As popular protest has become commonplace, tactics of protest have changed too. Violence and militancy are effectively causing civil obedience, but whether this will bring change from the top-down remains to be seen. A prevalent protest tactic today is to establish an overwhelming sense of disorder,
