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Why Protests Won’t end Anytime Soon By Thomas P. Sørensen The world is captured in a cycle of protests and counterprotests. Countries are gripped by a struggle against the political elite, an elite which in many cases is as fractured and split as the people protesting themselves. But the protests should be seen for what they are; eco- which the survival of capitalism 2011 gaining almost 75% of the nomic in nature and mired in starts to come to depend politi- seats in parliament. In the face the problem of a world of losers cal extremism and authoritarian- of this the democratic-capitalist and winners in an increasingly ism. dynamic of the middle class neoliberal world order. Fundabroke down and on the 30th of mentalism and nationalism take The Arab spring happened as a June protests began sweeping hold in a backdrop of increased result of authoritarian and cor- Cairo ending in the military coup immigration, reduced financial rupt governments, but only as which forced again Egypt open security and increased unem- they proved incapable of eco- to the international market, with ployment for the lower classes. nomic growth. It was the middle the government raising of basic At the other end of the spec- -class fighting back to secure goods prices in preparation for trum, we find the established their continued economic devel- the slashing of the subsidies enmiddle class of the West and the opment. The demands for tirely. Here, we see how authoribourgeoning ones of the Global “Bread, Freedom and Social Jus- tarian capitalism is not only beSouth trying to facilitate ecocoming possible, but at nomic growth and wealth times also preferred in accumulation for themselves turn making protest by and increasingly aligning with “Protests should be seen for the lower class is becomneoliberal policies to promote ing effectively irrelevant. capitalism in its most un- what they are; economic in naLebanon’s current prochecked form. ture and mired in the problem tests, hailed as a continuaThe wave of fundamentalism tion of the Arab Spring, and populism sweeping the of a world of losers and winners offer us as window into a world should be seen for in an increasingly neoliberal conflict engendered priwhat it is; the frustration of an marily due to economic world order.” abandoned populace willing issues and rising unemto attach itself to any ideoloployment. As unemploygy promising liberation from ment steadily creeps fortheir misery. This misery is not ward people take to the more extreme than it used to streets from all strata of society be, yet the margin for what is demanding first an end to the considered liveable has tice” which aligned the lower increased living prices, but then changed, the notion of survival classes too were mostly about the resignation of the governhas therefore been altered. Ig- social justice. But the new sys- ment and now political accountnoring calls for the reversal of tem failed in the battle for bread ancy as a whole with the slogan the neoliberal progress of de- and in the face of even more “All of them means all of them”. regulation, scrapping of social severe despair the lower classes As one of the most multicultural welfare and general employ- have become radicalised, this nations on earth, Lebanon proment has come to generate a has culminated in the rise to vides a clear example of how dangerous situation, one in power of the Muslim Brother- revolt and protest has everyhood and other Islamic parties in KCL Politics Society
