2019’s Worldwide Protests: Important distinctions

The year 2019 witnessed protests across the Global—from Europe, to Asia, to Latin America. While it is tempting to focus on the broad similarities among these protest movements, it is important to bear in mind important distinctions.

While lack of government responsiveness to public demands and concerns about inequality have been a common feature of many protests, the specific contexts of public angst vary significantly among countries. Whereas issues of distribution, including substantial deprivation and poverty along with large-scale corruption, are drivers of protest in the Global South, northern protests revolve around opposition to attempts to dismantle welfare states, environmental issues, and less serious issues pertaining to the erosion of democracy.

Protests in France and Haiti

In France, the yellow vest movement emerged in 2018, originally largely composed of rural dwellers who could least afford the increased fuel prices announced by the government. As the movement gained momentum, however, it garnered a broader spectrum of supporters and expanded its concerns to the high cost of living more generally. Increased taxes on wealth and an improvement in the minimum wage were among the demands. More recently, the yellow vests have joined the country’s trade unions in protesting various measures aimed at eroding the country’s welfare state, such as the slashing of unemployment benefits, changes in labor law making it easier to hire and fire, and pension reforms, which would reduce the age of retirement from 62 to 64 and merge the country’s 42 pension schemes. Meanwhile, the French government has reduced taxes for the wealthy. Nevertheless, France is one of only five OECD countries where income inequality and poverty have declined over the past 20 years. France’s poverty figures are below OECD average. Protesters in France have been fighting to retain the country’s generous welfare state.

Consider, on the other hand, the protests in Haiti, where widespread unrest emerged in response to an increase in fuel prices and expanded to demonstrations against large scale corruption. Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere, with an extreme poverty level (the proportion of the population living on less than $1.25 per day) of 25 percent. Inequality is extremely high: Haiti has one of the highest numbers of millionaires per capita in the Western Hemisphere. About one quarter of the population lack electricity, approximately one half lack access to safe water and a similar percent of Haitian children do not attend school. An estimated 100,000 children are malnourished. The current situation is desperate. In addition, the high level of civil unrest has further reduced even the minimal public services that are normally available while the high level of criminal violence and government repression have worsened problems of physical security. Millions face food insecurity. Protesters are demanding the government resign and that the corrupt ruling class be prosecuted. Protesters also maintain that the current regime remains in power due to international support. The Trump administration, for example, has supported current Haitian President Jovenel Moise due to his opposition to Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.

Contextual Distinctions: North versus South

These are, admittedly, starkly contrasting scenarios. However, these features highlight important differences in context: issues of material deprivation and democratic quality are generally far more serious in the South than in the North. The Hong Kong protests are not about material deprivation; rather they arose in opposition to a new law that would try Hong Kong residents in mainland China. The movement has since evolved into a pro democracy movement. In the Netherlands, farmers have been protesting the government’s claim that cattle farming is responsible for high emissions and that some cattle farms should therefore shut down. In Britain, protests have revolved around the Brexit issue (Britain’s departure from the European Union)—for and against, with one of the largest demonstrations in British history demanding a fresh referendum on the issue. While there are economic issues involved (distinct differences in the regional bases of support for and against Brexit), additional protests were triggered by Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s move to suspend parliament, with protesters chanting “stop the coup” and labelling Johnson “a dictator.”

In poorer countries, protests are more closely connected to basic survival issues and arguably much more serious democratic quality and corruption complaints. In Peru, protesting Indigenous farmers and labourers, faced with threats of pollution of their land and their water supply, blocked mining company access to copper mines—the government has sided with the mining companies. In Chile, ongoing protests, originally triggered by an increase in fuel prices, have expanded to general opposition to the country’s very high level of inequality. While many countries of the Global North have witnessed a weakening of labor protection and their social welfare systems, Chile’s labor and social protection was almost totally dismantled during the period of military rule. Most Latin American countries failed to develop anything close to equitable social protection—only recently were social programs expanded during the commodity boom of the 2000s. In Ecuador, a poor country that only recently saw a substantial reduction in poverty and inequality, protesters have demonstrated against an increase in fuel subsidies—part of a package of spending cuts agreed to with the International Monetary Fund. These reductions will impact negatively on the living costs of the poorest. With the decline in commodity prices, extreme poverty is once again on the rise in Bolivia. In this context, President Evo Morales’ attempt to manipulate the electoral system to secure a fourth term became intolerable to much of the Bolivian public. Both Morales’ interference in the electoral process and the explicit involvement of the military in his departure from power are serious challenges to democracy.

These important differences in context serve to remind us of the persistence of world inequality and of the distinct ways in which power structures, both domestic and international, have impacted human welfare. Worldwide protests tell us that something is wrong—that governments are not responsive. Their contextual differences remind us of the differential nature of human suffering across the globe.