Saturday, March 8, 2014

Global Middle Class in Revolt

Protests

Behind a Pattern of Global Unrest, a Middle Class in Revolt

By
Police form a barrier in Independence Square on Feb. 19 in Kiev
Photograph by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images
Police form a barrier in Independence Square on Feb. 19 in Kiev
For months now, protestors have gathered in the capitals of many developing nations—Turkey, Ukraine, Thailand, Venezuela, Malaysia, and Cambodia, among others—in demonstrations united by some key features. In nearly all these places, protestors are pushing to oust presidents or prime ministers they claim are venal, authoritarian, and unresponsive to popular opinion. Nearly all these governments, no matter how corrupt, brutal, and autocratic, actually won election in relatively free polls. And in nearly all these countries the vast majority of demonstrators hail from cosmopolitan areas: Kiev, Bangkok, Caracas, Istanbul, and other cities. The streets seem to be filled with the very people one might expect to support democracy rather than put more nails in its coffin.
This has been termed the protests of “the economic winners” and the revenge of the elites because of the composition of the activists. But these demonstrations actually include not just the wealthiest but much of the middle class in these countries, showing that the protests are more broadly based than often assumed. Still, these middle-class demonstrators pose a challenge to the longstanding theory that democratic change is driven by the growth of the middle class.
To be sure, the elected governments in Thailand, Ukraine, and Venezuela aren’t classified as full democracies by watchdog organizations, such as Freedom House. While relatively free and fair polls put these leaders into office, in office these leaders have gerrymandered political systems, used money to buy votes, crushed media outlets and civil society, and generally acted like elected autocrats. But leaders such as Thailand’s Yingluck Shinawatra or Ukraine’s Viktor Yanukoych have also built broad enough bases among the poor, using populist rhetoric and policies to cut poverty to win elections. The willingness of demonstrators in some of these nations (though not all) to bypass democratic politics for street justice has further undermined democracy and added fuel to violent crises.
Story: Ukraine’s Protesters May Soon Gain Power—and Regret It
Although Thailand’s capital has been occupied since last November by a group of antigovernment protestors calling itself the People’s Democratic Reform Committee, in the past week the situation in Bangkok has become exceptionally tense. As the government tries to evict the protestors from sites near government offices, clashes have broken out, with parts of Bangkok becoming like free-fire zones—both police and demonstrators appear to be shooting at each other. Five people have been killed and at least 70 injured in the past week in Bangkok.
At virtually the same time, Ukraine’s and Venezuela’s protests have come to a head. Earlier this week in Kiev, riot police stormed groups of demonstrators camped in Independence Square. The police reportedly shot at protestors with live bullets, while the protestors set the square ablaze and tossed Molotov cocktails. The battles have resulted in 26 deaths this week alone in Kiev. In Caracas, meanwhile, antigovernment protestors also have battled security forces throughout the past two weeks, leaving at least four dead and opposition leader Leopoldo López in jail.
Why are these demonstrations exploding now, when protestors in places such as Thailand have been organizing against their governments for months, if not years? For one, these governments have shored up their backing from important international players, which may make them feel more secure in cracking down. In Ukraine’s case, the government has been bolstered by billions in assistance from Russia. In Thailand and Malaysia, the governments have benefited from the tacit support of the U.S., which has expressed support for the results of democratic processes. And hard-liners in the police in some of these nations have for weeks called for tougher tactics. In Thailand, for example, where the government has until now mostly let protestors take over and shut down ministries, businesses, and intersections, midlevel police officers have pushed senior commanders to take more aggressive measures—and those measures are now being carried out.
Story: More Deaths, New Graft Accusations Deepen Thailand's Crisis
Protestors also have become more indebted to hard-liners in their camps and thus more willing to use violence. In Ukraine, as the number of protestors has dwindled somewhat over the past two months, the rump group included the hardest-core elements willing to wait out a brutal winter. In Thailand, the size of the demonstrations has fallen by more than half since early January, but the remaining protestors apparently include shadowy instigators armed with assault rifles concealed in sacks and grenades. Some hard-line Thai antigovernment activists also seem to believe that if they can provoke major bloodshed in Bangkok, the military will be forced to step in and carry out yet another in Thailand’s long history of coups.
Story: Time Is Running Out for Thailand's Embattled Government
Kurlantzick is Senior Fellow for Southeast Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of Democracy in Retreat: The Revolt of the Middle Class and the Worldwide Decline of Representative Government.
Power Delusions
LIMITED-TIME OFFER SUBSCRIBE NOW
Read this next
×
Hospice Care Is Going Corporate, With Help From Roto-Rooter

Feed Most Popular

Posted by at
Labels:

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)