10 Jan 2019 was the year of the protest. What about 2020? – The Article

“While it is difficult to picture any implementation of the kind of deep, structural reforms that many protesters desire, the movements of 2019 do offer reasons for hope, first, in what they have achieved. Unpopular leaders have been ousted in Lebanon, Algeria, and Sudan. In Hong Kong, the administration has abandoned the unpopular extradition bill that sparked the protests in the first place. Across Latin America, citizens have demonstrated their staunch opposition to worsening inequality and corruption, securing new benefits in Ecuador and Argentina.”

British Foreign Policy Group Researcher, Flora Holmes, wrote for opinion site The Article on 2019 as the year of the protest – and considered what may be in store in 2020.

She went on to say: “as 2019 shows us the power of protest diffusion, so 2020 can show us the power of popular, grassroots movements. After withstanding six months of brutal suppression, protesters in Hong Kong have been resilient. As 2020 dawns, they will not go quietly into the night. In the coming year, and indeed the coming decade, governments will need to tackle the deep-seated issues of inequality that plague the lives of billions across the world, or else they risk their own power, and the stability of their nations.”

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