ANALYSIS | Pro-Democracy Protests Break Out Around the World After Years of Democratic Backslide

Photo Credit: Ozan Koze/AFP/Getty Images via CNBC

In 2022, a global generation of youth living under oppression rose up and demanded their voices be heard. Their actions are inciting global change that will transform democracy and inspire leaders to enact more positive changes. After a period of democratic backsliding, democracy is regaining popularity among youth living in autocracy. The protests that have erupted in autocracies in the last year are clear indicators that the tide is beginning to turn. As Ira Wells of the Globe and Mail put it, “2022 might turn out to have been the twilight of Autocracy.”

In 2021, the world experienced its lowest levels of democracy in thirty years, according to the Varieties of Democracy annual report, and during this decline, right-wing extremism caused severe instability and lack of transparency. US President Joe Biden continues to remark that “we know democracy is at risk,” but autocrats have miscalculated and severely underestimated the oppressed. It is important to understand that democracy and autocracy exist in a shifting balance, and although democracy is revitalizing, many factors play into that which could change in the coming years.

In autocracies around the world, citizens are speaking truth to power, but in the last year, Russia, China and Iran saw the beginnings of revolutions being formed despite government pushback. The United States and Brazil both encountered extremism, which damaged its democracy, but set a precedent of holding autocratic enforcers accountable and learning from past mistakes.

Russia

Now, 32 years after the Soviet Union dissolved and 15 countries gained back their democratic freedom, Russia has evolved back into an authoritarian political system, with the majority of power concentrated in the hands of Vladimir Putin.

Denis Volkov from The Levada Centre, a Russian NGO that monitors polling, elaborated on his view of the Russian public in 2020 and explained that they were “witnessing a growing sense of apathy and distance from political engagement—even while doubts [were] mounting as to whether Putin ha[d] any attractive vision of change to offer Russian society.” This apathy continues to fuel dictators, autocrats and extremists around the world. 

This began to change in 2022, when Putin waged war on Ukraine in an attempt to annex the country like he had done in 2014 with Crimea. Putin heavily relied on the degree of unanimity he received from the population, and his weakness during the beginning of the war reverberated through the levels of bureaucracy as the economic decline caused by international sanctions loosened his grip on power. This display of weakness prompted many Russians to reevaluate the negative effects of dictatorship.

In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the mobilization of its army, many members of the Russian public protested in hopes of prompting the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine, the resignation of Vladimir Putin, and the release of anti-corruption figurehead Alexi Navalny.  

This powerful backlash was met with extreme censorship by imposing fines and prison sentences. Russians were punished for insulting the government through acts of protest, sharing information on corruption and committing defamation on social media. As of December 2022, 18 journalists were actively imprisoned in Russia for sharing anti-war sentiment. “By denying the public any knowledge about protests and obstructing their monitoring, the Kremlin is seeking to eradicate any public expression of discontent,” said Natalia Prilutskaya, Amnesty International’s Russia Researcher. 

China

In recent years, China's authoritarian regime has become increasingly more repressive and has tightened its control over media, free speech, online autonomy, universities, and public associations. President Xi Jinping has amassed a considerable amount of power during his time in office, “to a degree not seen in China for decades.” Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chinese government had enforced severe restrictions, including abrupt and prolonged lockdowns, and made it increasingly more difficult to get life essentials like medical attention. Although the government was able to handle the spread of COVID-19, the freedom of its people was not put first. Many people were injured, malnourished or in extreme cases, died, due to the extreme limits. According to Human Rights Watch, “online videos showed police and Covid-19 control workers beating and dragging people who resisted Covid-19 restrictions.” 

In September 2022, a large fire broke out in an apartment building in Changsha killing at least ten people. According to an investigation from The New Yorker, rumors emerged that the rescue effort was hindered by President Xi Jinping’s extreme restrictions. Despite government denial, protests began to spread across the country as more people became aware of the regime’s self-serving tendencies and sparked the largest opposition that China has seen since Tiananmen Square in 1989. The protests soon evolved into a new movement, with its main symbol an A4 blank piece of paper, to symbolize censorship and lack of government transparency. After living under a communist rule since 1949, people on the streets of Shanghai were seen chanting “Communist Party, step down, Xi Jinping, step down.” 

According to human rights lawyer Teng Biao, “the Blank Paper movement shows that even under the dictatorial regime’s hi-tech surveillance, people still managed to stage nationwide protests. This will have a profound impact on China’s democratic struggles in the future.” 

Photo Credit: Ng Han Guan/AP via Human Rights Watch

Iran

Since 1979, the Iranian people have lived under the Islamic Republic, in which life is overseen by a supreme religious leader. Under this rule, Iranian women are forced to wear a hijab in public to completely cover their hair. The “Morality Police” are a unit of the Iranian police who, in light of the recent protests have also been accused of using the arbitrary laws on clothing to target women. When a 22 year old woman, Mahsa Amini, died in the custody of the Iranian morality police in September 2022, the beginning of a revolution was sparked. After being arrested for wearing her hijab improperly, it was reported by Reuters that she was supposedly being taken away to be “re-educated,” but eye witnesses reported she was severely beaten by police. She fell into a coma at a hospital in Tehran and died days later. Although the government denounced any claims of police brutality resulting in her death, the coroner who examined her believes she died of severe blows to the head and upper body. 

Once word of her death spread on social media, she became a symbol for the protests that originally started in her hometown, but have now spread around the globe. Mainly being led by women and youth, the movement whose slogan is  “Women, Life, Freedom,” calls for regime change, and is creating new and forceful opposition to the views of the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei’s inner circle. Other goals of this movement are the elimination of the mandatory hijab laws, civil protection of women, and the end of the morality police and the prosecution of Mahsa Amini’s killers.

Videos of schoolgirls burning their hijabs, removing pictures of the supreme leader and refusing to take part in religious ceremonies praising Ali Khamenei are circulating on social media. 

“These young women and girls are facing a well-oiled system of political repression and violence and risking everything including their lives to make their voices heard,” said Jasmin Ramsey, deputy director for the Center for Human Rights in Iran. “Gen Z girls have taken off their compulsory hijabs, stared the government straight in the eyes and said in more ways than one: ‘We are not going to live under your thumb anymore.’”

The United States

The US has been facing political extremism over the past two years, leading to a divide in cultural norms. On January 6, 2021, ex-President Donald Trump incited insurrection at the US Capitol, in hopes of disrupting the confirmation of the 2020 election results. He was able to do this by spreading disinformation about election fraud and extremist sentiment, which was amplified by a white nationalist group, The Proud Boys, and the conspiracy theorists of Qanon. By mobilizing his supporters who had gathered for a rally, he was able to violently disrupt the electoral process. 

Although Congress was able to reconvene hours later and certify the vote, Trump’s false assertions about large-scale fraud continued to dominate the GOP, leading to inner party conflict and political marginalization, was threatened against Republicans who denounced Trump.

Former House member Adam Kinzinger, who defended democracy and held a major role in the investigation of the Capitol attack, said that the people involved needed to be held accountable because “there were decisions made prior in the oval office, in the political circles.. that led to a moment when half of the country, in essence, was convinced that an election was stolen.” He also explained that “self-governance cannot survive if you convince people that their vote doesn’t count because they're going to feel unrepresented.”

On social media, Donald Trump is still actively cultivating support and spreading disinformation. “Do you throw the Presidential Election Results of 2020 OUT and declare the RIGHTFUL WINNER, or do you have a NEW ELECTION? A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,” he said in a recent post on the social media site Truth Social.

The January 6 committee that is charged with investigating the attacks held their final hearing on Dec. 19 and referred Trump to the US Department of Justice for prosecution. After releasing their report three days later, they concluded that he alone was responsible for the havoc that transpired on Jan. 6. According to Kinzinger, this process of healing was crucial. “Democracies aren’t defined by bad days, they are defined by how we come back from those bad days.“

Brazil

Brazil, which has been a democracy since 1985, is still healing from a recent period of extremist violence. On Jan. 8, thousands of Brazilians stormed Brazil’s Federal Building following the defeat of former President Jair Bolsonaro. The attack aimed to reinstate Bolsonaro and bring about a military-controlled change of government.

Incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva told the Brazilian people in his inauguration speech, “There are not two Brazils. We are one country, one great nation."

Despite the global shift towards democracy, many autocratic regimes are still stable, even if they are showing signs of weakening. In order to continue on this path towards global freedom, “elected leaders need to do a better job of addressing major challenges to show that democratic government delivers on its promised dividends,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch.