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A Global Chorus: Enough!
November 04, 2019

Has the political pendulum turned from authoritarianism and austerity to the left? Perhaps so, judging from the recent spate of mass protests around the world. These movements have already won concessions and are demanding more. A good example is Chile, where a protest against a hike in subway fares has grown into a sustained campaign against massive inequality. In response, President Sebastian Piñera has promised an increase in the minimum wage, stronger pensions, and the scrapping of a corporate tax cut, but protesters have set their sights higher: on changing the 1980 constitution that entrenched the market-driven economic order. In Ecuador, a militant indigenous movement blocked an austerity package imposed by the International Monetary Fund. In Lebanon, after the government proposed taxing WhatsApp calls, protesters shut down streets, triggering the prime minister’s resignation and targeting the country’s rampant economic and political corruption. In Hong Kong, protests have raged since March, growing into a mass movement for full suffrage. Let a thousand such protests bloom; they are vital for reaching a better world.