POLITICS

2019 demonstrations that made governments bow down

When a people are tired of their governments in one way or the other, come together under one voice, then, change becomes inevitable.

Demonstrations almost always help strengthen and focus a movement and keep an issue in the public eye and they have also helped launch campaigns and revolutions, win the vote, overturn hated laws and bring down regimes.

The role of street protest is often written out of history and sometimes even questioned by people on the left, with no doubt, however, they are an indispensable method of bringing activists together with the much wider social base necessary for real change.

Below are five recent or ongoing demonstrations that have made regimes dance to their tunes.

2018-2019 Sudanese Protests

What started out as protests against rising cost of living and collapsing of economic conditions in December 2018 quickly escalated to demands for President Omar al-BAshir to step down.

The people of the Republic of Sudan used demonstrations, strike action, riots, sit-ins, online activism and arson to champion for removal of severity plan, economic reforms, free elections, democracy and human rights.

{ Read: BRT project faces fresh hitch as transport workers protest exclusion }

Five months into the demonstrations, the military of Sudan toppled President Omar al-Bashir in a coup d’état. This was not the end of the protests as the civilians demanded that the Transitional military Council (TMC) step aside in favor of a nonmilitary transitional government and urging other reforms in Sudan.

However, things took an ugly turn when Rapid Support Forces and other TMC security forces killed 118 protestors, injured and raped others in the Khartoum massacre on 3rd June 2019.

These inhumane activities in Sudan caught the attention of international bodies, more so, the spirit of the Sudanese did not deter from their focus on reforms and a civilian government. What followed was a three day long general strike from 9th – 11th June.

On 12 June the opposition agreed to stop the strike and the TMC agreed to free political prisoners; renewed negotiations to form a civilian government were planned.

The protests that has entered its 155 days has resulted to ex-president Omar al-Bashir facing charges of corruption, killing of protestors among others. Sudan has also been suspended from the African union following the Khartoum massacre.

2019 Algerian Protests/Smile revolution

Ten days after Algeria president Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced that he will be running for the top office for the fifth term, all hell broke loose for the North African country.

Algerians took it to the streets demanding resignation of President Bouteflika and Abdelkader Bensalah the president of the council of the nation. President Bouteflika who is wheel-chair bound has not given a speech in public since 2014 due to stroke that damaged parts of his brain.

The ongoing 128 days protests resulted in the president dropping his bid for a fifth term and resignation together with that of his Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia. Further the presidential elections have been postponed indefinitely with formation of government of national unity to draft a new constitution.

The protests led to three death, where two happened under unclear circumstances with 183 people injured with 112 being police officers. About 195 people have been arrested.

2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition Bill Protest

When Hong Kong government in February 2019 proposed the Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation (Amendment) Bill 2019 as response to a 2018 homicide case of a Hong Kong couple in Taiwan, little did they know that about two million people would be on their case for months.

According to the Hongkongers the controversial bill will lead to the removal of the firewall of the legal systems between Hong Kong and Mainland China where Hong Kong citizens and foreign nationals passing through the city could fall victim to the Chinese legal system where the courts are under political control.

In June 9th over a million people took it to the streets demanding withdrawal of the bill and resignation of the the country’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam.

On June 12th, the government of Hong Kong sought to table the bill for the second reading, but the protest outside the government headquarters became violent as the police fired tear gas, beanbag rounds and rubber bullets indiscriminately at largely peaceful protesters and declared it as a ‘riot’. This was later termed as the police use of excessive force.

Four days later, a historic record of two million people demonstrated against the extradition bill as well as the police brutality. A day before the historic demonstration Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced a pause in the passage of the extradition bill, she later apologized but refused to step down.

The police force partially withdrew the characterization of the protest as a ‘riot.’ The protest which is still on course uses occupations sit-ins, civil disobedience, mobile street protests, internet activism and mass strike.

One person has been reported dead through suicide with over 70 people injured and more than 30 arrested.

{ Read: Police lob teargas at activists protesting Sudan violations }

Yellow Vest Movement

The demonstration that commenced on November 2018 in France was fueled by high cost of living, rising fuel prices, disproportionate burden of the government’s tax reforms that were falling on the working and middle classes, especially in rural and peri-urban areas.

The protestors are demanding lower fuel taxes, a reintroduction of the solidarity tax on wealth, a minimum-wage increase, the implementation of Citizens’ initiative referendums, as well as the resignations of President Emmanuel Macron and the Second Philippe government.

The french protestors chose the yellow jacket/vest as a unifying thread and call to arms because of their convenience, visibility, ubiquity, and association with working-class industries.

According to the French law, drivers are required to have the yellow vest in their cars and wear them during emergencies.

With reported 12 civilian death, 4,000 injuries and 8,70 arrests, the protestors have achieved the increase of minimum age of 100 Euros per month, decrease of fuel and motor taxes and cancellation of fuel tax and six-month moratorium on diesel and petrol price changes.

Georgia anti-government protest

The protests that begun on 20th June was sparked by the presence of a Russian delegation in parliament. The demonstration quickly became violent as the protestors tried to storm the parlimane building.

The police then used rubber bullets and fire cannons to disperse the demonstrators leaving more than 240 people injured.

This resulted to the Georgians demanding resignation of the interior minister due to forceful police response and changes in the election law.

On 24th June, the leader of Georgia ruling party announced that the next parliamentary election will entirely be based on a proportionate system, fulfilling a key demand of anti-government protesters.

Though the interior minister has not resigned, the demonstrators have vowed not to stop until he steps down.