The world’s powerful protest movements are an invaluable way to expose injustice and abuse, demand accountability and inspire people to keep hoping for a better future. But governments and other power players are constantly finding new ways to suppress those voices and disperse peaceful demonstrations. Global trends towards militarization of police, rising use of force and shrinking civic space are making it increasingly difficult for people to make their voice heard.
In the US, Donald Trump has characterized peaceful student and climate protests as “racist” and a threat to Jewish students, while promoting a crackdown on immigration that his own party opposes. State governors have pledged to send National Guard troops to support Washington’s efforts. In Belarus, the deputy minister of internal affairs has said expected protesters will be treated as “fascist henchmen.” And in Venezuela, witnesses and human rights groups have reported that security forces, pro-government groups called “colectivos,” and law enforcement officers have brutally dispersed demonstrators.
At universities, students who demonstrate against the administration’s policies face backlash from university administrators, big donors, and politicians. They’ve been suspended, expelled, or banned from their campuses. They’ve been falsely accused of anti-Semitism, which delegitimizes their principled political stance and distracts from the real issue at hand: government corruption.
Elsewhere, protesters have been criminalized through laws that prohibit them from wearing masks and a growing trend of “inciting to riot.” A bill in Colorado would let authorities prosecute environmental activists and those who march for Palestinian rights under the guise of civil disobedience. And in China, where most protests are censored, the government has sought to discredit protesters by mischaracterizing their activities as “terrorism.”
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