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As many take to the streets in China to protest covid restrictions, the people's dissatisfaction with freedom of expression and democracy resurface. While the effort is valiant and Chinese politicians have made certain promises to satisfy protesters, it remains unclear whether these protest will have any long-term difference. Protests in Hong Kong in 2019 were seemingly larger and had a large impact in the moment, but after the movement was suppressed, the communist party silenced those behind them. Given this past, will these protests create any real change?

I don't any change will come. The government has all the resources needed to prevent the protests and could simply slowly deploy vaccines and lessen the restrictions to stop the protests. The protests haven't been advocating for much change in the structure of Chinese society, so the government still maintains all the power.

And now the Chinese government has softened a bit to accommodate the protestors' demands for vaccines--maybe even fewer lockdowns; but not for free speech. Let's see how that goes with the protestors; will they be appeased? See https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/01/world/asia/china-covid-protests-restrictions.html

Hong Kong's government is not Hong Kong's own, its chief executive has been appointed by the central Chinese government since China regained sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997. However, residents of Hong Kong have enjoyed more civil liberty than the residents of mainland China, for example the freedom of speech and it's own separate judiciary system. With residents of Hong Kong fed up with current pro-Beijing chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, and mainland China's current president, Xi Jiping, who are limiting the democratic liberties of the territory. Though mainland China has sovereignty over the domain of offshore Hong Kong, the levels of democracy in mainland China and Hong Kong are very dissimilar. In China, the internet, education systems, communities, and society as a whole are controlled by the central government, allowing the residents few civil liberties. For a while, Hong Kong, has utilized its own judiciary system and maintained its own chief executive to deal with governance, allowing Hong Kong to keep some of its Western democratic roots, from Hong Kong's time as a British colony; more recently the central government has appointed pro-Beijing (mainland) chief executives who have slowly taken more and more democratic liberties from the people. The people have taken to the streets of Hong Kong in protest asking for more democratic power in the appointment of their chief executive, but the iron-fisted Xi Jiping refuses to allow for any compromises. Xi Jiping is a strongly believes previous communist regimes fell apart because they were lax; as a result, Xi Jiping refuses to let these protests flourish or compromise with protestors because he doesn't want this to spark any freedom protests in the mainland. Yet, Xi Jiping can't use the force he would like to, because the level of force necessary to take down protests with such fervor at this scale who be reminiscent to the force used in the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989. Any significant bloodshed would j

"Iran protests: Tehran court sentences first person to death over unrest"

This article makes an interesting connection between the Occupy Wall Street protests and the Arab Spring. The author suggests that the Arab Spring and the people's call for greater equality and freedom in the face of oppression have inspired other countries across the globe. Arab Spring shows the power that the young have in the new digital age, and this lesson has in a large part inspired young adults in other countries to protest against the injustices within their own society. IN the U.S. these protests have taken the form aversion and anger with the inequality that has resulted from our capitalist system

I think it is also interesting to note that both the Arab Spring and the Occupy Wall Street movements can in large part be characterized by large groups of people working towards lofty aspirations, but without tangible plans for moving forward. Arab Spring sought to overthrow the dictatorships, but didn't necessarily have a strategy for the new governments. Similarly, Occupy Wall Street protesters want to overthrow the current system, but don't have a realistic solution for the country's economic policy.

This article addresses China's view of education and how it should be implemented. The main political party, the Chinese Communist Party, is attempting to implement a mandatory teachers manual by 2015. The manual gives specific instruction on how and what to teach Chinese students. However, the manual did not experience the same support it did in the Communist party. Heavy criticism of the manual arose from the education Bureau and the students themselves. A hunger strike arose on Friday and a march of 32-90 thousand protesting the manual. The article is important because is it address a nation's view of education and how education should be controlled by politics. The Article also shows how a major political party can not always be the most popular with the people.

Interesting. Of course, China is a communist country, so it is also interesting that citizens feel empowered to protest. Among democratic regimes, France also has a very scripted education program: my understanding is that the daily curriculum for the whole country is set by the Education ministry, so no matter where you are in France on September 4, you will be doing the same thing as all students in your grade everywhere else in the country. Why does this fly there? Why is it much less likely to fly here in the US?

As OWS gains traction, it governs more and more support overseas, as similar movements spring up in many parts of Asia and turn violent in Rome.

It is interesting how there was a sign saying "Karl Marx was wrong". Protesters are upset at the rich for not sharing the wealth. The occupy Wall Street movement has taken up across the U.S. I saw signs and protesters in Walla Walla Washington and in Chicago advocating for more people to join the movement and unite against the upper class. It is also interesting how it is a time of major unrest and discontent with capitalism not only in the United States, but also in Rome and across the globe.

There was a huge protest in New Haven at Yale while I was there this week. They were chanting "We are the 99 percent." http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,2094925,00.html These photos go with Jenna's point that these movements are all across the globe.

For the past few weeks there have been student protests calling for 1)a new constitution with less power and 2) resignation of the prime minister who lead the 2014 military coup, and 3) end to persecution of the political opposition. There is talk of a new military coup to bring back stability and protect the monarchy (ending the rallies and protests). The Thai military holds a lot of power in the democracy, it has 1) "attitude adjustment" centers for protesters and 2) appoints all the 250 members of the senate.

Yikes!

I hope my annotations saved

Great use of Diigo annotation tool, Anay!

The Wall St. protests are spreading, both in location and in numbers. Recently, over 1,000 people marched in Washington Square (financial district), and although police were trying to steer the crowds, the protestors did not follow them. The police did not resist, and the march remained conflict-free. This public movement against inequalities is truly growing.

Just by looking at pictures, you can see what 800,000 people mobilizing together looks like. It feels like every time I look at news, something new has happened with the protests. It was interesting to hear how adamant Hong-Kong residents are about not becoming like China.

It is crazy to see just how many people are willing to demonstrate even with the risk of government retaliation. This also hints at the fact that the number of people who supports these ideas must be many times larger.

Hong Kong protesters are seeking refuge in Taiwan, but they are in a weird legal middle ground that doesn't quite prevent the Chinese government from reaching them. China has begun suspending passports of those suspected to be involved in protests to prevent them from fleeing.

Despite the government's imprisonment of protesters, there are plans for a protest on November 15th in Cuba. They are protesting the inequality that exists in Cuba despite its government supposedly being communist. They are led by Yunior García, an artist.

I'd be interested in seeing how other nations react to this protest. Do we know how many of them are neutral, declaring support, and/or actively impacting this movement?

Thanks for posting this, David. Arjun, I wonder as well. I also wonder what degree of economic inequality there is in Cuba compared to other countries. When I traveled there in . . . 2018? it seemed to me that the greatest inequality was between the urban areas (doing okay, nothing fancy except the Chinese buses and the fancy hotels for tourists, renovated from before the Castro era). . and the rural areas, that were really poor.

This is a huge step for Cuban activists! In the new law, which will take place in 2022, activists and protesters will no longer be a target of detainment or unlawfull arrest. You would think that Cuba would already have laws protecting this, turns out they didn't.

Protests over a Swiss-run mine in the northern coastal province of Izabal have resulted in the government implementing a curfew in hopes of ending the unrest. Protesters say they were not consulted about the mine before it was set up.

The Guatemala highest court actually suspended the operations because of the protesters' activity. I am curious whether the Swiss company will bring this to the Swiss government, and how will the Guatemala government further responds to the situation.

As social media blows up with new clips of protests and confrontations, China's social media platforms are taking up to a few days to delete content. Rather then simply recording, the population is starting to use filters or recording people's phone who are recording the protests, preventing AI from deleting videos. This forces actual people to have to go through and delete all clips.

I wonder how China will react to people getting around the filters and how they will punish people who post this stuff on social media. My guess would be an even greater crackdown by the government on social media.

Pretty brilliant and persistent on the protestors' behalf!

US and Iran will play each other tomorrow. There is a lot of tension due to conflict between the two governments, and there have been protests in Iran for the last 10 weeks. Many fans have brought politics into the soccer games, such as booing at the national anthem and waving protest flags. Iran's leaders have arrested a bunch of people, and there are a lot of eyes on the team as they continue to advance.

There are so many political issues surrounding the World Cup that sometimes more important ones are ignored. Most of the attention has been directed toward Qatar and less toward what is happening with Iran. The media reporting more about how players are banned from wearing one-love arm bands and other less important issues distracts people from other more important things going on.

After today's game where Iranian players sang the national anthem after some of their families had allegedly been threatened, it is incredibly obvious that the Iranian government intends to use the world cup as a key political tool in dismissing unrest at home.