An Iranian girl's video has recently been making the rounds on social media where she strips on campus to protest against the university administration. Hateful, verbal exchanges with a guard ensue for violating the dress code in a public place. In response, protests are in full swing back at home as well, where both ex-government and state dignitaries are being hauled up, shamed, and abused by "the youth," even after retiring from top positions.
The Constitution of the land protects the "right to protest" as a democratic right, which is also enshrined in International Humanitarian Laws as "a fundamental human right." It is another intriguing tale that protests never sit well with those at the helm of affairs, despite the fact that many of them were the byproducts of such movements and the momentum that changed the world at large.
To understand the dynamics of politics and mass protests, Stefan Zweig's book "The Right to Heresy" serves as an epitome in this regard, where his two main characters, Calvin and Castillo, dubbed as Force and Concise, thread their way to power and politics. Once a harbinger of change and a reformer, Calvin acquired power and became a strident power-monger. He had no regard for civil rights or democratic norms. Being shrewd and power-hungry, he tried everything to silence dissent and critics, showing insight into power dynamics and behaviour during the struggle for power and its retention, illustrating how one becomes a tyrant and prosecutor while supporting a new status quo and state measures of which he was once vehemently against.
This characterisation fits well with the Jewish-dominant state of Israel. Once the most persecuted religious group in Europe, they have turned into the biggest prosecutors of Palestinians. Uninterrupted atrocities by Israeli forces over the past year have turned Gaza into a graveyard where only death dances these days. Schools, shelters, and even hospitals are not spared from Israeli bombing. Israel's recent ban on UNRWA literally endangers millions of precious lives. But do Arab lives really matter? Certainly not, as Arab nations are in cahoots with Israel's counterparts. Alas, the curse of power politics.
This also reveals the hypocrisy of the "free world," which claims its foundations are laid in democracy and civil rights. Protests for Palestine are met with an iron fist, with organisers arrested and imprisoned. The media is silent about it, too. The West is not only a silent spectator but also an abettor and supporter of Israel's atrocities in the name of terrorism and the rights of Jews, rather than Zionists, to the land that has belonged to Palestine for a thousand years. On the other hand, the whole Western media is shedding tears over casualties in Ukraine and blames Russia for violating international law.
All, in their nascent ages, claimed to be more natural and people-centric. However, once they succeeded in overthrowing the status quo with the help of the people, they did not change further and tried to consolidate their power at any cost. In doing so, they turned into the same tyrants
It is the same so-called international media which labelled the protests and uprisings which engulfed the Middle East, including Egypt, as the "Arab Spring" a little over a decade ago. Mass protests led to the fall of tyrants and despotic regimes in the region. However, the very aspirations of these protests and mass movements, for which people fought, were hijacked and used for vested interests. As a result, those who emerged were no better than the demons against whom these protests originated.
The rise of Napoleon Bonaparte in the aftermath of the French Revolution is another glaring example. With the upheaval of the political landscape and the dismantling of the old structure, he rose to power by manipulating the situation in his favour. During his reign, he markedly shifted from revolutionary ideals to authoritarian rule.
This is the case with various religious dogmas and isms, whether social, political, or economic. All, in their nascent ages, claimed to be more natural and people-centric. However, once they succeeded in overthrowing the status quo with the help of the people, they did not change further and tried to consolidate their power at any cost. In doing so, they turned into the same tyrants.
However, there have been exceptions where people have rid themselves of colonists and tyranny, gaining the aspirations and rights for which they struggled. For instance, the American pageant of 1967, where the debate over gender stereotypes started and, led to the reorganisation of women's roles in society. Or the "March on Washington" in 1963, where Martin Luther King Jr. made his famous speech, "I Have a Dream," which succeeded in securing civil rights for African-Americans.
The outcomes of protests and movements depend upon the mindset and thought processes of those involved; those who use these movements for their own rise will never allow genuine change to happen and will forget the very ideals they hold so dearly.
As Machiavelli rightly summarises, "Whoever wishes to foresee the future must consult the past; for human events ever resemble those of preceding times. This arises from the fact that they are produced by men who ever have been, and ever shall be, animated by the same passions, and thus they necessarily have the same results."