Just Finished Reading: Why it’s Still Kicking Off Everywhere - The New Global Revolutions by Paul Mason (FP: 2012/2013)

No one saw it coming. No one. When what became known as ‘The Arab Spring’ swept across North Africa the world’s media and political commentators struggled to keep up with events. Journalist Paul Mason wanted to find out too – so he went to Egypt and interviewed people on the street and in the squares to find out exactly who these revolutionaries where and what they wanted. Before long Mason was back home in the UK covering protests across the country and off to mainland Europe in Athens, Madrid, Berlin, Paris and even Moscow. What surprised him, apart from meeting the same people more than once, was the common factors behind many of the protests and behind why such a diverse mix of protestors came onto the streets in ever growing numbers.

The common thread running through every protest and protest movement was youth. The backbone of many a cause was the students or young unemployed who would be the first generation since the 1970’s who would likely be worse off than their parents. To them the future was no future – of lower paid jobs, insecurity and debt. They felt, not without reason that they had been lied to. The anger they felt because of that was real, deep and lasting. The catalyst, more often than not, was the imposition of austerity measures designed, supposedly, to get economies back on their feet following the financial crisis of 2008. Being both educated and connected through social media they could see through such attempts at propaganda in a heartbeat. Of course, if it was just students rebelling against the incompetence of a system that had essentially screwed their future it would have likely, just as after 1968, fizzled out as the news cycle turned. But it didn’t because the base was far broader that that provided by students and recent ex-students. Across the globe the students were joined by the urban poor (the revolutions largely being an urban phenomena), the squeezed Middle class, industrial workers and, even across the Muslim world, educated and sophisticated women. To the surprise of everyone governments trembled and some of them fell. Something serious was happening, something new, something that might actually change things in a yet unpredictable ways. You could feel the excitement in the air intermingled with the faint whiff of teargas.

I was rather surprised by this book and more than a little impressed. Not only does Mason write very well indeed he was not one to try to understand these things from the side-lines. He was often there in the thick of the action, being teargassed with the protesters, avoiding baton chargers and putting himself at risk right alongside the protesters. No doubt this gave him considerable credibility and allowed him both to interview the protesters on the ground and to get truthful statements from them as to why they were there and what they wanted to achieve. But even more than the insights such privileged access gave him he also provides a narrative to explain why things kicked off, why they continued to kick off despite some pretty heavy opposition from governments and agencies across the world and why they ultimately seemed to achieve so few long term effects. Much was made of social media platforms – most especially Facebook and Twitter – and he had many interesting things to say about how this seemingly disconnected and disinterested group of ‘young people’ were in fact ‘hyper-connected’ tweeting the revolution as it happened whilst the slow-witted authorities scrambled to catch up.

I honestly learnt a lot from this book with different perspectives on things I was already aware of – the austerity measures in Greece for example – as well as windows into activities I was completely unaware of – protest movements by the urban poor in SE Asia. It gave me much to think about and many, oh so many, avenues to follow up on in the future. It’s also greatly increased the likelihood that I’ll be reading his other books sooner rather than later. I want to hear what else he has to say about the politics of the modern world. He is more than a little switched on to things and I want to take advantage of that ability to analyse things in order to come up with a rational narrative to put them in the right context. You’ll definitely see more of this author here. Highly recommended if you want to understand why it’s still kicking off everywhere!