Europe is aflame in protests and it’s not going to stop
The protests roiling the continent express feelings of generational futility.
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Despair is the dominant mood in which Western commentators approach the protests, as younger citizens take to the streets across Europe.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Anton Jager
A decade and a half ago, Time magazine chose “The Protester” as its person of the year. From California to Cairo, the weekly profiled over 100 participants in public demonstrations throughout 2011: One was pictured wearing a black and orange gas mask, while from another, who spoke Arabic, the magazine “understood the words Facebook and Twitter”. Together, they made up the aggregate that became the year’s hero.
Today, Time’s choice appears both timely and distant. As a fresh wave of protest roils the West, little of the magazine’s romanticism about public rebellion survives. Despair rather than celebration now is the dominant mood in which Western commentators approach the protests, as younger citizens take to the streets across Europe.