Mediaboss Marketing

For the last 300years the world was changed by mass movements of people demonstrating and then as the franchise was extended, by voting. Not anymore. The age-old means of winning change no longer seem to be working.

2019 was the year of marches, rallies and demonstrations,with more people voting in elections than ever before. But nothing has changed. From Extinction Rebellion demonstrators disrupting London and other cities to almostthe entire population of Hong Kong occupying its streets to demand democratic rights from their communist overlords in Beijing, from the mass protests in Lebanon to huge rallies in India against the nationalist anti-Muslim identity politics and Hindu supremacism of Narendra Modi,it seemed as if the world and especially the young world was on the move anddemanding more democracy. And yet the year endedwith the upholders of the status quofirmly in control.

Thousands of Russians have been arrested in anti-Putin demonstrations;Paris was disrupted by gilets jaunes protests and now by massive transport strikes; London saw two of its biggest ever demonstrations when up to one million people marched to demand a Final Say on Brexit. But the men running Russia, France and Britain are unmoved and still firmly in charge. Major general elections were also held in India, South Africa, Spain, Poland, Australia, Israel, Denmarkand Switzerland, but voters, when they could be bothered to turn out, simply voted for the status quo.

Sharing the full story, not just the headlines

The European Parliament had an election, but the hopes of European political groups that having a so-called Spitzenkandidat, a lead figure from the left, the centre-right or Liberals, wouldanimate votersflopped too. Once the elections were over, the Eurocrats and national governments took over and installed at the top of the European Commission, the European Central Bank, the EU foreign service and the European Parliament politicians nominated by national government who were never on any ballot paper in the European Parliament elections.The voters of Europe were told once again that it was the nation states of Europe who decided who would run the show.

The old 1968 graffiti If voting everchanged anything theyd abolish it has never been more true.

The protests in Lebanon began as a spontaneous burst of anger over new taxes. On October 17, mostly young men came on to the streets in the capital Beirut and across the country. They clashed with police and lit fires.

Richard Hall / The Independent

The new taxes included a levy on the messaging service WhatsApp. In a country where people were already struggling, it was the final nail in the coffin.

Richard Hall / The Independent

Protesters continued to clash with police into the second night. Downtown Beirut became a battleground as volleys of tear gas rained down on demonstrators.

Richard Hall / The Independent

By the third day, the mood changed. The violence of the first two nights ebbed and numbers swelled. People came out by their thousands across the country.

Richard Hall / The Independent

The protesters took control of the streets. They also reclaimed public space that had been off limits to them for years. This image was taken from a grand theatre in downtown Beirut that had been shuttered since the civil war.

Richard Hall / The Independent

Here, two protesters look towards downtown from the top of a building nicknamed "the egg" for its dome-like structure. It was part of a complex that was under construction when war broke out in 1975, and it has remained empty and off-limits ever since.

Richard Hall / The Independent

Women have played a key role in these protests. They have been on the frontline of demonstrations and sit-ins which had a marked effect reducing violence. For the first week, police didn't know how to deal with them. In this picture, a woman police officer tries to negotiate with a protester to remove a road block. She was part of a team of women police officers sent out on this day.

Richard Hall / The Independent

This image was taken during a police attempt to remove people from blocking a road. Again, the presence of woman at the front of the sit-in led to the police abandoning the attempt.

Richard Hall / The Independent

Protesters said the road blocks were vital in keeping up pressure on the government. Without them, they would be ignored.

Richard Hall / The Independent

Some of the roadblocks were more relaxed than others.

Richard Hall / The Independent

The protests may have started in Beirut, but they have sprung up around the country. This photograph was taken in Tripoli, Lebanon's second largest city. Protests there have outsized those in the capital Beirut. The city has been called the "bride of the revolution."

Richard Hall / The Independent

The scenes in Tripoli are even more remarkable given its recent history. For years it has been plagued by extremism and violence. These mass displays of unity in the city's main square every night have done a lot to counter other Lebanese citizens' perception of Tripoli.

Richard Hall / The Independent

Tripoli is also one of Lebanon's poorest cities. The protests here have been fuelled by desperation of poor people struggling to get by.

Richard Hall / The Independent

But the protests have not been without their opponents. As demonstrations entered their second week, the Lebanese Hezbollah movement began to show anger at protesters for their demand that all Lebanon's political leaders stand down. In this image, police stand between protesters and a group of Hezbollah supporters in downtown Beirut. Clashes broke out when they left.

Richard Hall / The Independent

The worst violence of the protests came towards the end of the second week. Several hundred supporters of Hezbollah and its political ally Amal attacked protesters who were blocking the main ring road in Beirut. Afterwards, they stormed into downtown and destroyed a protest encampment.

Richard Hall / The Independent

But the protesters came back to the main square, made a mountain from the poles of destroyed tents and placed a flag in it. The same day, Lebanon's prime minister Saad Hariri resigned, given protesters their first major victory.

Richard Hall / The Independent

The protests in Lebanon began as a spontaneous burst of anger over new taxes. On October 17, mostly young men came on to the streets in the capital Beirut and across the country. They clashed with police and lit fires.

Richard Hall / The Independent

The new taxes included a levy on the messaging service WhatsApp. In a country where people were already struggling, it was the final nail in the coffin.

Richard Hall / The Independent

Protesters continued to clash with police into the second night. Downtown Beirut became a battleground as volleys of tear gas rained down on demonstrators.

Richard Hall / The Independent

By the third day, the mood changed. The violence of the first two nights ebbed and numbers swelled. People came out by their thousands across the country.

Richard Hall / The Independent

The protesters took control of the streets. They also reclaimed public space that had been off limits to them for years. This image was taken from a grand theatre in downtown Beirut that had been shuttered since the civil war.

Richard Hall / The Independent

Here, two protesters look towards downtown from the top of a building nicknamed "the egg" for its dome-like structure. It was part of a complex that was under construction when war broke out in 1975, and it has remained empty and off-limits ever since.

Richard Hall / The Independent

Women have played a key role in these protests. They have been on the frontline of demonstrations and sit-ins which had a marked effect reducing violence. For the first week, police didn't know how to deal with them. In this picture, a woman police officer tries to negotiate with a protester to remove a road block. She was part of a team of women police officers sent out on this day.

Richard Hall / The Independent

This image was taken during a police attempt to remove people from blocking a road. Again, the presence of woman at the front of the sit-in led to the police abandoning the attempt.

Richard Hall / The Independent

Protesters said the road blocks were vital in keeping up pressure on the government. Without them, they would be ignored.

Richard Hall / The Independent

Some of the roadblocks were more relaxed than others.

Richard Hall / The Independent

The protests may have started in Beirut, but they have sprung up around the country. This photograph was taken in Tripoli, Lebanon's second largest city. Protests there have outsized those in the capital Beirut. The city has been called the "bride of the revolution."

Richard Hall / The Independent

The scenes in Tripoli are even more remarkable given its recent history. For years it has been plagued by extremism and violence. These mass displays of unity in the city's main square every night have done a lot to counter other Lebanese citizens' perception of Tripoli.

Richard Hall / The Independent

Tripoli is also one of Lebanon's poorest cities. The protests here have been fuelled by desperation of poor people struggling to get by.

Richard Hall / The Independent

But the protests have not been without their opponents. As demonstrations entered their second week, the Lebanese Hezbollah movement began to show anger at protesters for their demand that all Lebanon's political leaders stand down. In this image, police stand between protesters and a group of Hezbollah supporters in downtown Beirut. Clashes broke out when they left.

Richard Hall / The Independent

The worst violence of the protests came towards the end of the second week. Several hundred supporters of Hezbollah and its political ally Amal attacked protesters who were blocking the main ring road in Beirut. Afterwards, they stormed into downtown and destroyed a protest encampment.

Richard Hall / The Independent

But the protesters came back to the main square, made a mountain from the poles of destroyed tents and placed a flag in it. The same day, Lebanon's prime minister Saad Hariri resigned, given protesters their first major victory.

Richard Hall / The Independent

Commentators and academic analysts pour over these figures and gravely inform us that the left is finished,that some imagined liberal eraisover to be replaced by populist identity politics. Some argue that voting systems are to blame. But, in 2019, the worlds many voting systems were made use of and they all produced the same result.

Voters are nervous of change and unconvinced by any of the political offers that imply a new start or a challenge to conventional thinking. It is the era when change began with some powerful, convincing new ideas argued by intellectuals,converted into campaigns with demonstrations, petitions and other mobilisations, then finally were either adopted by parties or gave rise to new political movements and even new parties, that is truly over.

Pressure groups proliferate; we have more think tanks funded by wealthy donors than ever before. Yet the sum of all their energy, conferences, papers and comment pieces in the press do not add up to a convincing whole and certainly have less and less impact on voting or on government policy.

International bodies such as the International Labour Organisation and Nato celebrated 100 and 75 years of existence in 2019, but workers have never been weaker with deunionisation(outside the protected public sector) now the norm in Britain, the US, most of Europe and elsewhere in the world. Vladamir Putin runs rings around Nato, while Donald Trump can barely conceal his contempt for it.

The hopes of world government what Tennyson calledthe parliament of men, the federation of the world seem even further away than when he invoked his vision 150 years ago.

2019 finishes a decade in which less progress was marked than at any time since 1945.

Democratic advance has stalled. Filling to streets and voting in the ballot box appears to change nothing. So what happens next? That is the question to which the 2020s must provide an answer.

Denis MacShane is the former minister of Europe and author of Brexiternity:The Uncertain Fate of Britain

Continue reading here:
2019 was the year of democracy that changed absolutely nothing - The Independent