A-Infos (en) Poland, FA: Revolutionary Upheaval. More and more social unrest around the world and in Poland (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Current social unrest is changing the political landscape of many 
countries. Old governments are falling. Hated dictators and elites are 
fleeing abroad. Revolutions are emerging. ---- In 2009, Beverly Silver's 
book "The Global Proletariat: Labor Movements and Globalization After 
1870" was published in Poland. Drawing on empirical material, the 
researcher presents trends (in the form of graphs) in labor unrest from 
1870 to 1996. The book's main finding is that since the late 1940s, the 
number of labor protests worldwide (despite some fluctuations) has been 
declining. They declined particularly significantly during the peak of 
neoliberalism, in the second half of the 1980s and the 1990s. This can 
be attributed to globalization and the relocation of capitalist 
production to the countries of the South - especially Asia (China, 
India, Bangladesh, etc.). This weakened the bargaining position of 
workers in Western countries, while in the South, industrialization was 
only just creating the conditions for the emergence of new labor and 
emancipatory movements.

Beverly Silver and her team concluded their research in the second half 
of the 1990s. Immediately afterward, the alter-globalist movement 
emerged, most often traced to the famous demonstration in Seattle in 
November 1999, where various groups, including trade unions and 
environmentalists, jointly protested. At the time, it seemed that the 
trend had reversed. Although the alter-globalist demonstrations were 
mass in nature, this was - as it turns out - merely a prelude to the 
rising tide of social unrest.

A Historic High
Analyzing various reports[1], one can conclude that only after the 
outbreak of the crisis in 2007-2008 did the number of social conflicts 
worldwide actually begin to rise rapidly, a trend halted - though not 
for long - only by the sanitary restrictions related to COVID-19. 
However, since the end of the pandemic, the number of social unrests has 
risen significantly again. We may even be witnessing a historic peak in 
social unrest. In any case, their scale seems comparable to the unrest 
that occurred immediately after the end of World Wars I and II. (I say 
"perhaps" because quantitatively studying social conflicts, even open 
ones, is not methodologically easy.)

In the last few months alone, we have witnessed mass social unrest in 
Bangladesh, India (specifically, Ladakh), Madagascar, Morocco, Nepal, 
Indonesia, the Philippines, Peru, Cameroon, and so on. In many cases, 
these protests defy easy categorization. They are often presented as 
strictly political, not social, protests. However, their causes most 
often have economic roots, albeit in the broadest sense. In Morocco, 
youth demonstrated against high unemployment rates, which reach as high 
as 36%. In the Philippines, they protested against corruption. In 
Indonesia, they protested against rising living costs. In Bangladesh, 
youth protested against employment policies and general economic 
hardship. In Madagascar, discontent erupted over power and water cuts 
and widespread corruption[2].

Although Europe has ceased to be the center of the world in terms of 
social movements, numerous protests, strikes, and blockades are still 
being observed on the Old Continent. Italy is a prime example in recent 
weeks. The United States, some argue, is on the brink of civil war and 
resembles a state of emergency, shaken by demonstrations against which 
the military is deployed, rather than the cradle of Western democracy. 
Congress has been marginalized, and Trump governs through presidential 
decrees.

Because young people often participate in these protests, the media 
often portrays them as a generational rebellion, a revolt of Generation 
Z. This is likely an oversimplification. These protests are highly 
diverse in nature, spontaneous or organized by amorphous groups. They 
are sometimes difficult to attribute to specific ideological options. 
They are, one might say, populist in nature, which always sounds like a 
reproach from the neoliberal establishment. However, they are often a 
manifestation of popular discontent, where certain labels become 
confused or have ceased to be relevant.

One thing is certain - in many cases, current social unrest is changing 
the political landscape of many countries. Old governments are falling. 
Hated dictators and elites are fleeing abroad. A revolution is simply 
taking place.

Protests in Poland

In Poland, too, an increase in the number of social protests over the 
last decade can be observed, based on relevant data. For example, while 
between 2000 and 2014, the number of public gatherings (recorded by the 
police[3]) averaged approximately 1,470 annually, from 2015 to 2024, 
this average exceeded 7,350. This indicates that there have been five 
times more demonstrations of various types in Poland recently.

This largely aligns with the findings of the Public Opinion Research 
Center[4]. CBOS systematically asks Poles whether they participated in a 
demonstration or strike in a given year. Between 2000 and 2014, the 
average annual percentage of protest participants (as reported by 
respondents) was 1.9%, and since 2015, it has more than tripled to 6.1%. 
The highest percentage was recorded in the 2020 survey - 8% - and in 
2021, when as many as 9% of Poles declared participation in 
demonstrations, which - in my opinion - should be attributed to the 
activities under the banner of the Women's Strike. This was the highest 
declared percentage of protesters since CBOS began conducting research 
on this topic, i.e., since 1988.

Incidentally, in the case of Poland, the pandemic has not suppressed 
protests, or at least only to a small extent. The correlation between 
both data series (the number of protests and the percentage of 
participants) is very high, further supporting the thesis of a 
significant increase in social unrest recently.

Conclusion: International Order and the World of Work
Geopoliticians, analyzing the current destabilization of the global 
system, consider the interplay of states, with their ruling elites in 
the leading roles, to be its main source. They attribute the chaos to 
the breakdown of the international order. Meanwhile, it's clear that the 
status quo is also (and perhaps even primarily) crumbling as a result of 
growing internal conflicts. Outbreaks of discontent are occurring in 
country after country, resembling a chain reaction. The old ruling 
elites have lost-as sociologists often put it-their legitimacy. New 
forces are coming to the fore, and sometimes to power.

Over two decades ago, at the conclusion of her book, Beverly Silver 
asked what the chances are of establishing an international order 
friendly to the world of work. Back then, neoliberalism and capitalist 
globalization were still firmly in place. As the current system crumbles 
before our eyes, this becomes an even more pressing problem. The author 
of "The Global Proletariat" answered vaguely that we need an order that 
"effectively subordinates the pursuit of profit generation to the vital 
needs of all people." If not neoliberalism and Pax Americana, what will 
replace them? Unfortunately, we don't yet have an answer to this 
question. The struggle continues.

Jaroslaw Urbanski

www.rozbrat.org

Footnotes:

[1](a) Analysis based on World Bank data for 2018-2025: 
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/charted-global-conflicts-across-world/; 
(b) analysis based on International Monetary Fund data for 2016-2022: 
https://www.imf.org/en/Blogs/Articles/2022/05/20/social-unrest-is-rising-adding-to-risks-for-global-economy; 
(c) CSIS (Center for Strategic and International Studies) report for 
2009-2019: 
https://csis-website-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/publication/200303_MassProtests_V2.pdf; 
(d) World Protest and Ebert Foundation report for 2007-2020: 
https://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/usa/19020.pdf (e) reports and 
studies based on ACLED data (Armed Conflict Location & Event Data) 
https://acleddata.com/ e.g.: 
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-05-06-loaded-for-bear-social-unrest-and-mass-protests-rise-exponentially-across-africa/; 
http://www.anbound.com/Section/ArticleView_35376_1.htm; See also: 
https://www.jstor.org/publisher/acledp

[2]Read, among others: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq6zg9ele22o

[3]Data from the National Police Headquarters obtained based on access 
to public information; data for previous years published in J. Urbanski, 
"Precariat and the New Class Struggle," Warsaw 2014.

[4]CBOS report for subsequent years, titled "Activity and Experiences of 
Poles," available at cbos.pl

https://federacja-anarchistyczna.pl/2025/11/15/rewolucyjne-wrzenie-coraz-wiecej-wystapien-spolecznych-na-swiecie-i-w-polsce/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Subscribe/Unsubscribe https://ainfos.ca/mailman/listinfo/a-infos-en
Archive: http://ainfos.ca/en