2.1 Year of the Street Protest
In this section of the book, we will track how business is responding to the crisis with a shift from sustainability (Not Bad) to purpose (Net Good). This shift could not have taken hold without a dramatic shift in public mood. And the demands of a new generation. So, in this chapter we will look at this context of protest and concern.
Letâs start with an extract of a speech given by Greta Thunberg at Davos in 2019:
The Washington Post described 2019 as âthe year of the street protestâ. French historian Mathilde Larrère described the world as being gripped by an âinsurrectionary moodâ. These protests have swept across the world; a second Arab Spring in Iraq, Egypt, Syria, Algeria; a Latin American Spring starting in Venezuela and spreading to 18 countries across the region; calls for independence in Hong Kong and Catalonia; protests against austerity and taxes in France, against corruption in Malta and Lebanon. And, of course, protests about government inaction on the climate crisis and the environment â including climate strikes in 2460 cities in 158 countries. At the time of writing, 500 000 protestors joined Greta Thunberg marching in Madrid on the eve of the Cop25 talks, demanding that world leaders wake up and agree to do something. With mixed success; but it is clear there is growing public pressure for action.
The school strike protests are clearly directly about climate change. Whereas the yellow jacket protests in France were triggered by the government hiking up the tax on fuel in an attempt to tackle climate change. So, it is not a simple picture. Common features of these protests include a leaderless structure that is spontaneous and hard to repress, massive street demonstrations, protests being directed at governments, and the prominent role played by young people.
Simon Tisdall wrote in the Guardian that âAbout 41% of the global population are under 24. And theyâre angry.â2 Pointing out that although the specific grievances might range from the price of onions in India to proâdemocracy in Russia, the one key factor is youth. That a demographic baby boom and the economic, social, political, and environmental stresses of the world are an explosive combination. America in the 1960s was a historical example of similar forces; a teenâdominated society in the midst of the Vietnam war, civil rights movements, and the rise of the counterculture all happened when a baby boom generation (born between 1946 and 1964) started to reach adulthood and again accounted for 40% of the population.3
There are three main prongs to the protests. One is protest against economic injustice, unemployment, and suffering. The second is against corrupt political establishments and for greater democracy. The third is climate change, environmental collapse, and the perception that a new generation have had their future stolen.
Social media not only amplify and organise protests, they give young generations direct access to global events and increase expectations. The Whatâs App revolution in Lebanon follows on from Arab Spring where Facebook played a key role. I wouldnât say social media cause protests. But they do facilitate and shape protests. The protests have spread internationally like wildfire as disaffected groups in one country are encouraged by the scenes from other protests. And the protestors reference each other. When protestors in Catalan came out after the jailing of nine political leaders, they chanted âwe are going to do a Hong Kongâ. Ideas about how to organise spread between the groups. For instance, learning to âbe waterâ; being fluid, flexible, fast moving. And learning about the use of digital tools to keep everyone involved informed.
There are lots of reports, surveys, and think tanks exploring what lies behind this.
I think that one key to the whole historical development can be seen in an Ipsos 2018 study4 with this key question â a question that gets to the heart of the legitimacy of the political situation. Respondents were asked how much they agree with the statement:
Only in Saudi Arabia and India do the majority think that they do.
The global average percentage of adults who believe political leaders care about them is 23%.
In nine out of the sixteen countries, less than 20% believe this.
That is a massive crisis of political legitimacy.
It is this issue that looks to be predictive of both the protests and also the rise of populism (reactionary âstrong manâ leaders promising to tackle a broken system). And when the promises arenât delivered â and the nasty sides of populism become visible â protests return. As they have in Italy where the Sardines movement is currently packing public squares.
The Edelman Trust Barometer5 has been tracking a global crisis of faith in leaders and institutions for many years. One interesting finding of their survey is that there is a growing gap between informed publics (college educated, follow the news) and the mass population. Their trust index (the average percentage who trust NGOs, business, government, and the media) has always been higher among the educated minority. But the gap has grown from 9 points in 2012 to 16 points in 2016, and interestingly this is not because of declining trust in the general population but the rebuilding of trust among the informed elites. Trust in business is improving for all groups.
Looking at different industries, people most trust the Tech sector (78%); the least trusted are Fashion (65%), Energy (65%), Consumer Packaged Goods (64%), and Financial Services (57%). Itâs interesting how much of the noise about sustainability comes from these last four. It starts to paint a picture of companies feeling public pressure to demonstrate a positive role.
The killer question came when Edelman asked people: âis the system working for youâ? Only 20% agreed among the general population and 21% among the informed public. High proportions of people in both groups felt a sense of injustice (72% and 74%) and expressed desire for change (70% and 76%).
Back to the question of âwhy all the protestsâ?
It doesnât seem to be that much to do with a generation gap in terms of attitudes and concerns. The Ipsos MORI global study compared youth and adult attitudes and they were very similar â young peopleâs only outlying attitude was much higher concern about education.
It doesnât seem to be only about climate change either. Although you could make an argument that all of this is due to climate change, because the economy is a subset of natural ecosystems. And chaos in one drives the other.
According to surveys, the following four ideas seem to be driving protes...
