Protest Crackdown Tracker
Protest is a cornerstone of democracy, but governments across the world are increasingly turning to heavy-handed tactics to suppress protests and limit freedom of speech and assembly. These crackdowns have heightened concern about the direction of our global society.
On 4 June 1989, Chinese troops opened fire on students and workers who had gathered in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square to demand political reforms. Hundreds – possibly thousands – were killed, and thousands more were detained across the country. A generation later, relatives of those who died and activists remember the day as a milestone in the human struggle for democracy.
In the US, state and federal bills have been introduced that would punish college students, anti-war, and climate activists with draconian prison sentences, fines, and censorship for exercising their First Amendment rights. These laws, along with the self-proclaimed law-and-order President’s administration revoking student visas and quelling campus protesters, reveal a dangerous desire to suppress dissent rather than addressing its root causes.
Those seeking change should be encouraged, not discouraged. Demonstrations are a crucial form of civic engagement and can lead to progress in areas that impact our daily lives, including better governance, safer working conditions, and combating inequality and environmental destruction. ICNL’s Protest Crackdown tracker shows how states are responding to new social movements by pushing forward repressive legislation that targets the right to protest.
