People power
People power can be manifested as a small-scale protest or campaign for neighborhood change;[3] or as wide-ranging, revolutionary action involving national street demonstrations, work stoppages and general strikes intending to overthrow an existing government and/or political system.
[7] These circumstances include: a general trend in growing attention to human rights across the globe; advancements in communication technologies which allowed for dissemination of revolutionary ideas and organisational capabilities; minimal censorship of citizens by the government;[8] among others.
[10] Academic scholars recognise that because people power movements operate with the end goal of changing the existing political structure, if violence is to be used it will be “pragmatic or strategic”[11] rather than principled non-violence.
[15] There is not one specific method of planning or coordination necessary for a people power movement: so long as the tactics employed reflect a sustained effort from a “grassroots populace”.
April Carter, leading scholar on grassroots action and peace studies,[20] identifies three advantages with the strategies of people power protests:[21]It reflects how those engaged in strikes, demonstrations and occupation of key buildings, and facing down armed security forces, see themselves: the people rising against oppressive rulers; it links the idea of resistance to the idea of democracy, which is the goal of the mass protests; it suggests the central strategy (conscious or intuitive) behind such peaceful revolts: that rulers can be toppled when the ruled refuse to obey them any longer.Also known as the EDSA Revolution, this instance of people power was a series of nationwide demonstrations centred on Epifanio de los Santos Avenue in Manila between February 22 and 25 1986.
Protesters expressed contempt toward the incumbent, authoritarian President Ferdinand Marcos after allegations of widespread corruption and persisting internal issues — including a prevalent economic disparity and a worsening recession.
[24] Also known as the 8888 Uprising, this movement aimed to overthrow the military and totalitarian regime of General Ne Win of the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP).
[26] Overall, Burma’s people power movement was unsuccessful as the campaign was suppressed by the military regime, without resulting in a democratic change to the political structure.
[29] The dissolution of the Soviet Bloc during the end of the Cold War is also recognised as a people power as it was a culmination of growing disappointment with communist leadership in the USSR’s satellite states.
Protests were direct at President Abdul Gayoom’s autocratic rule, which involved immense internal human rights abuses such as arbitrary arrests, torture, politically motivated killings.
The Tunisian Revolution catalysed when labour unions voiced dissatisfaction with internal economic issues, corruption, lack of political freedoms and poor living conditions brought on by the dictatorial rule of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
[34] This people power campaign was largely based on bottom-up protests such street demonstrations, and was organised on online media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
[35] The Tunisian Revolution is widely regarded as a successful people power campaign, as the dictatorial president fled the country on 14 January after widespread demonstrations.
