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The global middle class awakens

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Alper, a 26-year-old Turkish corporate lawyer, has benefited enormously from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's rule. He is one of millions of young Turks who rode the country's economic boom to a lifestyle his grandparents could scarcely imagine.

Yet he loathes Erdogan, participated in the Taksim Square demonstrations, and is taking part in the new "standing man" protests in Istanbul.

"The prime minister is continuing to blatantly lie about the demonstrations," said Alper, who asked that his last name not be used because he feared arrest. "People are actually scared that if they stop this momentum, then the government will feel free to exercise more force."

From Turkey to Brazil to Iran the global middle class is awakening politically. The size, focus and scope of protests vary, but this is not unfolding chaos - it is nascent democracy. Citizens are demanding basic political rights, accountable governments and a fairer share of resources.

The movements may lose their way. The demonstrations will have a limited long-term impact if they fail to become organized political movements. And the violence and criminality that erupted during some protests in Brazil have prompted a popular backlash.

Overall, though, Americans jaded about world affairs should see the activism as positive. The protesters are performing the same role as middle classes have in developed nations. As their standard of living rises, so do their expectations of government.

The political dynamic in each country is different, of course. In Turkey, the protests are not the equivalent of the Arab Spring demonstrations that toppled governments across the Middle East. Nor are they simply a pitched battle between religious conservatives and secular liberals. Instead, they are deeply Turkish - and hugely important.

After decades of the Turkish state reigning supreme, young Turks are demanding pluralism and basic individual rights. The Turkish state should be accountable to the people, they argue, instead of the people being accountable to the state.

"Basic freedoms such as the right to peaceful assembly are undermined by police and government," Alper said in an email. "There have been no significant repercussions for police officers and their superiors."

For years, Soli Ozel, a professor of International Relations and Political Science at Istanbul Bilgi University, scoffed at Westerners who viewed Turkey as a model for the Middle East. The new protests, however, make him feel the label may apply.

"After this unprecedented mobilization," he said in a telephone interview, "we now have a very vibrant and very much alive civil society."

Brazil presents a different dynamic. The ruling Workers' Party is left-leaning and its economic reforms have helped the poor and middle class. But now a souring economy, corruption scandals and $12 billion in government spending on 2014 World Cup stadiums has sparked one million people to take to the streets.

Marcelo Ridenti, a leading Brazilian sociologist, said reduced inequality and increased education have raised expectations. The number of university students in Brazil, for example, doubled from 2000 to 2011.

"This generates huge changes in society, including changes in expectations among young people," he told the New York Times. "They expect to get not only jobs, but good jobs."

Recent events in Iran are more difficult to discern. While Brazil and Turkey's political systems are relatively open, Iran's is tightly controlled. Until last weekend's presidential election, hard-line religious leaders seemed to have tightened their grip on power after crushing the country's 2009 Green Revolution.

In a surprise result, cleric Hassan Rohani won a sweeping victory in presidential elections last weekend. Pro-reform and urban Iranians frustrated with the country's weak economy, isolation and conservative monopoly on power apparently handed Rohani the presidency. Rohani may prove to be more conservative than expected, but his victory prompted thousands of Iranians to take to the streets.

"I am hopeful about the future," Hoda, a 26-year-old who asked that her last name not be used, told Reuters. "Hopeful that we will have more social freedoms, more stability in Iran, better relations with other countries and hopefully a much better economy."

Comparing political movements in different countries carries risks. Societies vary enormously. But observers see parallels between Brazil's protests, India's anti-corruption movement, austerity protests in Europe, the U.S. Occupy Movement and similar demonstrations in Israel.

My focus on Turkey, Brazil and Iran is driven by recent events and optimism. Positive dynamics are at work in all three nations.

First, the explosive spread of social media played a role in the movements. Networks of like-minded people were able to immediately communicate with one another and potential recruits. Some online information has been false or restricted, but technological change has unquestionably sped up the pace of political organizing.

Second, all three movements are demanding basic individual rights and accountable government. They want non-corrupt leaders who respect their right to protest, gather and speak freely. From minority rights in Turkey, to fair elections in Iran, to better policing, healthcare and transit in Brazil, protesters want improved governance.

There will be setbacks, excesses and confusion in the weeks ahead. But the burgeoning middle class activism in Turkey, Iran and Brazil should be hailed. Like their brethren in developed countries, they are a check on government excess and create stronger, more vibrant societies.

© (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013.

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

4 Comments
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Citizens are demanding basic political rights, accountable governments and a fairer share of resources.

People have had enough of govts not listening to the peoples voice, squandering public funds on their pet projects to line their own pockets and unaccountability.

the violence and criminality

Mostly perpetuated by the govts, most are full of crimminals masqurading in suits.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

As this is a Japan, not US-oriented site (or purports to be), it would make more sense if this article is just cut and pasted from a US site, to add a Japan angle. It could include the increasing social inequality, fading in legitimacy of the idea touted for decades that all Japanese were middle class (in reality the upper class elites run things, and there has been a large working class, which economic changes of the last 20 years is swelling with people falling out of the middle class), and open disillusion with anti-democratic government manifested since the start of the Tohoku "reconstruction" fiasco and the Fukushima circus. Despite this, the apathy manifested by too many Japanese (given what's going on, and the assault on their living standards) really stands out in contrast to other places where the middle class are standing up for justice. A pity that articles are simply parachuted in from the other side of the world without giving some local context - that would be the most interesting bit.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

I begin to wonder who exactly the "elites" are. Are they really the rich corporate types? Or are they government officials? With the greater part of national GDP now going to fund government spending, and goverment workers and contractors getting all of the "stimulus" money, who exactly should the middle class be rising against?

If the "elites" are simply defined as they top ten percent of income-earners, we should remember that 80% of American millionaires are small-business people, and that these employ nearly half the American population. We should also realize that most of these millionaires are first-generation rich, and came from the middle classes. Before rising against them and causing them "to pay their fair share", we should keep in mind that this top 10% already pays 70% of all tax collected.

As a small business person myself, my largest annual expense is not payroll or rent for my building, my largest expense is tax, and every year my tax bill gets higher.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Income taxes should fall, but fortunes should be taxed. No human needs hundreds of millions of anything. All they have, they got through the labor and patronage of the masses.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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