If We Burn: Uma Análise Profunda - Outros (2025)

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Copyright©2023VincentBevinsTherightofVincentBevinstobeidentifiedastheAuthoroftheWorkhasbeenassertedbyhiminaccordancewiththeCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988.ApartfromanyusepermittedunderUKcopyrightlaw,thispublicationmayonlybereproduced,stored,ortransmitted,inanyform,orbyanymeans,withpriorpermissioninwritingofthepublishersor,inthecaseofreprographicproduction,inaccordancewiththetermsoflicencesissuedbytheCopyrightLicensingAgency.FirstpublishedinGreatBritainin2023byWILDFIREanimprintofHEADLINEPUBLISHINGGROUPFirstpublishedasanEbookinGreatBritainbyWILDFIREanimprintofHEADLINEPUBLISHINGGROUPin2023Everyefforthasbeenmadetofulfilrequirementswithregardtoreproducingcopyrightmaterial.Theauthorandpublisherwillbegladtorectifyanyomissionsattheearliestopportunity.CataloguinginPublicationDataisavailablefromtheBritishLibraryCoverdesignbyPeteGarceaueISBN:9781035412297HEADLINEPUBLISHINGGROUPAnHachetteUKCompanyCarmeliteHouse50VictoriaEmbankmentLondonEC4Y0DZwww.headline.co.ukwww.hachette.co.ukhttp://www.headline.co.ukhttp://www.hachette.co.ukContentsTitlePageCopyrightPageAboutVincentBevinsPraiseByVincentBevinsAbouttheBookDedicationAcknowledgmentsIntroductionPARTONE1 LearningtoProtest2 MayaraandFernando3 Piorquetánãofica4 MoreThananUprising5 AroundtheWorld6 ASocialNetwork7 CowboysandIndians8 MinorityReport9 TheFreeFareMovement10 TheGiantAwakens11 FiveCauses,FourFingersPARTTWO12 EuMaidan13 TheFreeBrazilMovement14 UnderMyUmbrella15 NoGods,NoRepresentation16 ATaleofTwoImpeachments17 IWasinthe21218 OMito19 ATaleofTwoExplosions20 ReconstructingthePast21 BuildingtheFutureNotesIndexAbouttheAuthorVincentBevins is anaward-winning journalist andcorrespondent.HecoveredSoutheastAsiafortheWashingtonPost,reportingfromacrosstheentireregionandpayingspecialattentiontothelegacyofthe1965massacreinIndonesia.Hepreviously served as theBrazil correspondent for theLos Angeles Times, alsocovering nearby parts of South America, and before that he worked for theFinancialTimesinLondon.AmongtheotherpublicationshehaswrittenforaretheNewYorkTimes,TheAtlantic,TheEconomist,TheGuardian,ForeignPolicy,theNewYorkReviewofBooks,theNewRepublic,andmore.Vincentwasbornandraised inCaliforniaandspentthelastfewyearslivinginJakarta.PraiseforIfWeBurn:‘Anilluminatingpostmortemonadecadeoffalsedawns.’Publisher’sWeekly‘Inthisremarkablyassuredandsweepinghistoryofthepresent,VincentBevinsaskssomeofthemosturgentquestionsforcontemporarylife:Howcanamultitudeofardent,angry,andhopefulpeopleharnesstheirenergiesforprofoundpoliticalchange?Andwhathappensiftheyfail?IfWeBurntravelstheworldinsearchofananswerand,alongtheway,introducesustotheactivists,hackers,punks,martyrs,andthemillionsofordinarypeoplewhosespontaneousactsofbraveryspurredthemassprotestsofthelastdecade.Bevins’sclear-eyed,sympatheticaccountoftheunfulfilledpromiseoftheseprotestsleaveshisreaderwithaboldvisionofthefuture-oneinwhichhisbook’slessonsareusedtotransformanuprisingintoatruerevolution.’MerveEmre,WesleyanUniversity,criticforTheNewYorker‘VincentBevins’compellingnewbook,IfWeBurn,isawondrousworkofmysterywriting,anefforttosolvetheriddle:whyhasadecadeoflarge-scalerollingrevoltsproducednorevolution,nosignificantstructuralreform?Ican’tthinkofanyjournalistotherthanBevinswhowoulddaretoasksuchaquestion,orbecapableofweavingtogetherseeminglydiscreteglobaleventsintoastunninghistoryofnow.Haveweplantedseedsforabetterfutureorhavethegearsofchangefrozenforgood?Bevinsletsthepeoplehetalkedto,thoseonthestreet,answer.’GregGrandin,PulitzerPrize-winningauthorofTheEndoftheMyth‘Iwasnotexpectingthis,butIthinkIfWeBurnisevenbetterthanTheJakartaMethod.’BenjaminFogel,editorofJacobin‘Ambitious,diligentlyresearched,andprovocative,IfWeBurnwilltransformthewayyouthink.Bevins’sdetailed,comparativereportingoffersarivetinglookatthecontradictions,unexpectedconsequences,andlessonsofmassprotests.’AlexaHagerty,authorofStillLifewithBones‘Thisbookisphenomenal.Athrilling,blowbyblow(andoftenliveon-the-ground)analysisofhowthevariouspeople-ledmovementsandrevolutionsoverthelastdecadesucceededorfailed.Incalculablyusefultoanyonewho’dliketomakesubstantive,enduringchangestotheirtown,countryoreventheworld.It’sanincrediblefollowuptoTheJakartaMethod-whichfocusedonthedevelopmentoftheCIAandtheseismicandoftenhorrificglobalconsequences-andseesBevinsapplyinghisnear-heroicmethodsofinvestigationtomorerecentevents.It’saboutasgoodasjournalismgetsandBevinsisuniquelypositionedtogetthegoods,justduetothesheeramountoftimehespendsintheplaceshewritesabout,fosteringrelationshipsandsufferingfromunquenchablecuriosity.Icannotthinkofabookthatsosoberlyandforensicallyanalysedtheveryrecentpastandlookedatwhatwentrightandwhatwentterriblywrong.ThehighestpraiseIcangiveIfWeBurnistosaythatitwouldbecriminallynegligentnottoreaditifyou’dliketochangetheworld.Andwhywouldn’tyou?’RobDelaney,authorofAHeartthatWorksByVincentBevinsTHEJAKARTAMETHODIFWEBURNAbouttheBookIFWEBURNTheMassProtestDecadeandtheMissingRevolutionThe story of the recent uprisings from around the world that sought tochangesociety-andwhatcomesnext.From 2010 to 2020, more people took part in protests than at any otherpointinhumanhistory.Whyhassuccessbeensoelusive?From the so-called Arab Spring to Gezi Park in Turkey, from Ukraine’sEuromaidantostudentrebellionsinChileandHongKong,theseconddecadeofthe twenty-first centurywas propelled by explosivemass demonstrations. Butfew people got what they wanted. In too many cases, the protests led to theoppositeofwhattheyaskedfor.IfWe Burn is a stirring work of global history built around that strange butfundamental paradox. Acclaimed journalist Vincent Bevins interviewedhundredsofpeoplearoundtheworld,andweavestheirinsightsandrecollectionsintoafast-paced,grippingnarrative.WefollowhisowntroublingexperiencesinBrazil, where a protest movement ignited by leftists and anarchists led to anextreme-rightgovernmentthattorchedtheAmazon.Inthemassprotestdecade,humanitydemonstratedadeepdesireforchange,andbraveindividualsstartedsomethingthathasbeenleftunfinished.Inthisground-breakingstudyofanextraordinarychainofevents,protestersandmajoractorsoffer urgent lessons for those who wish to understand geopolitics today, andcreateabetterworldtomorrow.ForMaryCelesteandBernadette,forRyleeandCeceliaDewiAcknowledgmentsIDON’TKNOW IF ITwaspossible towrite this book at all—to cover the strangeeventsof thisdecadeinavolumeof thissize—atleast,Iamnotsure if itwaspossible todo itwell.That isup to the reader todecide.But Idoknow that Icouldhaveneverwrittenitonmyown.Itisabitridiculousthatonlymynameisonthecover.Anumberofpeoplecontributed crucial reporting, research, or revisions, and they should beconsidered coauthors. In a newspaper story, there is a slot for “additionalreportingby”—inamovie,therearethecredits.ButSylvainSylvainreflectedonthereaction:“InAmericayoucanbegay,youcanbeadrugaddictbutyoucannotbeaCommunist,”hesaid.“It kamikazed ourwhole thing.We’d crossed the line one toomany times.”45TheNewYorkDollshadbecomehis“prototypeoftestingpublicreaction.”For his next band, formed to promote the “Sex” clothing shophe ranwithWestwood in London, McLaren picked out another radical political ideologyfromhistory.TheSexPistolswouldbe “anarchist,” and so theywouldnot bejoiningamovementwithrealarmies,economies,andgeopoliticalpowerlockedinconflictwiththeWest.WhenMcLarendrewontheideologyoftheNewLeftasheunderstoodit,andespeciallyFrance’sSituationist International,hefoundmuch to like in the elements that laughed at discipline and authority, wereconfrontationallyanti-hierarchical,andrefusedtoevermakeconcretedemands.Theidea,instead,wasatotal“negation”ofthissociety,a“voicethatdeniedallsocialfacts,andinthatdenialaffirmedthateverythingwaspossible.”46TheMythoftheMauerfallIt would not be long before the hammer and sickle stopped representing realgeopolitical power—across Europe, at least—when all those Communistcountries simplydisappeared.The fall of theSovietUnion stunned theworld,and the rapid collapse of allied socialist states shaped the way a generationwouldapproachthewavesofhistorythatwouldcrashuponthemafterward.AllofithappenedonTV—viewersinLosAngelesorLondonorLimacouldwatchcrowdsofprotesterssurgeinGermany;theycouldseethehatedBerlinerMauer,theBerlinWall,torntopieces;theycouldfollowalongasthatcountryreunitedandemergedtriumphantatthe1990FIFAWorldCupinRome.Of course theNorthAtlantic powers, and the influentialmedia outlets thatbroadlysharedtheirworldview,hadreasontofeeltriumphant,too.Suddenlyandunexpectedly,theyhadwontheColdWar.Andthevictorywasdeliverednotbyconflict, but by the apparently spontaneous uprising of the people. As theyframedandtoldthestory,theyprivilegedelementsthatconfirmedsomeoftheirdeepest assumptions. History might take a long time to get there, but it wasarriving at its natural destination. And indeed, Europeans suffering underCommunistrulehadprotested,demandingchanges,andGermanytookitsplaceoncemoreasaglobalpower.Butquitealotofotherthingshappenedtoo.Mikhail Gorbachev, a true believer in the socialist project, had risen toleadershipof theSovietUnionbywinningat thegameofSovietbureaucracy.During the long rule of LeonidBrezhnev (1964–1982), thenomenklatura hadcemented their power in the system. Very few people, not even convincedanticommunistslikeHenryKissingerandFrancisFukuyama,thoughtthesystemwasgoingtofallapart.47ItistruethatWashingtonbecamemoreconfrontationalinthe1980s,butthingslikeRonaldReagan’sfamous“StarWarsprogram”hadlittletodowiththeendoftheBolshevikproject.48FarmoreimportantwasthatGorbachev, a man who revered Lenin, also believed that the fifteen Sovietrepublics and sevenotherWarsawPactmembernations could reintegratewiththeWestintoanewglobalsystem.49HistoriansarestillworkingtoexplainwhytheSovietUnioncollapsedlikeitdid.Globalsuperpowersdon’tusuallydisappearovernight.50Weknowthat theeconomy was riven with contradictions and lagged behind the world’s mostadvanced countries;we know that the political systemwas inflexible; andweknow that the Party had used repression to construct and maintain politicalpower.But all threeof these thingswere true, and remain true, inmanyothercountries thatgorightonexisting.Theymightbe truefor thevastmajorityofgovernmentsontheplanet.Butwealsoknowthatthepeoplewhorushedintothestreetsin1989–1991were not, as a rule, clamoring for the arrival of capitalism.51 Even in EastGermany,manyofthembelievedareformedandimprovedsocialismwouldbeontheway.52Itisonlypartiallytruethatthispopularsurgeofenergycontributedtothecollapseofthesystem.Anditisentirelywrongtoclaimthatthecitizensofpost-communistcountriesgotthefreedomanddemocracythatwaspromisedtothem.53The process that led to the end of the USSR started at the top, driven byGorbachevandasmallgroupofelitereformers.Perestroika,or“reconstruction,”wasaimedatincreasingindustrialproductionandrootingoutcorruption,whichnecessarilyentailedconfrontingthenomenklatura.Buta“velvetpurge”(unlikethe purges in the 1930s, no one was getting killed) put wily mid-levelbureaucrats on the defensive, and the collapse of the command economystructurecutoff the flowsofprofits (andwages) sustaining thesystem. Itwasbureaucratswhoreallyreactedtotheirchangeinfortunes,nottheworkers—whooftenkeptgoingtoworkwithoutgettingpaid.Thenomenklaturaatthenationallevelseizedtheassetsandterritoriestheycontrolled,andGorbachevrefusedtouseforcetostopthem.AsRussianhistorianVladislavZubokputsit,theUSSR“metitsendatthehandofitsownleadership.”54At the beginning of the reform process, elites encouraged nationalistsentiment in order to undermine the nomenklatura. The former was far moresuccessful than anyone planned, and the latter didn’t happen at all. In manyrepublics practically no popular demonstrations took place. Themass proteststhatdidoccur largelyhappenedafter thesystemwasalreadyfallingapart,andMoscowcouldhaveeasilyputthemdownifitwished.55EastGermanofficials,whoreallybelievedinthesocialistprojecttheyhadspentfourdecadesbuilding,were horrified at the lack of leadership coming fromRussia.56 The transitionaftertheWallfell,aftertheMauerfall,wasbumpyformanyEastGermans,buttheycouldrelyonWestGermany—oneoftherichestcountriesinhumanhistory—to spend two trillion euros to integrate them into its expanded statestructures.57 Much of the rest of the post-communist population got war ordevastatingpoverty instead. In thefirst fewyearsof the1990s,violencebrokeout inCroatia,Chechnya,Moldova,Azerbaijan,Georgia, Tajikistan,Armenia,andBosnia,killinghundredsof thousandsofpeople.58Thereweregoing tobeeconomic problems no matter what happened. But the leaders in Moscow,encouragedbyWashington,embarkeduponeconomic“shocktherapy.”After elected lawmakers tried to stop him, PresidentBorisYeltsin, a closeally of Washington, illegally dissolved the Russian legislature and then senttanks to shell the Parliament building.Russian elites rapidly privatized Sovietassetsandremovedcontrolsonprices.Thiswasthecapitalistversionof“underthestones,thebeach”—oncethecommandeconomyhadbeenshockedtodeath,functioningmarketswouldsimplygrowfromtherubble.This did not happen. Instead, Russia experienced a more severe rise inmortalitythanhadeverbeenseenduringpeacetimeinamodernsociety.Almosteverywhere itwas tried,shock therapy led toadeepand longrecession,alongwithhugedropsinindicatorsforeducation,poverty,andhealth.59By1995,45percent of people in eighteen post-communist countries studied by theWorldBankwerelivingunderthepovertylineoffourdollarsaday,andthepovertyhitchildrenespeciallyhard.60Beforethetransition,thepovertyratewas4percent.As lateas2015, theaverage real incomeof99percentofRussianswas lowerthan it had beenin 1991.61 Central Asia fared even worse. In countries likeKazakhstan,Uzbekistan,andKyrgyzstan, thepovertyrates jumpedhigher than60 percent.62 The collapse of the Soviet economic system vastly increasedinequality and poverty, but it did not change who had the remaining assets.Those stayed with the former nomenklatura and their cronies, who quicklybecameanewclassnowcalled“oligarchs.”Thenamegiventotheprocessthatemergedinthe1990s,bywhichtheentireworld seemed to be integrating into a single capitalist system, was“globalization.”Harvard historianOddArneWestad has claimed that a bettername for what really happened is “Americanization”—the United States hadsucceeded in shaping a global economic system and establishing itself as itshegemon.63 Americanization could be felt in the political-economic sphere aswell as the cultural.Theproductionof entertainment andknowledge that tookplaceinHollywoodstudiosorNewYorknewsroomsbecameinfluential foranunprecedented number of global consumers. For sociologist Georgi M.Derluguian, who watched carefully as the old system fell apart in his nativeCaucasus region, globalization signified the revival of an old idea aboutautomatic human progress, in liberal capitalist form. It was “the latesttechnological embodiment of the Hegelian universal spirit pursuing its self-realizing plan.” Concretely, globalization was simply “the inter-relatedconsequencesofthecollapseoftheformerdevelopmentaliststates.”64NeoDecades before the Soviet Union crumbled, the Third World movement hadfallenapart.Nasserdiedunexpectedlyin1970,andhissuccessor,AnwarSadat,soonfounditservedhispurposestoabandonanti-imperialismforanallianceofconveniencewith theworld’s richest country. Earlier, in Indonesia, one of itsfoundingfathersandleadinglights,PresidentSukarno,wasshuntedasideastheUnited States assisted the military in seizing power and carrying out theintentional murder of approximately one million people. Indonesia’s capital,Jakarta, became shorthand for slaughters carried out by anti-leftist regimesacrosstheworld,especiallyinLatinAmerica.65But the ThirdWorld movement was always a forward-looking, optimisticproject thatsought toeffect truedecolonizationacross the internationalsystemandallow thevastmajorityof theworld’spopulation to take its rightfulplacealongside therichcountries, rather thanperpetually“developing”behindthem.Sointheearly1970s,thesecountriestriedtowieldthetoolsoftheglobalsystemagainstitself.TheNewInternationalEconomicOrder(NIEO)wasanattempttouse the UN—where ThirdWorld countries clearly had amajority—to redresseconomicinjusticesandleveltheplayingfield.FirstWorldleadersreactedwithhorrortotheideaoftheendofNorthAtlanticdominanceoftheglobalsystem.66They found ways to stop NIEO in its tracks—signifying the wane of ThirdWorldism—byensuringthattheUN(whereeverycountryhasavote)remainedlargely powerless when it came to governing the global economy. Instead,organsliketheInternationalMonetaryFund(IMF)andtheWorldBank,whichwere controlled by rich countries, would have the power that mattered. ThereactiontotheNIEOhelpedsetthestagefortheneoliberalera.67The use of that word, neoliberalism, is contested now in the Englishlanguage. In recent times, it is most often used by a left wing that is openlyopposedtoneoliberalism,soitcanbeperceivedasaninsultdespitethefactthatthewordwascoinedin1938byproponentsoftheneoliberalproject.68Criticsofthetermhaveapoint,however,whentheyclaimthatitcanrefertomanythingsatthesametime.Butthewordmustbeusedinthisbook,sincesomanyprotestsaround the world over the past few decades self-consciously took aim at“neoliberal”policies.Soitiscrucialtobreakdownwhatwemeanwhenwedoso.Neoliberalism operates at several levels, and the first is global. Its earlyproponents,especiallythe“GenevaSchool”—theorists likeLudwigvonMises,FriedrichHayek, andotherswhodid importantwork in theSwiss city—hadadeepappreciationforhowthefirstliberalerahadcreatedaworldwidecapitalisteconomy,andtheyalsoharboreddeepanxietiesthattheeraofmassdemocracyanddecolonizationwouldgetinitsway.Theywantedtoimposelimitsonwhatnational states coulddo togovern their own resources and economies—itwasmoreimportanttoensurethataninvestorinLondonorNewYorkcouldbuyandsellcopperminesintheCongo,forexample,thantogranttheCongolesepeoplethefullpowertodeterminetheirownership.Recently,CanadianhistorianQuinnSlobodianhasemployedthemetaphorofaglobal“encasement”of theworld’scountries—thewaytheslicesofanorangeareencasedbyitspeel—todescribetheseintentionallimitsonnationalsovereignty.69Secondly,neoliberalismworksatthenationallevel,withpoliciesthatreducethe size of the welfare state and privilege the ability of markets to set pricesaboveallothereconomicgoals,whileassuringeveryonethat increasedgrowthwillmakeallofthisworthwhile.70The“shocktherapy”offollowingtheSovietUnion could be seen as a “quintessentially neoliberal policy prescript,”according to German economist IsabellaWeber, although the first experimentwiththeimplementationofradicalneoliberalprescriptionscameinChileafteraUS-backedcoup thatended thepresidency (and life)ofdemocraticallyelectedsocialistPresidentSalvadorAllendein1973.*Crucially,allof thisworkedoutquitewellforthosesameinvestorsinLondonorNewYork.Andfinally,manytheoristsassertthatneoliberalismworksattheleveloftheindividual—shaping human beings who think of themselves as autonomousindividualfirmswhosesuccessmustbeprioritizedaboveallelse—maximizing,optimizing, hustling, and striving rather than existing as part of anycommunity.71ForthecountriesoftheformerThirdWorldmovement,globalizationwastheend of their attempt to catch up with the First World through intentionaleconomic upgrading. Those words themselves, “Third World,” had beentransformed (in English and French at least) from a thoroughly positive termsignifying the subjects of history—the true revolutionaries who inspired thestudentsonthestreetsin1968—toobjectsofpityandderision.72Meanwhile,farmore post-communist citizens fell into “ThirdWorld” conditions than enteredtheFirst.2MayaraandFernandoMAYARA VIVIAN WAS BORN IN São Paulo in 1990, as the new global order wastakingshape.ShegrewupinJardimCeleste,aworking-classneighborhoodontheoutskirtsofthemegalopolis,notfarfromthecityzoo.LikemillionsofotherPaulistanos,shelivedinabig,dirty,whitebuilding,surroundedbyothertowerblocks,inaroughneighborhood.Her mother, and her grandmother, made ends meet working odd jobs—selling soap, bedding, and cosmetics door-to-door—and things got especiallybadafterherunclegotlaidofffromabigprinterdowntown.Butalotofpeoplehaditworse,sheknewthat.Therewasalwaysenoughtoeat,butnotbymuch;once,sheranawaytolivewithanaunt,mostlybecauseshecouldaffordtobuycreamcheese.Outsideonthestreetstherewerenicepunksandthebadpunks—the skinheads and thegangsters—andMayara, always a rowdyandgregariouskid,spentalotoftimeoutsideonthestreets.1In the 1990s, Braziliandemocracy was finding its feet once more afterdecadesofmilitarydictatorship.Thecountrywasnotpoorbyglobalstandards—but it remained far behind rich countries.And itwas one of theworld’smostunequal societies.Manywhite,middle-class Brazilianswould never dream ofcleaning their own homes or cooking their own food. That was done bystrugglingwomen, almost alwayswithdarker skin than their employers.TrulywealthypeopleinSãoPaulowouldavoidthestreetsentirely,cruisingaroundinbulletproof cars or taking helicopters from the top of one of the city’sskyscraperstoanother,avoidingthetrafficandcrimebelow.Allofthisgavethecity a decidedly post-apocalyptic aura, which shocks foreigners and remindsthemmoreofBladeRunnerthanTheGirlfromIpanema.FromthetopofthetallEdifícioItáliadowntown(namedafterthecountrythatgavethecityabigchunkof its immigrantpopulation),high-rises likeMayara’sextend literallyas farastheeyecansee.Ineverydirection.Mayaragotintomusic,andpolitics,veryearly.In2003sheattendedherfirstprotest,on thecity’smain thoroughfare,AvenidaPaulista.Theywere trying tostopGeorgeBush’swaragainstIraq.PresidentLuizInácio“Lula”daSilvahadjusttakenoverasthecountry’spresidentanddeclinedtohelptheUSpresidentwiththeinvasion.AsLulatellsthestory,hetoldGeorgeW.Bush:“Myonlywaris on hunger.” A former metalworker and union man, his Partido dosTrabalhadores (PT) had built roots in Brazilian society, embraced ideologicalpluralismand “participatory democracy,” andwas proudly left-wing.ButLulawas not going to start an open fight with the United States, either. Over theprevious century of intervention, most Latin American leaders had learned toavoidthoseconflictsiftheycould.ItwasonlyaftertheUS-backedcoupd’étatagainstHugoChávezinlate2002thattheVenezuelanpresidentbecametherareSouth American leader to take a consistently adversarial stance towardWashington.SoitfellonawidergroupofprotestersinBrazil,mostlyontheleft,tomakethecasemoreforcefullyagainst theinvasion.Theywerenotalone,ofcourse.Thismayhavebeenoneof the largest street actions inhumanhistory.Overtenmillionpeopleprotested,fromBerlintoTokyotoCairotoCalifornia.Ijoinedin,asauniversitystudent,andmyroommategotarrested,endinguponthefrontpageoftheSanFranciscoChronicle.On the street in São Paulo,Mayara noticed that there was a kind of splitamongtheprotestersthatwereblockingtwolanesonAvenidaPaulista.Ononehand, there were the more organized and traditional left-wing groups—“bureaucratic,” she called them—and on the other was a group of moreraucousand freewheelingkids.Sheknewwhich she identifiedwithmore.Butshewasn’tgoingtobejoininginanydisputesthatyear.Shewasonlythirteen.Itwasremarkableshewasthereinthefirstplace.Two interrelatedhistoricalcurrentshelpedpullMayaraonto thestreets thatday—the“anti-globalization”movementandBraziliananarcho-punk.ThefalloftheSovietUnionhaddevastatedtheOldLeft,andinthe1990sthetargetofthemost visible contentious politics shifted from national governments tointernationalorganizations.Anassortedgroupofanarchists, environmentalists,Trotskyists,laborgroups,andanti-establishmentsubculturescametogetherandtook aim at entities like the World Bank, the IMF, and the World TradeOrganization.2Theactivistsoftenpreferredtobecalledthe“alter-globalization”movement, since theywere not against the idea of aworld united. They tookissuewiththeparticularwaythatglobalizationwastakingshapeaftertheendoftheColdWar.Theywantedadifferenttypeofglobalizationthatdidnotprivilegecorporateprofitsandinternationalinvestorswhilecrushinglaborandrestrictingthe sovereignty of countries in the Global South. Books like No Logo byCanadianauthorNaomiKlein(helpfullypromotedbythebandRadiohead)andmagazineslikeAdbusters(whichsoughttousethetoolsofcorporatemarketingagainst itself)providedtheanglophoneintellectualframeworkthroughwhichalot of young people understood alter-globalization.3 Their weapon wasconfrontational mass protest, aimed at stopping the roving meetings of thoseinternational organizations. They shocked the world in 1999, when tens ofthousands of people took to the streets in Seattle to disrupt a meeting of theWorldTradeOrganization.Alongside the looseanddiversecoalitionofforces,anarchistsadoptedthe“blackbloc”style—wearingdarkclothing,coveringtheirfaces,anddestroyingprivateproperty.Theprotestersoverwhelmedlocalpolice,whorespondedwithteargas.During the eruption in Seattle, millions of people relied on Indymedia, awebsite founded by activists a fewweeks prior. Indymedia reflected a radicalanti-authoritarian ethos, built between the neo-anarchist movement and thelibertarian ideals of the early internet. Its goalwas to allow readers to bypasscorporatemedia, and anyone could publish on the site. The idea of an editorevenchoosingtoaccept,reject,oreditanythingitpublishedflewinthefaceofwhat it stood for.For agenerationof curiousyoungpeople (myself included),Indymediaistheplacewherewecameofageonline.Indymedia spread quickly around the world and arrived in Brazil in 2000with its name translated as theCentro deMídia Independente (CMI).A smallgroupofvolunteers(noonegotpaidatIndymedia)wouldmeetatalittleofficeindowntownSãoPaulo andbangout articlesondirtyolddesktop computers.Theyhad cells all around the vast country, from the chilly southern capital ofPortoAlegretothemiddleoftheAmazon.4The“anti-globalization”movementfirstexplodedontoAvenidaPaulistain2001,withthe“A-20”(April20)protestagainstGeorgeBush’sFreeTradeAreafortheAmericas.Mayarawasinspired.Shewantedtogo,butelevenwastooyoungforevenhertohitthestreets.Herforaysfromhomeinthosedayswerelimitedtopunkshows.Brazilian punk rockmusic took off in São Paulo in the 1980s, and it wasdangerous. They sang in Portuguese, and the fans formed gangs. Bands likeRatosdePorão,OlhoSeco,andCólera(BasementRats,DryEye,andCholera)reflectedthechaosofBrazilinthelastdecadeofthedictatorship.Theviolencethey were singing about was very real, and it ground down the community.Death and drugs made for shocking content but began to appear to somePaulistanosasadeadend.Bythe1990s,asecondpunkwavearrived—andtheseyounger bands were more likely to reject violence, sing in English, and getactively involved in left-wing politics. There had always been a vagueassociation with anarchism in the Brazilian punk scene, remembers FredericoFreitas,singerinthestraight-edge,ThirdWorldistveganhardcorebandPointofNoReturn.5Butthissecondwavewasmorelikelytoactuallystartreadingaboutthe stuff, collecting books by nineteenth-century thinkers like Proudhon,Kropotkin, and Bakunin. Punk music was left-wing and anti-nationalist inBrazil, and it played amajor role in bringing anarchismback in the country.6Freitashelped found the recurringVerdurada—loosely translated:Veggiefest—party,whichwasamixofpunk showsandpoliticaldiscussions.Bandswouldplayand thenstop foreveryone to listen toa feminist speakor someone fromBrazil’s monumentalMovimento Sem Terra (MST), the left-wing LandlessWorkers’Movementthatinvadedlargepropertiesaroundthecountryandpushedfor radical land reform. The extra (vegetarian) foodwould be donated to SãoPaulo’samplehomelesspopulation.EverythingattheVerduradawasstructuredhorizontally—noauthority,noleaders—andtheorganizationalmodelwasnotsodifferentfromthatofamoshpit,thekindwherethebandplaysrightinfrontofthechurningcrowd.Mayaralikedbandsofbothtypes,andsheespeciallylovedCólera,InvasoresdeCérebros(BrainInvaders),andtheall-womanoutfitMenstruaçãoAnarquika(AnarchicMenstruation).Thesecondwavehadtoomanycluelessrichkidsforherliking,butthatcouldbeignoredaslongasthemusic(andthepolitics)weregood.Forhertheworldofpunk,andtheassociateduniverseofactivistcauses,offeredakindofsecondfamily.Tofindoutwhatwasgoingoninthescene,shewouldask thekids inherneighborhood,orheaddownto theGaleriadoRockalternativeshoppingmallandcheckouttheflyerspostedonthewalls.Herunclehadacrappyoldcomputeratthehouse,buttousetheinternetshehadtowaitpastmidnightwhen the connection got a bit cheaper. She read Indymedia, ofcourse,whenshewentonline.THE ALTER-GLOBALIZATION GENERATION WAS EVEN more anti-authoritarian, evenmoreapparentlystructureless,andevenmoreanarchistthananyofthedominantprotest movements in the twentieth century. In the 1960s, the New Left hadinsisted that means also mattered in addition to the ends. David Graeber, theanarchistandanthropologistfromtheUnitedStateswhowasactiveinthenewprotestmovement,wentevenfurther. Ina2002essayforNewLeftReview,heexplained that for them, the means were the ends. They were not doingsomethinginordertogetsomethingelse.Thepointwaswhattheyweredoing.Hewrote,“Thisisamovementaboutreinventingdemocracy.Itisnotopposedtoorganization.Itisaboutcreatingnewformsoforganization.Itisnotlackinginideology.Thosenewformsoforganizationareitsideology.Itisaboutcreatingand enacting horizontal networks instead of top-down structures like states,parties or corporations.”He defended “prefigurative politics” and celebrated a“rich and growing panoply of organizational instruments . . . all aimed atcreating forms of democratic process that allow initiatives to rise from belowand attain maximum effective solidarity without stifling dissenting voices,creating leadershippositions,or compelling anyone todo anythingwhich theyhavenotfreelyagreedtodo.”Like many other people in the movement, Graeber complained that “anti-globalization”was an entirely inaccurate label imposedbycapitalistmedia. Inreality,theywerepro-globalizationbutanti-neoliberal.Hewrote,“InArgentina,orEstonia, orTaiwan, itwould be possible to say this straight out: ‘We are amovementagainstneoliberalism.’ButintheUS,languageisalwaysaproblem.The corporate media here is probably the most politically monolithic on theplanet:neoliberalism is all there is to see—thebackground reality; as a result,thewordcannotbeused.”InGraeber’sessay,heofferedanovelexplanationfortheresurgenceofanarchistpolitics.ItwastheendoftheSovietUnion,yes—butnotthecollapseoftheofficiallyMarxist-Leniniststates.Anarchistscouldneverbeverygoodatwar,hesaid,buttheycouldflourishinpeace:“ThemomenttheCold War ended, and war between industrialized powers once again becameunthinkable, anarchism reappeared just where it had been at the end of thenineteenth century, as an international movement at the very center of therevolutionaryleft.”7InBrazilunderLula,anarchismwasfarfromthecenterofnationalpolitics,butasmallgroupofalter-globalizationactivistsandIndymediajournaliststookpartindigitallycoordinatedglobaleventsandreproducedthe“newlanguage”ofcivildisobediencethatGraeberelevated,“combiningelementsofstreettheater,festival,andwhatcanonlybecallednon-violentwarfare.”AttheWorldSocialForuminPortoAlegre,youngBrazilianactivistRodrigoNunesfoundspacefora school—training grounds for a carnival of protest—conducted by London’sClandestineInsurgentRebelClownArmy.8ATTHETURNOFTHEmillennium,adifferentPaulistanodevelopedanothercritical—butslightlydifferent—approachtotheageofglobalization.FernandoHaddad,a cocksure and handsome young leftist hailing fromBrazil’s sizableLebanesecommunity,wasworkingatUSP(theUniversityofSãoPaulo,thebestcollegeinLatinAmerica).9Fernando’s grandfather, Habib, was a Greek Orthodox priest who had areputationforstandinguptoFrenchcolonialauthorities.10JustafterWorldWarII, he decided to takehis familyon the samepath that hadbeen forgedby somany (mostly Christian)Arabs over the previous seventy years. Hemade hiswaytoBrazilandstartedsellingfabricsindowntownSãoPaulo.Likesomuchof thiscommunity,youngFernandoexcelledat thecountry’sbest schools,andhechosetostudylaw,heremembers,afterwatchinghisfatherloseahouseinalegal battle. But at university he gravitated toward politics and studentorganizations.HewounduppartofaweeklyMarxistpizzapartyanddiscussiongroup in thehipPinheirosneighborhood.11Haddad foundhimselfon theanti-Stalinistleft,buthewasneverattractedtolibertarianoppositiontostatepowerin general. Fernando joined the Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT), theWorkers’Party,while the countrywas still under itsmilitary dictatorship, then pursuedadvanceddegreesineconomicsandphilosophy.Atjustthirty-fiveyearsold,hesoughttoupdateMarx’sclassanalysisfortheera of planetary neoliberalism,writingEm defesa do socialismo on the 150thanniversary of The Communist Manifesto. As he saw it, the collapse of thewelfare state and the arrival of neoliberalismmeant that leftists in theGlobalSouthwould face serious challenges. But theymust not abandon the socialistproject—thus the title, In Defense of Socialism. He claimed that socialdemocracy outside of the rich First World was impossible—that the modestgainsmadebyworkers inNorthAmericaandEurope in the twentiethcenturyweredependenton “extraordinaryprofits” flowing to those countries from theGlobal South. Any attempt to create global social democracy would be rivenwith contradictions and end in one of twoways. If it did not turn to explicitsocialism,itwouldfallpreytoneoliberalism.12The PT came into life in 1980 when industrial workers, along withprogressive forces in the Catholic Church, veterans of the (Marxist-Leninist)armed guerrilla struggle against the dictatorship, and dissident intellectuals,foundedanewmassparty.*Overthenexttwodecades,theWorkers’Partybuiltupabaseofactivememberswhotookpartininternaldecisions.13Atthesametime, changes in the global economy undermined the industrial base that hadcreated Lula’s union movement in the first place. After the US governmentraisedinterestratesunderFederalReserveChairmanPaulVolcker,manyLatinAmericancountrieswereplungedintodebtcrisis,andconsequentlytheReaganyearswere sometimes called a “lost decade” inwhich catch-upwith the FirstWorldwasreversedandfactoriesbegantoclose.14WhenPTcandidatesmadeitintogovernmentoffice,theyfoundtheyhadtogoverninconcertwiththelocaleliteswhoheldtherealpower.Theendofthedictatorship had changed the political system; but the economic structure ofsocietyremainedlargelythesameasbeforethe1964coup.Themostambitiousreformsproposedbackthenwerestuckintheirtracksbythemilitarytakeover,and the new global system made projects like land reform or radicalredistributionveryhardtoimagine.InhisbookHaddadwrotethatintheneoliberalage,politicswouldtakeoneof three forms: technocracy devoid of political content, authoritarianism, oroutright fascism. Representative democracy was obviously in crisis, herecognized,buthe insisted that theformmustbeprotected,as itwas the“bestwaytodefendclasseswithoutproperty.”Unliketheyoungeranarchistleft,whowantedtorushforwardandgetridofthestateentirely,heinsistedonadefensiveposture.This dying form, the democratic government,must somehowweathertheneoliberalstormand,ifatallpossible,berevitalized.Haddadwas deeplyworried about the power thatmedia have in bourgeoisdemocracy. Itwasnotonly thataparticularclassof richpeople ran thepublicsphereandchosewhich topicswouldbediscussed.Market logicalsomeant acheapening of information and the impossibility of critical engagement.Capitalistmedia expels an endless stream of undifferentiated facts. Televisionwastheworstoffender.Itscontenttookthesameformastheadvertisementsthatmade the whole game possible, which sought to provoke “the greatestpsychologicaleffect intheshortestamountoftime.”Politics,helamented,hadbecomemarketing.15Members of the PT had good reason to be suspicious of media power ingeneral, and in Brazil in particular. The first time that Lula ran for thepresidency,in1989,hefacedasmall-scaleinformationwar.ItwasthefirsttimeBraziliansweredirectlychoosingtheirpresidentsince1960,andLulaseemedtobedoingfairlywellagainstplayboymaverickFernandoCollor.Astheelectionprogressed, delivery companies boycotted the distribution of Workers’ Partymaterials,meaningthePThadtotaketheirownpublicationsaroundthecountryonbuses.RedeGlobo,theflagshipofthemediasuper-conglomerateownedbythebillionaireMarinhofamily—andbyfarthemostimportantTVchannelinthecountry,whereyouwatch the football and thenovela—edited the final debateselectively, to theobviousdetrimentof the leftist.Collorwonandwas rapidlyimpeachedforcorruption.16In1994and1998Lulalost(fairandsquare)toFernandoHenriqueCardoso(orFHC, as everyone calls him). FHC is a genteel academic, the kind of guywho speaks French and wears tweed and is anything but a reactionary. As asociologist,heworkedwithinthefieldof“dependencytheory,”whichoperatedfrom an understanding that rich countries exploit poor countries.17 But aspresident he oversaw a wave of privatizations and the institutionalization ofmacroeconomicpoliciesthatleftBrazil’sassortedneoliberalthinktanks(inthecountrysincetheearly1980s)withlittletocomplainabout.18RelationswiththeUnitedStatesweregoodunderFHC,withthenotableexceptionofaCommerceDepartment report, accidentally published just before President Bill Clintoncametovisit,thatsaidcorruptionwas“endemic”inBrazil.19In 2001 Fernando Haddad put academic theory aside to join the world ofconcreteBrazilian politics.He took a job atCityHall,working forSãoPaulomayorMarta Suplicy (her family is especially legendary in the city—her ex-husband,EduardoSuplicy,isabelovedelderstatesmanoftheleft,andherson,Supla, isapunkrocksingerwhosportsahaloofyellowspikedhair).HaddadhadmaturedintosomethingofaGenXhipster:professorialbutwell-connectedtotheworldsofmusicandculture,withabitofanonchalantandslightlyironicair.Asayounggovernmentemployee,he tookahelicopter rideover thepoorperiferiaofthecityandwasshockedbythesight—a“monster:aseaofcementwith the state nowhere to be seen”—a harsh reality that his middle-classupbringing had never forced him to face. But within the PT, he impressedcolleagueswithhisintelligence,loyalty,andconcernforexpandingeducationalopportunities.In2003,Lulafinallyenteredofficeaspresident,andHaddadsoonjoinedthefederaladministration,leavingbread-and-buttercityissuesbehind.LATERTHATYEARMUNICIPALISSUESrockedthecountry,butfarfrombothMayaraand Fernando, in the city of Salvador. The capital of Bahia, the state mostfamouslyassociatedwithAfro-Brazilianculture,raisedthepriceofarideonthebus.Asmallnumberofstudentsprotestedinresponse.Butthenmoreandmoreyoung people joined, until thousands of them were blocking the streets,occupyingpublicvehicles,andapparentlygettingthesupportofthepublicwhiledoingso.Commuterswouldhonkinsolidarity,givethekidsathumbs-up,ortellthemediathatthedisruptionwasallworthit.InSalvador,liketherestofBrazil,working-classpeopleputabigchunkoftheirincometowardgettingtotheirjobsandback.AndinBahia—liketherestoftheworld—thedailygrindofbravingtraffic and cramming into uncomfortable spaces, only to gowork all day andthencomehomeagain,wasoneof theworstpartsofcontemporaryurban life.IndymediaBrasilpaidcloseattentiontothelittleuprisingandcovereditfortherestofthecountry.ThestudentunioninSalvador—stronglylinkedtothePartidoComunistadoBrasil(PCdoB)—hadplayedaroleinstartingthewaveofprotests,butitgrewfar too large for them tocontrol. In somecases,protesters insistedonkeepingparty political flags out of the demonstrations, declaring that the movementshouldbeapartidário—orwithoutaparty,nonpartisan.Butthemayor,whonowunderstood that he had to solve this problem, could hardly negotiatewith thesudden, leaderless explosion—so he called in the student leaders. Afternegotiations,theygotnineoutofthetenthingstheyaskedfor—buttheydidn’tstopthebusratehike.20ThisopenedasplitontheyoungleftinBrazil.ForthestudentleadersandthePCdoB,themovementhadusedtheirleveragetogetasmuchastheycould,andthis was a victory. For the autonomist left, the more anarchist and anti-bureaucratic youth, theCommunists had donewhat Stalinists and hierarchicalpolitical parties always do—they had spoken for people they had no right tospeakfor,andtheyhadsoldoutthestreetmovementinserviceofmaintainingacozy relationship with politicians. The PCdoB was a Marxist-Leninist party,practicing democratic centralism and tracing its roots back to the CommunistPartyfoundedin1922.AndtheywereloyalmembersofLula’srulingcoalition,believingtheirjobwastodefendthisnewgovernment,soitisprobablytruethattheywerenevergoingtobetonageneralinsurrectioninthefirstyearofleft-of-centerrulesincethe1960s.Thelocalmanwithacamerawhoalwaysshowedupatthesesortofthings,CarlosPronzato,madeawobblylittledocumentaryabouttheSalvadorprotestscalled A Revolta do Buzu. After it was shown in the glitzy beach city ofFlorianópolis, local youth got excited and formed the Campanha Pelo PasseLivre—theFreeFareCampaign.Exceptwhenthesekidstooktothestreets,theyactuallypulleditoff.Afterintensestreetcontentionstartingin2004,theygotthecitygovernmenttogiveuponraisingthebusfare.Acrossthecountry,thealter-globalizationgenerationwasinspired.InJanuary2005,atthemeetingoftheWorldSocialForuminPortoAlegre,agroup of activists created the Movimento Passe Livre—The Free FareMovement—orMPL.Manyof its founders came from Indymedia.Their goal,thecrusadethatgavethegroupitsname,wasforaBrazilinwhichnoonewouldeverhavetopayfortransportationatall.Andofcourse,theirmethodwasdirectaction.Nowfifteenyearsold,MayarabecameafoundingmemberoftheMPL.Shemade the long trip down to the southern tip of the country to help plan andprepare food. The average age in the group was not much higher than hers.Lucas “Legume”Monteiro, whose nickname translates to “Vegetable,” was afew years older. Lucas was from a comfortably middle-class family in SãoPaulo, and despite appearances, Vegetable didn’t get the nickname from theveganpunkmilieu inwhich somuchof the groupmixed socially.21He got itplayingMagic:TheGathering at school, but his family had other links to thepunkworld.Hisfatherwasasuccessfulmusician,andhisstepfatherwasanoldpunk,featuredonthebackcoverofthealbumfora1982festivalinSãoPaulo:“The Beginning of the End of theWorld.” At twenty-one years old in 2005,VegetablewasbasicallyanelderasfarasMayarawasconcerned.In its founding“charterofprinciples,” theMPLdeclared that itwouldbeafullyindependent,“autonomous,”and“horizontal”organization.Therewouldbeno leaders or specialized roles, and decisions would be made by consensus.Everysinglemembershouldagreeonanycourseofaction.Thiswasdefinitelynot Leninism. In this model, the majority should not be able to force anyindividual todosomething theydidn’tagreewith.ThisapproachwaspartiallyinspiredbysomeoftheirneighborsinSouthAmerica.INDECEMBER2001,THEGOVERNMENTofArgentinafroze thebankaccountsof itscitizens after the InternationalMonetary Fund halted loans to the country. Inresponse people banged pots and pans, went on strike, ransacked privatebusinesses, and blocked major roads across the country. After PresidentFernandodelaRúaresigned,Argentines(manymadeunemployedbythecrisis)formed hundreds of neighborhood assemblies, filling the vacuum created bystatecollapse,discussingday-to-dayproblems,andoccupyingfactories.The assemblies adopted horizontalidad, or horizontality (a word that hadonlyrecentlyenteredthenation’spoliticalvocabulary),foracoupleofreasons,accordingtoArgentinehistorianEzequielAdamovsky,whoproudlytookpartinthesamebankoccupationthatservedastheadhocofficesforIndymedia.First,the country’s traditional—andhierarchical—structureshad failed thepeopleordisappeared,andneitherthestatenorprivatecompanies,noreven theold left-wingpartiesandunions,couldofferawayoutof thecrisis.Argentinafaceda“rift in the systemof representation,”he said.And secondly—paradoxically—theanti-neoliberalmovementmighthavebeeninfluencedbyanti-stateandanti-politicaldiscoursesincethe1980sin themainstreampressaselitespushedforneoliberal privatization. In practice, the asambleas employed “horizontality”becauseeveryonewasat thesamelevel,andnoonecoulddecideanythingforanyoneelse.22“Horizontalism” as aword and as an operating principle took off globallyafter a book of the same name by US anarchist theorist Marina Sitrin waspublished in 2006, and it names an ideology that privileges fully horizontalorganizationsasamoralandpoliticalimperative.23Thisidealhadexistedintheleft-libertarianandanarchisttraditionsunderdifferentnamesforyears.InChile,for example, this might be called asambleísmo or assemblyism. But“horizontalism” repackaged them in a certain way for the digital age. ManypeopleinthisworldwereinfluencedbytheItalianautonomistas, leftistgroupsthatworkedoutside thebounds set by the ItalianCommunistParty after 1968and developed innovative forms of direct action. But for themembers of theMovimento Passe Livre who often watched documentaries about the radicalcontentioninneighboringArgentina,“autonomy”meant full independenceandself-governance.Nofundingordirectioncomingfromtheoutside.TheMPLcharterproclaimedthat“itcanbesaidthatahorizontalmovementisamovementinwhicheveryoneisaleader,orwhereleadersdonotexist.”ForMayara,alloftheseprinciples,aswellastheirroleincreatingabettersociety,were self-evident. She said, “It’s fundamental. If we are fighting to build ademocratic city, we need to have a democratic movement and struggle in ademocraticway.”ThisIstheEndThediscourse in therichanglophoneworld, takingplace in thehallsofpowerand on slick corporate media, was very different from the conversationshappeningonslow-loadingwebsitesandingrimySãoPaulobars.Thefirstyearsof Mayara’s life—the moment in which Fernando Haddad entered formalpolitics, the new era born with the death of the Soviet Union—were notexperiencedasstruggle,butastriumphandopportunity.During the twentieth century, both major schools of post-Enlightenmentthought—Marxism and liberalism—had professed that history was goingsomewhere. They disagreed on the destination, of course.When the “SecondWorld”ledbyMoscowfelltopiecesinthe1990s,liberaldemocracyappearedtobetheonlycoherentideologicalprojectthatresonatedacrosstheentireplanet.24(When we talk of “liberalism” here, and throughout the book, we mean thebroader philosophical tradition that prioritizes property rights and individualfreedoms, not theUSmeaning that indicates something like “progressive,” or“center-left.”)The idea thathistory ismoving towardsomething, that ithasanultimateend,canbecalled teleological—fromtheGreekword telos,or“end.”Putsimply,theendoftheColdWargavebirthtotheeraofliberalteleology.A political scientist and employee of the US State Department, FrancisFukuyama, asked if we had reached the “End of History” and grounded hisanalysis inHegelian philosophy and an analysis of recent events.25But in theEnglish-speakingworld,morebroadly,avulgarversionofteleologicalthinkingsimplyassumed that thingsweregoing toworkout.TheWestwonandwouldcontinuetowinbecauseitwassuperior—morepowerfulandmorallyprivileged.Fromnowon,thingswouldkeepgettingbetter(accordingtothestandardsofaliberal, capitalist democrat), and one had to simply accept the flow of historyratherthanfightagainstit.Back in the 1960s,Martin Luther King Jr. had criticized this type of lazythinking in hisLetter fromBirmingham Jail. Taking aim at the white liberalswho seemed to believe that things would simply improve on their own, heattackedthe“strangelyirrationalnotionthatthereissomethingintheveryflowoftimethatwillinevitablycureallills.Actually,timeisneutral.Itcanbeusedeither destructively or constructively,” he wrote. “We must come to see thathumanprogressnever rolls inonwheelsof inevitability. It comes through thetirelesseffortsandpersistentworkofmenwillingtobecoworkerswithGod.”NeverthelessIfeelthat,duringmychildhoodinCaliforniaattheendofthetwentieth century, those assumptions undergirded much of what I learned.Liberalteleologyiscloselyrelatedtosomethingelsewemightcallthe“ideologyof progress.” People on television would say “this is the nineties,” as ifthatautomatically implied more freedom, progress, feminism, and fun, simply byvirtueofbeingabiggernumber than“eighties.” I can’t evencounthowmanytimes I watched some special about the end of the Cold War that presentedevents like this: Ronald Reagan said, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”;crowds rushed into the streets and overwhelmed Communist elites; DavidHasselhoff sang to the people; and everyone lived happily ever after. As Ientereduniversityandstudiedpoliticaleconomy,webeganwithliteratureinthefield—modernization theory—that assumed global societies would progressthroughstagesonthewaytobecomingmoreliketheUnitedStates.Therewasno more Third World, but rather “emerging markets”—a term coined at theWorldBankinthe1980s—whichimpliesautomaticmotionatthesametimeasitplacesthesemarketssquarely,permanently, inapositionofcatch-uprelativetotherichWest.Like almost everything in Western civilization, the concept of historicalteleologyhasitsroots in theChristianintellectual tradition.Aristotlediscussedteleology,buthewasspeakingabout thepurposesof things; itwouldhavenotmadesensetohimtoclaimthathistoryhadanendpoint.FortheancientGreeks,timewasnotlinear;historywascyclical.ButintheAbrahamictradition,historywould come to an endwithSalvation. Indeed, themeaning of everything thathad ever happened previously would be resolved and defined by that finalmoment.Forthoseofuswholiveinthewakeofthistradition,timeisaline,anarrowpointing to theEndTimes.AsEuropean intellectuals began to questiontheir absolute fealty to Christian faith, this understanding of time wastransformed,butneverdiscarded.Throughout the age of rationalization and industrialization, the notion ofprogress took the place of Providence, the hand of God. Hegel and Marxprovidedthemostrobust(andinfluential)accountsofthewaysinwhichhistorymightbeunderstoodtomoveforwardthroughstageswithout theguidinghandof theLord.ForMarx,class struggle is theengineofHistory,and theprocessthatpusheshumanitythroughstages.To identify theology as the deep root of all of these systems (and mosteverything else) is not to discredit them; every idea has its own history. Andthere is nothing suspect about movements that seek to give life and itstribulationsmeaningthroughtheirrelationshiptoahigher,noblepurpose.Butasnoted by Karl Löwith, the German philosopher who traced these intellectualdevelopments back to Saint Augustine, we began to assume that progressmarchesonwithouthavingaconsciousunderstandingofwhyitwoulddoso.26Inthe1990s,theskieswereclearandbluefortruebelieversintheuniversalliberalproject.Everythingwouldbecomingupdemocraticandcapitalist.Someanalysts began to speak about the reasons for the “exceptions” to the globaldemocratictrend,suchasintheMiddleEast—turningtosomekindofreligiousor cultural explanations, such as the “obedience to authority” inherent to theArabmind.Thesolution,ofcourse,wasthattheadoptionofneoliberalreforms,whichwouldleadtoeconomicgrowth,wouldcarryalltheworld’snationstothepromisedland.27TheendoftheColdWaralsochangedthewaytheUnitedStatesgovernmentapproachedprotests and even revolution.While theSovietUnionwas around,Washingtonoftenactedasafundamentallycounterrevolutionarypower—afraidthatanyinstabilitywouldopenthedoortocommunism.Butinthe1990safterRussian chaos led to capitalism, theUS launchedmajor efforts to remake theworldinitsownimage.Bytheturnofthemillennium,over$700millionayearwasspentondemocracypromotion,andin2000theUSgovernmentdirectedalot of money—not in North American terms, but enough to tip the scales inSerbia—toOtpor,or“Resistance,”thegroupthatledthesuccessful“BulldozerRevolution” against Slobodan Milošević that year. Nongovernmentalorganizations (NGOs)madeadifference too—in the formerSoviet republicofGeorgia, the Soros Foundation, named after the Hungarian American liberalphilanthropistGeorgeSoros,helpedsupportKmara(thelocalversionofOtpor),asdid theNationalEndowment forDemocracy. InNovember2003, protesterstherebroughtdownPresidentEduardShevardnadze,themanwhohadfirstrunthecountryin1972.Asaresult,GeorgiaturnedWestandawayfromRussia,andthe“RoseRevolution”becamethefirstofmanyintheregionthiscenturytobenamedafteracolor.28IntheyearsleadinguptoaterroristattackonNewYorkCityinSeptember2001,foundingneoconservativemembersoftheProjectfortheNewAmericanCentury insisted theUScouldalsouse itsmilitary force to spreaddemocracy;gunsandbombscouldbeusedtogiveHistoryalittlepushintherightdirection.Many of these men had influential positions in the George W. Bushadministration, and when—after the 2003 invasion of Iraq—regular peopletoppled a statue of the brutal SaddamHussein, thiswas sold to viewers backhomeasanotherMauerfallmoment,astheobviouscontinuationofthelegacyofthefallingofCommunistregimes.Asitturnsout,theUSmilitaryhadactuallypulleditdownforthem.29ThatdidnotstopFoxNewsandCNNfromplayingaclipof thestatue fallingdown,every4.4and7.5minutes respectively,on thatday. Itwould takeyears for thepolitical elites in theUS to recognize that theinvasionhadnotbeenasuccess for liberalismanddemocracy—or toconsider,even, thatMayara andall thoseprotesterson the streets around theworldhadbeenrightallalong.LearningtoReportAtthebeginningofthetwenty-firstcentury,JimO’NeilloftheGoldmanSachsinvestment bank in the United States came up with the term BRIC—that is,Brazil,Russia,India,andChina—tonamefourup-and-comingemergingmarketeconomies.Theywereeachgreatplacestoputyourmoney.Butthetermreallytookoffaftertheirruptionofaglobalfinancialcrisisin2008. The rich, freewheeling capitalist countries like theUS and theUK hadseeminglydiscredited themselvesby tanking theglobal economy in2008, andtheso-calledBRICsweretakingtheirplaceontheworldstage.Theycreatedaformalorganization in2009(addingSouthAfrica to roundout theacronym toBRICSayearlater).AsPresidentLulahostedthesecondsummitinBrasíliain2010, his country turned a lot of heads around the world. Gross DomesticProduct(GDP)growththatyear inBrazilwas7.6percent,as theUSeconomyshrankby2.5percent.IwasworkingattheFinancialTimesinLondonandpayingcloseattention.Ihadaccidentallybecomeajournalistbackin2007inVenezuela(IwaslookingforanyworkIcouldget),andIwasoneofafewpeopleinthenewsroomwithlanguage skills and experience inSouthAmerica.Myeditor, likemanyof thebigwigs inEnglish-language journalismat the time,hadcuthis teethcoveringthefallofCommunism.Intheworld’smost importantoutlets, the“developingworld”orthe“emergingmarkets”wereofteninterpretedbymenwhohadmoreexperience inNorthAmerica orEurope, andwhose education (likemine) hadbeendeeplyshapedbyliberalassumptions.TheBRICSappearedtobeasetofpowersrisingonthenewtidesoftrulyglobalcapitalism.Andwhiletheywerenot all as democratic as Brazil, all of them (includingRussia andChina) hadbecomealotmoreliberalthantheyusedtobe.3PiorquetánãoficaIARRIVEDINSÃOPAULOattheendof2010.TheFinancialTimeshaddecidedthatthey needed a second correspondent to beef up their Brazil coverage. Theboomingcountrywassettohostthe2014FIFAWorldCupandhadjustwontherighttohostthe2016SummerOlympicsinRiodeJaneiro.Icametowriteaboutthe rise of a new global power, a democratic Brazil that was growing andthrivingunderLula.Theascentwasnotperfectlysmooth.JustafterRiowontherighttohosttheOlympics,drugtraffickersinoneof thecity’sfamous favelacommunitiesshotdownapolicehelicopter.1IknewthatasacorrespondentIwouldbetaskedwithansweringembarrassinglygringo-centricquestionslike:“IsBrazilreadytohosttheWorldCup?”and“CanRioreallyputontheOlympics?”Thatwaspartofthejob. The reality was that Brazil remained one of the world’s most unequalsocieties—nearlyasbadasSouthAfricahadbeenunderapartheid—andthevastchasm separating the rich and the poor was so obvious that no one evermentioned it. Indeed, that seemedprohibited inpolite society.Workingpeoplesufferedfromviolenceandreliedonwoefullyinadequatepublicservices.But the gains since Lula took over in 2003 had been tremendous. Tens ofmillionsofpeoplehadrisenoutofpoverty,evenasrichpeoplefaredincrediblywelltoo.Foradecade,aconstructionboominChinahadmeantrobustdemandforLatinAmericancommodities.Withthismoneycomingin,Lulaexpandedaset of modest but efficient social programs that distributedmore gains to theworkingclass.ThemostfamouswasBolsaFamilia,awelfareprogramforpoorfamilies that kept their kids vaccinated and in schools. Fernando Haddadcontinuedhisascentinformalpolitics,becomingLula’sministerofeducationin2005. Together they created Pro-Uni, a program that put a generation ofworking-classkidsinuniversity.Brazilenjoyedsignificantglobalprestige.Lulaespeciallygainedfavorasthepoorkidwhomadegood,wonpowerplayingbythe rules,anddeveloped friendshipsall around theworld.Brazilianelites (andthemediatheyown)certainlynoticedwhenBarackObamafamouslycalledhim“myman”and“oneofthemostpopularpoliticiansonEarth”in2009.2Yetthiswasnottherealizationofthesocialistrevolution.Itwasnoteventheindustrial“upgrading” policy that had guided so many development projects in thetwentiethcentury.ItwasbuiltontheclassicThirdWorldpracticeofextractingthe land’s rawmaterials and shipping themoff to other countries.But here, itseemedtobeworking.Inequalitywasfalling,andthingsweregettingbetter.Ashissecondtermcametoanend,Lulaenjoyedaludicrouslyhighapprovalrating—83percentofBrazilianssupportedthepresident.3Notmanypeoplehadexpectedthis.Progressivereformintheworld’sfifth-largest country by population had been violently halted in 1964,with theUS-backedmilitarycoup,andnoleftisthadcomeclosetothepresidencysince.AsLula finally closed in on electoral victory in 2002, the “markets” appearedunhappywiththeprospect.Everytimeapollshowedhiminthelead,thepriceoftheBraziliancurrency,thereal,andthevalueofBrazilianbondswoulddroprapidly.Lulawrotea“lettertotheBrazilianpeople”(eventhoughhewasreallywritingtotherepresentativesofglobalcapital)declaringthathewouldmaintainthebasiceconomicstructureestablishedunderPresidentFHC,but the investorclasswasverywaryoftheWorkers’Party.Eightyearslater,almosteveryoneinthatclasswasmuchricher,andtheLulistaapproach—morestuffforeveryone—waslookingverygood.Withacenter-leftpartyinpowerinBrasília,thecountriesofSouthAmericahad made a renewed push for regional integration, and Lula tried to buildBrazilian influence in Africa, especially through a set of huge, nationallystrategic construction companies. Lula’s two terms were a major part of the“pink tide,” a term favored by international journalists to name the arrival ofseveralleft-of-centergovernmentsinLatinAmerica.Agenerationafterthefallof authoritarian capitalistmilitary regimes, social democrats or socialists tookpowerinVenezuela,Argentina,Bolivia,Uruguay,Chile,Ecuador,andParaguay.Itwasnosurprisethatdemocracywouldcausesuchatidetorise;theeraofUS-backed coups repressed a genuine desire for reform in Latin America, and—since they foughtanddied to fight illegitimatepower, rather thanexercising itthemselves—theleftoftenhadmoralandintellectualauthority.To beginmy career as aBrazil correspondent, I applied a technique I hadperfectedinVenezuela.IgavemyselfacrashcourseinitslanguageandculturebygettingintothelocalmusicsceneandgoingoutasoftenasIcould.SãoPauloisatrulyinternationalcity.Itquicklystopsmatteringifyoucomefromsomewhereelse.Ofcourse,asacitizenoftheworld’srichestcountryandawriterforsomefancypublications,Igotaverydifferentwelcomethanwouldbeoffered to immigrants fromBolivia or Senegal (just as it is a lot easier to beBritish inManhattan than it is tobeNicaraguan).But like inNewYork, afteryou’ve lived in the place for a year or two and speak the language, you arebasicallyjustanotherPaulistano.Asstrangeasitmayseem,Ifeltathomeveryquickly.Butmyfutureasajournalistwasfarfromcertain.Theageofreporterswithjob security—especially international journalists—was over. The arrival ofonline advertising and the consequent decimation of newspapers meant thatshrinking budgets were increasingly directed to the kinds of activities thatgeneratedlotsofclicksonline.Nuancedglobaljournalismmightdrawinsomereaders, but it was simply less cost-efficient than the kind of opinion piece,aggregatedblog,orlisticlethatsomeonecouldbangoutfromadesk.Thismeantthat my field was increasingly dominated by the kinds of young people whowouldtaketheplungeandjustmovesomewhere,hopingforthingstoworkout.The work of foreign correspondence always had a tendency to reproduceneocolonialdynamics,butthismadeitworse,becauseitisonlyacertainkindofyoungpersonthatcanaffordtomoveabroadonalark.Myjob,asIunderstoodit, comprised three interrelated, but certainly distinct, goals: tell the Brazilianstorywhileremainingfaithfultothetruth;attempttobuildalifeinthecountry,whereIwouldremainformanyyears;andtrytosomehowconstructthekindoflong-termcareerthatcouldsupportanadultlife.IfIwaslucky,ifIcouldmakeasplashandgetnoticed,IhadashotatgettinganotherjobwhenIwasdonehere.Asyouwouldexpectforayoungcorrespondent,Iwastaskedwithcoveringthe2010elections.Lulawasdone;Brazilianpresidentscannotservemorethantwoconsecutiveterms.ThenextWorkers’Partycandidate,DilmaRousseff,hada longand impressive storyofherown.Born toaBulgarian immigrant fatherand a schoolteacher in the state ofMinas Gerais, the youngDilma became aMarxist guerrilla seeking to overthrow Brazil’s military dictatorship. She wasarrested and subjected to horrifying torture. Afterward, she became aneconomist, servedasanadministrator invariousgovernmentpositions,andsatontheboardofPetrobras—thestate-runoilcompany.Shehadareputationasagruffandcompetenttechnocrat.Dilma,asshewasreferredto,wouldbeBrazil’sfirstwomanpresident.But all that reallymattered, as far as the election analystswere concerned,was that Lula was telling the country to vote forher. After his performance,people would vote for whomever he chose as a successor. The election wasneverevenclose.Themost interestingandunexpectedstoryIdidin2010wasaboutaclown.SinceIdidn’tgrowupthere,Ididn’tknowmuchaboutthefamousperformerknown as Tiririca. He is the kind of intentionally absurd Latin Americantelevision character that was lampooned on The Simpsons, except unlike the“BumblebeeMan,”FranciscoEverardoOliveiraSilva is fullyself-awareandatrulybrilliantperformer.Hehadmadehisnameinthe1990s.Heclaimedtobeilliterate.AndnowhewasrunningforCongress.Thecampaignwasbasedonasetof flawlesslyexecuted televisionspots that,ofcourse,wentviralonline. Inoneclipheisaplump,middle-agedmanwearingabrightwig,aredhat,colorfultrousers, and a bizarre graphic top. He spins around, grinning. Heoverpronouncesandmispronounceshiswords.“IwanttobeaCongressman,tohelpthepeoplethataremostinneed,especiallymyownfamily,”hesays.“WhatdoesaCongressmando?Inreality,Idon’tknow.Butvoteforme,andI’ll tellyou.”Andthenhedroppedhisfamouscampaignslogan.VotenoTiririca!Piorquetánãofica.Althoughitlacksthecomedicrhymeof theoriginalPortuguese, the translation is simple:“Vote forTiririca! Itcan’tgetanyworse.”Icannotoveremphasizehowgenuinelyfunnyallofthiswas.Histargetwasclear, and his aim—perfect. He was calling the system absurd and corrupt,sayingthatanidiotfromtelevisionwoulddoabetterjobthanthepeoplealreadyin Congress. Voting for Tiririca was a way to give the finger to the politicalestablishment.In an interview with Folha de S.Paulo, he said that he really wanted toimproveBrazil.Healsosaidthathemeantwhathesaid—hereallydidn’tknowwhat happens in Congress. And, he said, he really believed that things inBrazilianpoliticscouldnotgetanyworse.Tiriricareceivedfarmorevotesthananyothercongressionalcandidateinthehistory of Brazil. He got twice as many votes as the second-most-popularcandidateforthelegislaturethatyear;hegotdoubletheamountthatany“real”politicianreceived.HeenteredCongressonJanuary1,2011.Dilmatookofficeonthatday,too.LikeeveryotherBrazilianpresident,shewould have to deal with an unwieldy and unruly coalition in Congress (therewereovertwentypartiesinthelegislature)inordertoactuallygovern,sohavingone former clown in there didn’t change her job too much. One of the mostsignificantmovesofherearlyadministrationwasanattempt to“sweep”awaycorruptionwithouthesitation.4Whenallegationssurfacedagainstsomemembersofherowncabinet,shegotridofthemimmediately.Anumberofscandalshaddogged Lula’s government (and indirectly helped both Haddad and Dilma torise, as they took theplacesofmenwho fell to accusations),but they’dneverreally reached the president himself. At the beginning of her term, Dilma’sapprovalratingshoveredaroundthe70s.InJanuaryinSãoPaulo,MayorGilbertoKassab(alsoaLebanese-Brazilian)raisedthepriceofabusride.TheMovimentoPasseLivresprangintoaction,yetagain. Six years into the existence of the group, there were less than fiftydedicatedmilitants in theMPL, includingMayara, but theymanaged to get abunch of kids and punks together, cause some trouble, and get noticed.5Overthree months, crowds of them marched on or invaded bus stations. Theyorganized catracaços—mass fare evasion, carried out by jumping or breakingthecatracas,orturnstiles—andfaceddownwavesofrepressionfromthepolice,thoughtheyfailedtostopthepricehike.6As theyoftenhad in theyearssincetheirfounding,theywouldencouragekidstogoripdownanyflagsthatanyonebrought to the streets because of their fundamental opposition to parties andhierarchical organizations.Theirswas anapartidário, or “a-party”movimento,afterall.Vicemagazinewouldsoonmakeapunchylittledocumentaryaboutthegroup.7Butatthebeginningof2011,Brazilwasnotthesiteoftheuprisingthatthewholeworldwaswatching.4MoreThananUprisingJUST BEFORE NOON ON DECEMBER 17, 2010, Mohamed Bouazizi walked to thelocalgovernmentbuildinginSidiBouzid,Tunisia,pouredpaintthinneralloverhisbody,andlititonfire.Itwassuicide,anditwasanactofprotestagainstaspecific official.But even his relatives do not agree onwhatMohamed reallywanted to say, or what he expected to happen next. A scene like that—sohorrifying,andsomoving,andsotroubling—mustbeinterpretedbythepeoplethat it leaves behind. And over the days and weeks that followed, his deathwouldnotonlytaketheformofabrazenpoliticalstatement,butbecomeoneofthemostimportanteventsofcontemporaryArabhistory.Mohamedwastwenty-sixandsoldfruitsandvegetablesatthemarketjustalittle bit outside the dusty city center. He didn’t have a permit, so he wasconstantlyfightingwithlocalauthorities.Thiskindof thingwasverycommoninSidiBouzid,atownabout150milessouthoftheMediterraneancoastandthecapitalcity,Tunis,whichsitsonthesamebeautifulstripof landastheancientcityofCarthage.SincetheendofArabSocialismandespeciallysincethe2008financial crisis, unemployment had beenwidespread throughoutNorthAfrica.HisregionhadaproudreputationforbeingtoughandrebellioussincethedayswhenTunisiawasaFrenchcolony.TheBouazizi familywasknownforbeingtoughtoo.1As they tell it,Mohamed was the victim of constant harassment. But oneinspector,awoman,wenttoofar.Sheconfiscatedhisscale,whichheneededtosellhiswares.Therewasnowayhecouldaffordanewone.Thisledtoafight,and she struck him. In response, he escalated the situation, as high as anyonecould go. This tactic, self-immolation, was not unknown in the Tunisianrepertoire.AfewmonthsearlierinthebreezyseasidetownofMonastir,anotherstreet food vendor had set himself on fire. But there, nothing happened. Hisdeathhadoccurredinadifferentplacewithintheveryspecificstructureofthissociety.2TUNISIA,ACOUNTRYOFAROUND tenmillionpeoplenestledbetweenAlgeria andLibya,wonitsindependencefromParisin1956.Theyoungnation’sfirstleader,Habib Borguiba, was relatively liberal, andwomen enjoyedmore rights therethaninmostoftheregion.Hedidnottaketheboldanti-imperialistpositionsthatNasserdid.Borguibawasrunningasmallcountry,andhekepthisheaddownonthe international front. But as Egypt gained prestige throughout the region,Tunisia—like many Arab countries—took on elements of Nasser’s socialistmodel.The country remained intellectually intertwined with France. FrenchphilosopherMichelFoucault taught at theUniversity ofTunis in the late ’60s(where he gained a reputation for sexually abusing underage locals). In 1963,Tunisian leftists living in Paris founded the Marxist-Leninist journalPerspectives.TheeventsofMay1968 radicalized thisgroupeven further, andthey launched an Arabic journal aimed at the working class back home.Perspectives gave birth to both aMaoist party and one thatwas alignedwithAlbania’sresolutelyStalinistleader,EnverHoxha(forawhile,Brazil’sPCdoBhad the same orientation). As Tunisia abandoned socialism in favor of free-market capitalism starting in the 1970s, leftists andworkers respondedwith awave of strikesand contentious politics. The army deployed US-suppliedhelicopters toquell them.Activists reported that thebloodycrackdown,whichtookuptothreehundredlives,wasledbyDirectorofNationalSecurityZineElAbidine Ben Ali. In 1987, the same Ben Ali seized power by declaringBourguiba medically incapacitated; he then immediately implemented aneoliberalstructuraladjustmentprogram.3For a North African country in the age of neoliberalism and brutaldictatorships,Tunisiahadarobustandautonomoussetoflaborunionsin2010.Unlike the Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF), which had been fullyintegratedwiththestatesincethetimeofNasser,themoreindependentTunisianumbrellaunion(UGTT)stillhadsomebite.Themenat theverytopgotalongwith the government, but below that level,many unionmemberswere radicalleftists.TunisiaevenhadaunionofUnemployedGraduates, thekindofgroupthathadonlytimeonitshandsandseveralbonestopickwiththerulingclass.A 2008 rebellion in theGafsamining region—with the slogan “a job is aright,youpackofthieves!”—hadgrownoutsidethecontrolofpoliceandlaborofficials alike, with the assistance of organized leftists.4 Though neitherorganization was large in absolute terms, the illegal communist parties thatemerged from Perspectives—both Watad (Struggle) and the TunisianCommunistWorkers’Party(PCOT)—believedthatrevolutionwasnecessary,ifnotnecessarilyimminent,andtheyhadtrainedtheirhighlydisciplinedmemberstoprepareforit.Jawaher Channa, the daughter of a teacher in the countryside, joined thePCOT while attending university in the capital—they were the group mostresolutely opposed to Ben Ali, she remembers—and then immediately gotkickedoutofschool.WhentheGafsarebellionerupted,shewasstudyinginthebeach city of Sousse and she—like her comrades around the country—gotdirectionsfromthePartythattheyshoulddropeverythingandspreadthewordabouttheuprising.Shehadbeenschooledinhowtorallyfellowstudents,howtobearrested,andhowtowithstandtorture.Partymemberswerealwaysatthefrontofdemonstrations,whether theywereagainstIsraelipolicies inPalestine,theirowngovernment,or thecapitalistsystemmoregenerally.Theywere“thekingsandqueensofthestreets,”shelikedtoboastatthetime.5ButEnnahda,therelativelymoderateIslamistparty,wasalotmorepopular,anditsleaderswerelivinginexileinLondon.Center-leftsecularpartiesliketheoppositionPartiDémocratiqueProgressiste(PDP)alsohadasignificantroleincivilsocietyintheyearsleadinguptoDecember2010.One ofMohamed Bouazizi’s cousins, Ali, was a member of the PDP. Hepostedavideoofhiscousin’sdeathonlineandbeganagitatingformoreprotestsin the region.6 Very quickly, another relative informed local media and AlJazeera, the well-funded Qatari outlet that had been paying high salaries toexperienced journalistsandputting togetheraworld-classnewsoperationoverthepreviousfewyears.WatadandthePCOToncemoreactivatedtheirLeninistcadres,most crucially theyoungestones.Studentsgotupon the tables duringlunchbreak, telling theirclassmates that itwas time to riseup.Theybegan tograffitiwalls acrossTunisiawith old leftist slogans, like “Work, freedom, andnationaldignity!”or“WaterandBreadYes!BenAliNo!”Theyhadsomehelpfromleftistteachers,whowereactiveinschoolsaroundthecountry.7Tunisia’ssmallcommunityofbloggers,aswellasanewsetofpeopleusingFacebook,asocialnetworkfromtheUnitedStates,spreadnewsoftheongoingclashes in Sidi Bouzid and the surrounding area that, along with Al Jazeera,helpedbreak theofficialmediasilence.Alimayhaveembellishedhiscousin’sstory a bit, saying that hewas a college graduate, and adding the humiliating“slap”fromafemalepoliceofficer,whichprobablymadeMohamedBouaziziamore sympatheticmartyr.8 This story spread far and wide.9 Vast networks ofTunisians,unemployedorunder-servedandformally“unorganized,”tookactionontheirownterms.10Alloftheabovemeantthat—unlikemostuprisingsinthispartoftheworld—theprotestwaveactuallyreachedthecapital,aweeklater,onChristmasDay.11InTunis,oneyouthgroupunfurledalargeredbanner,reproducingaplayonthe original French phrase from 1968. It read: “Under the paving stones, therage.”12Ben Ali’s forces cracked down on union members and protesters in thecapital,whilethegovernmentaccusedAlJazeeraofbiasedreportingintendedtoundermine the country.13 On December 28 a group of Tunisian attorneysgathered in front of the National Palace of Justice. Lawyers had alreadyprotested in the city of Kasserine, but the arrival of this distinguishedprofessional group onto the scene standing tall outside the center of judicialpowerinTunischangedthedimensionsofthewaveofcontention.Bythefinaldays of 2010, lawyers were protesting in almost a dozen more cities. Theorganizedbourgeoisiewasstartingtojointherevolt.14Mohamed Bouazizi’s funeral, on January 5, attracted thousands of people,andthousandsmoreprotestedthroughoutthecountry.Jawaherdidtoo.Shehadbeen doing this for five years now, but this crowdwas imbuedwith a specialenergy.Itfeltasiftheyweremakinghistory,andtheywerenotbackingdown.Shewasatthefront,naturally.Thepolicewalkeduptothemandcalledherout,alongwithherseasonedactivistfriends,byname.Theysaiditwastimetogohome.“Wearedemonstratingpeacefully!”Jawaherresponded,knowingverywell that thiswouldbe readasa refusalandaprovocation.Butshewanted toshowthepeoplebehindherthattheywerenotgivingin.Thepolicegrabbedheranddraggedheracrossthestreetuntilshepassedout.Shewokeupinthepolicestation.They tortured her.They subjected her to the “rotisserie chicken,” inwhichyou are bound to awoodenpole, hungupside down, and thenbeaten. It’s theexact same thing that the military dictatorship did to Dilma Rousseff in the1970s.ExceptinBrazil theycall it thepaudearara: the“parrot’sperch.”Theoverlapintacticsisprobablynocoincidence.AftertheUS-backedmilitarycoupin 1964, the Brazilian generals learned dirty tricks from their allies inWashington. But they also closely studied methods developed by the Frenchduringcounterinsurgencyoperations inNorthAfrica.15 The cops started to ripJawaher’sclothesoff,butshesaidshewouldjumpoutthewindowandcommitsuicideratherthanletthemtouchher.While Jawaher was still in jail, on January 11, the UGTT mega-unionannouncedthatallofitsmemberscouldjoinageneralstrike.BenAlihadnowlostorganizedlabor,includingthenormallypliantleadershipatthetop.TheUSambassador,reportingtoPresidentBarackObama,andtheforeignpolicychiefoftheEuropeanUnionbothexpressedconcern.16Thiswasaverybigdeal,sincesupport from the West had been crucial for maintaining the assorted set ofneoliberal-authoritarian regimes in place in the Arab world. AmnestyInternationalsoonannouncedthatatleasttwenty-threepeoplehadbeenkilledinthe recent uprising.17 Theworldwas paying attention, and themessage beingtransmitted tomostpeoplewas thatadictatorwascrackingdownonadiversesetofcivilianprotesterswitha legitimatesetofdemands.Allof thiswastrue.But it’snot like itwas the first timesomething like thatinabook,allIhaveisthisspacetorecognizethepeoplewhoactuallymadethisthingcometogether.So,Iwanttostartbythankingeveryonewhoworkedwithme,whethertheyspentafewhourshelpingmewithsources inArabic,orafewdays introducingmetopeople in Istanbul, a few weeks chasing down materials in Russian andUkrainian,ordedicatedmonths tofact-checkingthemanuscriptandsavingmefrommyself.IamextremelygratefultoArwaGaballainEgypt,toHibaTliliinTunisia,toVanesseChanandJessieLaufromHongKong,toPeterKorotaevinKyiv, to Adham Youssef and Farah Abouzeid at the American University inCairo, to Ömer Yavuz in Turkey, to JackMcGinn and Taif Alkhudary at theLondon School of Economics, and finally, to Cos Tollerson in New York.Moreover,outof thekindnessof theirheartsLaurelChor,AliceGutneva, andMurad Alhayki provided me with meaningful guidance and importantconnections.Then, Iwant to thankmy friends and family for putting upwithme since2019.IamnotsureifeveryoneunderstoodwhyIwasconstantlyworkingonmysecond book, why I had chosen to do something that was so stressful, but itmeantalotthatyouwentalongwithit.Myheroicmotherandlovelysisterandtwobeautifulniecesarealreadyatthefrontofthebook;hereIwanttoexpressmy appreciation for my brothers Rory and Hugh, and for my deeply selflessfather, Ron. My loving family has made everything possible. I also want toapologize to the friends I annoyedwhile trying to write this thing, especiallyTarsilaRiso,DraganSasic,SungTieu,AlexPress,andSundeepGrewal.Butofcourse,thisbookisreallyabouttheinterviewees,andthestoriesofthepeople who were generous enough to sit down with me and share theirexperiences.Iwillneverbeabletopaybackthisactoftrustandkindness,soletme just say that Iwillnever forget this. I trulyhope that Ihavehonoredyourcontributions, and your memories. I want to thank Mayara Vivian, FernandoHaddad, Lucas Monteiro, Piero Locatelli, Jawaher Channa, EzequielAdamovsky,Hossam el-Hamalawy,Gehad,Mahmoud Salem, Ebrahim Sharif,EvanHenshaw-Plath,HamdeenSabahi,Furkan,FredericoFreitas,Hazar,ErenSenkardes,Bahar,FábioOstermann,ArtemTidva,MariaTomak,WongYikMo,DerekTai,MungSiuTat,AuLoong-Yu,FinnLau,DanitzaPérezCáceres,Theo,HossamBahgat,JulianaKnobel,RodrigoNunes,Ahmed,andOliverCauãCauêfor appearing in the book. Last nameswere droppedwhen requested and notrelevanttothestory.Iamalsoindebtedtoeachpersonwhosenamedoesnotappearinthemaintext.Everysingleconversationdeeplyshapedthewaythatthenarrativeistold,andIameternallygrateful forallof them.Theorder ischronological,and thenameswithanasteriskarepseudonyms,buttheyknowwhotheyare.Iwanttothank Juliana Cunha, Kamal Gaballa, Omar Robert Hamilton, Sharif AbdelKouddous, Mohamed Zaree, Magd Zahran, Osama Badie, Kareem Megahed,TarekShalaby,HichemAmri,AhmedGaâloul,NaoufelEljammali,HamzaBenAoun, Wael Naouar, Kais Bouazizi, Anouar Jadawi, Ayouni Moncef, AymanGharbi, IsmaelAwledNasser,RadiaNsiri,ZohraSaadouni, IbrahimMastouri,Ivan Verstyuk, Taras Bilous, Vitalina Kutsyba, Victoria Voytitska, *NatalyaPodil,PolinaGodz,*AndréKorchuvate,OlegShelenko,UladzimirShcherbau,Daryna Akselerat, Solomiia Bobrovska, *C 14 Boyeviki, Svitlana Chorna,*PaulaX.Odesa,MaksymVoitenko,VyacheslavAzarov,Moris Ibrahim,Lera,Dennis,ShaimaaFayed,HassanSaber,SenerSahin,CelilKapar,AydinCelik,BerfuDemir,AyseErtung,RamazanDemir,SerkanÖzabacı,BerkerErsoy,EfeOğur,AbdulnabiAl-Ekri,RadhiAlmosawi,FaridaGhulam,NabeelRajab,JoséChrispiniano, Neuri Rossetto, Jampa Filho, Isabella Souza, Cris Gouvea,LucianaSantos,PedrodeOliveira,AndrédaSilvaTakahashi,SâmiaBomfim,Lieta Vivaldi, Alicia Maldonado Mirando, Alvin Lum, Octavio Del FaveroBannen, Rodrigo Karmy, Hernán Herrera, Camila Musante, Felipe Espinosa,Giovanna Roa, Daniela Serrano, Chan Ho-Him, Joey Siu, *Abigail Chan,Regina Ip, Nury Vittachi, Carlos Martinez, Jun Pang, Ronny Tong Ka-wah,Derek Tai, JN Chien, Promise Li, Daniel Cheung, Jessie Lau, Raymond Lee,TsangYok Sing, Julia Damphouse, Thomas Traumann, and SelviMay. I alsowant to thank thosewho live under such duress and political uncertainty thattheychosenoteventosupplyapseudonymandsodonotappearhereatall—buttheyknowwhotheyare.Profound, sincere gratitude is owed to the scholars who reviewed themanuscriptandofferedmuch-neededcommentsandcorrections.FabiodeSaeSilva, John Chalcraft, Cihan Tuğal, Jeffrey Wasserstrom, and VolodymyrIshchenkoprovidedaninvaluableservicetotheproject;anyerrorsthatmadeitintothefinalbookareentirelymyfault.Ialsowanttorecognizetherealexperts,fellowjournalists,andaccomplishedscholarswhospoketomeaboutthemassprotestdecade.Theirinputwasoftenjustas importantas the interviewswithwitnessesandparticipants. Iapologizeforthejournalisticmethod,irritatingasitmaybe,ofaskingintentionallystupidquestions. Thank you to Erica Chenoweth, Patrick Iber, Nils Gilman, LorenBalhorn, Fadil Aliriza, Branko Milanovic, Samuel Moyn, Luke Yates, VijayPrashad, Daniel O’Connell,MichaelWalker, Jack Shenker, Najib Abidi, AmrMagdi, Said Sadek, Anne Alexander, Mohamed-Dhia Hammami, Max Ajl,Andrew Roth, Max Seddon, Christopher Miller, Matias Spektor, Amro Ali,TatianaRoque,EduardoMello,FláviaBiroli,KennethBunker,PaoloGerbaudo,Christopher Szabla, JohnBartlett, TobitaChow, Joe Leahy, StephanOrtmann,Sean Scalmer, Evgeny Morozov, Alex Hochuli, Andrew Fishmann, AndreasHarsono,JannBoeddeling,DanielVukovich,MerlynaLima,andSimoneChun.Every single personwho has taken an interest inmywork—who has readThe JakartaMethod, or picked up this volume, or never read anything I havewrittenbutstillhasgivenmeavoteofconfidenceinpersonoronline—Ioffermy real and heartfelt gratitude. I have been overwhelmed by the support andgenerosityoverthepastfewyears,whichputpressureonmetomakeabsolutelysure that thiswas a serious and diligent study. I hope I have not let anybodydown.ButfarbeforeIstartedwriting,aswellasafterIfinishedthemanuscript,awholeteamofpeoplehelpedturnitintoarealbook.MyagentRobMcQuilkinandmyeditorClivePriddledeservecreditforgivingthisprojectlife,andIamsogratefulthatAthenaBryantagreedtodothefirsteditswithmeagain.Ialsowant to recognize everyone at PublicAffairs, especially Miguel Cervantes,AnupamaRoy-Chaudhury,KiyoSaso, JohannaDickson,PeteGarceau,AmberHoover,LauraPiasio,CaitlynBudnick,DuncanMcHenry,andShenaRedmond,aswellasMaxMoorheadandEllieRoppoloatMassie&McQuilkin.BigthanksareinordertoSiddharthaMahanta,whocommissionedandeditedthepiecethatturned into my first book, and who commissioned and edited the piece thatforeshadowedthisbook.Iwouldnothavebeenable todo thisworkwithout theBritishLibrary, theBiblioteca Mario de Andrade in downtown São Paulo, the New York PublicLibrary,theStaatsbibliothekzuBerlin,andalloftheirstaff.Ithankthemall,andeverylibrarythatmanagestocontinuetoexist.Iwouldbeextremelyunsurprisedtofindout,somewheredowntheroad,thatoneormorepeopleon the long listabovearenotwho theyclaim tobe.So, Iwanttothanktheworld’smyriadintelligenceandsecurityhadeverhappened inNorthAfrica, or indeed inTunisia.Nooneknewquite how thiswasgoing toend.Jawahergot out of jailmuch earlier than she expected—someone from theUGTT intervened and pressured the police to release her. This was a strangemoment.Thedictatorshipcouldnolongerkeepevencard-carryingCommunistfeministsinjailaftertheyhadclearlybrokenthelawinpublic?ShefearedthatBenAliwouldsoonhavehisrevenge,afterreconsolidatingpower,unlesspeoplestayedinthestreets.Sheknewhoweveryotheruprisinginherlifehadended.Butshebegantohopethatthistime,theyreallyhadachance.Next, another set of Tunisian organizations, including the Human RightsLeague, the Association of Democratic Women, and the Anti-TortureAssociation,calledforanendtoviolenceagainsttheprotesters.BenAliblamedmaskedsaboteursfor thebloodshed.At thesametime,hepromised toemploythree hundred thousand university graduates by the end of 2012. This did notwork. Protests continued into the night of January 11, and schools weresuspendedthroughoutthecountry.Tunisiansaroundtheworldstagedanothersetof demonstrations in support of the revolt back home. On January 12, thegovernment instituted a night curfew in the capital, and the next dayBenAlicalled for an end to violence against the protesters and promised not to seekanother termaspresident.Thisdidnotwork.OnJanuary14,agroupmarchedfromtheheadquartersoftheUGTTtotheMinistryoftheInterior,andthecrowdswelledasitmovedthroughthecity.Intothenight,peopleclashedwithpolicedirectlyinfrontofthePresidentialPalace.Thearmyrefusedtoopenfireontheprotesters.18BenAligatheredhisfamilyandfledtoSaudiArabia.The president had fallen, after twenty-three years in power. News spreadquicklythroughouttheworld.OnethousandandfivehundredmilestotheeastinAlexandria,Egypt—theMediterraneancitybuiltbyAlexander theGreat2,300yearsearlier—Hossamel-Hamalawywassitting inasmallcafénear thesea.19Hossamhadbeenadedicatedactivistandlabororganizerforyears,andhewassmoking shishawith his friend, a diving instructor. Online, hewas known as3arabawy,thetranscribedversionoftheArabicfor“TheBedouin.”Hewasnotactuallyanomadfromthedesert—hewasfromCairo—butthishandlegavehimaneasywaytoasserthisproudArabidentity.Hossamwastryingtoconvincehisfriend,invain,toformadivinginstructors’union.Hewasn’tbuyingit.Anoiseeruptedinthecoffeeshop,andeveryone’seyesturnedtotheTV.ThejournalistannouncedthatPresidentBenAlihadfallen.Theplaceburstintoapplause,andpeoplebeganshouting.Onemanyelled,“Mubarakisnext!”EighteenDaysLaterProtestshadbeenstagedinTahrirSquare,inthecenterofCairo,foryears.Butthey were never aimed at President Hosni Mubarak, the man in power since1981—at leastnotdirectly. In2000,PalestiniansbegantheSecondIntifada,oruprising, against Israeli control over their lives, and supporters inEgypt filledthe square in solidarity. The Gaza Strip is just a few hours’ drive from thecapital, and Israel has been a deeply important issue for Egyptians since thecountry was founded. As a result of the 1978 Camp David Accords, and theEgyptian government’s permanent reorientation toward the West, Egypt hadbeenhelping theZioniststate toenforce the impenetrableborderenclosing theGazaStrip.Thenin2003,protestersfilledTahririnafailedattempttostoptheinvasionanddestructionofIraq.20Gehad,alistlessyoungwomanfromthecapital,grewupidentifyingtheveryideaofprotestwiththePalestiniancauseandoppositiontoWesternimperialism.Hermotherwasadoctor,andher fatherwas in thecountry’sexpansivearmedforces—well, he reallyworked inoil exploration, but the armycontrolled thatsector, along with many more—and Gehad had a relatively comfortableupbringing.Foratimeshewasquitedevout,donningtheheadscarfandlivingasahijabi;thenshetookitoffandbecamemoreliberalandsecular,angeringhermotherevenasshestillvaluedherfaithandconsideredherselfaMuslim.Shewas a precocious, weird teenager, reading too many fantasy novels andpreferring to listen tooldLebanesemusic, rather than therockorpopmostofherfriendsfavored,asshewhiledawayherhoursontheinternet.21Gehadfeltthatsupportfortheirmoreoppressedneighborsbroughtherentiregenerationtogether.Sheusedtositaroundallday,hangingoutinFreePalestinechatrooms,whichiswhereshelearnedaboutpolitics.AttheageofthirteensheditchedschooltogosupporttheSecondIntifada,andthensheprotestedtheIraqWarin2003.IntheEgyptianrepertoire,thesewerethecausesthatgaverisetothe occupation of Tahrir as the natural performance. Then in 2004, a neworganizationemerged.ItwascalledKefaya,or“Enough,”andoweditsexistencetorumblingswithintheEgyptianelite,aswellasvibrationsunleashedfromtheWest.WHENNASSER’SSUCCESSOR,ANWARSADAT,soughtrapprochementwiththeWest,itshockedMoscow. The Communist method for maintaining Arab allies (Syriawas another) essentially consisted of shovelingmoney and assistance at themwithout ever exercising any real control over their states.WhenSadat evictedmorethanfifteenthousandSovietadvisers,theEgyptianmilitaryhighcommandwasflabbergasted—thoseweretheguyssupplyingall theirarmsinanongoingconflictwithIsrael.In1973,SadattriedtotakebacktheSinaiPeninsula,whichEgypthadlosttoIsraelinthe1967conflict,leadingtoanotherfull-onwarwiththe Jewish state. Throughout the war, he told US secretary of state HenryKissingerhisplans,hopingtocurryfavorwiththeAmericans.Kissingersimplypassed the information on to the Israelis. Many in the military believed thatSadat threw away the campaign, and after the war—which the governmentcalledawin,butmanyconsideredasetoflostopportunities—thearmedforcesfeltdeeplyalienatedbytheleader(exceptfortheweakairforce,ledbyaloyalmannamedHosniMubarak).Sadatcrackeddownhardontheleftandreversedthe land reform that had undergirded Nasser’s revolution, handing a lot ofpropertybacktothecountry’sfeudalclass,andbegananinfitah,or“opening,”thatcommencedwiththedeconstructionofArabSocialismintheregion’smostpopulous country. The Egyptian people responded with bread riots across thenationin1977.22TheMuslimBrotherhood,oneof themost important Islamistgroups in themodern world, had been around since 1928 and was therefore older than theEgyptianrepublicitself.TheEgyptiangovernmenthad,variously,subjectedthegroup to intense repression or used it as a counterweight against the left. Butthereweresmaller,moreradicalandjihadistgroupsinthecountrytoo.In1981oneof themmurderedAnwarSadat in frontof thewholecountry,andnot toomanypeople cared.23Under the country’s next president,HosniMubarak, thearmy remained sidelined, and the police (always important in the Egyptianrepublic) took on increasing power. Of course, Mubarak maintained thecountry’spro-Westernorientation.The global debt shock in the 1980s caused by the surprise increase inUSFederalReserveinterestrateshittheregionparticularlyhard.Bythemiddleofthe 1980s, Algeria, Jordan, Tunisia, and Egyptwere paying 30–60 percent oftheirexportearningstoservicedebtstorichcountries.24TheIMFofcoursewasthere tobail themoutandpush thecountries toward free-market reformat thesame time. The United States and its National Endowment for Democracy(NED)—whichhadalsotakenonsomeoftheactivitiespioneeredbytheCIA—werenowpromotingmore robust capitalismasa force thatwouldbringaboutdemocracy in the country.25And in 1991,Egypt earned a huge chunkof debtreliefinexchangeforsupportingGeorgeH.W.Bush’sinvasionofIraq.Bythefirstyearsofthenewmillennium,Egypthadprivatizedbillionsinassets,whichlanded in the hands of a new, super-wealthy capitalist class. But neoliberalreformsdidnotmagicallydeliverdemocratizationas liberal teleologistswouldhave assumed; to the contrary, they required the repression of dissent to beimplemented, just as they had in Chile in the 1970s. Unemployment shot up,while the economywas poweredmore by real estate speculation, remittancesfromlaborersinrichGulfstates(likeSaudiArabia,Kuwait,andBahrain),andtheconstructionofshoppingmallsthananyreallyproductiveactivity.Therewascertainlynolongeranypushtochangetheveryshapeoftheglobaleconomy.26AspartofhiscampaigntodemocratizetheMiddleEast,GeorgeW.Bushhadbeen pressing Egypt to show some progress in creating more democraticprocesses. In response, Mubarak apparently let the Muslim Brotherhood winseats in thenextelection,with thegoalof scaring theAmericans intobackingoff.27 Kefaya—Enough!—flowered into this small spaceMubarak opened forlegitimatecivilsociety,aswell.WhenMubarakindicatedhemighthandthecountryovertohissonGamal,itwastoomuchformanypeopleintheestablishment.Liberals,Nasserists,secularreformers,Islamists,andMarxistsalikeunitedintheiroppositiontoahereditaryMubarak regime. Gamal, the son of the dictator, was a creature of the elite,global business world. He had run a private equity fund in London, hesurroundedhimselfwithaclosegroupofhiscronies,andhehadnolinkstotherevolutionary struggles that had built and fought for Egypt—a quality thatespeciallyirritatedthemilitary.Reflectingglobaltrendsatthetime,thenewKefayawas“non-hierarchical”and“cross-ideological.”28 Itsmemberspublishedarticlesandorganizedrallies,buttheyneverseemedtoputrealpressureonthegovernment.Mubarakcarriedon as usual.But then, awave ofwildcat strikes began to take off outside thecapital. Inspiredby the industrial action, onegroupof activistsbased inCairoattemptedtodrumupsupportforanationalstrikeonApril6,2008,insolidaritywithworkers in theNileDelta.Theydidn’t pull it off—thatwasbeyond theirorganizational capacity—but the group stayed together.29 The small “April 6YouthMovement” got some attention and some support fromUS-basedNGOFreedom House, in addition to receiving some training in a very differenttradition than that of revolutionary socialistHossam“3arabawy” el-HamalawyandtheleftistsinTunisia.30*But thesegroups failed to create anymajor bouts of contention in2008or2009.ThenthepolicekilledKhaledSaid.Thenationfoundout thatKhaledSaid,aregularguyfromAlexandria,wasdragged froman internet café in June2010andbeaten todeathby thepolice.Citizens across the nation were shocked at the image of his disfigured body,going viral online, and he became a symbol of the expansion of brutal policerepression to regular people. As a public figure and a martyr from the quietCleopatrasuburb,hebecamemoreinnocent,andheroic,thantherealindividualhadeverbeen.31Hewasnoleftist,norwasheanIslamistradical—andhisdeathincensed liberal and conservative Egyptians alike, who knew very well thatMubarak’s police were a threat to almost anyone.Most people had stories ofstate violence; they had either seen something or had a familymember suffergraveinjustice.Whatwasnew,in2010,wasthatimagesoftherepressionwereavailable for immediate viewing by tens of millions of people, and that theycouldsoonjoinapageonFacebooktosharetheircollectiveoutrage.FacebookhadlaunchedinArabicin2009,andby2010aroundaquarterofEgyptiansusedtheinternetregularly(especiallyyoungpeopleincities).32WaelGhonim,amarketingexecutiveatGoogle,setupthepage“WeAreAllKhaledSaid,”andAbdelrahmanMansour,aformerMuslimBrotherhoodmemberwhohadtrainedabitasanactivistwithHossam“3arabawy,”helpedhimrunit.Thegroupgrewinmembersandactivity throughout thebeginningsof theTunisianuprising. Itwas theWeAreAllKhaledSaid page that called for a protest onJanuary 25, just eleven days after PresidentBenAli fell in Tunisia. But oncemore, theprotestwouldnotbedirectedat theEgyptianpresident.Theywouldcallfortheremovaloftheinteriorminister.ThedatewasthenationalcelebrationofEgyptian“PoliceDay,”whichcouldallow the rally to emphasize its focus on police brutality, and to recall a timewhencopshadplayedafarmoreheroicrole inEgyptianhistory than theydidnow. Tahrir means “liberation” in Arabic, and the square was renamed afterEgyptianswonformalindependence.Butinformalcontrolpersisted,andin1952fiftypoliceofficersdied fightingBritish troops anddefendingnationaldignityneartheSuezCanal.Thecontrastwiththewaythepolicewereactingnowwasclear.Attheplanningmeetings,Hossamandotheractivistslaidouttheroutesandmade preparations. Someone asked, “What will we do after we reach TahrirSquare?”Everyoneburstintolaughter.Thatwasnotgoingtohappen.On themorning of January 25, the uprising back in Tunisia was far fromfinished.When Ben Ali fled, it was not clear what was supposed to happen.Politiciansinvokedanarticleoftheconstitutionallowingthemtoappointoneofhis allies as president, but this generated more protest. What was left of thegovernment found another article to invoke and appointed the same man asprimeminister,andhesoughttoformanationalunitygovernment.Elitesweredividedon thenext steps.Anew set of demonstrationsdemanded that noonefromthepreviousregimeremaininpower,andsinceJanuary23theyhadbeenoccupyingtheKasbah—thegovernmentsquare—inTunis.OntheafternoonofJanuary25inCairo,farmorepeopleshowedupto thePoliceDay protest than anyone expected.Marches broke through the lines ofcops,whorespondedwith therepressiontheyhadbeentrainedtounleash.Butthey were unprepared for the number of people who came out that day. Theprotesterschargedpastthemtothesquare.Hossamwasintheback,andhegotacall fromacomradeupfront.“Thereare likeamillionpeoplehere,”shesaid.“What are you smoking!” Hossam replied, until he checked videos nowcirculatingontheinternet.Thiswasbiggerthananythinghehadeverseeninhislife.Gehadhadstayedhome—notoutoffear,butbecauseshedidn’tthinkmuchwasgoingtohappenthatday.ProtestslikethisatTahrirhadbeenhappeningforyears,anddespitetheeventsinTunisia,shefiguredthisonewouldpeteroutlikealltherest.Butthenshesawtheimageofamanfacingdownapolicevehicle,impervioustotheblastofitswatercannon,andsomethingstirredinsideher.Sheknewshewasgoingtojointhisrevolt.Shehadbeendriftingformonths,unsurewhattodowithherlifeafterateachingjobthatdidn’tworkout.Now,shehadamission. The protest on January 25finally fizzled out, and the demonstratorswent home.ButGehad had plans for Friday. Shewould be going to the nextprotest,markedforthreedayslater.Fridayisprayerday.Aswavesofyoungpeopleandactivistsmadetheirwaytoward Tahrir Square on the twenty-eighth, they were astounded to see newstreams of people coming out of themosque after ceremonies. Together now,theychanted,“Bread,Freedom,SocialJustice!”and“Thepeoplewantthefalloftheregime”—ademandthatnoteventheseasonedactivistshadplannedtomakethreedaysearlier.SomepreachershadcomeoutinsupportoftherevoltduringFriday prayers. And then, a huge procession emerged from Imbaba, the poorneighborhood that looks much like a Brazilian favela, and stomped onto thebridgeovertheNiletoaddtheirnumberstothemovement.AsprotestersfromalloverEgyptpushedforward,nowpartofafarlargermassthananyonecouldhaveimagined,itfeltlikesomethinghadshiftedinthenatureoftimeitself.Theyhadcrackedopenthestructureofreality,andwitheachstep,witheachvictoryagainst police defenses, with everymovement, it felt as if they were literallymoving history forward. “A weird distortion in the air”—or the feeling of“magic”—thiswasthekindoflanguagethatparticipantsgraspedfortodescribethesensation.Everythingwaspossible.33The armed forces—not the target of the demonstrations—stayed out of theclashes. Some soldiers were seen smiling and hugging demonstrators. Someprotesterschanted,“Thepeopleandthearmyareonehand.”Hossammarched toward the center of town because today, hewas on thefrontline.Hehadnosenseofhowmanypeoplewerebehindhim,andso,whentheyapproachedapedestrianbridge loomingabove,heranaheadandscurriedup, so he could look back. He immediately burst into tears. It was a sea ofpeople,andhecouldn’tevenseewhereitbegan.Hebegantoexclaimtohimself,“It ishappening, it ishappening. It ishappening!”A fewminutes laterhe ranintoalongtimefriendofhis,anengineerwhohadalwayslaughedatHossam’spolitical engagements. For years, he had worked on a strategy called“visualizationofdissent”—coordinatingwithstrikingworkers,anddistributingimages of uprisings as widely as possible, so that regular people might seethemselvesinthemandimaginetheycouldchangetheworld.Now,hecouldseethem participating in front of his eyes. People had called him a clown forbelieving in revolution, and yet, they were there with him. He ran into anIslamist friendwho always dislikedHossam’s political commitments.Thenheranintothisman’ssister,andhismother!Heknewhehadbeenrightallalong.January28wasrelativelyspontaneousinthatitcametogetherveryquickly,and itwas indeed leaderless,horizontallystructured,and ideologicallydiverse.But it was not nonviolent, and this was no longer a protest. A hugemass ofEgyptians went to battle with the police that day, and the police lost. Someripped off their uniforms and scattered into thewind. Protesters burned downoverninetypolicestationsthatnight.OnewaveofEgyptiansbattledcopsontheQasral-Nilbridge,holdingtheirgroundwhilesuspendedovertheNile,pushingback, taking losses,andthenadvancingagainuntil thepolicesimplyretreated.Atthatpoint,therevolutionariescouldhavetakenanything.TheychosetostayinTahrirSquare,thedefaultdestinationformanyinthecrowd;itwasanemptypiece of land, and its conquest offered no strategic value, except for itsvisibility.34This had not been planned, and some participants soon questioned why ithappened.Would it not havemademore sense to actually charge the halls ofpower and take control? Should a revolutionary movement not seize thetelevision and radio stations so it can stop the regime from broadcasting itspropaganda?Itwasallrightthereforthetaking.Butiftheydidthat,whowouldhavebeeninchargeofdecidingwhattodowiththem?Thiswasnotamovementledbyarevolutionaryvanguard;itwasahugemassofindividualsthat,justdaysago,werelittlemorethananeventonaFacebookpage.Inanycase,thatisnotwhattheydid.TheytooktheSquare.Andtheystayedthere.35It was packed with people. The government had shut downtelecommunicationsthatdayinthehopesofcuttingthelegsoutfromunderthemarchers.Thiswasamistake.Cairoisadense,tightlyknitcity.Formillionsofpeople,TahrirSquareisbasicallyjustdowntheroad.Ifyouwanttoknowwhatisgoingonwith thatprotest,oryour sonordaughter,youcan justwalkover.Lots of people did exactly this.After decades of dictatorship, therewere veryfewformalstructuresincivilsociety.Butthereweresurelyinformalstructures.Thepeople,or“thestreet,”kepteveryoneabreastofwhatwasgoingon.36Overthe next eighteen days, Tahrir Square became a carnival of prefiguration andstructurelessness,thesymboloftheworldofEgyptianresistance.Communists and tattooed lesbians broke bread with pious Islamists andchildren who lived on the street nearby, all of them united in opposition toMubarak.Laughing,smiling,suffering,sacrificing,andworkingtogether,thesepeople created a new mini-society—keeping everyone fed, safe, and healthy.Gehadhadnever feltmorealive inher life.Assoonasshearrived,shesawasimple woman in hijab, appearing neither rich nor poor, holding a sign thatsimplyread“Hope.”Inafewdays,Gehadhadgonefromastateofdepressiontotheexperienceofthesublime.Likemanyotherpeople,shewentbackandforthbetweenherhomeandtheSquare.Lifetherefelt“legendary,”itfelt“mythical,”anditfeltasifitbelongedtoadifferentuniverse,onethatwasunforgettableyethardtotrulybelieve.Onethatwasprofoundly,unimaginablybeautiful.GovernmentsintheWestdidn’tknowhowtorespondtoallofthis.InearlyFebruary,withTahrirstillpacked to thebrim, formerUKprimeministerTonyBlaircameouttopubliclydefendlongtimeallyHosniMubarakas“immenselycourageousandaforceforgood,”mostlybecauseofhisfriendshipwithIsrael.USpresidentBarackObamasentveterandiplomatFrankWisnerJr.—thesonofFrankWisner,themanwhopioneeredtheuseofcovertoperationsattheCIAinthe 1950s—to Cairo to represent the State Department and assist withnegotiations.37Globalmedia,however,didknowhowtorespond.TheyturnedtheircamerastoTahrirSquareandsenttheirreporterstoCairo.Onereferencepointappearedimmediately: this was 1989, but this time in the Middle East. The imagescertainlylookedverysimilar.RadioFreeEurope,theUS-fundedoutletthathadbeenintentionallytryingtobringdownthatwallintheColdWar,reported,“Notsince the fallof theBerlinWall inNovember1989,and the jubilant scenesofEastGermansrushingacross to theWest,has theworldwitnessedsucha tidalwaveofhumanityonthemarch.”38ThecontradictionsoftheArab“exception”were finally working themselves out, and History was finally pushing thesecountriesintotheliberaldemocraticorder.ButwhocouldWesternoutletsgetonTVtoexplainwhatwashappeningandwhat the movement wanted to achieve? This mass of people had no officialrepresentatives.Sothejournalistschosethepeoplewhocouldexplain—ideallyin English, and ideally in a vocabulary their viewers would appreciate. Theywere not likely to grab a teenager who lived on the street, addicted to cheapdrugs, and put themonTheDaily Show, even though some of these kids hadfought most bravely against the cops. And they probably were not going tointerview a fervent Islamist onCNN, even though theMuslimBrotherhood—which joined late, but certainly participated in the revolt—was the largestorganizedgroupinthesquare.There was an elective affinity between media coverage and revolutionaryelements with a liberal, pro-Western orientation. The term “Arab Spring,”applied inJanuarybyaUSpoliticalscientist inForeignPolicymagazine,waswidelyadoptedbytheglobalpress,despitethefactthatspringhasverydifferentconnotationsonthenorthernedgeoftheSaharaDesert,andnoneoftheoriginalprotestersused it. Itwasactuallywinter,but theconceptharkenedback to the“Prague Spring” in Communist Czechoslovakia and before that to the 1848“SpringtimeofthePeoples”acrossEurope.OnDemocracyNow,AmyGoodmanspokewithcolumnistMonaEltahawy,whocalledMubarakhimselfthe“BerlinWall.”OnCNN,AndersonCooperspokewithWaelGhonimfromGoogle,whosaidthat theleaderswere“everysinglepersonthere.”Thenetworkthencut toUSpresidentBarackObama,whosaidthatitwasnonviolenceandmoralforcethat “bent the arc of history towards justice once more.”39 Later, the USpresidentofferedPolandasatransitionmodelfortheArabworld.40Commentators were dazzled by the fact that the internet, US-based socialmediaespecially,seemedtohavemadethisallhappen.TheWesternmediagavespecial attention to the euphoric, prefigurative, and ultra-democratic elementswithintherevolt.41JackShenker,aGuardiancorrespondentwholivedinthecountryandknewmanyrevolutionarieswell,putitthisway:“Egyptiansbuiltsomethingdifferentfrom Mubarak Country: a different set of borders, a different set of socialrelations, a different narrative about who they were and what they could do.Everyone, including me, wrote about the inventive food supplies and toiletsystems,thehijackedpowercablesandtentedschools,thein-househairdresserandexuberantstreetweddings.”Foranglophonereaders,allofthisappearedasthekindofdecentralizedandanti-hierarchicalmovementthatcouldheraldopenprogress,ratherthanthekindsofdedicated(orLeninist)revolutionthatinsistedonagivenpath.No, thiswasaimedat transformingpower,rather thanseizingthe state. Shenker continues, writing that Egyptian revolutionaries had not“viewedpowerassomethingjust‘outthere’tobecaptured;they’veunderstooditassomethingdiffuse,scatteredacrosscomplexdomestic,regionalandglobalnodes....Itmeansareimaginationofhowpowerfunctions,andtheopeningupof a space inwhich that reimagination can take place. Itmeans a rejection ofrigid hierarchies and ideological blueprints, of charismatic leaders and theobedience they crave. . . . Inspired by thehorizontalidadmovements ofLatinAmericaoverthelasttwodecades,thissortofrhizomaticorganization,”hesaid,“wasthenaturaloutcomeoftheoppositionalactivitythathadtakenplaceduringtheMubarakera.”42MahmoudSalem—whohadbeenbloggingas“Sandmonkey”since2004andtherefore quickly became an accidental and unofficial spokesman for theexplosion—put it a different way: “We were anarchists, without knowing wewereanarchists.”43Mahmoudwent tobattleat thekeyboardand in thestreets.Hewasoftenonthefrontlines,interceptingteargascanistersandthrowingthembackatthepolice.HeandtwofriendsgrabbedaboatandcrossedtheNileRivertooccupyTahrirSquare.44Andintheend,allofthisworked.Ofcourse,themilitaryprovidedamajorassist.A day of savage repression on February 2, inwhich plainclothes thugsrodeintothesquareoncamels,convincedmanyofthecountry’smostimportantmenthatMubarakhadtogo.OnFebruary11, thegeneralsrefusedanorder tofire on the people.Mubarakwas done.Gehadwoke up to the news of a newcountry being born; after a long night in the square, she had been napping athome.WhenEgyptfoundoutthatthedictatorwasgone,aroareruptedthroughtheneighborhoodsof thecapital—thekindof screamingyouonlyheardwhenthe national football team scored a goal. Hossam “3arabawy” heard the samethingallthewayacrosstown,andhecouldn’tbelieveit.Everyonewasjumpingand yellingwith joy, together. The countrywas now controlled by SCAF, theSupreme Council of the Armed Forces, which promised to hold democraticelectionssoon.ThisIsWarAlthoughtheyarebothgroupedintotheso-calledArabSpring,thingsinLibyaandSyriawentdifferently.Theydidnot livethroughdemonstrationsthatgrewsolargethattheyforcedatransformationofpower.Unlikethecasesweanalyzemore closely in this book, protest movements in Libya and Syria did notexperience that strange shift, from quantitative to qualitative change, fromnumerical growth to full transformation, on their own. In both countries, theoutcome had little to do with the tactics and ideology of contemporary streetcontention.Somethingelsehappened,somethingmuchmorefamiliartostudentsof history. But the outcomes there profoundly changed the future of massuprisings—both those already underway and those yet to be born—and sowemustexplainthatdistinction.In Tunisia, the first “Kasbah” protests at the government square endedwithout complete success.But inFebruary they returned, and the “Kasbah II”occupation forced the resignation of Ben Ali’s old prime minister, and theinterim president announced a National Constituent Assembly to write a newconstitution.45In Egypt, the sudden fall of Mubarak appeared as a lightning bolt fromheaven. As would become increasingly common throughout the decade,Mahmoud “Sandmonkey” Salem turned to pop culture to explain how manypeopleviewedthepossiblefalloftheleader.“ItwaslikeTheLordoftheRings,”hesaid,referringtotheHollywoodadaptationoftheJ.R.R.Tolkienstory.“IfyoutakeTahrir, thatisMordor,andthenyouautomaticallybringdownSauron[that isMubarak].” In themovie, once Sauron falls, all the darkmagic in theuniversesimplydissipates,andalltheforcesofevildisappear.Thatisnotwhathappened.All the same people and all the same structures remained in place, exceptnow,SCAFwasinpowerat thetop.Domestically, themilitaryfacedachaoticandmind-bogglinglycomplexpoliticalscene—whoweretheysupposedtotalktoinordertomakesuretheycouldkeep“therevolution”happy?46Howmanypeoplewereeveractuallyinthesquareanyway,andwhomdidtheyrepresent?Empirical analysis of the biggest crowds,which came out later, indicated thatparticipationwasmorecomplexthaninitialnarrativeswouldhavesuggested—mostpeoplecitedeconomicconcernsas theirprimarymotivation, faraheadofdemocracy; around 25 percent of people in the Square supported theMuslimBrotherhood;moreweremiddle-class, rather thanpoorandunemployed,andamajority got their primary information from television (especiallyAl Jazeera),ratherthantheinternet.47Buthowmuchdidthatactuallymatternowtotherealconfiguration of power across the country? Most urgently, the governmentwantedtobeabletostopanotherfloodofanarchyfrombreakingthrough.Itwasjustovertheborderthatthedambrokefirst.Since 1969, Libya had been governed byMuammar Gaddafi, a mercurialpan-Africanist revolutionarythat spent some time as one of the West’s mostinfamous enemies.More recently he hadmade peacewith theNorthAtlanticpowers,givinguphisweaponsofmassdestructionandreestablishingrelationsduringtheyearsoftheGlobalWaronTerror.Thestatehehadconstructedwasfundamentallyauthoritarian,anditalsodistributedmaterialbenefitstomuchofthepopulation. In the2010UnitedNationsHumanDevelopment Index,LibyascoredhigherthananyotherAfricancountry.48StartinginFebruary2011,someofhislongtimeopponentsintheeastofthecountry began protests, and then an armed uprising. Largely led by tribal,regional, and Islamist forces, rebels seized a number of cities quickly, butgovernmentforcesbeganabrutallyeffectivecounterattack.TheNorthAtlanticTreaty Organization (NATO), a security alliance created to counter Sovietinfluence during the ColdWar, elected to implement a “no-fly zone” to stopGaddafifrommassacringhisownpeople.Gaddafisurelyhaddomesticenemieswithverygoodreasonstowanthimoutofpower.Hehadsurelyemployedsystematicrepressionashereproducedstatepower, andhehad surelycommittedcrimesagainsthumanity.Allof the samewas also true for Saddam Hussein, another leader marked for removal byWestern forces. Despite its stated intention, the NATO attack in Libya was aregime change operation. Without outside interference, Gaddafi could haveeasilykeptcontrolofthecountry.49TojustifymilitaryactionandtheviolationofLibyannationalsovereignty,theinternationalforcesinvokedthe“responsibilitytoprotect,”adoctrinedevelopedinthewakeoftragediesinRwandaandKosovoin the 1990s,with the aimof protecting civilians from things like genocide.50ButthetargetschosenbyNATOrevealedthattherealgoalwastooverthrowthegovernment. A layperson would have never guessed it, but a “no-fly zone”actuallymeantbombingquitealotofLibya.Fighterjetscarriedoutthousandsofairstrikes,killingscoresofcivilians,andtheybombardedGaddafi’shometown,even though no one in the loyal region needed any protection from thegovernment.NATO simplywanted the leader of the country to fall.51 And hemost certainly did, in dramatic, terrifying fashion. Rebels sodomized Gaddafiwithaknife and thenuploaded thevideo to the internet.Anyone in theworldcouldwatchtheLibyanleaderbeingtorturedtodeath.For many other world leaders, especially but not only the autocrats, theseshocking images offered a few lessons. First, if you have weapons of massdestruction—don’tgivethemup.52Second,foreignpowerswilluselegitimateorapparently legitimate uprisings as an excuse to push their own agendas. Andfinally,whateveryoudo,don’tletthiskindofuprisingwin—unlessyouwanttoenduplikeGaddafi.Hillary Clinton, serving as secretary of state in the United States, left theworld with no doubt as to what had happened. Speaking later to a televisionreporter, she paraphrased Caesar (who, as it happened, also attacked NorthAfrica).Shesaid,“Wecame,wesaw,hedied,”andlaughed.53NeitherrisingpowerChinanordecadentpowerRussialikedanyofthisonebit.AlongwithBrazil, theyhadnotvotedforUNSecurityCouncilResolution1973, which authorized the “no-fly zone.” Hu Jintao, leader of the People’sRepublic of China, called for a cease-fire and said, “If military action bringsdisastertociviliansandcausesahumanitariancrisis,thenitrunscountertothepurposeof theUNresolution.”54Asa resultof theNATOoperation inLibya,formerRussianpresidentVladimirPutin—whohadsteppedasidein2008toletDmitry Medvedev run things—decided he must return to the presidency.55Previouslyoneof themost eagerlypro-Western leaders inRussianhistory (hesupportedBush’sWaronTerrorintheearly2000sandsoughttoalignwiththeEUandNATO),hewasnowdevelopinganewsecuritydoctrinebasedon theideathattheWestwasnotacceptingtheworldascreatedbytheendoftheColdWarandwasinsteadusingdestabilizationandillegalinvasionstopushforwiderandwiderinfluence.56In2011,DilmaRousseffbecamethefirstwomantoeveropentheUNGeneralAssembly(Brazilalwaysgoesfirst)andusedthespeechtotakeaimatproblemswiththe“responsibilitytoprotect”doctrine,insistingthattheuseofforceshouldbealastresort.57InMarch2011,justbeforetheNATOattacks,citizensinSyriabegantoriseup in protest againstPresidentBashar al-Assad,whohadbeen in power since2000.Originally trainedasanophthalmologist inLondon,hetookoverforhisfather,Hafez,afterhisolderbrotherdiedinacarcrash.ThiskindofhereditarysuccessionwasabetrayaloftheoriginalrepublicanidealsoftheBa’athParty—as was the abandonment of socialism for neoliberalism and the government’sclose identification with certain ethnicities, rather than all Arabs—but underBasharthecountryremained,inrhetoricat least,opposedtotheforeignpolicyoftheWest.SyriawasfriendlywithIran,andBasharal-AssadhadletjihadisgotoIraqtofightagainsttheUSandBritishinvadingforces.58SmallprotestsstartedinDaraainthesouth,andtheywereinitiallypeaceful.ThedemonstrationswereobviouslyinspiredbytheeventsinNorthAfrica,andsomeSyrianscametobelievethatWesternforceswouldintervene,astheyhadinLibya.59ButunlikethesituationsinEgyptandTunisia,loyaltiesinSyriaweredivided along sectarian lines, andminorities like the Alawites (whomade upmuchofthearmyhighcommand)andtheShiaoftenfeltthattheirinterestswerebetterservedbythegovernmentthanbythealternative.Astheprotestsbegantospread, violent elements appeared alongside peaceful demonstrations; someSyrianminoritiesfearedthatSunnimilitantsmightimposeatotalitarianreligiousregime if theywonormassacreAlawites as theyhad in the1970s.Bashar al-Assadwasabletoconvincehissecurityforcestostickwithhim,asheoptedforbrutal repression. They did not identify the uprising as “the people,”spontaneously clamoring for the extension of universal rights, but insteadviewed these Syrians as representatives of specific, opposing interests. Thebloodysuppressionofthedemonstrationsledtofurtherradicalizationonthepartof the rebels. Meanwhile, the leadership in Saudi Arabia,Washington’s mostimportantallyintheArabworld,cametotheconclusionthatitwasinitsowninteresttobackSunnirebelsinSyria.Paintedonthewallsoftheancientnation,regimeloyalistsdeliveredaverysimplemessage:“ItiseitherAssad,orwewillburnthecountry.”SealedwithaKissNocountryhadmore reason topray for thearrivalofametaphorical“spring”thanBahrain,theislandnationintheGulfofArabia.Thisisaveryhotpartoftheworld,butthereismorecoastlineherethandrysand,morebeachthandesert,and for centuries locals were renowned as skilled pearl divers. In 1783 thecountrywasconqueredbySunniArabsfromthepeninsulatothewest,andtheHouseofKhalifahasruledBahraineversince.As2011began,HamadbinIsaAlKhalifa, a close ally of theHouse of Saud, ruled as king.Bahrain ismajorityShia, and the royal family systematically privileges the Sunni minority andexcludestheShiafromthebenefitsoffullcitizenship.InGulfeconomiesshapedbyoilexploration(Bahrainwasthefirstcountrytodiscover the stuff in the region, andwill soon be the first to run out), jobs instate-runcompaniesareall-important.TheShiamajorityisdeniedpositionswithstrategic value. Rather than allow them to serve in the security services, theruling family invites people from Sunni countries like Pakistan, Yemen, andSyriatostafftherepressiveapparatus.AsuprisingsspreadthroughouttheArabworld,Bahrainisdidnotjusthavecomplaintsabouteconomicpolicyandpolicebrutality, or the current leader—the complaints of subjects in young republicslike Egypt and Tunisia—theywere dealingwith the kinds of issues thatmostEuropean countries had resolved in the days of the original “spring,” back in1848. An unaccountable monarchy brazenly stepping on the rights of theoppressed majority. The National Assembly, the body created to give somerepresentationtothepeople,wasscrappedin1975afterMarxistsandIslamistsformedanalliancetoopposeadraconiannationalsecuritylaw.60EbrahimSharifistheunassuming,cheerfulleaderofWa’ador“Promise,”aBahranian political party born dedicated to the dream of socialist revolution.Historically,Bahrainhadoneofthestrongestleft-wingmovementsintheGulf,andSharifiswell-steepedinthehistoryofglobalrevolutionfromreadingalotand hanging out with aging veterans of the Dhofar Rebellion, a failed bid tooverthrowtheSultanateofOmanwithalong,CheGuevara–styleguerrillawar.Butinthepastfewdecades,thegoalsofthePromisepartyhavebeenmuchmoremodest.Overturning themonarchy and instituting a republicwould be far tooprovocative to next-door powerhouse Saudi Arabia, the thinking went, so theleft-of-center opposition had limited itself to calling for a democraticconstitutionalmonarchy—theroyalfamilywouldstay,butthepeoplewouldbegrantedsomebasicrights.61All of this seemed possible in 2001 when the young, then sheikh Hamadsubmitted a National Action Charter, outlining a set ofmoderate reforms, forreferendum.Itwasapprovedby98percentofthepopulation.ButSheikhHamaddecided to interpret this as a mandate to subsequently write an entirely newconstitutionandkeeppowerforhimself.Theopposition—leftistslikeSharif,theShiaparties,democrats,anyonewhoopposedabsolutemonarchy—wasfloored.Theyhadbeenplayed.February14,2011,wastheten-yearanniversaryofthisreferendum,thelasttimethepeoplehadbeenabletoarticulatetheirwillasanation,andsoitwastheperfect day for the wave of Arab uprisings to crash onto Bahraini shores.Ebrahim Sharif attended the protest. Usually it is mostly the Shia whodemonstrate,butWa’adisacross-sectarianoppositionparty,anditsSunni(andsecular)memberstraditionallyjoinintoo.62Soheheaded,abitunprepared, toPearlRoundabout—theclosestthingtoaTahrirSquarethatthecountryhad.Hewasimmediatelycalledupontogiveaspeech,whichhedid.Butitallhappenedsofast thathebarelyhadtimetodecideonhismessage.“Idon’tknowwhatIsaid—something like ‘weneed todowhatever theydid inEgypt.’”That’s thewayhe remembered it afterward,but the full thingmade itontoYouTube, thevideoaggregationwebsitehostedbytheCaliforniatechnologycompanyGoogle.Soon after, the leader of the largest Shia party got in touch with him. Heplanned togospeakwithCrownPrinceSalmanbinHamadAlKhalifa,buthedidn’twant to let anyone claim that thiswas a sectarian uprising. Thatwas afavorite tactic of Sunni elites in the region to dismiss opposition concerns—especiallyeffectivewhenpairedwiththeclaim,almostalwaysbaseless,thatIranwasbehindwhateverthepopulationwasaskingfor.TheShiawantedtopresenta united, cross-sectarian front, and they wanted Sunni leftists like EbrahimShariftobeavisiblepartofit.Sharifcalledameetingoftheentireopposition,andtheyassembledinhisquiet,suburbanhome.Thisuprising,however,wouldnotendwithnegotiations.Member countries of theGulfCooperationCouncil (GCC)—SaudiArabia,theUnitedArabEmirates, andKuwait—sent their forces over the bridge intoBahrainonMarch14andsurroundedthesmallisland,helpingthecrownprincetocrush theprotestsandannihilate theopposition.Therewerefarmore troopsroamingthestreetsthannecessary,andtheywereterrifying.Theoppositionwasrounded up, and authorities cracked down especially hard on Sunnis likeEbrahimSharifwhohad“brokenranks”andbetrayedtheirputativealliesintherulingSunniminority.TheyobliteratedthePearlRoundabout—pavingoveritinsuchaway thatyoucan’t even findwhere it used tobe—andnamed thenewconstructionafterahistoricalfigurehatedbytheShia,aclearslapinthefacetothemajority.63Andthatwasit.TherewaslittleoutcryintheWest,andArabmedialargelyignoredthecrackdown.Therewasnotalkof“responsibilitytoprotect”orevenany real hiccup in relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia orBahrain.Afew thingsmayhelpexplain this.First,Bahrain is thehomeof theFifthFleet—theislandhostsahugeUSnavalbase.Washingtonwasnotgoingtocountenance the “loss” of Bahrain to a Shia government (representing themajority of the people) that might be friendly with Iran. The foreign policyestablishment had already “lost” Iraq to the Shia after the invasion of thatcountry did not go as planned. Washington’s partnership with Saudi Arabia,forgedbackinthedayswhenbothWahhabismandZionismwerecultivatedasthebestwaystocountertheappealofsecularnationalismandArabSocialism,was too important to let human rights and democracy get in theway.64 Theremayhavebeenadealstruck—WashingtonwillkeepquietonBahrainiftheArableaguebackstheinvasionofLibya.65ThesewerethethingsthatEbrahimSharifwaslefttoponderashewastortured,overandover.Itdidn’tmakesense,what theyweredoing.Theyalreadykneweverything.Hisspeechwasontheinternet.Whyweretheytorturinghim?Theywouldaskhim,“Didyousaythisornot?”andhewouldsay,“Yes!Youhavethevideo!”He had been in the respectable opposition for decades. He didn’t have anysecrets.But theassaultscontinued.Andthepunishmentwasnotonlyphysical.Every morning the captives would wake up with a portrait of Saudi kingAbdullahfacingthem,andtheywouldbetorturediftheydidn’tkissit.5AroundtheWorldTHE INSPIRATIONAL EXAMPLE OF THE so-called Arab Spring, and especially thefantasticallywell-illuminatedscenesof theprefigurativecarnival inCairo,wasonly the beginning of a year of global movements that sought to transformsociety.In theUnitedStates, theworld’smostpowerfulnationand theplacewheremany people learned the meaning of “protest” back in the era of television,demonstrators took aim at Wall Street. The magazine Adbusters called for aTahrir Square moment in the US, and soon thousands of people wouldhorizontally encamp outside the center of the global financial system. Thiswouldhaveaprofoundimpactonpoliticalcultureinthecountry,largelythroughits interaction with the media. Todd Gitlin, the early president of SDS andprescient criticof corporate journalism,was there, andDavidGraeberbecameoneofitsmostrecognizablepublicintellectuals.But before that, millions of people took to the streets (or took over thestreets) inSouthernEurope.Thestill-unfoldingglobal financialcrisishit thesecountriesespeciallyhard,due to thestructureofNorthAtlanticcapitalismandtheconfigurationoftheEuropeanUnion.Forregularpeoplethistooktheformof austerity and rising unemployment, and young peoplewere shut out of theeconomy,withGreekandSpanishpeopletakingtheworstblowsofall.ProtestshadalreadyeruptedinAthensayearearlier,andthreepeoplelosttheirlives.ButonMay15,thenewlyformedgroup¡DemocraciaRealYa!or“RealDemocracyNow!”occupiedthePlazadelSolinMadrid.Thiswasthearrivalofthe“Tahrirmodel”intheWest,andthepresscalledthemtheindignados—thosefuriousatbanks, politicians, and the real-life devastation they had wrought. Over ahundred protest camps sprung up across the country, and Spanish protesterscalledonmoreoftheirGreekbrothersandsisterstojointhestruggle.1And they did. A teenager set up a Facebook page to organize a protest atSyntagma Square in downtown Athens, which remained occupied until thesummer. Invoking the spirit of Athenian democracy, assemblies sprang uparound thecountry.Thesegroups, especially thoseaffiliatedwith ¡DemocraciaRealYa!,werecommittedtohorizontalismandradicalparticipatorydemocracy.ThroughoutSpain,protesterssetup“people’sassemblies”thatsoughttocometodecisionsthroughfullconsensus.Anybodywasfreetojoin.2The contentionwas not limited to the permanent settlements.During thesemonths, it’spossible thatup to threemillionGreeks,a thirdof thepopulation,andsixmillionSpaniardsoutofaroundforty-fivemilliontotalparticipatedinawider set of marches and demonstrations. A vast majority of people in bothcountries said they agreed with the wider goals of the protest movements. InSpain and Greece, demonstrations pushed the governments to the brink ofcollapse.Butitdidnotcometothat.3Thiswas theWest,where life is different fromYemenorEgypt.Europeannations have a different place in the global system, and institutions in thesecountrieswerestableenough thatasystemic rupturedidnotoccur.Thearmedforces in NATO countries were certainly not going to abandon the state(however weakened) as the legitimate democratic authority in favor of anamorphous, left-leaningmovement,andNATOcertainlywasn’tgoing tobombitself.Lifewasverydifficult foryoungpeople inSouthernEuropeafter2008,butfewprotesterswerereadytotakeuparms,fight,anddiefortherejectionofEU-stylecapitalism.Thecontinent’srepressiveforces—andtheycertainlyexist—hadtheconfidencetoallowlegalproteststoflourish,andtheconfidencethatthey could do their job and violently repress the lawbreakerswithout invitingcondemnationfromtheinternationalcommunity.Unlesssocietyactuallygroundtoahalt,and thereproductionof theeconomicsystembecameimpossible, theinstitutionscouldsurvive.Andtheydid.4The demonstrations got big, very big, but they remained demonstrations.After the summer, the assemblies shrank, and then they shrank further. Onlyunemployedpeopleorstudentscouldspendalltheirtimethere(whichdictated,tosomeextent,thedemographicsofthelong-termoccupations),andeventheyfoundtheirenergysappedeventually.WithinthiswaveofFirstWorldoccupiers,therewasafundamentalsplitoverthe meaning of the protest camps. For anarchists, they were self-governedcommunitiesoperatingautonomouslyfromsociety,aseedthatcouldgrowintoaworldofitsown;forothers,theywereatemporaryrallyingpoint,astagefromwhichtoblastouttheirclaims.5AtOccupyWallStreet(OWS),whichbeganthatfall,manyaspectsoftheformerdidn’treallyworkout,whilethelatterdid.Occupy Wall Street (OWS) insisted that all decisions be reached throughconsensus.Atitsmostextreme,thisledtooutcomesinwhichatinynumberofpeoplecouldblock thewillof themajority.Oneday, civil rightspioneer JohnLewis arrived, signaling he supported the movement. A congressman in theUnitedStates government, thisman hadmarchedwithMartinLutherKing Jr.andhelpedforgethemodernrepertoireofcontentionwithhisownbodybackinthe1960s.Mostpeopleintheadhocassemblywantedtolethimspeak.Twodidnot.“Noparticularhumanbeingisinherentlymorevaluablethananyother,”oneofthem—awhitegraduatestudent—said.Lewiswasnotallowedtospeak.6AndtheninNewYork,therewerefightsoverwhocontrolledtheall-importantsocialmediaaccounts.Thesame thinghadhappened inSpain.FacebookandTwitterwerethesiteswherethedemonstrationsweredefiningwhattheyweremeanttodemonstrate.7OccupyWallStreetwas tinycompared tootheruprisings in thedecade.8 ItmostdefinitelywasnotabouttoforcetheendoftheFirstRepublicoftheUnitedStates;lifebarelychangedforpeoplewhowenttoworkeverydayindowntownManhattan.But it took place just a shortwalk from themost powerfulmediainstitutions in world history, and (after some initial hesitation on the part ofpapers like theNew York Times) they were able to get their message out.9 Ageneration that had very rarely heard any left-wing positions articulatedsuddenlysawthemembodiedintherealworld,andsomeparticipantswentontoinfluentialmediacareers.OWSengenderedarealdiscursiveshiftinthecountry,butthephysicaloccupationendedwithawhimper.IWATCHEDALLOFTHISfromBrazil.IhadFacebookand(still,Ithink)Myspace,but thosewere forkeeping tabson friends fromuniversityorhighschool.Fornews, I would open my web browser and read the Financial Times, Brazil’sFolha de S.Paulo, or my new employer (and, coincidentally, my hometownpublication), the Los Angeles Times. Our audience was principally the onemillionprintsubscribersinCalifornia,buttheinternetwasrapidlychangingthewayweworked.During Dilma’s first year in office, we had no earth-shaking uprising inBrazil.ButnearmyhomeindowntownSãoPaulo,onthesameroadastheoldoffices of Indymedia Brasil, I could feel the light tremors that connected thestreetsbelowme to the spirit of the age.TheMovimentoPasseLivreprotestshadtakenplaceearlierthatyear,thoughtheydidnothingtostoptheriseinbusfare.InJunetherewastheParadaGay,whichentirelyoverwhelmedmyblock.Globallyspeaking,SãoPauloisaquitetolerantplace,andtheGayParadewasalwayslarge.Butthisyear,fourmillionpeoplerushedthestreet.AndtherewastheMarchadaMaconha,ortheMarijuanaMarch,whichbroughttogetheraverydiverse group. Mayara was there, of course. Though it wasn’t the kind ofraucous,directlyconfrontationaleventthatherMPLorganized,therewerealotofpeoplefromtheautonomousmovementonthestreets,andthedayendedinclasheswithcops.Brazil’svery smallbutverywell-organized right-libertarianmovementalsoputpeopleintothestreetsthatday—buttheywerenottheoneswhofacedoffwiththepolice.Then inOctober,OcupaSampa—that is, “OccupySãoPaulo”—poppedupbeneathabridgenearCityHall.ItwasdirectlyinspiredbyOccupyWallStreet(which was inspired by Tahrir Square, which was inspired by the uprising inTunisia),anditwasmorevisiblethanitwaswell-attended.Iwalkedbythispartoftownallthetime,andthetentswerealwayspresenteveniftheywerefairlyempty.Inthispartoftheworld—andthatpartofthecityespecially—streetlifeis dominated by crime and violence that far exceed anything inNewYork orCairo.Thisscaredawaysomepotentialsympathizers.10Theorganizerscalledthemselvesindignadosandsaidthatthemovementwasaboutdirectdemocracy,aswellastheenvironment.Toexplaintheencampment,the media turned to “Anonymous,” the decentralized “hacktivist” collectivefamous forsubversiveactionand forwearing themask fromV forVendetta,arevolutionaryBritishgraphicnovelmadeintoa2005filmintheUnitedStates.11Under the bridge downtown, however, things looked desolate. Themovementdidnot“occupy”SãoPauloatall;somethingliketheoppositehappened.OcupaSampawasswallowedupbythedarknessofthecitycenter.Itwasontheotherend of the continent, way over on the coast of the Pacific Ocean, that SouthAmericawasmostvisiblyrockedbythespiritof2011.The leaders ofChile’s student protests disagree on the extent towhich theevents of that winter were inspired by the so-called Arab Spring. They hadoriginallyplannedtheiractionfor2010,butitwasdelayedwhenanearthquakedevastated the country that year.12 And crucially, these leaders were fromorganized, long-standing,and intentional studentassociations.Theircontentionwas planned well in advance; they were not a “spontaneous” reaction to anepisode of police abuse or war or revolution in the region. But they werecertainly carried out by student leaders who had been paying attention to theeventsof2011,and theywere reinterpretedand reproducedbyaglobalmediathat had gotten used to covering large explosions of progressive, youthfulenergy.THE PINOCHET DICTATORSHIP, WHICH TOOK shape after the US-backed coup thatendedthepresidencyandlifeofsocialistpresidentSalvadorAllende,madelifeverydifficult forstudentswhoseparentswerenotmembersof theuppercrust.True to the spirit of primordial neoliberalism, Pinochet privatized andfinancializedeverythinghecould,whichmeantthatalotoffamilieswentbroke,or tookonseriousdebt, tryingtomakeit throughtheeducationalsystem.Thisaffectedeventhecomfortablemiddleclasses.The terror unleashed by the junta was effective; there was comparativelylittleprotestinChileunderthedictatorship.Onesmallexceptioncamein1983–1985 when a global economic crisis (the same that affected North Africa soseverely)ledtoawaveofprotests.AfterthevotethatoustedPinochetin1990,thecenter-leftConcertación,orCoalitionofPartiesforDemocracy,discouragedrowdyactivism,afraidthattoomuchtroublecouldleadtoanothermilitarycoup.SoChilebecamefamousfora“conspicuousabsenceofcontentiouspolitics”intheyearswhentherestofLatinAmericawasrockedbyrollingwavesofanti-neoliberalprotests.13Thischangedin2006withthePenguinRevolution.A new student association, “more democratic, and horizontal” than itspredecessors, but still formally structured, submitted a set of proposals to thegovernment that would increase public funding and reduce inequality ineducation.Afterthiswasignored,thestudentslaunchedasetofconfrontationalstreet protests, and then got hundreds of thousands to take part in a sit-in inSantiago.Chileisaneatandtidycountry,visiblyinfluencedbythelegacyoftheEnglish capital that flowed into the country after it won independence fromSpain. High school students dress very formally, in black-and-white uniformsthat have earned them the nickname ofpingüinos. During the demonstrations,publicsupportforthelittlepenguinsreachedashighas87percent,andsocialistpresidentMichelle Bachelet formed an advisory commission, which came upwithapackageofreformsthatshetooktoCongress.Butlawmakerswouldnotpass them. Many students learned a lesson that year—you have to negotiatewhilethemovementisstillalive.Iftheenergyhasalreadydissipated,eliteshavenoreasontodoanythingtheydon’twanttodo.14Five years later in 2011, the same generation launched an altogethermorespectacular set of demonstrations. A conservative was now in power, thebillionairebusinessmanSebastiánPiñera,whichmeant thatprogressivesdidn’thavetoworryifabitofcontentionmightbebadfortheexecutive.Theprotestswere organized by elected student leaders at the country’s most importantuniversities,and theywereaimedat the for-profit,neoliberaleducationmodel.Theyhadformalassociations,theyhadresources(oftenmoneyraisedfromtheirfamiliesorprofessors),andtheyhadtheattentionofasympatheticmedia.Thecountry’sMapuche indigenouspeople alsobegan to embarkon a set of activeprotestsindefenseoftheirrightsinthesameyears,butsocialscientistsfindthattheyreceivedfarlessattentionthanstudentactionsthattookplaceinthecapital.The student leaders disavowed the destruction of property, caused by someprotesters in hoods, and instead generated the kinds of images that for-profitmedialovetoreproduce.Theyemployedcarnivalesqueorevenaffectivetactics,stagingparadesintheirunderwear,orputtingon“kiss-ins.”15Media in the country, and around theworld,wouldoftenhighlight that themovementwas not affiliatedwith any party.But therewere big exceptions. Itwas true that Giorgio Jackson, a student leader at the Pontifical CatholicUniversityofChile,andGabrielBoric,a risingstarat theUniversityofChile,werenotinanyoftheOldLeftparties.Boricwasanindierockkidwithmessyhair from the freezing-cold far-south of the country who helped build an“AutonomistLeft”non-partygroupincollege.ButCamilaVallejo,thepresidentof the student union at the University of Chile, was a member of Chile’scommunistparty,thePartidoComunistadeChile(PCCh).Vallejowasatalentedcommunicatorwho had been shaped by the Party’s internal education system.The PCCh had been around since 1912, having survived two right-wingdictatorships.Itwastightlystructured,anditsyoungmembersgetaneducationin bothMarxism-Leninism and practical activism. Camila Vallejo got specialattentionfrominternationalmediaforotherreasons.TheNewYorkTimesgaveher a big spread, with the slightly confusing headline “The World’s MostGlamorousRevolutionary.”Camilacertainlydresseswell,but she lookeda lotmore like a leftist college student than anyone who spent a lot of money onclothes.But thearticlegot to its realpointwithaquoteat theendof the firstparagraph:“She’shot.”16Thestudentsmanagedtowinverywidesupportfromthebroaderpopulation.Butwhenitcametotranslatingtheirleverageintopolicyoutcomes, they kept hitting the samewall, saidGiorgio Jackson.17 It was theconstitution put into place under Pinochet and still in effect. The Chileanredemocratization movement had never overcome that major hurdle. Bycontrast,Braziladoptedanew,relativelyprogressiveconstitution in1988afterthefallofitsdictatorship,offeringmanyrightstothepopulationincludingfreemedical care and free public universities (though real-life inequality has oftengotteninthewayofitsmoreambitiouspromises).The2011studentmovementforcedPiñeratoreplacetheeducationministerthreedifferenttimes.Heeventuallyagreedtomeetsomeoftheirdemands.Mostimportantly,heloweredtheinterestratesonstudentloans.Butthebigstructuralquestionswereoffthetable.Therewasasplitwithinthemovementonhowtodeal with this—on whether the point was to extract concessions by playingpolitics(largelyfavoredbypartymembers)orwhetherthecorrectmovewastoexpandstreetactionsandradicalize.BackinBrazil,membersoftheMovimentoPasseLivrepaidcloseattentiontotheircomradesinChile,andtheynaturallysympathizedwiththelattergroup.They favored themore “autonomous” forces that gained influence as the yearworeon.SeveralmembersoftheMPLwenttomeetwithprotestersinSantiagoand came back to São Paulowith amanual for training students in the art ofcontention.ButPiñeraandtherestof theChileanstatestoodstubbornlyin thewayofradicalchange.Asthedemonstrationsdraggedwellinto2012,itbecameclearthatdespitethelargestprotestssincethefallofthedictatorship,nomajorvictorieswereimminent.6ASocialNetworkINJULY2012,IGOTanemailfromanotherjournalistinSãoPaulo.“Weshouldgohave dinner with a couple big shot reporters from New York,” he wrote.“They’reherelookingtomeetpeople.”Ididn’tknowwhotheywere,butitwaseasy to read up on them.DavidCarrwas amedia correspondent for theNewYork Times who commanded a large following online. Andy Carvin was ajournalistatNPRwhohadjustwrittenabookcalledDistantWitnessabouthisexperience using Twitter to report on—and to some extent participate in—theeventsoftheso-calledArabSpring.A few months prior, I had started working in the newsroom of Folha deS.Paulo,Brazil’sprominentmainstreamnewspaper,whichwasorganizingtheirtalk.IwasnowtheBrazilcorrespondentfortheLATimes,butthatwasnolongerthekindofgig thatwasgoing togetyouanoffice.* IworkedoutadealwithFolha that IwouldmaintainanEnglish-languageblogon theirwebsite, calledFromBrazil, primarily so I could have a place to work that wasn’t my littlebedroom.1Atdinner,CarrandIgotalongverywell,andIsoonfeltthathehadtakenmeunderhiswing.HeaskedifIhadTwitter.Hewantedtotagmeinapost.No,Isaid.Well,Ihadcreatedanaccount,butneverputmynameonit.Franklythatseemedlikeastrangeexistence—inwhichyourpopularitywasquantifiedinrealtime in front of the entire world. That was very different from the socialnetworks I had been on since 2002: Friendster, thenMyspace, and Facebook,where you “connected”with your friends, rather than seeking followers. Untilthatpoint,socialmediahadplayedpreciselyzeroroleinmyprofessionallife.Ionlydealtwitheditors, tryingmybest toshowIcouldcoverpolitics inBrazil(whichwasnevergoingtobeahugecrowd-pleaser)wellenoughtostayinthegame.ButitmadesensethataboostfromCarrmightbeagoodplacetostart.IcreatedapublicTwitterprofile.Hewastheexpert,afterall.Their talk forFolhawas tobeabout thepowerofsocialmedia.Thismadesenseforacouplereasons.First,BraziliancorporatemediaisinalmostuniversalagreementwithUSmediaonbiggeopoliticalissues.IncountrieslikeArgentinaor Mexico, various media platforms view the US as a meddling imperialistpower, or at least a very unreliable ally. At Folha, journalists liked to tellforeignersthattheywerethe“NewYorkTimesofBrazil.”ItmadeperfectsensethatFolhawouldwanttohearfromCarrandCarvin.Andsecond,socialmediawasaveryimportantemergingissue—forWesternmedia,theUSgovernment,andawiderangeofcivilsocietygroupsaroundtheworld. Among these, there was near-universal agreement that technology ingeneral,andsocialnetworkslikeFacebookandTwitterspecifically,weregoingtomaketheworldabetterplace.Morefreeandmoredemocratic.Of course theywould—technological advances had driven human progresssince the timeof theEnlightenment. Indeed, the leapsandbounds in technicalcapacityhelpedgiverisetoourideaof“progress”inthefirstplace.Itwasonlyatinyminorityofpeople,mostlydrownedoutbycheerleadersforthese companies or ignored by well-funded government and nongovernmentorganizations,whopointedout thatwewerenotdealingwithpure technology;that thesewere a set of tools, and a set of powerful for-profit firms, that hadtakenshapeinveryparticularhistoricalcircumstances.The internet as we now know it today was created by the United StatesArmedForces during theColdWar.The agencies that built its core structureswere responsible for keeping groups like Students for a Democratic Societyunder surveillance and assisting counterinsurgency efforts in places likeVietnam. Domestically, the computers gave rise to a network allowingcommunicationsbetweenresearchers in theprivateandpublicsectors.Perhapseven more important than its roots in the US military-industrial complex,however,wasthetimeandplacethatregularpeoplebegantomovepartsoftheirlivesonline.The Ronald Reagan, GeorgeH.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton administrationsprivatizedthemachineworldintocorporateAmerica.Nothingwasmorenaturalfor the politicians of this era—public ownership was seen as barbaric, if notoutrightun-American.2Sofor-profitfirmswouldcontrolthecomputersandthebuilt environment of the online experience. One could very easily imagine adifferent internet if ithadbeenbuiltbyadifferentcountry—France?Vietnam?Iraq?—orevenatadifferentmomentinUShistory.3Butin thefirst twodecadesof the twenty-firstcentury, thevastmajorityofthe digital experience took place in spaces engineered and controlled by UScorporations.Asmore andmoreof theworldgained access to thenetworkofmachines—starting,ofcourse,withthewealthyandespeciallyyoungsegmentsof the world population—North American users became a minority, but theentireecosystemremainedprofoundlyshapedbythesefirms.4The companies often arose in SiliconValley, a region of Californiawheregovernment contracts andgooduniversities allowed for physical infrastructuretoflourishinsuburbsintheSanFranciscoBayArea.Culturally,thisnewcornerof US capitalism was shaped by free-market libertarian ideals, as well as aversionofnew-ageindividualistutopianismthathadsomerootsintheNewLeft.According to one prominent strain of thought, decentralization and thedestruction of all hierarchies that accompanied the advance of networktechnologywould distribute power, and itwouldmeandemocratization.Sometook this very literally—at theSynergiaRanch commune, run on a cyberneticnotioncalled“ecotechnics,”bothorganizationandcollectiveactionwerestrictlyforbidden.Inpractice,darkversionsofabusiveauthorityquicklyemerged.5ThefoundersoftheSiliconValleycompanies,enthusiasticpublicationslikeWired, and the US government itself all routinely professed—and seemed tobelieve—theywere“changingtheworld.”Forthebetter,ofcourse.Buttheyalsoneededtomakemoney.Andformanyofthem,thesolutiontothatproblemwasadvertising. I, myself, remember being delighted when I could begin usingGmail,therobustemailservicefromGoogle.Youhadtogetaninvitationbackin 2004. I never really thought to askwhat paid for it. The answer came outeventually,whichisthatGooglesearchedallofyourcommunicationsinordertounderstandyoubetter,sothatothercompaniescouldsellyoumorethings.Facebook,acompanyfoundedbyanundergraduateatHarvard,alsobeganasaservicerestrictedtoasmallelite.The“socialnetwork”expandedtoColumbiaandStanford,andthentootherprestigiouscolleges,thentowidersectionsofthepopulation,untileveryonewasinvited.Itsfounder,MarkZuckerberg,certainlydidn’t invent the social network—many others came first. But in terms of anadvertising-based,moneymaking operation, men like Zuckerberg took a hugeleapforwardfromthetelevisionmodelthatFernandoHaddadhaddescribedatthebeginningof themillennium.Socialmediabaronsdidn’thave tomake theshows.Insteadofproducingcontenttoattracteyeballs,theysimplyhadtheusersdo that themselves. Their communications with their loved ones, thephotographsof their lives, theirpublicdiscussionsaboutcultureandpolitics—allof thatwouldbecontentnow thatcouldbeused tohelpothercorporationssell things.Regardlessoforiginal intentions, the logicof thisdynamicdroveanumberofinnovationsdesignedtokeeptheusergluedtothewebsiteaslongaspossible.IdistinctlyrememberthedaythatFacebookaddedthe“like”buttontoits user experience. My network (it must be admitted, friends from a goodCalifornia university,manyofwhomendedupworking in “technology” firmsafter the2008crashdashed their otherhopes) reactedwith shockanddisgust.Allowing everyone to affirm (but not critique) and quantify each otherwith aclickseemedlikeacheapengagementtrick—whichitwas,anditworked.6Butevenas they emergedaswildlyprofitable entities in thebusinessworld, thesetechnology companies retained the sheen of anti-systemic, vaguelycounterculturalqueststosavetheworld.Forsomeofthesefirms,thatreputationwasnotjustmarketing.TWITTER HAD ROOTS IN THE alter-globalization movement. The anarchist EvanHenshaw-Plath, one of the engineerswho created the “micro-blogging” socialnetwork,hadbeenasoftwaredeveloperforIndymedia.Backinthelate1990s,hehelpedbuilda“statusupdate”newswireonthetopofIndymedia’swebpageinordertokeepreadersabreastofwhatwasgoingon—mostlywhere thecopswereandwhattheyweredoing—duringprotests.Thentheydevelopedawaytosend these out enmasse via text message. This eventually grew into Twitter,launched in 2006.With major investment flowing into the company, and thearrivaloffounderJackDorsey(whowascertainlyintoakindofradicalpolitics,but more business-driven, Henshaw-Plath remembers), the company began tolookforwaystomakemoney.7Anyonecouldsendthelittle“tweets”andchoosewhomto“follow.”QuicklytheservicemovedontotheinternetexclusivelyandbecamesomethingverysimilartoFacebook,exceptthatyouhadamuchsmallerprofileandcouldonlypostshortdispatches.DuringtheGeorgeW.Bushadministration,theUSStateDepartmentbegantrainingmovements inAsia,LatinAmerica,and theMiddleEast in theuseofdigital tools.8 It became state policy to push for global democratization usingtechnologyandsocialmedia.In2009,thousandsofIranianstooktothestreetstoprotestwhattheybelievedtobeafraudulentelection.SomeofthemwereusingTwitter, and this seemed to confirm that social media could push the worldtowardtheendofhistory.AndrewSullivan,forTheAtlantic,publishedapiecetitled “The RevolutionWill Be Twittered.” In theNew York Times, NicholasKristofclaimed that“in thequintessential21st-centuryconflict . . .on theoneside are government thugs firing bullets . . . on the other side are youngprotesters firing ‘tweets.’”9 It did not change the mainstream narrative muchwhen this round of contention in Iran achieved very little, and the Iraniangovernmentactuallyusedsocialmediatoidentifyandpromptlyarrestmanyofthe dissidents. Mark Pfeifle, a former deputy national security adviser in theGeorgeW.Bushadministration,triedtogivetheNobelPeacePrizetoTwitter.10GordonBrown,theprimeministeroftheUnitedKingdom,wentevenfurther.Referring to the 1994 genocide in central Africa, he said, “You cannot haveRwandaagainbecauseinformationwouldcomeoutfarmorequicklyaboutwhatis actually going on, and the public opinion would grow to the point whereactionwouldneedtobetaken.”11In2010,SecretaryofStateHillaryClinton,underPresidentBarackObama,likenedthepromotionofinternetfreedomtosupportfordissidentsintheUSSRduring theColdWar:“Asnetworksspread tonationsaround theglobe,virtualwalls are cropping up in place of visible walls.” In the International HeraldTribune,RogerCohenwrotethatwhile“Teardownthiswall!”wasatwentieth-century slogan, the same demand for the twenty-first was “Tear down thisfirewall!”EliLake,writingintheNewRepublic,madethesamecomparison.Belarusian theoristEvgenyMorozov—whoknewverywell that the endofcommunismdidnotgothewaymostpeopleinWashington,DC,andCaliforniathoughtithad(AleksandrLukashenkohasbeenentrenchedinpowerinBelarussince1994)—tried to pushback against thiswaveof uncritical boosterism forCaliforniabusinesses.ThesepeoplehadtheirColdWarhistoryverywrong,hesaid. Authoritarian governments are not passive simpletons waiting to beoverthrown,andtheycouldlearntousetheinternetthemselves,hepointedout.Whether rich Westerners realized it or not, situations even worse than thegovernanceofa stableauthoritarianstatewerepossible, includingcivilwarorfailedstates.Butifhewasgivenanyattentionwithinwhatbecameatsunamiofpraise for the technology sector, it was so he could be attackedwith recklessabandon.Inthemainstreampress,theinternetguyswerealmostalwaysthegoodguys.12Confidenceinthisperceptionwassodeeplyinternalizedthatthesecapitalistsspoke of “disruption” in society without feeling the need to demonstrate thataggressivelyshakingthingsupwouldleadtoimprovements.Thiswasnotfaroffthe logic of “beneath the stones, the beach,” or Tiririca’s “it can’t get anyworse.”Smashthingsup,andsomethingbetterwillemergefromthewreckage.This assumption seemedwidespread. In the 2008 election campaign, a youngsenator namedBarackObama had plastered his face over the unaccompaniedword“CHANGE,”andfewpeoplestoppedtorecognizethateverythingbadthathappensischange,too.The events of the so-called Arab Spring only reaffirmed the faith of theliberaltechno-optimists.ItwasundeniablethatFacebookhadplayedsomerolein the events of January 2011, and many of those who became unofficialspokespeoplefor“theSquare”alsobecamesuchonTwitter.Overthefollowingtenyears,mediacompanies,brands,andallkindsofcorporationswouldspendungodly sums of money trying to figure out which kinds of things generateengagementoncorporatesocialmedia.Butforwhateverreason,somepeople—whetheritwasbecausetheywerearticulate,loud,interesting,orshocking—rosetoprominenceonthesenetworks(oftentothechagrinofotherswhohadmoreinfluenceon thegroundorhadgaineda following in theolderworldof long-formblogs).“TheCheGuevaraofthe21stCenturyisthenetwork,”wroteAlecRoss,theofficerinchargeofdigitalpolicyinHillaryClinton’sStateDepartment,in2011inNATOReview. In theBrazilianpress, thecoveragewasnotsodifferent:“InNorth Africa, a new form of popular mobilization is trading in weapons forcellular phones,” declared a report broadcast that year by theGlobo network.“The Facebook Revolution allows individuals to construct the very facts thattheyarenarrating.Nothingwillstopit.”13Butfortherealpeoplethisterm,theSquare,usuallynamed—theprogressive,secularrevolutionariesinNorthAfricawhohadinspiredsomanyothersaroundtheworld—thingswerefarfromperfect,eveninthewakeofthemostsuccessfuluprisings.agenciesforalltheirhardwork.Themanwho followedmearoundMoscow inparticularmademefeelveryspecial.Allowme to offermy deepest acknowledgments to everyone Imentioned,andmyapologies—andverydeepthanks—toanyoneIhaveforgotten.IntroductionON JUNE 13, 2013, THEmilitary police attacked us.Wewere standing on a streetnamedConsolação in the center of SouthAmerica’s largest city. Themass ofpeoplehadcometoastopandwaslookingupahillatheavilyarmoredtroops,decidingwhattodonext,whenthecopsdecidedforus.Withoutwarning,theybegan shooting directly at the crowd—tear gas, shock bombs, maybe rubberbullets—itwashardtoknowinthemoment.Thepointofthiskindofrepressionistoforceyoutoimmediatelyseekshelterandstopthinkingaboutanythingbutyour own safety. The crowd stops being a crowd and is reduced to a set ofindividuals.Youcloseyoureyesandlookdownattheground,sneakingpeeksatyoursurroundings,seekingescape.Wescatteredthroughthenightintowhatevercrevicewecouldfind.Itwasdark,aswinterwasarriving,andaboutascoldasitever gets in São Paulo. There are skyscrapers everywhere in this city, and Ifoundabitofrefugeintheentranceofaresidentialbuilding.Ittookmeafewmoments to regainmysensesandrealizewhere Iwas,after IhadconfirmedIcouldstillbreathewithsomeregularity.Ihadbeentoalotofprotestsinmylife,aroundtheworldandinBrazil,andthiswasnew.Usuallythecrackdowncomesthroughwavesofescalating,back-and-forth provocation and reaction between the cops and the demonstrators.Thereareseveralopportunitiestoleaveifyoudon’twanttostickaroundfortheroughstuff, andyoucanoftenevenunderstandwhy thepolice take theactionthey do. Not this time. This felt like an intentional assault carried out by thestate.Iwasnotonthestreetsasaprotester;Iwasworkingasajournalist,bothasan internationalcorrespondentandoneofa fewpeople fromtheUnitedStateswithsomeroleintheBrazilianmedia.Itfeelsalittlesillytosaythatthepoliceattacked“us,”when the reporterswereprobablynot the intended target of theoffensive, andwewerenot thebraveprotagonists actually trying to take risksand make history that night. But the fact that journalists also suffered is, Ibelieve,crucialforunderstandinghowtheseeventsshapedhistory.Thepoliceassaultstartstobecomecomprehensibleifweanalyzeeverythingthatleduptothatnight.Butevenmorefascinating,evenmorepuzzling,iswhatcamenext.Howis itpossible that theprotestsofJune2013led to thecountrythat existedby theendof thedecade?Thisquestion is far fromsettled.WhenyouposeittotheBrazilianswholivedthroughallofthis,youmaybeansweredwith careful (though usually varied and contradictory) analysis, ormetwith aflashofrageoralookofdejection,followedbyanemptystareintothedistance.Fornow,wecanbrieflysummarizetheeventsthatfollowed.Thecrackdownon June 13 led to an explosion of sympathy for demonstrations that had beenorganizedbyasmallgroupofleftistsandanarchistsdemandingcheaperpublictransportation. Millions of people took to the streets, shaking the Brazilianpolitical system to its core.New demonstrators brought new demands—betterschools and healthcare, less corruption and police violence—into the massmovement, which could be read as fundamentally progressive. Indeed, theleaders of the Workers’ Party—which had been in power since 2003—interpretedtheuprisinginexactlythisway.At thebeginningof2013, itwaspossible toclaimthatBrazil’sPartidodosTrabalhadores(PT),orWorkers’Party,hadcarriedoutthemostsignificantsocialdemocraticprojectinthehistoryoftheGlobalSouth.OutsidetherichcountriesoftheFirstWorld,aleft-leaninggovernmenthadmanagedtocombineeconomicgrowth,withinthecapitalistworldsystem,withsocialpoliciesthatmeaningfullyalleviatedpoverty,garneringwidespreadsupportwithina liberaldemocracy. ItappearedtoLuizInácio“Lula”daSilvaandhissuccessor,DilmaRousseff,thatthepeopleonthestreets inJune2013weresimplyaskingformore.But justafew years later, the country would be ruled by the most radically right-wingelectedleaderintheworld,amanwhoopenlycalledforareturntodictatorshipand mass violence. Public services would fall apart as poverty mounted andofficials bragged about the state murder of Brazilian citizens.1 In short—theBrazilianpeoplegottheexactoppositeofwhattheyappearedtoaskforinJune2013.INTHEPASTDECADE,FROM2010to2020,thiskindofstorywasfarfromunique.Around the world, humanity witnessed the explosion of mass protests thatheraldedprofoundchanges.Theywereexperiencedaseuphoricvictoryfortheirparticipantsandmetwithadulationandoptimismintheinternationalpress.Butyears later, after most of the foreign reporters were gone, we see that theuprisings preceded—if not necessarily caused—outcomes that were verydifferent from the goals of the movements. Nowhere did things turn out asplanned. In far too many cases, things got much worse, according to thestandardsarticulatedbythestreetsthemselves.Indeed,itmightevenbepossibletotellthestoryofthatdecadeasthestoryofmass protests and their unexpected consequences. At the risk of appearingover-ambitious,thisbookwillattempttodojustthat.Whathappensifwetrytowritethestoryoftheworld,from2010to2020,guidedbyonepuzzlingquestion—howisitpossiblethatsomanymassprotestsapparentlyledtotheoppositeofwhattheyaskedfor?BeginninginTunisiain2010,protestsrapidlyescalatedintosomethingmuchlarger, andqualitativelydifferent, thanwhat eitherparticipantsorofficialshadinitiallyexpected.Withonegovernmentoverthrown,othermovementserupted,either toppling leaders or leading to profound changes across the region, in aprocesstheforeignpressdubbedthe“ArabSpring.”By 2013, theBrazilian people andmedia already had a ready-made set ofconceptsthatcouldbeusedtointerprettheirincipientprotestmovement.SomeoutletsendedupcallingtheJunedemonstrationsthe“BrazilianSpring.”2OnthenightofJune13,thecrowderuptedintoachantasweweretear-gassed:“Loveisover.Turkeyishere!”Theywerereferringtoprotestsandrepressiongoingonatthe same time in Istanbul. I put this on Twitter and—in one of my firstexperienceswith the ups and downs of socialmedia—it went viral. Over thenextfewweeks,IreceivedphotosandmessagesfrompeopleinGeziPark,thesiteoftheTurkishprotest,holdingsignssayingthingslike“thewholeworldisSãoPaulo”and“TurkeyandBrazilareone.”By2020,afterstreetbattlesfromChile to Hong Kong, the world had experienced more mass protest in thepreviousdecadethanatanyotherpointinhumanhistory,exceedingthefamousglobalcycleofcontentioninthe1960s.3Butwas that right?Was thewholeworld reallySãoPaulo?Was it actuallycorrecttoaffirmthat“everywhereisTahrir,”asanEgyptiansloganhadclaimedearlier in thedecade? I believe that inmanyplaces, certainly inBrazil, thingswouldhavegonedifferentlyiftheseconnectionshadnotbeenmade.Diditmakeanysenseatall todeclare therewasa“Spring” inBrazil,oreven in theArabworld itself? Mass demonstrations in certain places had inspired uprisingselsewhere, both emotionally and in the tactics thatTunisiawaslockedintorturousnegotiationstoshapeitsfuture.AndinEgypt,thoughsomedemonstratorshadchantedthat“thepeopleandthearmyareonehand,”faith in theSupremeCouncilof theArmedForces(SCAF)haddissipatedafterMubarak’sdeparture.SCAFput forwarda setofconstitutionalamendments, but many revolutionaries opposed quick and easy changes toMubarak’sconstitution,sayingthattheywere“rushingtheprocessoftransitiontobenefit conservativepolitical forces thatarealreadywellorganized, suchastheMuslimBrotherhood.”14TheninOctober,acrowdofpeoplefromEgypt’sCopticChristianminoritygathered in front of the Maspero television building in downtown Cairo toprotest the destruction of a church in Upper Egypt. SCAF forces crushed thedemonstrators,killingatleasttwenty-fourpeople.Governmenttanksrolledovertheirbodies,whilestatemediablamedtheprotestersforincitingviolence.Thiswas the exact same type of brutality that had inspired the uprising in the firstplace.ButtheEgyptianrevolutionariesonlyreallyhadonearrowintheirquiver:they could try to takeTahrir Square again.All types of protests took place in2011and2012,butunlesstheyforcedthecountrytoahalt,again,theyremaineddemonstrations. Unless they could oust SCAF and replace it with a newrevolutionary government, they would have to rely on negotiations andconversationsuntil theplannedelections.But theSquarewas splintered intoanumberof smallgroups,whichmade themeasy to ignore. IfSCAFwanted todialogue with civil society, the Muslim Brotherhood stood out as a singlecoherentorganizationwithareliablebaseofsupport.NewelectionsdidgoaheadinMay2012.TheMuslimBrotherhoodwouldberepresentedbyMohamedMorsi,whowasrigidandconservativebythepreviousstandards of the Islamist group. Candidate Ahmed Shafik represented acontinuation of the Mubarak approach to governing. Hamdeen Sabahi, aNasseristsocialdemocratandoneofthefoundersoftheKefayacoalitionbackin2004,promisedafairereconomyandfulldemocratization.Ininterviewsandprivate conversations, he sometimes pointed to a development path forged faroutsidetheArabworld—hewasinspiredbyBrazilianpresidentLula,whohadgoverned democratically and improved the lives of the poorwithout breakingwiththeglobalsystem.15GehadchosetovoteforHamdeenSabahi—shethoughthewasthecandidatewho most stood for “bread, freedom, and social justice,” that originalrevolutionary slogan. Some other young secular revolutionaries, like Gehad’sfuturehusband,Ahmed,chose tobackAbdelFotouh,a formermemberof theMuslim Brotherhood seen as progressive compared to most Islamists. Thatseemedlikeagoodtacticalchoice,Ahmedfigured,giventhatFotouhcouldbothrepresenttherevolutionandappealtothecountry’slargereligiousbloc.AhmedwouldhavebeenveryhappytoseeHamdeenSabahiwintoo.Otherrevolutionariescalledforaboycottofthevote.Forsome,thepointwasnever to “represent” the peoplewith new repressive structures at all. Hossam“3arabawy” el-Hamalawy, the revolutionary socialist, believed in seizing statepower,buthethoughtthattheuprisingwasstillunderway,andtheprioritywastoremoveSCAF,notlegitimizetheirrulebytakingpartintheirelections.Theyhadbeensuccessful inorganizingstrikessince thefallofMubarak,and itwasobvious to him that the revolution still controlled the streets. The bloggerMahmoud“Sandmonkey”Salemcameoutinsupportofspoilingballots.Hesaidthattherealpointwastosay“fuckyoutotheSupremeCounciloftheMuslimBrotherhood.”He rejected the interimmilitary government thatwas clearly indialoguewiththeIslamists,andhedidnottrustSCAFtoputonfairelections.Butquitealotofpeoplevoted,andtheelectionseemedlegitimate.InthefirstroundMorsigot25percent,Shafikreceived24percent,andSabahiandFotouhtook21and17percent,respectively.Thesecularrevolutionarieswerehorrified.TheelectionwouldcomedowntoarunoffbetweentheMuslimBrotherhoodandtheold regime. If theyhadbeenable toorganizeaunited front, thecombinedvotesforSabahiandFotouhwouldhaveeasilysurpassedthenumbersearnedbyMubarak’sman. In the second round,Morsiwon.After eighty-four years, theMuslimBrotherhoodwouldbeinchargeofrunningthecountry.ThiswasgoodnewsforTurkey,whileSaudiArabia,despite its religiousextremism,had longviewedtheBrotherhoodasitsrival.Tosomeextent,Morsi’sarrivalseemedtobeavictoryforQatar,thesmallGulfmonarchythathadplayedanoutsizeroleinregional politics since founding Al Jazeera, and whose leaders were morefriendlywiththeMuslimBrotherhoodthanthemonarchyinRiyadh.Itwasnotclearwhat itwouldmean for Egyptians.But still,Gehad thought, at least thecountry now had a democracy, and afterMorsi took over, the forces of civilsocietywouldbeabletoprotest,orregroup,towinthenextelection.Meanwhile in Syria, the uprising had turned into a fully fledgedwar. TheObama administration took the same position as its Saudi ally and beganprovidingsecretsupporttotheFreeSyrianArmyin2012.Earlyinthatconflict,internationalsupportfor theSyrianoppositionwasdrivenbyaveryprominentonline personality. A young and beautiful woman, posting as “Gay Girl inDamascus,” regaled Western followers with tales of resistance to the brutalAssad regime. They were shocked when she was abducted by the Syriangovernment. Supporters launched a campaign to find her and save her life.Journalists (including Andy Carvin at NPR) began to look into her story. ItturnedoutthatshewasafictionmadeupbyaboredgraduatestudentfromtheUnitedStates.16In Yemen, the eruption of mass protests starting in 2011 had forced AliAbdullahSalehtostepdownafterthirty-threeyearsinpower.ButSaudiArabia,thepowerfulcountrytothenorthoftheborder,brokeredadealthatallowedhisdeputy,AbdrabbuhMansourHadi,totakeover.Inearly2012heranunopposedforpresident,andprotests startedagainas rebels in thenorthandsouthof thecountryboycottedthevote.17Tunisia, the country that had started it all, struggled through the difficultprocessofdraftinganewconstitution.Preexistingparties—theIslamistsandtheleftists and the liberals—tried tohammeroutadocument thatwouldbring thecountryintothedemocraticworld,reflecttheinterestsofthepeople,anddeliveronthespiritofJanuary2011.ButMayaJribi,thesecretarygeneralofthePartiDémocrate Progressiste (PDP), noted that the uprising had not provided thecountrywithaconcretepoliticaldirection.Theywereusingtheinstitutionsthatwere there before, rather than building truly new ones. There was no majorchangetoeconomicconditionsinthecountry.“What happened,” she said, “is more than an uprising, but less than arevolution.”187CowboysandIndiansI LIVED A BLESSED LIFE as a correspondent in Brazil. The task I was given, toattempt to understand the country, was endlessly fascinating. As a journalist,youronlyrealvalueisthatyoucangetverysmart,orveryinteresting,orveryimportant people to speak with you because they want to be in the paper, orbecauseitistheirjob.ThiswasanimmenselyenjoyableendeavorduringagreattimetobealiveinSãoPaulo.AndconsideringIhada(relatively)full-timejob,paidinUSdollars,IlivedamuchmorecomfortablelifethanthevastmajorityofBrazilians. There is no way you can do this job properly without correctlyidentifying your own objective relationship to the subjectmatter, and the vastmajorityofcitizensoftheUnitedStatesofAmericaareinthetop10percentofearnersintheglobalpopulation.1University-educatedprofessionalsinexclusivefieldslikemediabreatheevenmorerarefiedair.InBrazil,justasintheUnitedStates,havinglightskinmakesyourlifealoteasier.InthethirteenyearssinceImovedtoBrazil,notasinglecophaseversaidawordtomeonthestreet.Theirjobistherepressionofadifferentpopulation.Everyday,IwalkedfrommyapartmentdowntowninthePraçadaRepúblicato the offices ofFolhadeS.Paulo,where I hadmy desk space. Iwould passthrough parts of Cracolândia, or “Crack Land,” the sprawling community ofstreetresidentsanddrugusersinthecity.Butthisisnotapoorcountry;it’sanunequalcountry.NomatterhowplushmylifewasinSãoPaulo,IwasstilloftenshockedtohearabouthowsomecolleaguesintheBrazilianmedialived:singlepeopleintheirtwentieswhohadamaidcometocleantheirapartmentsthreeormoretimesaweek;highlyeducated,cosmopolitanintellectualswhohadn’t theslightest clue how to do the dishes. The journalists atFolha were not highlypaid, but almost all of them came from families of European descent andattended elite, private educational institutions. Less than half of Braziliansidentifyaswhite.Lookingaroundthenewsroomin2012(severaltimes),IneversawasingleBlackreporter.As ithappens,BrazilwasnotcheapatallwhenIarrived. Insomeways, itwasmoreexpensive thanLondon,where I liveduntil2010.Someof thehypesurrounding Brazil was the result of a coincidental global imbalance thatemergedinthewakeof the2008financialcrisis.Aspartof theresponsetoaninflationcrisisinthe1980s(causedbythedebtcrisisinitiatedbytheUSFederalReserve’s interest rate increaseunderChairmanPaulVolcker), thegovernmenthadsaddledBrazilianswithsomeofthehighestrealinterestratesintheworld.This worked to stabilize the currency, but it also meant that even if regularpeople couldbuy their firstwashingmachineunderLula, theypaid exorbitant(andhidden)feestofinancethem.After the 2008 financial crisis, the United States government failed toconstruct a fiscal response (for example, boosting the economy by spendingmoneyonthingslikeinfrastructureandpublicservices)andinsteadreliedontheFederal Reserve to slash its rates to historic lows. This unleashed a wave ofcapitalintotheworld(andespeciallyintothetechsector)seekingreturns.Whenit came toBrazil, the“carry trade” strategy—simply takeoutmoneywith lowinterestratesandputitinaplacewithhighones—servedtoinflatethevalueofthereal.Thismade itabitcheaper fornormalpeople tobuyforeigngoodsortravel abroad for the first time; it also meant the deindustrialization of theeconomy,anditallowedBraziltobecometheworld’ssixth-largesteconomy.2Butontheground,andinthedata,itwasundeniablethatsomethingrealwashappening.Manypeopleyoumet,richorpoor,weredoingthingstheyhadneverdone before. Poor people got full-time jobs with benefits, or took their firstflight. Middle-class kids got to vacation in Paris or Tokyo or Mexico City.Throughout 2012, Dilma’s approval rating hovered around 65 percent.Conservative forces weremuted. Analysts called this phenomenon the direitaenvergonhada,or“embarrassedright,”alegacyofthefactthatalmosteveryoneagreedthatduringthemilitaryregime,thelefthadfoughtfordemocracy,andtherighthaddefendeddictatorship.AcolleagueatTheEconomist(whogrewupinPoland, where they had a different historical memory of the left) wrote abemused column during Rousseff’s first term, noting that out of thirty-tworegisteredparties,twenty-sixhadnamesthatsuggestedprogressivevalues.TheBrazilian political terrain comprised “fifty shades of pink,” someone told themagazine.3Muchofmyworkasareporterwasfocusedonthewaysinwhichthesocialrevolutionwasstillincomplete.Iwentoutandspoketoteachersworriedaboutabysmal educational conditions for poor children—these had improved underEducationMinisterHaddad,buttherewasaverylongwaytogo.Therewastheobvious,andpersistent,problemofcrimethathadmadeRio’sfavelasinfamous.Iattendedpartiesorganizedbydrugtraffickersasresearch—yes,journalism—inmunicipalterritorycontrolledbyorganizationssuchasComandoVermelho(RedCommand) or Amigos dos Amigos (Friends of Friends), where I spoke withsome of their leaders. Cops were not allowed anywhere inside their turf.Teenagers wearing nothing but sandals, surfing boardshorts, and huge assaultrifleshandledtheirsecurity.Iespeciallylovedgettingoutofthecities;Iwasluckyenoughtoreportfromeveryoneofthetwenty-sixstates,oftencrossingthewholecountrybybus.TheAmazonbasincovers2.5millionsquaremiles,roughlyequivalenttothearea covered by the European Union and India combined. Brazil governs thelion’sshareoftherainforest,whichishometomuchoftheplanet’sbiodiversityand socrucial for theglobe’soxygenproduction.Onceyougetout there,yourealize that much of this biodiversity is bacteria, viruses, or animals that aretryingtokillyou,butthatdoesn’tmakethemlessbeautiful,orlessimportant.Ispenta lotof time in the jungle,attempting toexplainwhysomuchof itwasgoingaway.ThebattleoverlandhasbeenatthecenterofBrazilianpoliticssincethecountry’sbirth,anditisrelevanttothefutureofhumanity.Ibecameclosetoagroupof scientistswhooperate as an environmental protection force for thefederal government. My main contact in this world was a federal agent inBrazil’s Institute ofEnvironment andRenewableNaturalResources (IBAMA)named Olavo Perin Galvão, a kind man who patiently explained to me thediversityoftheforestryandthenatureoftheworkdonebyhisteam.Armedandhighlytrained,theyscannedthevastregionforpotentialdeforestationsitesusingsatellitedatatofindsuspiciousholesintheforestfollowedbyflyoversinsmallplanes. Finally, when there was a clear target, they would touch down in ahelicopter to investigate. Often, they would find telltale equipment or landconverted into pasture for cows. Sometimes there were people on the sites,shooting at the helicopter as it got closer to the ground. I touched downwiththem many times. They would fan out, searching for clues, and immediatelydeterminewhatkindofoperationwasunderway.Olavowouldexaminethesoiland track down any supplies or equipment. Many times, as the day ended, Iwouldstandbackandwatchastheytorchedeverythingtheyfound.4TheIBAMAhadtheauthoritytofinerancherswiththebackingofthefederalgovernment.ButtheyalsoranupagainsttheotherconcretepowerstructuresinBrazil’s political economy. The president governing from Brazil’s capital,Brasília, does not control every aspect of life on the ground any more thanpoliticians in Washington, DC, could micromanage frontier law in the WildWest.Ifyouworkedthecourtsrightorputoperationsinthenameofsomelow-levelcriminal,thebenefitofthedeforestationcouldoutweighanyfinesincurred.Thatis,giventherealsetofregulationsandpunishmentswithintheAmazon,itiseconomicallyrationaltocutitdown.Indeed,thelocalpoliticalstructureswereoftenhighlysympathetictothedeforestationeconomy,ifnotentirelydependentuponit.Olavotoldme,onedayinthetruckaswerolledthroughthewasteland,howmanyseriousthreatstheyreceived.Manypeopleunderstandthattheforestisshrinking.Fewrealizewhattakesitsplace.Thecommunitiesthatexistinbetweenthethick,darkgreenfoliage,areprimarilycowboyoutposts,ineverysensethatthewordconnotes.Menwearbigbelt buckles, cowboy boots, and big cowboy hats. They amble into wateringholes to get drunk and listen to country music without bothering to hide thepistolsontheirhips.Cattle,whichtransformthesoilandhelpdestroythejungle,aretheirsourceofincome.Atonebar,Istoodoutlikeasoreurbanthumbandtold the locals unconvincingly (but accurately, technically) that Iwasgoing towriteaboutcountrymusicandculture.Residentslookoncityfolkthatcomeoutthereasempty-headeddo-gooderstryingtodestroytheirlivelihoods.Thissceneattractsoutlawswhocancrossstatelinesandstartanewlifetoevadethepolice.After that night in the cantina, I went to watch a local motocross show on adeforestedpieceofdirtnearbywithayoungwomanImet.“Wehave to leave,” she said, as soonaswearrived.Herex-boyfriendwasthere.Oh,it’snobigdeal,Isaid,it’snotlikeweareonadate.I’mjustacluelessgringojournalist,wecantellhimthat.“Ohno,youdon’tunderstand,”shesaid.“He moved out here because he is wanted for murder in several states.” Iskippedtherace.RELATIONSWITHTHEUNITEDSTATEShadimprovedunderDilma,afterWashingtonwas displeasedwith President Lula’s attempt (togetherwith Turkish presidentTayyipErdoğan)toorganizeanIrannucleardealin2010.TheUSconsistentlypushed Brazil to adopt its oppositional stance toward the Hugo Chávezgovernment in Venezuela. For her part, Dilma enthusiastically supported theBRICSandwascommittedtobuildingnetworksof“South-Southcooperation.”5In2010,whenBrazilbegandevelopmentofitsmassiveoffshoreoilreserves—accompaniedbythelargeststockofferinginthehistoryoftheworld—expertsinthe North Atlantic issued concerned warnings that the “developmentalist”provisiontoreinvesttheprofitsinlocalindustrywouldbeunfairtointernationalcompanies.6Athome,DilmaoversawthelaunchofaTruthCommissionthatinvestigatedthecrimescommittedby themilitarydictatorship. Itwas thereproductionofasuccessfulmodeldevelopedinplaceslikeArgentina,Chile,andSouthAfrica.Ithadnoteeth,butbehindthescenesatthearmedforces,thetopbrassdidnotlikethisonebit.Thearmedforceshadbeenre-empoweredstartingin2004,whentheBrazilian military went to Haiti as part of the United Nations StabilizationMission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) and reportedly committed egregious abusesagainst the local population, especially Haitian women. And if you listenedcarefully, you could hear wealthy Brazilians start to complain that the poorseemedtobedoingalittletoowell.*Butallofthisfeltlikebackgroundnoise—the quiet mutterings of a ruling class that was getting used to a new reality.Nothing served to reinforce the idea that this moderate social revolution washeretostaymorethanthenewmaninchargeofSãoPaulo.2013BeginsFernandoHaddadtookofficeasmayoronJanuary1,2013.Thiswasasurpriseachievement for São Paulo progressives, both culturally and politically. Thecountry’s economicpowerhousehadelectedcenter-right candidates in thepasttwocontests.Butnow,aftera fulldecadeofWorkers’Party ruleat thefederallevel,votershandedcityhall toa socialist intellectualwhohadmaturedunderone of Lula’s large wings. He was also a man who played guitar onstagealongsideUSrapgroupPublicEnemy,proposedanurbanmodelwithlesscarsandpollution,andpromised to revitalize thehistoriccitycenter.7Ashesetuptheofficeofhissecretaryofculture,heestablishedlinkswithsomeoftheyoungpeopleorganizingstreetfestivalsandprotesteventssince2011,includingsomeofthosewhohadtiestothealter-globalizationmovement.Bythenumbers,hisvictorywasdrivenbyvotesinthecity’spoorperiferia,butitalsodelightedalotofpeopleintheleft-leaningworldofuniversity-educatedartists,musicians,andwriters—speakingfrankly,forthesocialgroupsIhadjoined.The short campaign had provided a little bit of drama. For awhile,mediapersonalityCelsoRussomannodominatedheadlines.Hewasamanpermanentlyin TV makeup—a gifted showman who had made his name giving tips toconsumersanddefendingtherightsofthecustomer.Whetherthiswascelebratedor derided, it was a fact that the Lulista model of development meantincorporating the poor into full citizenship through participation in consumersociety,andthesewerepopularthemes.8Thecountry,likesomanyintheGlobalSouth,was living through a boom in shoppingmall construction.9 EvenmorenewsworthywasthefactthatRussomannoraisedeyebrowsbyappealingdirectlyto the country’s growing evangelicalChristian population.This group’s powerandinfluencewereontherise,butithadneverbeensoclearlyinthespotlight.Iwenttospendtimeinthechurches,wheretwothingsbecameclear.First, theyprovided a trulymeaningful space for regular people.ProtestantpastorsengageddirectlywithworkingBrazilians(almostallofwhomusedtobeRoman Catholic), and many reported turning their lives around after findingJesus in these new churches. Second, pastors often presented donations to thechurchesnotsomuchasgoodworksdoneinserviceoftheLord,butasakindofinvestment. Ifyoudidwhat thechurchasked,youweregoing toget rich;youweregoingtoeventuallygetmoremoneyoutofthiswholeschemethanyouputin.Thatexplainedwhysomanyfoundersofthemegachurchesweremega-rich,andwhycountries inAfrica, likeAngola andMadagascar, actually shut downtheirchurches.10ASSOONASHETOOKpower,Haddadfelt thathewasfightinga rearguardbattleagainst the city’s conservative elites and the media they owned. Fights overpolitics,playingoutinmediabothsocialandtraditional,oftenrevolvedaroundhisflagshipprogramstoexpandbikelanesinthecityandspendmoneytreatingdrugaddictslivingonthestreetsdowntown.Fightsovercontrolofthestreetsgotparticularlynasty,withmotoristsinsistingthatSãoPaulowasnotAmsterdamorBerlinandthattryingtopushcyclingculturewasleft-wingsocialengineering.AcolumnistatVejawentasfarastoquestionwhytheciclovíaswerepaintedred—was that propagandameant to spread the color of socialism and theWorkers’Party? Even more outlandish was the claimmade later in the magazine—thekindof thing thatwouldgoviralonline—thatHaddadwas the“Talibanof thebicycle;ISISontwowheels.”11Influentialsectorsfeltthatallofthisprogressivestuffhadgonetoofar.Thenewmayor became deeply frustratedwith themedia coverage; he felt hewasalwaysplayingdefense,facingoffwiththeright.InMarch2013,IwroteanarticleaboutmediacultureinBrazilandfocusedon national politics. The story sought to situate and explicate a puzzlingphenomenon:HowwasitthatDilmaRousseffnowenjoyedapprovalratingsashighasthe70s,butnotasinglemajorpublication, televisionstation,oronlineoutlet supportedher administration?Coveragewasuniversally critical.Almostallofthemajormediainthecountryhadalsosupportedthecoupbackin1964,andInotedthatitwastheexactsameoutlets—andthesamefamiliescontrollingthem—thatdominatedthelandscapein2013.Iwasworkinginsideoneofthese,andIthinkthatemphasizingthispointmayhavecausedalittlebitofdiscomfortinthenewsroom.Mycolleaguestherestressedthatitwasnotonlytheirbosseswho belonged to a particular economic class—much of the bestmedia in thecountry was aimed at the audience who drove subscription and advertisingrevenue. “Think of a lawyer in São Paulo,” one editor said. And this classespecially, like the economists they consulted, believed thatDilma’s economicpoliciesweredangerouslywrongheaded.12ButinMay2013,itwasneithermunicipalconcernsnormacroeconomicsthatheldmyattention.Asadly familiar story—in thestateofMatoGrossodoSul,localranchershadapparentlyhiredpistoleros,localgunmen,tomurdermembersof theTerena tribe.Of course, itwas a fight over land. In disputed territories,indigenous people sometimes fight with bows and arrows, or clubs. Thecowboysalwaysusebullets.Theymaynothavethefederalgovernmentontheirside, but they have enough to get the job done. In the Guarani-Kaiowácommunity, thisdynamichad led indigenouspeople to slowlykill themselves.Overthepreviousthreedecades,membersofthistribehadcommittedsuicideatsixtytimesthenationalaverage.AsJune2013began,IwassittinginahutwithAlda Silva Kunha Tupa Rendyi, listening to her explain why they no longerwantedtolive.8MinorityReportISTIKLALAVENUERUNSTHROUGHTHEcenterofIstanbul,ontheEuropeansideofthe ancient city. There are no cars here, just endless street cafés and vendorssellingicecreaminthesummerorroastedchestnutsinthewinter.Youcanpopdown a tiny side street, perhaps built when this was still the capital of theByzantine Empire, and have grilled lamb and fresh vegetables, or a bottle ofEfesbeer,brewedandbottled inTurkey.Justa fewblockseast is thewateroftheBosporusStrait,whichyoucanjumpon,viaferry,tothemoreconservativeand religious Asian side of the city. Istiklal, on the other hand, has been thetraditional heart of secular elite culture, the stomping ground of the urbanbourgeoisie and its fun-loving children, many of whom fared well under themodernizing regime ofMustafaKemalAtatürk. If youwalk up to the end ofIstiklal Avenue, you will find a big open space, Taksim Square, and then ahumblepatchoftreesandgrass,calledGeziPark.Itisnotaparticularlyspecialorbelovedpark,butitisinthemiddleofeverything.Inthebeginningof2013,activistsstagedasetofinterventionsindefenseofthe environment, public space, and the secular lifestyle in general. Therewasnothingverysurprisingaboutthis.Thiswasademocracy,andthecitywasgoingthrough a number of transformations that were always going to be subject todiscussionandcontestation.Thatishowthegameissupposedtoworkintheeraof liberal globalization. For many years, Turkey had often been held up,especially byWesterners, as amodel for the rest of theMuslimworld.UnderRecepTayyipErdoğan,firstelectedprimeministerin2002,theEuropeanUnionbegantoseriouslyconsider(orat leastdiscuss) thepossibilityofadmittingthecountryasamember.ErdoğanhadincorporateditsMuslimmajoritymorefullyinto the body politic, while remaining ardently pro-Western and bringing thecountryinlinewiththerulesoftheglobalcapitalisteconomy.TheTurkishleft,historically strong enough that the military felt the need to take power in aviolent 1980 coup, denounced this as neoliberal capitulation and pointed towidening inequality. But Erdoğan had established a broad coalition ofsupporters,andhisproject—moderateIslamism,pro-business,andpro-Western,contestingelections—appearedhegemonic. InMarch2013,hisapproval ratinghoveredaround60percent,thoughitwasonly46percentinIstanbul.1Protestsbeganwhenintellectualsandartistsinthatcitymobilizedagainstthedemolitionofabeloveddowntowncaféandthenahistoricmovietheater,whichweretobecastintothedustbinofhistorytomakewayforanewshoppingmall.2The activists failed, and themallwent forward.A group of environmentalistsmade contact on social media so that they could do something to protect thecity’s remaining green spaces from rapacious development. Furkan, a collegestudentfromIstanbul,joinedtheloosenetworkandstartedplanning.Likemanyofhisfriends,helookedmoretoEuropethantotheArabworldforinspiration.They were moved more by the ways that environmentalists organized in theWest,andthewaythatleftistshadtakentothestreetsinnearbyGreecein2011,than theexampleofTahrirSquare. Inanycase,hedidn’thavemuchhopehislittlegroupof treehuggerswouldaccomplishmuch,asidefromslowingdowntheongoingcommodificationofIstanbul.3OnTwitter,hediscoveredthatthecityplannedtobulldozetreesinGeziParkonthenightofMay27. Inaddition todestroyingabitofnature, thepresidentwanted to build a large mosque, which would celebrate the Ottoman period.Furkan and a fewdozen comradeswent to the park.Agroup totalingperhapseighty-fiveactivists,fifteenjournalists,andonememberofparliamentfromthepro-Kurdishpartymanagedtostopthebulldozers.Butthosebigmachinesweregoingtocomeback.Theprotestersspreadtheword,andathousandpeoplecameout the next night. Most were committed environmentalist types, with asmattering of different political viewpoints represented—but the onecommonality was that nobody was pro-Erdoğan. On a whim, some of themdraggedouttentssotherewouldalwaysbesomeonetheretoprotectthepark.InthemiddleofthenightonMay29,thegovernmentarrived,thistimetoclearoutpeopleinsteadoftrees.Asthecopsbegantoteargasthesettlementandtorchthetents,Furkanscrambledinpanicacrossthesquare.Desperatetoescape,dozensofpeopletriedtorushdownthesamesmallsetofstairsat thesametime,andtheycrashedtotheground.Thewholethingwasfilmedoncameraphones.4On May 30, the entire country woke up to the shocking images of acrackdown on nonviolent environmental protesters, in the middle of Istanbul,with Taksim Square on fire. Except, that is, for those who tuned in to statemedia, which wasn’t talking about this at all. But social media—Twitterespecially—andinternationalcoveragemadeiteasyforwell-connectedTurkstoseepastthecensorship.Andsocitizenspouredintothesquareinsolidaritywiththe victimized demonstrators and in protest of police brutality. Then,photographerOsmanOrsalproducedanevenmorescandalousimage.Ayoungwoman,elegantlypoisedandwearingaflowingreddress,waspeppersprayedatclose rangeby theTurkishpolice.After seeing thisonTwitter, a lotofpeoplefeltlikeHazar,ashopkeeperinthebazaarfromamiddle-classfamily.Hesaid:“Asandstormiserupting,andIwanttobeoneofthepiecesofsand.Ijustwanttosupportthepeople.”Thesquarewasentirelypackednow,twenty-fourhoursaday,andthewholeworldwaswatching.5TheTurkishModelIn 1922, the mighty Ottoman Empire finally collapsed, after more than sixhundred years. After Mehmed the Conqueror took Byzantium in 1453, thesultansembarkedonaconquest thateventuallygave themcontroloverahugeswathe of land stretching frommodern-dayAlgeria in thewest, deep into theArabPeninsulainthesoutheast,anduptowhatisnowHungaryandUkraineinthe north.Theydid not force their subjects to learnTurkish, butmaintained anetworkoflocalrulerswhowereloyaltoIstanbul.TheytradedinbothAfricanand European slaves—the Cossack people, from the steppes of modern-dayUkraine, acquired a heroic reputation (among Slavs, at least) for liberatingprisonersinhorsebackraidsbeforetheycouldbesoldatCrimeanports.Butasthe world was increasingly transformed by European imperialism and theattendantriseofcapitalism,theOttomansweredraggedthroughslowdecline.6TheRepublicofTurkeywasbornin1923,andPresidentMustafaKemalAtatürkpushed througha set ofmodernizing,Westernizing reforms.These “Kemalist”measures abolished the Ottoman caliphate, instituted the use of the Romanalphabet, declared the state to be fully secular, andbanned the use ofMuslimheadscarvesinanypublicinstitution.ManyTurkishwomenremainedhijabi,butnot if theywereserving ingovernmentor teachingatapublic school.Atatürksuppressed local efforts to reproduce the Bolshevik revolution, but he alsolearned lessons from the Soviet Union. Turkey used central planning, but tobuildanationalbourgeoisieandcapitalisteconomy,ratherthantheproletarian-led industrialization favored by the USSR. Nasser’s system in Egypt was notwildlydifferentfromAtatürk’screation,economicallyspeaking,butNasserismwas more leftist, and more committed to the cause of the ThirdWorld, thanKemalism had been.7 And modern Turkey, unlike Egypt, did not cover aterritory that hadbeen a coherent nation for thousandsof years. Its versionofnationalism relied on exclusionary and destructive violence. Late OttomanleaderscarriedoutagenocideagainsttheArmenianpeople,andtherepublicwaslockedineternalconflictwiththeKurdishpeople,unhappytobelockedwithinTurkey’snewborders.AfterWorldWarII,StalinthoughthemightbeabletoestablishnavalbasesinTurkey,butthegovernmentinAnkaraultimatelychosetosidewiththeWestin theColdWar, joiningNATOin1952.8As theorganized leftgrew inpowerand influence in the 1970s, the state backed far-right nationalists as well asIslamists as counterweights until, in 1980, the military seized power, endingparliamentary democracy, banning all unions, and annihilating the socialistmovementwithaseriesofexecutions,imprisonment,andtheuseoftorture.Thecoup led toa“controlledopening” forTurkey’s religiousgroups, and itmeantthe beginning of neoliberalization in the country. Prime Minister Erdoğan’sparty, theJusticeandDevelopmentParty(AKP),grewoutof thepro-business,pro-AmericanwingofanIslamistpartyfoundedin1983.TheformermayorofIstanbul(1994–1998)tookpowerin2003andprovedtobeavaluableUSallyintheGlobalWaronTerror,allwhilemaintainingawidebaseofsupportathome.TheAKPmovementembracedpeoplewhowere trulymarginalizedby theolddevelopment model—like more conservative Muslims and small businessowners(aslongastheywereethnicTurks)—thoughthesegroupshadnotbeenas excluded from the political system as ethnic minorities or the organizedworking class.9 Some leftists backed Erdoğan, seeing him as a truly populistfigure, elected in a democracy that was preferable to authoritarian secularismandfar-rightnationalism.10In 2010, Erdoğan successfully passed a constitutional reform that furthersidelined themilitary, established the ruleof law in linewithEuropeanUnionstandards,andalsomadeiteasierforpolicetocrackdownonactivists.11WithErdoğanapproachingadecadeinpower,thegroupsthathismovementhadbeenchampioningsincethe1990snolongerseemedsomarginal.AndalotofpeopleindowntownIstanbul(often, itmustbesaid, thedirectbeneficiariesofsecularKemalistmodernization)didn’tlikewhatwashappeningtotheircity.Erdoğanfoundhimselfinacomplicatedpositionasaresultoftheso-calledArabSpring.Or,thatis,heputhimselfinone.Ontheonehand,thefallofBenAli andMubarak seemed to offer a chance for the real expansion of Turkishinfluence—andtheAKPmodel.Thentherewas theproblemofSyria.Atfirst,Erdoğan wanted to position himself as a mediator between Assad and theopposition,while theKingdomofSaudiArabiawanted regimechange.ButastheSaudipositiongainedtractioninWashington,Turkeychangeditsorientationtoo.TheFreeSyrianArmy,thearmedrebelgrouporiginallyformedofdefectorsfrom the SyrianArmy committed to overthrowingAssad (that received Saudifunding and later, US support), was founded on Turkish soil in July 2011.TurkeyhadprovidedactiveassistancetotheNATOoperationagainstGaddafiinLibya, after a lot of hand-wringing and indecision. And closer to home, theTurkish government was wary of any developments that would proveadvantageous to theKurdishmovement in general, ormore specifically to themilitant Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) that Ankara considered its mortalenemy.ErdoğanhadbothideologicalandgeopoliticalincentivestopullforIslamistmovements in North Africa, and he did. The Turkish president supportedEnnahdainTunisiaandwasclosetotheEgyptianMuslimBrotherhoodafterthevictoryofMohamedMorsi.Thesewerethemovementsthatmightre-createthe“TurkishModel”—inotherwords, thepro-Western, neoliberalized,moderatelyIslamist—mode of governmentality he had developed over the previous twodecades. But this isolated him in the region. Saudi Arabia did not like theMuslimBrotherhoodgovernmentonebit.Andputtingthepro-WesternTurkishModelaside,itwasobviousthatanysuccessfuldemocraticorsocialrevolutionin themostpopulousand influentialArabcountrywouldcall intoquestion thepoint of the Kingdom—why would anyone need a repressive, murderousmonarchyiftheArabworldcancometogetherbehindaprospering,progressiveEgypt,oranewversionofNasserismorPan-Arabism,orevenarelativelystableIslamistdemocracy?In April 2013, a movement called Tamarod—“Rebellion”—appeared inEgypt, collecting signatures to call for the end of the Mohamed Morsipresidency. They were clearly drawing on the repertoire of revolutionaryassociations developed in 2011—they presented themselves as a youth-led,grassroots, digitally coordinated uprising—and they collected a whole lot ofsignatures,veryfast.WithanofficialspokesmaninMahmoudBadr,anactivistsincethedaysofKefaya,or“Enough,”theyappealedtorevolutionariesaswellas secular elites, and charged Morsi with overstepping his power to imposeconservativereligiononthecountry.ErdoğanquicklytookMorsi’sside.ResistaBrasil!Afterthewomaninthereddresswentviral,theworldwasservedwithimagesofsupportersoftheparkandopponentsofErdoğanpackingGezitothebrim.Inthebeginningof June,TaksimSquarewashome to a permanent settlement ofdemonstrators. At the same time, Gezi Park welcomed protesters who couldcome by every day in the evening afterwork. Turks living abroad spent daysgluedtoFacebook,andsomeofthemwiththemeansandinclinationjumpedonplanes to join themovement.12Moredemonstrationserupted in Izmir,Ankara,andadozenothercities.ButinthefirstdaysofJune2013,GeziParkbecamethenational platform for a range of political causes, a site for clashes with thepolice,andaspaceforaradicallydifferenttypeofcommunalexperience.Noneofthishadbeenplanned.Andtherewasnoobviousdemandforthemtomake,nostupidlycleartargettomatchtheirescalatedsenseofpurpose—nodictator that had been in power for decades, for example—and so, the causesremainednearlyasdiffuseastheparticipants.IntheTurkishcontext,gettingthemilitary to defy the president (as had happened in Egypt and Tunisia) wouldcertainly not be a revolution—itwould just be another coup.Geziwas not as“leaderless” and horizontal as Tahrir, Plaza del Sol, and OccupyWall Street,sincetheTaksimSolidarityumbrellaorganizationquicklyformedinanattemptto give some direction to the revolt.13 But this didn’t always work out inpractice,asitwasn’texactlyclearwhowasunderthatumbrella.Anyonecouldcome to the park, and participation was diverse. The environmentalists hadstarted the movement, and from the beginning there had been representativesfrom the Peoples’Democratic Party (HDP), a progressive party that routinelydefendsKurdishinterests.Theorganizedleft,includingtheTurkishCommunistParty (TKP),was there.Unlikemostof thecrowd, theTKPhadbeen fightingwithcopshereeversincetheythrewtheirbodiesagainstthe2003attackonIraq,asUSfighterplanesusedTurkishairspacefortheinvasion.FeministandLGBTgroupsquicklymade their presenceknown.TherewereKemalists of differentstripes: secular social democrats, aswell as the ultra-nationalist (anti-Kurdish)wing.14 Disconcertingly, the Square also attracted the support of some GreyWolves,thefar-rightnationalistswhohadbeenresponsibleforpartofthewaveof terror against the left before the 1980 military coup.15 But they wereresolutelyopposedtoErdoğan,sotheprogressivesunderstoodwhytheywouldbethere.Somepeopleonthefront lineswerewearingthosemasksfromVforVendetta. And therewere awhole lot of normal,mostlymiddle-class citizenswithoutexplicitpoliticalidentitiesorexperience.SurveysindicatedthatmostpeopleinthesquarewerefarmoreeducatedthanTurksasawholeandcamefromwell-offneighborhoodsnearby(whilefarmers,housewives,andshopkeeperswerelesslikelytosupporttheoccupation).16Theprofessionals were united, very loosely, in defense of secular values, inopposition to the commodification of public space, and in solidarity againstpoliceviolence.Andthentherewerethefootballhooligans.InEnglish,“hooligan”impliesaquiteunsavorytypeofviolentcharacter,butoutsideofBritain,thebetterwordisusuallyultras,designatinggroupsoftight-knitsuperfansthatmayormaynothaveanexplicitpoliticalideology.Inmanyplaces—andcertainlyinIstanbul—thereareleftistultras.Agroupoffansofthelocal Fenerbahçe club, calling themselves “Vamos Bien,” a phrase they tookfrom Fidel Castro, is an anti-fascist, feminist, and socialist ultra group inIstanbul,andtheyweretherefromthefirstday.Ultrasarewell-organized,andtheyhavealotofexperiencefighting,andwithrepression.FanswhowereintheFenerbahçe stadium onMay 12 of the previous year, for example, rememberwhen police helicopters bombed the stadium with tear gas. The members ofVamos Bien called the middle-class, more celebratory protesters “the flowerpeople,”and theyweren’texactlysurehowto interactwith them.TheseultrasoftenmannedthefrontlinesatGezi,withtheassistanceofexperiencedactivists,but they weren’t sure if the “soft and disorganized” protesters behind themappreciated what they were doing. It could be frustrating to engage in realcombat, take real risks, and turn around and see a “petty-bourgeois culturalfair.”17One day, a huge column of the supporters of Beşiktaş, another club inIstanbul, marched into the square. The procession deeply impressed ErenSenkardes, an artist from an elite neighborhood.They unfurled a large bannerreading“BEŞIKTAŞ,”excepttheyhaddrawnthe“K”asacommunisthammer-and-sickle,andacirclearoundthe“A”intheanarchiststyle.Erenwatched,absolutelydazzled,asoneBeşiktaşultrastoodinfrontoftherest and raised his arm to direct them. “Itwas truly insane. Their discipline,”Erensaid.“Witheverylittlemotionofhishand,theentiresquadrespondedandmovedinunison.Hehadcompletecontrol.”Referringtoa2002movieproducedin the United States in which the hero controls a complex computer withflourishesofhisfingers,hesaid,“ItwaslikewatchingTomCruiseinMinorityReport.”Another night, another very different procession descended on Taksim.Rihannawasplayingahugeshowafewblocksaway.Asshesang,fansintheVIPseatsalsowatchedtheeventsinthesquare,onTwitter.Thentheyswarmedup the hill, toward Istiklal, and joined the revolt. Eren’s girlfriendwas in thatmarch.Theyknewthattheydidn’texactlyhailfromtheproletariat,buteveryonewascomingtogethertofightfortheircity.Likesomanyotherprotesters,Erenwasstruckintheheadwithateargascanisterfiredbythepolice.Thischangedhislife,andnotbecausetheinjurywaspermanent.Duringthetrip to the hospital, he made the kind of deep, unmediated connection withanotherhumanbeingthatsomanypeoplespokeaboutinTahririn2011,orParisin 1968.Hewasn’t sure if hewould survive, terrified by the size of the headinjury,whichpulsatedwithterrifyingheat.Helockedeyeswithanothermaninthewaiting room, someonewho, he knew, he never would have spokenwithbefore Gezi. But in that moment, they were brothers. The feeling wastranscendent,andfarmorepowerfulthanthepaininthebackofhisskull.18Zeynep Tufekci, a Turkish sociologist who had been a part of digitallycoordinatedactivistnetworkssincethealter-globalizationmoment,noticedthatthelanguageemployedwasnearlyidenticaltothatwhichhadbeenproducedinNewYorkandEgypt.“IfIsquintedandignoredthatthelanguagewasTurkish,”she reported, “I felt that it could have been in almost any twenty-first-centuryprotest square: organized through Twitter, filled with tear gas, leaderless,networked,euphoric,andfragile.”Shealsoclockedthedualnatureoftherevolt—it was somewhere between a music festival and the Paris Commune, shewrote.LikeGraeber,sherejectedtheideathatcontentionisameanstoanend.Buther interpretationwasnotbasedonaprefigurative ideal,but ratheron theempirical observation that people were deriving real meaning from theseexperiences. This was the feeling of “participatory democracy” SDS haddreamedof,except theywere runninga square insteadof thecountry.Tufekcisaw,andfelt, thatGeziParkofferedanescapefromthealienationofeverydaylife; the ability to exchange productswithoutmoney inverted the “commodityfetishism” of workaday capitalist society. There was alwaysmore blankets orfoodthananyoneneeded.19Meanwhile, defenders of theErdoğan project scrambled to declare that thesituation here was very different from the movements it was echoing. In anarticle for Al Jazeera entitled “Taksim Square Is Not Tahrir Square,” twouniversityprofessorspointedtothepresenceofradicalKemalistsinthesquareand claimed they were using the revolt to overthrow a government that had“revolutionizedcenter-periphery relations.” This was the language of theintellectualleft,beingdeployedtoshoreupErdoğan’sAKP.“AsanthropologistsandMarxistacademics,” theywrote,“weobserve that theAKPartystillholdsthe support of the subaltern, the real subjects of a possible revolution. Since2002,thepeopleonTurkey’speripheryhavebecomethecentre.Today’schaosthreatenstoreversethis.”20Butsupportcontinuedtopourinfromallaroundtheworld.Bahar,awryandimpishscientistwhoworkednearthesquare,verymuchenjoyedhertimeamidstthecrowd.ShejoinedtheSquare indefenseofsecularvalues(particularly, thescientificmethod)andagainstErdoğan.Geziwasarevelation.ShehadnoideathereweresomanypeoplewhothoughtthesamewayasherinIstanbul.Forthefirst time,shegot toknowqueerandtranspeople.Shemetaboyfriend—well,hewasmoreofa“fuckbuddy,”accordingtoher—inthesquare.21ShewasalwaysonTwitter,exceptforwhenshewaskickedoffformouthingoffalittlebittoomuch.InthesecondhalfofJune,shesawatweet,cominginfromBrazil,reportingthatdemonstratorsinSãoPauloweregettingtear-gassed.ShereadthatBrazilianshadexclaimed,“Loveisover!Turkeyishere!”astheywithstood the onslaught. Bahar saw a flowering of responses, all in solidaritywith that other streetmovement halfway across the globe, appear both onlineandintherealworld.Shetookaphotoofeightpeople,all in their twentiesorthirties,holdinggreenandyellowpaper(thecolorsoftheBraziliansoccerteam)withabigmessagespelledout.Sheposteditonlineandsentittothejournalistin Brazilwho had first posted the viral tweet—that is, tome. Their signwaswritteninPortuguese—withsomemistakes,buttotallylegible.“TODOLUGARÉ SÃO PAULO—EMTODOLUGARRESISTÊNCIA—RESISTABRASIL!—ATURQUIAESTÁAOSEULADO!”Or inEnglish: “THEWHOLEWORLD IS SÃOPAULO—RESISTANCEEVERYWHERE—BRAZIL,RESIST!—TURKEYISBYYOURSIDE.”A few days later, thousands of people gathered in assemblies. The olderactivistswithexperience—mostlyorganizedleftistswhowerereferredtoas“bigbrothers” in thePark—wanted touse the leverage theyhadcreated to reap thebenefits (via negotiation and institutional politics) and end the occupation.Youngprotesters shoutedbackat them,questioning their authority andyellingthattheydidnotrepresentthem.Thefacesofthebigbrotherswentpale.Theyknewtheyhadlost.22WhenitcametimefortheTurkishgovernmenttoinviteadelegation tonegotiateonbehalfof thePark, itwasn’tclearwhowasactuallysupposedtogo.9TheFreeFareMovementTHINGSWEREVERYBUSYFORtheMovimentoPasseLivreinthefirsthalfof2013.ThecityofSãoPaulohadscheduledariseinthepriceofabusride(andmetroticket),whichwouldnormallygointoeffectonJanuary1.ButPresidentDilmaaskedMayorHaddadtowaituntilJunetohelpkeepaloominginflationproblemundercontrol.Haddaddidn’tthinkthismademuchsense,andtheyhadasmallfightover the issue inBrasília.Hedidn’t think transport fees inonecityweregoingtodomuchtoaffectpricesinthenationaleconomy,hetoldher,andthecity badly needed the funds. But shewon out. Hewas going towait—whichmeantthattheMPLhadmonthstoplantheirresponse.Andplantheydid.TheFreeFareMovementhadbeenstudyingurbanpolicyandtheeffectivenessofconfrontationalstreet tacticsforeightyearsnow.Theylookedbackatwhathadworkedbefore(Florianópolisin2004)andwhathadn’tworked (Salvador in 2003 and São Paulo in 2011). They got together twice aweek at the office of the Tortura Nunca Mais (Torture Never Again) humanrightsgrouptoplan.Theirmeetingswould last hours, because everything had to be decided byconsensus.After schoolorwork,oron theweekends,Mayara sat aroundwithLucas “Vegetable” Monteiro, Pedro Punk, law student Nina Cappello, rockerDanielGuimarães, the feisty Elisa “Tinkerbell”Quadros, and twenty or thirtyother members. Many of them attended the city’s prestigious (and free)University ofSãoPaulo (USP), but theyhad long agodecided, as a group, torefuse tosharebiographicaldetailswithanyone in thepress.Theydidn’twantattentionon individuals,as theydidn’twantanyoneelevatedabove the restofthegroup.Itwasexciting,toplanforthestruggle,butitwasn’teasy.Meetingscouldrununtiltwoorthreeinthemorning,evenwhentheystartedbeforenoon.Their goal was to force mayor Fernando Haddad to reverse the twenty-centavohikeon thepriceofbus rides in thecity.Someof thembelieved theycould changeBrazilian society in the larger sense; that theirmovement couldleadmorepeople(ortheworkingclass)toassertpoliticalpowerthroughdirectaction on the streets. But as a collective they had a single, very specificobjective,andtheycameupwithadetailedplantoachieveit.Astheygotcloserto June, they began tomeet every single day.Memberswho lived outside thecapital, like geography studentOliverCauãCauê, descended on São Paulo topreparefortheaction.1TheMovimentoPasseLivreknewthatHaddadandtheWorkers’Party(PT)had developed a robust set of mechanisms for interacting with socialmovements.Haddadwouldwantadialoguetoincorporate,co-opt,andconverse—or,asVegetableput it, to“putus inmeetings, thatwould lead toaseriesofmeetings,thatwouldcreateacommittee,thatwoulddiscussfuturecommittees,andtheneventuallycreateanagendabasedonfuturenegotiations.”TheychosetodenythatpossibilityandturntheirbacksonCityHall.Theyknewthatinordertocreatethenecessarypressure,therewouldhavetobe some chaos in the city. Their little groupwas not big enough to cause thedesired conflagration, so they would need to rely on other people joining in.Theyplanned the exact number of demonstrations that they thoughtwould benecessaryforHaddadtogivein.Ofcourse,theyknewthatmediareproductionof their interventions would be essential. They were deeply distrustful ofcorporatemedia (their founding charter urged “caution”whenmaking contactwith these “oligarchical” structures), but they had to have a communicationsstrategy.2Theirorganizationalmodel(andthebeliefsthatunderpinnedit)wouldnever allow for them to select designated spokespersons. In horizontalism,everyonewasequal,andeveryonewoulddoeverything.Sothatjobwouldrotateamong themembersof theFreeFareMovement,andunderline that theyweretrulya leaderlesscollective.Theywouldonly talkabout themovementand itsobjectives,rather thananyotherpolitical issue.But theywouldcertainlymakesuretoofferthemediathesortofcontenttheylovedtorun.Theywent as far as to plan the exact image theywould like to see on thecoverofthecity’smainnewspapersaftertheirfirstintervention.Theyplannedtostop trafficononeof the city’smain thoroughfares, 23deMaio, andmount abarricade,lightingtiresonfire(aclassicintheBrazilianradicalrepertoire)andunfurlagiantbannerreading:SEATARIFANÃOBAIXAR,ACIDADEVAIPARARIt rhymes, of course, and scans like a line of poetry. Itmeans “if the faredoesn’tcomedown,thecityiscomingtoahalt.”Theyfiguredthecopswouldprobably clear themout of there eventually, but not before the press got theirshot.WithinCityHallitself,Haddadwashavinghisownproblemswiththepolice.Brazilian cops aremilitary police, a legacy of thedictatorship, and the mostimportant troops report to the state government. State Governor GeraldoAlckmin, from thecenter-rightPSDBparty,wasapolitical rivalofDilmaandHaddad,andhadverydifferentideasaboutpublicsecurity.Haddadbelievedthatthe Polícia Militar (PM) was upset with City Hall over a budgeting issueinheritedfromthepreviousmayor.Moreover,thecopswereexplicitlyrefusingto collaborate with his “Open Arms” treatment program, which insisted ondealingwithhomelesscrackusersasaddicts,notcriminals.3SoinMay,onthefirstnightoftheViradaCultural,adowntownmusicfestivalmeanttoshowcasehisvisionfor thecity, theyapparentlyrespondedwith“crossedarms”—that is,they refused to do any policing during the event. I attended. It was absolutepandemonium.Myapartmenthasabalconyoverlookingoneofthestages,andwe watched the band Raça Negra perform live before heading downstairs tocheck things out. It was as if the military police had asked every small-timecriminalintowntoputontheirbestshow.Ihadnothingotherthanahalf-brokenBlackberryandabottleofcachaçaonmyperson,soIwasn’tworriedaboutmyself.Wejustlookedon,inwonderandin horror, sometimes breaking into horribly manic laughter as teenage boysrippedawayeverycellphone,backpack,purse,andwalletinsight,andthenranoff.Thepoliceleanedagainstanearbywallandwatched.TheMPLmarkedthefirstprotestforJune6.TheMovimentoPasseLivrehadagrouponFacebookthatanyonecouldjoin.Theycreatedaneventpageforthedate,whichwasagoodwaytoalertpeoplefromschool,theirsocialcircle,andsympatheticactiviststhatsomethingwasgoingdown.Aroundfivethousandpeoplehitthestreetsthatnight.BeingintheSouthernHemisphere,JuneisaboutascoldanddarkasSãoPaulogets—it’snevermuchchillierthanaLosAngeleswinterinthecity,butitgetscoldenoughthatpeoplelike to staywrappedupathome.Somotorists, and thepoliceespecially,weresurprised toseesomanystudents,punks,and teenagerspouronto23deMaioand shut it down. The flames were especially striking, against the black sky,whentheylitthosetiresonfire,andmountedwoodenturnstilesontop,toburnalong with them. The police called for backup. My friend Piero Locatelli, areporter atCartaCapital magazine, observed what he described as “combat”between themilitarypoliceand thecrowd, justbeforegettinghitwithhis firstdose of tear gas. Piero, no stranger to the punkunderground, or rambunctiousprotests,saidhehadneverseenthatmanycopsinoneplaceinSãoPaulobefore.Andhehadneverseensuchasmallgroupofprotestersfightingbackwithsuchfiercededication.Atonepoint,thepoliceturnedtheirbackstoretreat.Theyouthcriedout—Amanhãvaisermaior!—“Tomorrowwillbegreater!”4Iwasfaraway,stillreportingontheconflictbetweenindigenouspeopleandranchersacrossBrazil’sagriculturalheartland,butIcheckedthenewseveryday.I had been working at the offices of Folha de S.Paulo for a year now, so Iusuallylookedatthatpaperfirst,andthenEstadão,themoreconservativedailyin São Paulo. Both papers had the same image on the front page—theMovimentoPasseLivreblockingthestreetandbroadcastingtheirmessage,withtheirflamesdancinginthedarknight.Exactlyastheyhadplanned.TheMPLhadveryfewresources,sotheyhadspentalotoftheirbudgetonthat banner and the fakewooden turnstiles they burned that night. Starting onJune 7, they needed to use everything else at their disposal to help protesterswhohad landed inprison.At least fiftypeoplewere injured.Theyhad todealwith the press, which had printed that photograph but was not exactlysympathetic. One paper reported “vandalism,” and the other described“destructionofproperty,”neitherofwhichweretechnicallyincorrect.TheMPLhadtoplayasortof“doublegame,”asLucas“Vegetable”calledit,whichwastoalwaysblamethegovernmentanditsrepressiveapparatusesforthechaosonthestreets,toinsistthatitwasthepriceriseandthepolicethatcausedthe situation,while they alsodidwhat they could tomake sure that the chaosremainedwithinthelevelstheydesired.TheyputanoteuponFacebookonJune7,emphasizingthefirstpoint.Andasexpected,themayor’sofficereachedout.Someonefromcityhallgotthephonenumberofoneoftheactiviststhroughamutualfriend(thisisverymuchHaddad’sstyle)andcalleddirectly,offeringtoinviteherinfora“frankdiscussion,fromcitizentocitizen”ontransportpolicy.Itwas rebuked,on thegrounds that thiswasnot thekindofconversation theywishedtohave.5Andtheywerepreparingforanotherprotest—thatnight.LookingbackonthesuccessalmosttenyearsagoinFlorianópolis,theyhadcometotheconclusionthatunrelentingintensitywascrucialforsuccess.Sofortheseconddayinarow,theytooktothestreets.Itwasn’tbigger,asthosekidshadpromisedthecops—itwasaboutthesamesize—but they surprised the city by shutting down yet another part of it. OnFriday afternoon, around five thousand people gathered in Pinheiros, a richerpart of the city and the same neighborhood where a young Haddad had hisMarxistpizzaparties.When they realized theyhad thenumbers required, theyoccupied one of the country’s largest highways. Themilitary police Tropa deChoque, or “Shock Troops,” took aim at the protesters. Some of thecounterattackers were “black bloc” participants, fully geared up for theimpending clashes. Covering the chaos once again for Carta Capital, Pierolearned a trick that night from a teenage anarchist. She soaked a T-shirt invinegar,toldhimtoinhalethefumes,andsaidthatitwouldhelpwiththeeffectsoftheteargas.Itseemedtowork.6Over theweekend, theEstadãonewspaperblamedHaddad,and theallegedpermissiveness of the progressive Workers’ Party vis-à-vis its beloved socialmovements, for the “vandals” and the“violence.”7Themayorhimself left thecityandtraveledtoParis,whereheandGovernorAlckminwerebiddingonthe2020WorldExpoforthecityofSãoPaulo.Brazilwasalreadyhostingthe2014WorldCupandthe2016Olympics,andthiswouldbeyetanother jewel in thenation’scrownofexpensiveinternationalmega-events.Whenitcametothebusfare,hereasonedhewasnotexactlypullingafastoneonthepeople.Hehadsaidhewasgoing to raise thepriceduringhiscampaign,andhewonhandily.Therisewassmallerthanoverallinflationsincethelasthike.Hebelievedthatraisingthebusfarewastherightmoveforthecity.On a personal level, Haddad became increasingly annoyed with theMPL.They did not respect the differences between politicians, he felt; they lumpedhiminwiththeconservativerepressiveapparatushefoughtagainstasayoungdissidentandwasnowtryingtosabotagehisadministration.Hedidnotbelievehewastryingtoco-optanybody;thePTwasdeeplyproudofthemechanismsithaddevelopedoverthedecadestoinvolvesocialmovementsindecision-makingandbringthestreetsintothehallsofpower.8Thesekidswerenotonlyrefusingto play by the rules, they were pretending that the rules didn’t exist. But themovementcouldn’tbedismissedentirely.ViceMayorNádiaCampeão,fromtheCommunist Party of Brazil (PCdoB), skipped Paris and stayed in town tomonitorthesituation.On Tuesday, June 11, it rained heavily. Protest number three, which tookplacethatafternoon,wasnotsomuchastatementmountedinasingleplaceasaset of battles, appearing and disappearing beneath the downpour, around thecenterof themega-city.Watermeantnocellphones, andnomegaphones, andso,evenlessorganizationthanusual.Demonstratorstriedtoenterabusstationtoencouragecommuterstojumpovertheturnstiles.Thepoliceresponded:firstwithwords,andthenwithteargasandrubberbullets.In front of the Tribunal de Justiça, one cop tried to stop a kid from spraypaintingonawall.Butquickly,theofficerfoundhimselfsurrounded.Agroupofdemonstratorsbegan tohurl rocks athim.One struckhim in thehead, andhebegantobleed.Hepulledagun,andpointeditatthekids,readytoshoot.Butherelented, and pointed it back up into the sky, and backed away in fear. If youonly caught that scene, it lookedverymuch like agroupofpunkshad almostkilledapoliceofficer.ThiswasnotsomethingthattheMPLasanorganizationreally believed to be productive. It was actually members of the MovimentoPasseLivrewhopulledtheofficeroutofthereandsurroundedhimtoseparatehim from the crowd immediately afterward.9 At the same time, it was theirpublic policy to blame all chaos on the state, and to avoid criminalizingresistance.Itwasadifficultlinetowalk.Itcameasnosurprisewhenthiswastheimagethatmadethenewsthatday.Sympathy for the officer in themediawas overwhelming. GovernorAlckmincongratulated him by name in a statement of solidarity. Communist citycouncilman Orlando Silva used a word from the old Marxist-Leninist canon—“adventurist”—to describe the actions of an irresponsible group thatwouldonly destabilize and worsen the country, not actually lead to revolutionarychange.ElderstatesmanEduardoSuplicy,fromtheWorkers’Party,invokedthelegaciesofGandhiandMartinLutherKingJr. tocelebratenonviolentstrugglefor justice.10AndMayorHaddad—returning fromParis—saidheplacedacallasking the police not to overreact to the youth revolt; but that photo in thepapers, of a cop nearly “lynched” by protesters, meant that they wouldn’tlisten.11On June 13, the morning of the fourth scheduled protest, São Paulo’snewspapers delivered a clearmessage: the police need to crack down on thisgroup.Thiswasnotdonewithinnuendo,orwithsuggestivenewscoverage,butwith frank calls to action. The Estadão editorial committee wrote, “Theauthorities should have determined that the police take more rigorous action,since the very beginning.” In an editorial entitled “Retomar a Paulista,” or“RetakePaulistaAvenue,”FolhadeS.Paulo published this opinion: “The fewprotesters that seem to have anything on theirminds except for hoods justifytheir violence as a supposed reaction to the supposed brutality of the police.”Folhacontinued:“Itistimetoputastoptothis.”12The Free Fare Movement itself was getting stretched thin. They werecommitted to carrying the plan forward and energized by the struggle, but inaddition to shutting down parts of the largest city in SouthAmerica, fightingwith police, and managing their image in the media and on Facebook andTwitter, they needed to provide aid to scores of injured and imprisonedcomrades.Andontopofitall,theyhadtoholdconstantmeetingstoachievefullconsensusforeachsteptheytook.Therewaslittletimeforsleep,buttheystillmanagedtocomeupwiththerotationofdutiesfortheprotestonJune13.Lucas“Vegetable” Monteiro was going to be working on legal assistance from themother ship.Mayarawas going to be frentodoato, serving on the front line,bearingthebruntofanycrackdown,anddefiningthetrajectoryofthemarch.RetomaraPaulistaIgotbackintoSãoPauloearlyinthemorningonThursday,June13.Itwasanovernightbus,andIwastired.IknewIwasgoingtotheprotestthatnight,soIsleptallday,tostoreupsomeenergy.Ididn’texpectthatthiswouldbenewsfortheLosAngelesTimes,exactly,butIwasverycurious.Aclosefriendofmine,Juliana, a freelance photographer who had gone to USP and been heavilyinvolved in themusic scene there, knew someof theMovimentoPasseLivre,whichkeptmebetterinformedthanthemediacould.That afternoon I walked down Avenida Ipiranga, from my apartment onPraça da República, and joined the group congregating in front of the TeatroMunicipal. It took me about ten minutes to arrive, and the square felt like auniversity party. Themusical accompaniment toMPL events, the Fanfarra doMovimento Autônomo Libertário, or the “Autonomous Liberation MovementFanfareBand,” a kind ofmarching drum circle,waswarming up.Therewerekids in ragged clothes—the kind of cheap attire that indicated politicalaffiliation,notpoverty.On the edgeof the crowd I could see severaldifferentflagswaving—mostlythoseofsmall,left-wingparties,buteventheblack-and-whitestandardofayouthmovementaffiliatedwiththeWorkers’Party.13Ididn’tseeanycops.If I had come from the other direction, I might have had a very differentexperience. Most people did not live as close as me, and they were comingthrough the Vale do Anhangabaú, one of the strips of São Paulo with anindigenous name. There, military police were stopping people and searchingthem.PieroLocatellicameupthatway,andtheypulledhimasideandaskedtolook in his backpack. They found a big plastic bottle of vinegar—cheap stufffromthesupermarketthatyoumightmixwitholiveoil.Hehadcomeprepared.The police detained him. Piero couldn’t believe it—he was an accreditedjournalist,andthiswasnodangertoanyone.Heswitchedintothepolite,highlygrammatical version of Brazilian Portuguese that should indicate he was arespectableprofessional,andthatherespectedtheofficerstoo.Tonoavail.Hewastakenaway.Anotherjournalist,acolleagueofmineatFolhadeS.Paulo,didmakeitintothecrowd,thoughIdidn’tseeher.GiulianaVallone,twenty-sevenyears old,worked for the newly founded video section at the newspaper, andtookapositionfarawayfromthefrontoftheaction.Mayara had a cell phone but not a smartphone. She was working as awaitressatthetime,andshehadneverbeenabletoaffordadevicewithinternetaccess. Mayara would be calling other members of the group constantly tocoordinate,asshepulledthemassofpeoplebehindher.AlongwithPedroPunk,theydecideditwastimetobegin.WestompedbackthewayIhadcome,uppastmyhouse,andthenwepusheduptowardPaulistaAvenue.AswemovedupConsolação,therewasacolumnofmilitarypolicestaringdownatus.Themoment of the attack is seared intomy brain.Wewere looking up atthem,upthathillleadingtooneofthehighestpointsinthecity.Therewerealotofus,buttheyhadtheadvantage.Theskyhangingrightabovetheirheadswasblack and empty.And then they let loose,with volleys of smoke and fire andnoise and canisters and streams of light flickering into the heavens. It wasstrangelybeautiful,inthewaythattheapocalypsemightbe.SãoPauloisneverpretty, but it can be terrifyingly beautiful. It can be awesome, in the biblicalsense.Butthentheredcloudapproacheditsintendedtarget,whichwasus,andIstoppedlookingup.Idon’thavegoodmemoriesofwhat,exactly,Ididnext.Itwasquickburstsofmovement,withothersmallgroupsofpeople,hereandthere.Lookinguptoseeifpolicewerechasingus,andthenlookingbackdowntoscurryintoanotherlittlecorner,likescaredlittlecockroaches.Therewasnothingtoreally“cover,”in the journalisticsense,soI justkept lookingatmyfeet, tryingtofindawaythroughthemazeofthecity,backintotheopenair.GiulianaVallone rememberswhathappened toher.ShestumbledontoRuaAugusta, the bohemian stretch of bars and clubs.Dilmawas sitting in one ofthesebarsonAugusta in1970whenthedictatorshippickedherupandhauledheroff forher interrogationand torture.Giulianawas technicallycovering theprotest,butherphonewasdead,andshewasexhausted.Anolderwomangotoffa bus, lost and clearly in need of help. The commotion had stranded herdowntown.Giuliana pointed her in the direction ofAvenidaPaulista. Secondslater, the woman ran toward her, yelling, “Miss, they are back!” It was thepolice, climbing down off a big, black Shock Troop vehicle and getting intoformation.Giuliana looked toward themanddidn’t sayanything.Oneof themraisedhisarmandshotherintheface.Therubberbulletbouncedoffherskull,andshefelltotheground.Someonesnappedapicture.Like Piero Locatelli, Giuliana Vallone is a Brazilian of Italian extraction,which is one of themost common ethnic profiles among the São Paulo elite.Giulianawas twenty-seven, but she lookedyounger. Shehas dark brownhair,andbig,round,pinkcheeks.BythestandardsofBraziloranyothercountry,sheisverybeautiful.AndsheworkedforFolha,the“NewYorkTimesofBrazil.”Inthephoto,sheissittingonthepavement,appearingdazedandplaintive,anditlooks like shehas losthereye.The imageshocked tensofmillionsofpeople.Pierowassittingbackatwork,writinghisownstory,whenheheardshoutsgoup in the newsroom. They had seen the picture, now flying through socialnetworks.Iwasstillonthestreet.Mayarawasinastateofpanic.Shehadlostcontrolofthefrontline,whichmeant that she had let the movement down.When the first attack came, andblasted the crowd into different crevices, she took shelter in the doorwayof abuilding. Inamomentofdesperation,ayoungmother turned toherandaskedMayara to watch her young daughter before rushing into the street to try torescue her husband.Stunned, she obliged.The little girl turnedher faceup toMayaraandasked,“Auntie,arewegoingtodie?”When the mother returned,Mayara tried to get back to the “front” of themarch,buttherewasnone.Invain,sheattemptedtogivesomestructuretotheprotest, toprotectherpeople, toput thepiecesbacktogether,but thewavesofattacks kept coming and coming. Finally, shemanaged to pull out her crappylittlephoneandcallNinaCappello,whowascoordinatingthingsfromthebase.“Nina,Ihaveneverseenanythingmorehorribleinmylife.IfeellikeIaminawar.Idon’tknowwhattodo,”shecriedout,bothscaredandguilty.“Idon’tknowwhattodo;pleasejustgivemesomekindofcommand.”Ninaresponded.“Don’tdoanythingatall,Mayara.Grababeerandrelaxandwatchbecauseweareblowinguponeverynewschannelintheworld.Youdon’tneedtodoanything.Wealreadydidit.”Mayaracouldn’tbelieveit.Howcouldthisbesuccess?Peoplewerebleedingandwoundedallaroundher.TelevisionpresenterJoséLuizDatenaisfarmoreconservativethanFolhaorEstadão.Herunsasensationalandverypopularprogramdenouncingcrimeandcelebrating the police. As the events unfolded on the street, he said, “I amagainstriots,guys,”andthenopenedapollforviewerstovoteontheirphoneson thequestion“Areyou in favorof thiskindofprotest?”Overone thousandpeople immediately voted “yes,” andhe responded, surprised, “So far . . . themajorityareinfavor...Iwouldvoteno,Iwouldvoteno....OK,isitpossiblethatweformulatedthequestionincorrectly?”Andthenhelaunchedanewpoll:“Areyou in favorofprotestswith rioting?”Over two thousandofhisviewersvoted “yes,” against less than nine hundred for “no,” to which he responded,“Well,thepeoplearesopissedoffthattheysupportanyprotest,asfarasIcantell.OK.”Themonitorbehindhimcontinuedto transmit imagesof thestreets,and Datena quickly changed his tune. Now the protest was “a show ofdemocracy.”14MymemorybecomesclearagainwhenIarrivednearmyhouse.Ilivedonabigsquare,sothespacewasrelativelyopen.Someteargashungdiffuselyintheair,butIcouldbreathe.Iregainedmycomposureabit,chattingwiththesecurityguardswhoworkedinmybuilding,andprocessedwhathadjusthappened.Iwasinonepiece,soIdecidedtogobackout.ImadeituptotheEdifícioCopan,themonumental building shaped by legendary architect Oscar Niemeyer. I cameupon a loose agglomeration of people, attempting to somehow maintain apresenceonthestreet.Simplybeingthereseemedakindofstubbornrebuketothemilitarypolice,whopromptlyarrivedandputanendtothat.Astheteargascanisterslandedrightbelowus,thecrowdcheeredout,“Loveisover!Turkeyishere!”Iscamperedbacktowardmyhouse,defeatedagain.IpulledoutmyBlackberryasIwalkedandpostedthischanttoTwitter.Igotinto my apartment and sat down at my computer. Something weird washappening.Thistweetwasgettingawholelotofattention,andalotoflikes,andpeoplewereretweetingitthroughouttheworld.Somethingreallystruckanerve—thepolicebrutality?TheanalogytoanuprisinginaMuslimcountry?Ididn’tunderstand.Nothingremotelylikethishadeverhappenedtomebefore.YoungcorrespondentsinBrazilworkingforaCalifornianewspaperdon’texactlyhaveahugeplatform.Forthefirsttime,Iwasgoingviral.Istilldon’tknowifIcandescribethefeeling.Itwasasifmyentirebodywasbeingelectrocutedwiththevaguelypleasantnotionthatmywordswereconnectingwiththousands,millionsofpeopleallatonce.AndthenthefeelingwouldvanishuntilI lookedbackatthe screen, transfixed as I watched the numbers go up and up. It was deeplystrange,andIdidn’tfeelcomfortable.IemailedmyeditorinLosAngeles—thiswasinternationalnewsnow,Iwassure—butasIwaitedforhisresponse,Iconcentratedonthisfeeling.Thiskindofattention,thefactthatImightbebearingwitnesstoamajorworldevent,mustbegood formycareer, I thought,but energywas surging throughme that feltevenbigger than that. I openedupadocument to try to capture the sensation,justformyownmemory.Ifranticallytypedoutsomenotesandtookscreenshotsof the numbers. Wryly, in an attempt to check myself against the twistedincentive structures that were appearing clearly before my eyes, I wrote:“Gettingtear-gassedisgreatforengagement.”Hopefullyitwasgoodforsomething.Becauseforthenextseveralmonths,Iand the rest of the Praça daRepúblicawould be lulled to sleep, nearly everynight, by the faint taste of that familiar chemical compound, 2-Chlorobenzylidenemalononitrile.10TheGiantAwakensON FRIDAY, JUNE 14, THE country woke up to news of police violence. Endlessphotographs, and eyewitness reports, and journalistic accounts. I hadmy littlestoryintheLATimes.TheNewYorkTimesransomething(mentioningprotestsinRio,wherethatcorrespondentlived),andotherinternationaloutletscoveredittoo. Already, catchy monikers were being createdwere adopted. But localcontextdifferedwildly.Bytakingatrulyglobalapproach,wecanbegintoseewhich factorswere common acrossmany different locations, andwhichwerecruciallydifferent.Inordertounderstandwhathappenedduringthatdecade,andtolearnfromit,weneedtopayattentiontoboth.Whetherwerecognizeitornot,whetheritappearsclearlytothenakedeye,wenowlive inaglobalsystem.Evenback in1789, theyearof therevolutionthatwouldset thetermsforsomanypoliticalmovements thatcameafterward,the rapid changes within France triggered reactions from the rest of theinternationalcommunity.Andnow,wearefarmoreinterdependent.Regardlessoftheformatofthisbookthatyouareconsuming—digitalorphysicaloraudio—it is theproductofhuman labor andphysical resources extractedall aroundtheworld,justlikeyourclothingandalmosteverythingelseweown.Thereisnocoherentwaytodiscussambitiouspoliticalmovementswithoutreferencetothissystem.Even before we look closely at this mass protest decade, it is possible torecognizethatacertainsetofapproachesweremorallyandtacticallyprivilegedfrom 2010 to 2020. To varying degrees, you often heard that these wereleaderless, “horizontally”organized, “spontaneous,” digitally coordinatedmassprotests in city streets or public squares. They took forms that were said to“prefigure” thesociety theyweremeant tohelpbringabout.Forconcepts thatmayappearunfamiliar, suchashorizontalismandprefiguration—andfor thosethatmaynot—Iwillattempttoexplainhowtheyemergedhistorically,andhowthoseprocessesshapedwhattheymeantoday.Politicalstruggledoesnothappenautomatically. When human beings experience injustice, a surge of will andenergy is required to make the jump to doing something about it; and it isanother set of leaps entirely from making that choice to standing up, goingoutside, and takingaparticular setof actions.The steps taken are the result, Ibelieve,ofdrawinguponarangeofthingsthathavebeenseenordonebeforeinone’s own country—or, increasingly, somewhere else in the world, witnessedperhapsontheinternet.4And then after a set of actions is taken, it is a very different and quitetreacherousjourneyentirelytocorrectingtheinjustice,ortoimprovingsociety.That last part has been tricky to get right since 2010. Itwasmyhope that bycarefully analyzing that chain of human decisions and consequences, and bylookingat theeventsof thedecade inchronologicalorder,somelessonsmightemerge.Afterworkingonthisprojectforfouryears,Ibelievetheyhave.I AM NOT A HISTORIAN, and I have certainly never carried out a successfulrevolution.I’mjustajournalist,andsoIhavenolessonstoimpartonmyown.Totheextent thatIhaveanyskillsatall, Iamable torecklessly throwmyselfaroundtheworld,trackingdownthepeoplethatactuallyknowthings.Icansitdownwiththemandaskthemwhattheythink.Forthisbook,Icarriedoutovertwohundredinterviewsintwelvecountries,speaking with the people who created the street movements, many of thepoliticianswhohadtodealwiththem,andalotofthepeoplewhoseliveswereaffected.5 Our conversations varied widely, but I attempted to orient them allaroundafewapparentlynaive,almostintentionallystupidquestions:Whatledtotheprotestexplosion?Whatwereitsgoals?Weretheyachieved?Iftheyweren’tachieved,whynot?And then, instead of asking people what they did wrong or wished theywouldhavedonedifferently,Itriedtoapproachfollow-upquestionsinanotherway. I would often say something like: “What would you tell a teenager inTanzaniaorMexicoorKyrgyzstan,whomaylivethroughapoliticalexplosion,ormightattempt to change life inher country?What lessonswouldyoudrawfromyourownexperiencesandimparttothem?”There is a reason for that framing, other than the desire to avoid re-traumatizingoroffendingpeoplewhohavemadetragicsacrificesintheattempttobuildabetterworld.Lookingattheyears2010to2020,it’sclearthattherewasahugeamountofdesireforchangestothestructuresthatcompriseourglobalsystem,andthatthisenergymayverywellbeunleashedagainsoon.Likesomanyworksofhistory,thisone looksboth forwardandbackward;given thisorientation,peoplewerefarmorewillingtospeakabouttherecentpast.And there is an especially good reason for privileging interviews here, forlookingcloselyattheseevents,andunderstandinghowparticipantsfeltastheyunfolded.Somehistoriansprefer to lookat the longuedurée,explainingsocialtransformationsthroughlong-termchangesinstructurestakingplacebelowthesurface,ratherthanindividualchoices.Butrevolutionarysituations,especiallyofthetypeexperiencedsince2010,compresstimeandspeeduptheflowofhistory.Theyare“momentswherethestrangestimprovisationscansuddenlychangethecourse of events,” wrote Georgi M. Derluguian, a sociologist of Armenian,Russian,andUkrainiandescent.6Acenturyago,RussianrevolutionaryVladimirLeninapparentlysaid that“therearedecadeswhennothinghappens;and thereare weeks when decades happen.”7 But in cities in the twenty-first century,things move even more quickly than that, notes US political scientist MarkBeissinger,meaningthereislittletimetoprocesswhatishappeningandreflecton the next course of action.8 Decisions are made instantly, often based onsomethingalreadylearnedinthepast,andthesedecisionsreallymatter.9Withinthesemoments of “thickened history,” the short term can play the role of thelongterm.10I was able to do research myself in English, Spanish, Portuguese, andIndonesian, and I relied on the help of partner researchers, journalists, andscholarstocarryoutinterviewsandinvestigationsinArabic,Russian,Ukrainian,Turkish, and Chinese as well. Over the same four years that I carried outinterviews, I did my best to ingest the literature produced by scholars andparticipants.Icombinedtheseelementstocreateanarrativehistory,focusingontheperiodbetweenJanuary1,2010,andJanuary1,2020.Ofcourse,decadesareconstructs,aconvenienceinventedbyhumanityandimposeduponafarmorecomplexreality.Butthatistrueoflanguageitself,andthisparticulartrickisespeciallyconvenientformebecauseitlimitsthescopeoftheinvestigation,andthattimeperiodlinesupquitenicelywithaconcretesetofevents. The story begins in Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia, in 2010 and ends at thebeginningof2020asworldhistoryenteredanewphase,or at least adoptedadifferentrhythm,duetothearrivalofavirus.ButIneededtolimitmyselfevenfurtherif theprojectweretoremainambitiousratherthanfatallyhubristic.Wewillonlylookcloselyatspecificphenomena:proteststhatbecamesolargetheyshookthefoundationsofanation’spoliticalsystem,forcingittobereplacedorundergo rapid changes. Not all of them were failures, and even the failurescontained small victories. For reasons that will become clear, all the caseschosenforseriousanalysisareoutsidetherichcountriesofthetraditionalFirstWorld.Sincethelegaciesof1789and1917haveservedasreferencepointsforsomuchrevolutionarypractice,itisimportanttotracethewaysthatintellectualhistoryonthelefthasshapedcontemporaryprotest,evenifthedesiresexpressedinrecentepisodeshavebased on the social mediareports the previous night. Some called it the “V for Vinegar” movement,referring to Piero’s arrest for possession of salad preparationmaterials with aplay on V for Vendetta, whose masks had been present on the streets onThursday. But the really dazzling transformation happened in the mainstreamBrazilianmedia.I walked to my office, through an absolutely devastated downtown SãoPaulo, andgot towork.FreelanceGuardian contributorClaireRigbyhad sentmeherreportfortheFolhablog.Ofcourse,likeeveryoneelse,weranthephotoofGiulianaVallonetoaccompanythetext.DomPhillips,anotherdearfriendandcontributor to theblog,wouldput togetheravideo topost later.After IeditedandpublishedClaire’s story, andposted it onTwitter, I began to actually readwhat the national press had reported. This was a total about-face. FolhacondemnedthepolicecrackdownthattheyhadaskedforonThursday.Estadãoran interviewswith innocentbystanders, commuters, pedestrians, andworkers,whoallsaidtheysufferedfromthepolicerepression.ReportersbegantonoticethatBraziliansdoactuallyspendalargepercentageoftheirincomeonbusesandthemetro.(IwasalsoguiltyofpayinglittleattentiontotheissueuntilJune13.)Outletsopenedinvestigations into thecostof transportationforregularpeople.Giuliana shared a personal account of her injury on Facebook, where it wasimmediately shared tens of thousands of times. But newspaper readership inBrazilislow,andreportersaren’tfamous.Itwaswhentelevisionchannelsbeganreporting the story in the same way—especially the hugely influential Globonetwork—that this narrative reached tens of millions of people across thecontinent.ForMondaynight,thedatethattheMPLhadplannedthenextprotest,Globomadeabigdecision.Theyweregoing tocancel the transmissionof thetelenovelasotheycouldcovertheprotestlive.1Forthefirsttime,thepapersandthe talking heads on TV began to distinguish between “good” and “bad”protesters—affirming thathonestcitizenswereexercising their right toprotest,andthatasmallminoritysometimesmadetrouble.Asaresult,theygrantedthemovementalegitimacytheyhaddeniedafewdaysearlier.TheMPLrejected thisdistinctiononprinciple—but theyhada lotofotherissuestodealwith.Theyspenttheentireweekendinasetofendlessmeetings.Lucas “Vegetable” Monteiro, and many others, were convinced that thedemonstrations ran the risk of having theirmessage diluted—that is, given allthenewattention,peoplewouldbringintheirowndemandsandtakethefocusoff the bus fare. As luck would have it, Saturday, June 15, was the openingmatch of the FIFA Confederations Cup international soccer tournament inBrasília,akindoftestrunforthebiggereventsetfor2014—andprotesterscameout,shouting,“Wedon’twanttheWorldCup,wewanthealthandeducation.”Ofcourse,theMPLactivistsweredeeplyopposedtoevertellinganyonewhattodo,buttheywantedtokeeptheirmessageoutthere.Theydecidedtoremainlaser-focused on the twenty-centavo price increase and engage oncemore with thecountry’s oligarchical media structures. They planned a press conference anddecided that Nina and “Vegetable” would go on a major interview programduringthenextprotest.OnMonday, June17, thepromise thathadbeenmadeby thosekids at thebeginningof theprotestscametrue. Itwasbigger.Alotbigger.Demonstratorswere supposed to meet in the Pinheiros neighborhood, at the big “PotatoSquare.”Exceptyoucouldn’tgetanywherenearthere.Ihoppedoutofacarthathad stopped making progress a full thirty-minute walk from the protest’sgathering point, and made my way toward the demonstration. Except I wasalreadysortofinit.Everyoneelseonthestreetwaswalkingtothesameplace.And I never actually arrived anywhere. The further I walked, the thicker thecrowdgot,until,imperceptibly,wehadbecomepartofalongmarchmakingitswayacrossSãoPaulo.Thething,thisthingthatwenowwere,hadeasilytakentheplaceof all car trafficon themain thoroughfarewhere theMPLhaddonebattletwoweeksago.Policewerenowheretobefound.Ididn’thaveInstagraminthosedays,butifIdid,ImighthaveseenapostmadebyAlexAtalaon theway to the squareabit earlier.Thecelebritychef,whoranaworld-famousandveryexpensiverestaurant inSãoPaulo,appearedon the social networkwearing a shirt that read “V forVinegar.”He posted asnippetfromtheBraziliannationalanthem:“Youwillseethatyoursondoesnotflee from battle.” In response to his photo, the Brazilian fashion designerAlexandreHerchcovitchresponded,“Iwillbethere.”The targetof themarchwas thePonteEstaiada,abig, famous,uglybridgearoundsevenmiles frommyapartmentdowntown. It is reallynamedafter thelateOctavioFriasdeOliveira,heirtoanaristocraticfortune,banker,andownerof theFolhadeS.Paulo newspaper, but everyone calls it the “cable bridge.” Iknew,vaguely,thatwewereheadedinthatdirection,butinpracticewewerejusttrudgingacrossfreeway,onandonandon.The peoplewere slightly different. The same punks and left-wing student-union types were there, but there were new people, too. The only way todescribe such a varied chunk of São Paulo, I think, is that theywere normalPaulistanos, if younger andmoreprivileged than themedian. I sawsomethinglikethesamespectrumofpeopleyoumightseeinamiddle-classneighborhood.AsIploddedalong,Ipulledoutmyphone.IgotamessagefromJuliana,myphotographer friend, on FacebookMessenger.We had taken the cable bridge.Thepolicehad lost orgivenup.She sentmeaphotographof that big, gnarlyconstruction, packedwith people, all of themnow supporting the protests shehad been covering sympathetically for weeks. Juliana suffers from depressionand is not given to flights of fancy. She is the type of blasé Paulistana whofrownsconstantlyandlistenstodarklycomicBritishindierock.SoIwillneverforget her caption. She wrote: “I don’t think I have ever seen anythingmorebeautifulinmylife.”Then,inthecrowdonmypartofthehighway,IsawsomethingthatIhadnotseenbefore.Acoupleoftheprotesters,obviouslypartofthe“new”group,weredeckedout inanovelstyle.Theywerewearingallyellowandgreen,with theBraziliannationalfootball jerseypulledtightover theirbigmuscles.Ontopofthat,theyhadwrappedtheBrazilianflagaroundtheirshoulders.Theybegantobelt out a patriotic cheer, the kind you yell in the stadium when the team isplayingagainstArgentinaorGermany.“Eu,souBrasileiro,commuitoorgulho,commuitoamor!”—“I,amaBrazilian,withlotsofpride,andlotsoflove!”A couple punks, skinny kids with dirty clothes and much darker skin,scamperedover to tell themthat thiswasnotquiteright.Theylaunchedintoafriendly explanation, the kind that ismeant to let the new arrivals know howthingsworkedaroundhere.Theyhadtheenergyoftheniceguysinthemoshpit,whotell theobviousnewcomershowtohavefunandstaysafe(elbowsdown,don’t push smaller people around, pick up anyone that falls). “Emptynationalismataprotestisdangerous,”oneofthepunkssaid.“Wehavetofocuson concrete political objectives.” They explained, very patiently, that someprotestersmightseetheBrazilianflagasaconservativesymbolortantamounttofascism,sinceinthecontextofademonstration(ratherthanafootballgame),itwaswrongtoinsistthateveryoneinthecountryagreesoneverything.Theburlynewcomersmadeitveryclear,veryquickly,thattheydidn’tgiveafuckaboutanyofthatleft-wingbullshit,andtheydidn’tcomeheretoattendalectureonpoliticaltheoryfromsomepunks.Thekids,sensingtrouble,skitteredaway.Thecrowdkeptmarching.Howlonghadwebeenwalking?Fourhours?Six?Wasanythinggoingtohappen?Thatwasit?Thousandsandthousandsofusjustwalking across the city? I peeled off and popped into one of the city’s trustybakery/coffeeshopcombinationstowriteupmystoryfortheLosAngelesTimesandchecktherestoftheinternetfornews.Thecrowdsweremonstrousinsize,accordingtothepeoplewiththeexpensivecamerasandhelicoptersrequiredtomeasure these things. Hundreds of thousands of people had participated, intwelvecities,makingthisthebiggestdemonstrationinBrazilsince1992.2Sincethe 1984 campaign to reinstate direct presidential elections, and the “paintedfaces”movementtoimpeachFernandoCollor(themanwhobeatLulain1989),Brazil had not lived through any mass contention. A Globo correspondent inNewYork,JorgePontual,rejectedtheideathattheinternetwasresponsibleforthe mass mobilization. He credited his own television station.3 I was deeplytired, far from home, and you might even say, perplexed. This was all veryanticlimactic.Isentinmystoryfromthebakery.The next morning, I started the now-familiar journalistic ritual of postingarticlestotheinternet,promotinganddefendingthemonTwitter,anddiscussingthe day’s events. But there was another battle taking place. Over what hadhappenedthedaybefore.Overwhattheprotestswereabout.Whypeopletooktothestreet,andwhattheywanted.During the march, Lucas “Vegetable” Monteiro and Nina Cappello hadappearedonRodaViva,or“LiveWheel,”theinterviewshowwhereabunchofjournalists literally surround the guests, asking them questions, and they haddone incredibly well. It may have helped generate sympathy that one of theinterviewerswasGiulianaVallone, sporting a giant black eye from the policeviolence on Thursday. But they mostly impressed the panel with their deepknowledgeoftransportationpolicyinBrazil.Theyhaddonetheirresearch,andthe journalists could tell. “You know, journalists are lazy,” Lucas “Vegetable”Monteirowouldjoketomelater,“soanypreparationtakesthembysurprise.”IrespondedthatImightputitdifferently,thatweareboundbytheeconomicsofthe contemporary industry to immediately produce engaging content withdwindlingresources,but I tookhispoint.Crucially, theyremainedunflappableanddisciplinedontheshow,fullycommittedtothereductionofthebusfareasthe focus of the protests. People may have brought other demands into thestreets,theysaid,buttheonlythingthatunitedthemwassupportfortheinitialcause—therealone.Outside, however, participants and reporters and citizens and officials hadseen an incrediblywide range of demands on display.Whether through signsthattheybrought,thingstheyyelled,orcommentstheyofferedtojournalists,themessagewasnotexactlyclear.Scrolling Twitter on Tuesday morning, I saw the same divergent set ofinterpretations, the same dynamic, that participants at Tahrir Square hadcomplainedabout. I knewa lotofBrazilian journalistspersonally, and Iknewthe small community of foreign correspondents very well. I noticed that ourexplanations of what happened reflected our own biases and ideologies. Forexample,Itendedtoemphasizethatthesewereprotestsaboutinsufficientpublicservicesandthatconcernsabouthospitals,schools,andhealthcare,aswellasthequestion of public safety, were variations on the initial theme. Anothercorrespondent, a serious and experienced right-of-center commentator atBloomberg, tended to see the people as rejecting a corrupt state. This hadbecome a favorite conservative talking point since the Workers’ Party beganrunning thegovernment.Andhewas right—somepeoplehadbroughtbannersdenouncingthePTorcallingLulaathief.Youcouldalsofindimagesofcitizensdenouncing theesotericPEC37,aproposedconstitutionalamendmentdealingwith the technical legal question of which government agency investigatescrimes. Itwas a favorite bugbear in the right-wingBrazilianpublications that,frankly,Irarelyread.DomPhillips,forourlittleblogatFolha, recordedvideointerviewswithawiderangeofpeople,coveringthespectrumofthe(sometimescontradictory) reasons they came out on Monday.4 Many protesters nowexplicitly rejected the message offered by the MPL itself. “Não é pelos 20centavos,”onefamousslogandeclared—“thisisnotabouttwentycents.”TheGlobotelevisionstationrecordedandreproducedpatriotic imagery, the“new”yellow-and-green protest style that had surprisedmeonMondaynight.And forallkindsof reasons,Globowas farmore likely toblastoutphotosofphotogenicwhitewomenwiththeirfacespaintedgreenandyellowthanskinnypunks.Whowastellingthetruthhere?Noone,andallofus.Weweretakingafundamentallyillegibleeruptionofcontentionandtryingtomakeitlegible.Thiswas a horizontally structured, digitally coordinated, leaderless, mass protest.Concretelyspeaking, therewereasmanyreasonsforparticipatingintherevoltastherewereparticipants.Probablymore.Weinthemediawere,well,mediatingtheexplosion,throughourownsetsofconceptual apparatuses, and experiences, and unconscious biases, and thesourceswe had happened tomeet. Those sources themselveswere defined tosomeextentbyalloftheformer.Aschancewouldhaveit,FedericoFreitas,thevegan musician who had founded the Verdurada or “Veggiefest” punk night(whereboththeMPLandtheMovimentoSemTerrahadeventsovertheyears)back in1996,was followingmeonTwitter, andheputmecontactwithMPLmemberDanielGuimarães, famous in theactivist scene for founding thepunkbandGuerra deClasses (“ClassWar”) andhis role in theFreeFare revolts inFlorianópolis a decade prior. So I had a source in the original movementthroughoutmostof June.Thismusthavemadememore likely to trace thingsbacktotheoriginalintentionsofthatorganization.Wasthisanalysismoretruethan all the other possible analyses? I have no idea. Thiswas now a nationalrevolt,andallmyexperienceswereinSãoPaulo.OnJune17,protestersstormedthe grounds of Brazil’s Congress and danced on the roof. Themilitary policecouldnot,orwouldnot,stopthem.Maybethischangedthefutureofthecountrymore than anything that took place in my neighborhood. And then, ascommentators farther and farther away began to weigh in, the picture waspainted in broader and broader strokes. That predictable phrase, “BrazilianSpring,”was used byABCNews, even though it didn’tmakemuch sense tocompare a set of winter marches in a democracy with a popular progressivepresident to theuprisings that toppledNorthAfricandictators.Theprofoundlyanti-military MPL certainly was not pushing for anything like the Egyptiansolution.Organizations that explicitly disagreedwith the left/anarchist orientation oftheMovimentoPasseLivrefoundopportunityintheprotests.Oneofthemhadinternational roots.Brazilwas home to a small but dedicated group of radicalfree-marketinstitutions,oftenlinkedtothegloballibertarianmovementbasedinthe United States. Estudantes Pela Liberdade was the Brazilian version ofStudentsforLiberty,thefree-marketthinktankfundedbytheAtlasNetworkandtheCatoInstitute,bothbasedinWashington,DC.FounderFábioOstermannhadlearnedathingortwofrompro-capitalistcomradesintheUnitedStates,atfree-marketseminarsin2008attheCatoInstituteandtheFoundationforEconomicEducation, and as a “Koch Summer Fellow” at a program paid for by thebillionaireKochbrothers.BrazilianacademicCamilaRocha,whohastracedtheriseoffree-marketthinktanksinthecountry,callstheAtlasNetworkakindof“neoliberalComintern,”likeningthepro-businesssuper-NGOtotheCommunistInternational,asitfundsandcoordinatesorganizationsthatpromoteitsownverydifferent ideology across the world.5 Though Estudantes Pela Liberdade andassociated organizations in Brazil (like the Instituto Mises and the InstitutoMillenium) promote self-consciously “neoliberal” thinkers, they usually avoidthat word (and its negative connotations in South America). They prefer theword liberal, which in Portuguese has none of the center-left connotations itdoes in theUnitedStates. Itmeans freedom in a verydifferent sense than theMPLunderstandsit.Itmeans“freemarkets.”EstudantesPelaLiberdadereceivedfundingfromStudentsforLibertyintheUnitedStates,whichtheyusedtosupportasmallteaminBrazil.ThisalsomeantthattheorganizationcouldnotparticipatedirectlyinpoliticaldemonstrationsinBrazil—thatwouldbeillegal.6Buttheysawpossibilityintheunexpectedmassdemonstrations. Theywanted to create a “liberal vanguard”within the protestmovement, Ostermann told me. So he contacted a friend, with the idea ofrepurposingoneoftheirotherslogansforthecurrentmoment.TheycreatedtheMovimento Brasil Livre (MBL) and used the new Facebook page to call onpeopletoprotest—fortherightreasons—onJune18.7InBrazilianPortuguese,“MBL”soundsnearlyidenticalto“MPL.”Thiswasintentional. The founding of the MBL was an attempt to enter the fray andredefine the meaning of the protests, Ostermann said. “We wanted MBL tosound similar toMPL as a formof contestation.Becausewe didn’twant freetransportation,wewantedafreeBrazil,andwehadasetofproposals—liketheremoval of tax breaks and subsidies, the opening of markets, and morecompetition.”8MAYORHADDADWASBACKINthecityandfacingintensepressure.TheMPLwasnowamenable tomeetingatCityHall.Theyexplained theircaseandreceivedthesupportofmuchoftheCityCouncilonJune18.SevenotherBraziliancitiesloweredtransportationpricesthatday.9ButHaddaddidnotwanttodropthebusfare.Heunderstoodwhythecountryhadexplodedinresponsetotheviolenceofthepolice,whichwasitselfrevengeagainsttheinjuredofficeraweekbefore,butthathadnothingtodowithtransportationpolicy.Givinginwasnotgoingtostopit.“IfIgivein,thenallthatwillbeleftasatargetisyou,”herememberstellingPresidentDilma.“It’sbetterIstayoutinfrontandtakethehit.”Mayarawasatthemeeting.Shewastired,distracted,andnervous.Haddadhadalwaysbeensoarrogant toward them, so dismissive, she felt. But shemanaged to deliver thestandardMPLstumpspeechto thecouncil.Onlyafterwarddidsherealize thatshehadmixedupsomeof thedetails.Shenever likedpublic speaking.Eitherway, the city was not going to budge. The Free Fare Movement remainedcommittedtovictoryonthestreets.Later,onTuesday,June18,thereweremoreprotestsacrossthecountry.InSãoPaulo,itstarteddowntownnearthegrandioseSéCathedral,thecity’smainCatholicchurch.10Itwasclearbynowthat theprotestershadnotactuallydefeated thepolice.The cops had simply stayed away. Except for some small interventions indefenseofthegovernor’spalacethenightbefore,theyhadchosennottoengage.On Tuesday, with the streets to themselves, some of the protesters began tosmashupbusinessesdowntown,andanothergrouptookaimatCityHallitself.TheytriedtobreakintoHaddad’splaceofworkandbegantodemolishasmuchofthestructureastheycould.Theworkersinsidecalledthepoliceforbackup.Nonecame.Mayarawasonthestreetnearby,andanolderwomanranuptoher.She must have recognized her from an appearance in the media. “They aresmashingupCityHall!Youhave todosomething.Tell themtostop.”Mayarapausedtothink—itreallywasnotagreatidea,actually,tostormandtrashthosepublicinstitutionslikethat,andtothreatentheemployeesinside.Shouldshegosaysomething?Thatwasnotexactlytheroleshelikedtoplay(protestauthority,never; opponent of direct action, that would be a first). She continuedconsideringheroptions,untilsomethingbrokeherconcentration.Rightnext toher, a groupof protesters surrounded aTVnewsvanbelonging to theRecordstationandsetitonfire.TURKISHPRESIDENTRECEPTAYYIPERDOĞANplacedaphonecalltoPresidentDilmaRousseff.Brazil, especiallyunder theWorkers’Party, sought tomaintaingoodrelationswithallothercountries in the“developing”world,andsheknewhimwellafteravisittoIstanbulin2011.Shetookthecall,ofcourse.Hewantedtowarn her. He believed that something very strange was happening with thesedigitally coordinated mass protests, and he suspected that both countries—Turkey and Brazil—were the target of some kind of destabilization program.Thiscouldbeacoupattempt,organizedbyforeignelements,perhapsinconcertwiththelocaldeepstateorsomeothershadowyforces.Dilmadidnotagree.Hertheorywas that once you deliver citizenship and someof its associated socialbenefitstoapreviouslyoppressedpopulation,theyaskforevenmore.Thatwasonlynatural.Shecameupinthiscountryasadissident,andshewasnotgoingtobe an anti-protest president. Later, Russian president Vladimir Putin shared asimilar message with Dilma. By now, he was convinced that the West hadcoordinated“colorrevolutions”inabidtoshakevulnerablenationstothecoreandexpandUShegemony.11OnTuesdayJune18,PresidentDilmawentontelevision.Andshepraisedthespirit of the protests. “Today, Brazil awakened stronger. The grand protestsyesterdayhaveprovedtheenergyofourdemocracy,thestrengthofthevoiceofthe streets, and the civic spirit of our population,” she began. She praised thepeaceful protesters—and their patriotic gestures—while distinguishing themfromadestructiveminority.Butoverall,shesaid,itwasworthit.“Isawaposteryesterday that I found really interesting, that said, ‘Please forgive theinconvenience,wearechangingthecountry.’Iwanttosaythatmygovernmentislisteningtothesevoices.”Thedambrokethenextday.Eventhougharound150protestershadgatheredoutsidehishouse thenightbefore,MayorHaddadstarted thedaybelievinghewas going to stand firm on the price hike. But then, Rio de Janeiro mayorEduardoPaescalledhimandsaidhewasgivinginonhisown.Haddadcalledinto Brasília, and it became clear there was no way out. He called a pressconferenceand,standingnexttoGovernorGeraldoAlckmin,announcedthatthefarewascomingbackdown.Mayaraand theMPL,whohadbarelyslept forweeks,absolutely lost theirminds. They were delirious with victory. They drank, they cried, and theyhuggedeachothertight.“Wenevergaveup,wenevergaveup,”Mayarasaidasshe embraced a longtime friend.They belted out protest slogans, some now adecade old, that hadmarked the history of their fight: “EiMPL, qual é a suamissão?Abaixar a tarifa e fazer uma revolução!”—“Hey,MPL,what is yourmission? To bring down fares and create a revolution!” Mayara called upSenator Eduardo Suplicy, a little bit tipsy, and sang “The Internationale,” thesong of the internationalworkers’movement, to him over the phone.At theirbaseattheTorturaNuncaMaisoffices,theylitoneoftheirmodelturnstilesonfire,anddancedaroundit,holdinghands,inacircle.InthemeticulouspreparationsthattheMovimentoPasseLivrehadspenttheyear designing, they had predicted that theywould defeat the bus fare rise onJune19.Theyhadgottenthedayexactlyright.There was only one problem, Lucas “Vegetable” Monteiro said. “We hadplannedeverysingledetail,downtothemomentwewouldsucceed.Butwehadabsolutelynoplanforwhatcameafterthat.”THE MPL CALLED A FINAL street action, a celebration more than a protest, forThursday,June20.Itstartedbeforetheycouldevengetthere.ThemembersoftheFreeFareMovementwereexhausted,hungover,andunsurehowtointeractwiththisparticularawakenedgiant.Therehadbeenfrenzieddiscussionamongleft-winggroups,includingthePT,astowhethertheyshouldparticipateonthestreetsthatday.Itwaswellunderstoodbythenthattheymaynotbewelcome.Inthe end, they elected tomake their presence known, and theMPL decided toform a kind of “security cordon” around themwithin the protest. This was anovel position for them to take. In years past, of course, they had oftenwhisperedtoyoungpunksthattheyshouldgoripdownanyflagonthestreets.But they weren’t an anti-party organization. This confusion, betweenapartidarismo and anti-partidarismo, worried them, and they put out a noteaffirmingthatthesegroupshadbeentheresincethebeginningofJune.Inoveronehundredcitiesacrossthecountry,twomillionpeoplewereonthestreets.ThiswasnowthelargestprotestmovementinBrazilianhistory.12Onlyaweekhadpassed since thedayof thepolice attack,but I can remember everysingledayoftheinterveningweekvividly—everystreetaction,andeverytwistandturninthebattletointerpretandresignifythemonlineafterward.Itfeltliketime had slowed down. And it felt like the trajectory of history was beinghammered out on Facebook, on Twitter, and in the comments section of theMovimento Passe Livre page. I could see the writing on the (digital) wall. Iknewthatthingswouldbedifferent.Therewereallkindsofpeopleonthestreetthatday.ButallIsawwasfighting.IshoweduptoAvenidaPaulistaaroundsunset.AsIgottotheavenue,IsawsomeofthesamepartiesthathadbeenthecoreparticipantsonJune13,andtheyhad fear in their eyes.They tried tomake theirway forward,gingerlyholdingtheir purple and yellow and red and black flags, but a line of burlymenwasholdingthembackandshoutingthemdown.“Sempartido!Sempartido!” theyscreamedintheirfaces,asmoreandmoreofthecrowdjoinedin.“Noparties!No parties!” I couldn’t see theMPL anywhere, but obviously their defensiveplanhadnotworked.Thebigmenbegantopushtheyoungleftists,hard,untiltheywereviolentlyexpellingthemfromtheavenueontosidestreets.Thegroupthat spilled out ontomy street was from the PSOL socialist party, which hadsome representation inCongress andcommitted itself loudly to thedefenseofLGBT and minority rights. They looked down at the ground, shocked, anddejected,andembarrassed. Itwasobvious theydidn’tknowwhat todo.Therewasadeepsadnessintheireyes,andnoonecouldevensummontheenergytodiscusswhathad justhappened.Afewblocksover,amemberof theLandlessWorkers’ Movement, the famous MST, made his own retreat. He stopped tospeak with Piero Locatelli. “We lost.We lost. It’s all over. All we can do isleave.”1311FiveCauses,FourFingersIN THE MIDDLE OF THE street explosion, the hacking collective “Anonymous”uploadedavideototheinternet.Thesevideosalwayswentthesameway.TherewasamaninthatVforVendettamasksittingatadesk.Thereweresomestaticvisual effects, as if the group had infiltrated your computer. Then you hear amalevoice,distortedbyanothercheapvideoeditingtool.In this video, theman outlined a set of demands.He said that the countrymustputpoliticsasideandunitebehindissues“withnoideologicalorreligiouscontent,”whichtheentirecountrycouldagreeupon.The“fivecauses”forwhichthe streets were fighting. First, they would stop PEC 37, that constitutionalamendmentwhichwouldstipulate thatonlypolice,not thepublicprosecutor’soffice, can investigate crimes. Even forme, someonewho had been coveringBrazilianpoliticsverycloselyforyears,theconsequencesofthosejurisdictionaldisputes did not seem especially obvious. Second, Senate President RenanCalheirosmustberemoved(thisoneseemedquitepolitical).Third,irregularitiesin World Cup projects would be investigated and punished. Fourth,congressionalcorruptionwouldbecategorizedasa“heinouscrime”(thiswouldnotchangemuchinpractice).Andfifth,anendtothe“privilegedforum,”whichmeans that charges against sitting politicians must be tried by the SupremeCourt.Notably,noneofthesedemandswouldleadtoconcrete,directbenefitsforregularpeople—theywerealljudicialadjustmentsordealtwithelitepolitics—anddidnotaddresseconomicjusticeatall.Overthenextfewdays,protestsignsinsupportof“5causas”poppedupalloversocialmedia.IfyouwanderedthestreetsofBrazilfromJune14totheendof the month, there were a lot of slogans you might decide represented themovement.Therewas“VforVinegar,”ofcourse.Therewasogiganteacordou,meaning “the giant has awakened,” which dovetailed nicely with a longtimeright-leaningslogan,“Wakeup,Brazil!”TherewasNãoépelos20centavos—whichproclaimed that thiswasaboutmuchmore than thebus farepricehike.Football came into the mix quickly (and not only becauseMayara and otherMPLmembershadcoordinatedwiththeultrasofBraziltoparticipate).Riffingon the exacting standards imposed by theWorldCup organizers for the (veryexpensive)stadiumsbeingbuilt,signsread,“WewantschoolsandhospitalsuptoFIFAstandards.”Thisone,tome,seemedtocapturetheessenceofarangeofsentimentsIhadheardoverthepastseveralyears:wewanttoactuallyliveliketheFirstWorld,not justbeacceptedbythem.Wewantourpeople tohavethecomfortandsecuritythataforeignerattendingtheWorldCupwillhave.Andifyou liked, if thatwas theproject thatspoke toyou, itwouldhavebeen justaspossibletoclaimthattheJuneprotestswereaboutthe“fivecauses.”Overtheentireweek,PresidentDilmaRousseffdevelopedherowntechniquefortryingtoreadthestreets.Shewouldsit inthepresidentialpalace,watchingtelevisionfeedsoftheprotests—GloboNews,specifically—withthesoundoff.Ifsheremovedthemediationprovidedbythechannel’scommentators,shecouldstare intently at the people themselves andmake note of the signs they wereholding.Shecouldtrytoletthemspeaktoherdirectly.Ofcourse, thismethodwaslimitedtotheimagestheGloboconglomeratechosetorecordandtransmit,butit’snotlikeshecouldwanderamongthecrowd,asIhaddone—andevenifthat were possible, demonstrations took place in a hundred cities at the sametime.Soshesat,andshestudiedthescreen.1AfterMayorHaddadgaveintotheMPL,PresidentDilmaRousseffcalledasetofemergencymeetingsandconsideredanumberofwaysshemightrespondtothedizzyingsetsofstreetmanifestations.Ifyoubelieved—likeIdid—thatthewhole thing was fundamentally about better public services, then this was astrange paradox. Given the actual arrangements of Brazilian politics, nobodywaspushingharderforanexpandedwelfarestate than thePT(andthecloselyalliedPCdoB).Youcouldviewtheexplosionasanoutcryforthegovernmenttodomoreofwhat itwasalreadydoing.ThiswasthebasicconclusionthatLuladrewinaJulyNewYorkTimeseditorial.2“Inthelastdecade,Brazildoubleditsnumber of university students, many from poor families.We sharply reducedpovertyandinequality.Thesearesignificantachievements,yet it iscompletelynaturalthatyoungpeople,especiallythosewhoareobtainingthingstheirparentsneverhad,shoulddesiremore.”At the same time, Lula and President Rousseff definitely saw the anti-government sentiment on the streets—the denunciations of corruption, andconservative-patrioticoutragedirectedsquarelyattheirparty.Mayara and othermembers of theMPL sat downwithDilma Rousseff inBrasília on June 24. It went about as you would expect, Mayara thought,considering that their movement’s goals were pretty clear, and the presidentcouldn’tchangenationalpolicyinasinglemeeting.Arrivinginthatconferenceroom with the president that day, Mayara realized that despite their politicaldifferences,Dilmawas“ourkindofpeople.”ThepresidentrealizedimmediatelythattheexhaustedactivistswerefamishedandgotsomeonetofeedthemsomeBrazilian cheesy bread.UnlikeHaddad,who always came across as academicandaloof,Dilmahadthebearingofafighter,justlikethem.Butafterthemeeting,disasterstruck.NooneandeveryoneisaspokespersonfortheMovimentoPasseLivre,andamongthemanythingsthatthegrouptoldthepressafterthemeeting,MPLmemberMarceloHotimskyletflythatDilma’sofficewas “unprepared” to discuss the issue of public transportation. Itwas aglibcomment,andMayarawasgutted.“Ofcoursethepresswillchooseitastheheadline,” she thought. By now, some people on both the left and right wereclaiming, for their own reasons, that the June uprising was a conservativemovementaimedatdislodgingtheWorkers’Partyandthecountry’sfirstwomanpresident. Mayara thought those people, as wrong as they were, would useMarcelo’scommenttobuttresstheirarguments.Theydid.3That same day, President Dilma Rousseff announced “Five Pacts withBrazil.”Shedeclaredhersupportforthe“heinouscrime”designationdemandedby thatAnonymousvideo,andCongressquicklykilledPEC37,as theman inthe mask had wanted. The most important of Dilma’s five “pacts” was aproposedreferendumtoamendtheconstitution.Thiswouldallowfor“politicalreform”of the type thatherpartyhad longsought.Thiswould require unitingtherestofBrazil’spoliticalclassbehindtheidea—noeasyfeat,butintheweeksaftersheputitforward,68percentofBrazilianssaidtheysupportedtheproject.4Congress was also desperate to do something that would show they werelistening to the streets. Senate President Renan Calheiros from the moreconservative Brazilian Democratic Movement (PMDB) party (who haddefinitelybeenaccusedofcorruptionandwasdefinitelynotbeingremoved)putforwardabigpackageoflegislationthatwasmeanttocleanuppolitics.Oneofthelawshadbeenintheworksforyears,theresultofinternationalcooperationandpressure fromabroadsince theearly2000s. Itwasn’tmuchnoticed in theflurryofchanges,butLei12.850/2013wouldmodifytherulesforinvestigating“criminalorganizations.”Mostimportantly,itmadepossiblethewidespreaduseofdelaçõespremiadas,orpleabargaindeals,aslongasthetargetsweredefinedcorrectly.5Behind the scenes, major players in Brazilian politics—including VicePresidentMichelTemer,whohadnotbeeninvitedtothoseweekendemergencymeetings—madeitverycleartoDilmathattheywerenotgoingtocountenancethe kind of political reform she had announced on television. Quietly, thepresident backed off, and the constitution remained unchanged.6 But Lei12.850/2013soonchangedthingsinthecountry.Brazilhasa“civillaw”systemderivedfromcontinentalEuropeantraditions,which isverydifferent from the “common law” system inplace in theUnitedStates.Notably,judgesinBrazilarenotasboundby“precedent”astheirNorthAmericancounterparts.Lowercourtshaveawiderangeofleewaytoruleastheyplease and are often overturned by higher courts on appeal. The tactic ofthreateningasuspectwithjailtimeandthenofferinghimawayoutifheturnssomeone else in was not part of the legal architecture. It was largely theinfluenceof theUnitedStates that ledBrazil toadoptpleabargain techniques.Asa resultofpressure fromWashington,direct contactbetweenBrazilianandUS jurists and officials, and the ambient assumption that things in theUnitedStatesjustworkedbetter,authoritieshadpushedfortheabilitytoinvestigatethesamewayascopsintheUSforyears.Andafter2013,theycould.7AFTER GEZI PARK FAILED TO unite behind the “big brothers” on the organizedTurkishleft,Erdoğan’sgovernmenttriedtoconstructnegotiationsoftheirown.8OnJune12,theyinvitedagroupofhigh-profilesupporters,includingtelevisionactors,totalks.Thiswaswidelyrejectedinthesquare,sothegovernmentcameupwithadifferentgroup,comprisingsomeoftheactivistsandNGOswhohadmoremeaningfulconnectionstothemovement.Thiswasbetter;butitwasstillthe state selectingwhowould representGeziPark,not themovement itself. Ifyoucareabouttheends(notjustthemeans)ofyourprotestmovement,thenyoucan’t cede the power of representation to some external actor, wrote TurkishpoliticalscientistCihanTuğal.Certainlynottoyourantagonist.Tosumupthedynamicatworkhere—inEgypt,inTurkey,andindeedacrossthemassprotestdecade—TuğalparaphrasedoneofMarx’smost famous lines,inTheEighteenthBrumaireofLouisBonaparte: “Thosewho cannot representthemselveswillberepresented.”9The Turkish government presented a deal as a fait accompli. The peoplewouldkeeptheParkifthecountryvotedforitinanationalplebiscite,butthatwasit.Nothingelse.Takeitorleaveit.Thepeopleintheparkweresplitonthatproposal, and there was no mechanism for deciding how to respondcollectively.10 Apparently, many people within the government felt deeplyfrustratedthattheycouldnotfindanegotiatingpartner—thebestoutcomemighthave been to give the people (or at least, these influential people in Istanbul)someofwhattheysaidtheywanted.*They received no answer from the Square—how could it give one?At anAKP rally in the capital, theprimeminister announced thegovernmentwouldclear the park. Authorities did so, by force, on June 15. Assemblies andneighborhoodforumssprangupforawhileoutsidethepark,butenergybegantotaperoff. Regular people had to go back to their jobs. The groups could notmakebindingdecisionsortakeconcreteaction.ON JUNE 29, 2013, THE Tamarod—“Rebellion”—movement in Egypt announcedthat it had collectedmore than twenty-twomillion signatures demanding thatMohamed Morsi call new elections. From the beginning, the group hadrepresented itself as the heir to the spirit of 2011, the successormovement toTahrirSquare.Theywereyoung revolutionaries,using the internet toorganizeandcallforanendtotheexcessesoftheMuslimBrotherhoodgovernment.OnJune30,millionsofpeopletooktothestreets.Gehad,whohatedMorsi,went,butshethoughtthisprotestwasverystrange.This was very different from 2011. Back then, she had risen to action afterseeing a protester face down police violence. This time, the police weresupportingthedemonstration,andprotestersweretakingselfieswithcops.TheJune 30 movement also had the backing of major media, which had beenbuilding up to this date for weeks. This didn’t feel like an uprising; this wasmore like a festival. A coordinated nationalist ritual. Military aircraft flewoverhead; therewere hugeEgyptian flags and fireworks everywhere.This feltwrong.OnJuly3,DefenseMinisterGeneralAbdelFattahel-Sisiseizedpower.Forhimself.Thiswasamilitarycoup.As it turnedout,Tamarodwasneverasgrassrootsas itseemed.Gehadandmany others would find out later that Tamarod had been funded by Gulfcountries (especially the United Arab Emirates), the military, and wealthybusinessmen.11SaudiArabiaimmediatelythrewitssupportbehindthenewSisiregime.12“Wewereplayed,”Gehadsaid.“Simpleasthat.”MorsihadmillionsofsupportersinthecountrywhopointedoutthathehadactuallywontheonlylegitimatepresidentialelectioninEgyptianhistory.Theyoccupied the square—not Tahrir, but Rabaa, a few miles to the east—surrounding a mosque. Media spread exaggerated reports that the MuslimBrotherhoodwasplanningviolence.13Thearmyraidedandcleared thesquare,killing approximately one thousand people.14 The Rabaa Massacre shockedhuman rights organizations, but it didn’t change the situation for Sisi one bit.TheMuslimBrotherhoodwasbanned.DictatorshipwasbackinEgypt.Simpleasthat.In the summerof 2013,Erdoğanwould appear in public andmake a four-fingered salute in solidarity with Rabaa Square (rabaa means “fourth” inArabic). Even after his government had violently cleared Gezi Park, he stillpositionedhimselfasaleaderwhowasinsupportofpopularuprisings,aslongas they were the right ones. Rabaa didn’t have too many supporters thatmattered,however.TheriseofSisiwasahugevictoryfortheSaudiroyalfamilyandtheversionofGulf-dominatedArabpoliticsthathadseemedsothreatenedsince the dawn of a so-called “spring” in 2011.15 The Turkish Model, andErdoğan’sdreamofinternationalinfluence,wereintatters.In2013,ErdoğanlostEgypt,helostmuchofthesecularmiddleclassduringtheGezidays,andhewasnowdeeplyinvolvedinabloodyquagmireinSyria.ItdidnotlooklikeTurkeywasjoiningtheEuropeanUnionanymore.Buthisruleitselfwasnotinquestion;Erdoğanlookedforwardtoeasyelectionvictories,ashisgovernmentgraduallybecame more authoritarian. Not long after the dust settled, the bazaarshopkeeper,Hazar,joinedthemilitaryandwasinforabigsurprisewhenhemettherestoftheguysinthebarracks.Inthesquare,hefelttheentirecountrywaswithhim—buthefoundoutthatmostoftheseguys,watchingfromruralareasaroundthecountry,wereagainsttheprotestsfromdayone.THE MOVIMENTO PASSE LIVRE HAD to decide what to do next. After the messy,multimillion-person marches on June 20, theMPL did not call for any moredemonstrations.Someofthemthoughttheycouldhavesuppliedanewdemand—perhapsgoingall theway, for theeponymousFreeFare—todirect thehugeamountofenergynowonthestreets.Theyfound,justwalkingaroundtown,thatpeoplewouldshout support for them.Peoplewouldaskwhat theyweredoingnext.Butmakingsuchadecisionwouldhaverequiredeverysinglemember toagree. It ishard todecideonanentirelynewcampaignquickly ifyou relyonconsensus foryourdecision-making. Just as importantly, theyweredead tired.Someof themwere nowvery ill; others had lost a lot ofweight.Mayara hadbeenworking thewhole timeasawaitresswhileorganizingstreetcombatandbecomingaminornationalcelebrity.Theyalsohadtodecidehowtodealwithafloodofrecruitswhohadshownup, though no one had actually asked them to join.How could they integrateeveryoneintosuchatightlyknitgroup?Theyattendedanotherseriesofendlessmeetings,oncemoreattheirbaseattheTorturaNuncaMaiscenter.Somememberswere afraid of inevitable, dreaded bureaucratization if theysought toexpandor takeadvantageof theirpopularity.Oneproposalsought toeliminate the necessity that everyone participate in those endless twelve-hourmeetings.Therewouldbeageneralassemblyforsomethings,aswellassmallergroups for other things. Thiswas seen as unacceptably Leninist. For his part,Lucas “Vegetable” Monteiro essentially wanted to abolish all of the group’sexistingstructures.Afterendlessdiscussion,adifferentproposalwonout.TheMPL would retreat from the spotlight in the middle of the city, neglect theuniversitiesandmedia,andgodowntothepeople.Theywouldconcentrateonoutreachintheperiferia,thepoorneighborhoodsontheoutskirts(orperiphery)ofthecities.AdjustedfortheBraziliancontext,thisistheexactsamethingthattheoriginalleadersofStudentsforaDemocraticSocietydidbackinthe1960safter the media spotlight furnished them with a lot of attention (and,consequently,alotofnewmembers).“Vegetable”hadn’theardthisstorybefore,butwhen I began to tell him, hewas able to finishmy sentences forme, andpredictexactlywhatwasgoingtohappen.“Sopeopleshoweduptryingtojoinamovement thatdidn’tactuallyexistoutside themedia?”heasked.Right.“Queloucura.”Whatmadness.InChile,manyoftheleadersofthe2011studentmovementtooktheoppositeapproach. They decided to join institutional politics and stood for election inNovember 2013. CamilaVallejo andKarol Cariola ran for Congresswith theCommunist Party and pledged to join the “NewMajority” coalition with theSocialists. Gabriel Boric and Giorgio Jackson ran as independents, associatedwith the Autonomous Left movement and the newly founded DemocraticRevolution,respectively.All four leaderswereelected.Theydeclared theywouldhave“one footonthestreetandanother inCongress,”butformanypeoplewhohadjoinedthemon thestreets, thiswasabetrayal.Theywere joining thesystem.AfterVallejoand Cariola entered the government, their allies back in the student unionsquickly lost interest. And for the anarchist currents in the Chilean youthmovement,allfourofthemwerenowtheenemy.16IN2013,ITRACKEDDOWNthemanwhohaduploadedthe“FiveCauses”video.Hewantedtobeidentifiedonlyas“Mario,”butheprovedtomethathecontrolledtheYouTube channel that hosted the clip.We talked for awhile onFacebookMessengerabouthowhegotintopolitics,andhowheheardaboutAnonymous.Heneverjoinedthatgroup,hesaid—itdoesn’tworklikethat.Hejustlikedthestuffhesaw,sohegotamaskandmadeavideointhetrademarkstyle.What about the five causes, I asked?How did the group decide on those?“Oh,noonedecided,”heresponded.Hehadsimplymade themup.Hepiecedthe“causes” together fromstuffhehad readonFacebookandcameupwithalist.Fiveseemedlikeagoodnumber.17After thedust settled, theDatafolhapollinggroup (thebest in the country)did a new survey on Dilma’s popularity. In the first week of June 2013, 57percentofBrazilianscharacterizedhergovernmentas“good”or“great.”Attheendofthemonth,thenumberwas30percent.Thatisatwenty-seven-pointdropinthreeweeks.18WhatisastoundingisthatnotoneoftheissuesthatcausedtheJune explosion had anything to do with the federal executive branch. Citiescontrol the bus fares—and Dilma had pressured to delay the price rise. Stategovernmentscontrol thepolice—andinSãoPaulo, theconservativeoppositionwas in command. The SupremeCourt is the final arbiter on corruption cases.PresidentRousseffhadlosthalfofhersupportinathree-weekperiodinwhichher administration didn’t actually do anything except try to respond to thecontradictorymessagesrisingupfromthestreets.Foranyanalysisthatassumesvotersactrationallybasedonaccesstoinformationabout theirrepresentatives,thispresentsaseriousconundrum.Whatcouldexplainthedrop?NoinformationbecameavailableaboutDilmaorhergovernance.Perhapsmanypeoplerealizedthat therewerea lotof things theydidn’t likeabout thecountry.Onecommonexplanation is that citizens believed she had respondedpoorly to the eruption.Butwhatwastherightway?Or,ifyoubringthemediaintoyourunderstandingofpoliticalreality—thereis,ofcourse,nonationalpoliticswithoutmediation—maybeeveryoneexperiencedafewweeksofintensemediaengagement,weeksinwhich thegovernmentwasframedas incompetent,ormalevolent,orboth. Ihaveneverseenasatisfactoryanswer.Herapprovalratingsneverrecovered.PARTTWO12EuMaidanARTEMWASTRYINGTOUNIONIZEMcFoxy,theburgerjointindowntownKyiv.ThiswasnotMcDonald’sbutanobvious imitation, thekindofcheapspot thathadsprungupalloversincethefalloftheSovietUnion.AftergrowingupinasmalltowninWesternUkraine,Artemhadfinishedhisuniversitydegreeincyberneticeconomicsin2012,andhewasworkingfastfoodtomakeendsmeet.Thepaywas bad (about $1.50 per hour, even though hewas promised $2), he had towork twelve-hour shifts, and the owners were breaking all kinds of laws. Helived in a big, cheap apartment with a bunch of friends, all of whom wereinterestedinactivism.Vegetarians,anarchists,socialists,orotherwise,theyweretryingtosomehowmakeadifference.So he came home one day and typed into Google: “How to organize fastfood.” He found a bunch of old American websites with information on aunionization drive at Pizza Hut and followed their lead. This did not work.Artemgot firedafter twomonths.Sohe startedworkingat another restaurant,close to the Maidan, or Майдан Незалежності, “Independence Square,” indowntownKyiv.OnNovember21,somepeoplebeganprotestingonthesquare.Astheyate,someofthecustomersaskedArtem,“Whyaren’tyougoing?”andheresponded,“I have to work, serving people like you!” But really, the answer was morecomplicated.Hethoughtthattheseprotestswerenotreallyforhim.They were not that big, and they were protesting President ViktorYanukovych for declining to sign an association agreementwith theEuropeanUnion. Artemwas certainly no fan of Yanukovych, but as he saw it, a smallgroup ofWestern-facing students and NGO employees were agitating for thegovernment to take on amore explicitly neoliberal structure. For Artem, thatassociation agreementwas something thatwould help rich people, not regularUkrainians.Itwouldmeandestroyingevenmoreofthethreadbarewelfarestateleft in the wake of the Soviet collapse.1 Moreover, it seemed that oppositionparties—just asbadas thepresidentwith just asmanyoligarchical ties—weretryingtousethesmalldemonstrationtopushtheirownagendas.Butthen,onNovember30,thepolicecrackeddown.Imagesspreadthroughthecountryofspecialforcesattackingstudentsrightinthemiddleofthecapital.Laterthatday,peoplebegantopourintothesquare.Thiswasnowaboutsomethingbiggerthanthatassociationagreement,Artemdecided. It was about rejecting police brutality, and it was about the right toprotest.Ifitwasabout“Europe,”hereasoned,thatwasanideathatwasbigger(andmoreopentointerpretation)thanasingleeconomicdealwithBrussels.Heandhisfriendsneededtoplanttheirownflaginthesquareandbeapartofthis.Artemandhisfriendsweregoing.2ToAssociateorNottoAssociateUkrainewasaveryimportantpartoftheSovietUnion.TheCommunistPartyofUkraine was the largest in the Union (there was no Russian party) of fifteenrepublics,andUkrainesuppliedMoscowwithmuchofitstopleadership.Threeleaders of the USSR (out of seven total)—Khrushchev, Brezhnev, andChernenko—hadroots inmodern-dayUkraine; itwouldbe threeandahalf, ifyou count that Gorbachev’smother is from the country. AndUkrainewas anagriculturalandindustrialpowerhouse,producingmuchof thegrain,steel,andadvancedtechnologyconsumedbytherestoftheSovietUnion.MostofUkrainewaspartoftheRussianEmpirebefore1917andjoinedtheSovietUnioninroughlythesamemannerastherestoftheterritoriesformerlybelongingtotheTsar.TheBolshevikstookpoweraftertheRussianRevolution.Therewere certainly people therewhowanted things to go differently (forcessometimes allied with the White Army held Kyiv as the capital of anindependentUkraineatdifferentpointsduringtheCivilWar),aswasthecaseinmany parts of the former Russian Empire. Moscow promoted Ukrainiannationalism until Stalin began to view it with suspicion and started to crackdown.TheUkrainianSovietSocialistRepublicwasdevastatedbythefamineof1932–1933,which broughtmass death to the region asMoscow collectivizedagriculture.ThispartofthenationalsofoughtbravelyintheRedArmy,beatingHitler’s forces back toBerlin after the devastatingNazi occupation ofCentralandEasternEurope,andcelebratedvictoryoverGermanyin1945.Anotherchunkofmodern-dayUkraine, in thewest, entered theUSSR inaverydifferentway.Areas inGaliciaandVolhynia (withcitiesnowcalledLvivand Lutsk) were part of Poland in the interwar years. During the era of theMolotov-RibbentropPact,theagreementbetweentheUSSRandNaziGermany,Stalin andHitler agreed to partition Poland. TheRedArmywent in and tookthese areas under the justification that it was saving them. Ukraine alsoincorporated parts of Hungary, and Romania during the war, growingconsiderablyinsizeby1945.3Itwas in thewesternregion thata radicalversionofUkrainiannationalismtookhold.Inthe1930sinPoland,amannamedStepanBandera,amemberofthe far-right Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), began organizingattacksonlocalofficials.Hewenttojail,untilHitler’sinvasionin1939allowedhim to escape. The OUN welcomed the Nazis as liberators, believing theGermans might allow them to lead an allied Ukrainian state, and helped tomassacreJewsinwhatisnowWesternUkraine.ButHitlerhadotherplans,andthe Gestapo kept Bandera captive during the war. After the alliance with theNazisfellapart,Bandera’sfaction(OUN-B)slaughteredPoles,moreJews,andUkrainians they considered traitors. Then as the Red Army pushed towardGermany in 1944, the Nazis released him, hoping he would harass theapproachingCommunists.4AftertheSovietvictoryin1945,theOUN-Banditsmilitarywing, theUkrainian InsurgentArmy (UPA),wagedabloodyguerrillawaragainstCommunistUkraine,withsomeWesternsupport.5TheKGBfinallyassassinatedBanderainMunichin1959.6Finally, there was the third part of the country: Crimea, the strategicpeninsula that had been an importantOttoman trading port. Itwas part of theRussian SSR until 1954 and the celebration of the “Tercentenary of theReunificationofUkrainewithRussia.”BothRussiaandUkrainetracetheirrootsto thecivilizationofKyivanRus’ (founded in theninthcentury,whenVikingsestablished themselves as kings ruling over Slavic lands), and official Sovietpropaganda indicated that the 1654PereiaslavCouncil (bringing theCossacksunder the tutelage of the Tsar) brought everyone together again. As a lavish,symbolicgestureof brotherhood,NikitaKhrushchev transferredCrimea to theUkrainianSSR(whichwouldnowalsohavethetaskofhelpingthedevastatedpeninsularecoverfromthewar).As the Soviet Union collapsed, it appeared for a while that Ukraine andRussiamightstayunited.In1990theUkrainianparliamentdeclaredsovereignty(but not secession), meaning that local laws took precedence over Moscow.Politicians in Kyiv passed a law prohibiting any demonstrations near theparliament building, but dozens of students descended onOctober RevolutionSquare and began a hunger strike, demanding the resignation of the primeminister.When the government tried to dislodge the protesters, fifty thousandUkrainiansmarchedtojointhem.Itworked.UkrainedidnotexitnegotiationsonGorbachev’snewuniontreaty,astheyasked—buttheprotesterswereallowedtopresenttheircaseontelevision,andtherighttoprotestwasaffirmed.Thiswasthe first time that“Maidan”couldbeusedasaname foranactofcontention,rather than a place, and the moment that taking this square became anestablishedpartoftheUkrainianrepertoire.7IntheMarch1991referendum,70percentofUkrainiansvotedforarenewedSovietUnion,and80percentvotedfornationalsovereigntywithinthatunion.8InAugust1991,USpresidentGeorgeH.W.BushencouragedleadersinKyivtostayinarenewedunionwithRussia.ButeverythingchangedafteranattemptedcoupinAugust1991.9Communisthardliners(someofthemvisiblyinebriated)tried to undo the process that Gorbachev had started in the 1980s and failedspectacularly.InaDecember1991referendum,90percentofUkrainiansvotedforfullindependence.ThismeanttheendoftheUSSR;therecouldbenoUnionwithout Ukraine. That October Revolution Square, the “Maidan,” became“IndependenceSquare.”Butthesecond“Maidan”event,in2004,wasfarmorefamousanddidmuchtoreshapeglobalideasofpopularcontention.AftertheformationofUkraineasanindependentnation-state,formerCommunistofficialsbecamecapitalistsandstayed in power. The country experienced the same deep economic decline asmostofthepost-Sovietworld.Thecollectivegainsofdecadesofstruggle—themodernization,industrialization,andtechnologicalachievements,whichcameatsuch high human cost since 1917—were transferred to a small group ofwell-connected individuals, soon known to much of the world as “oligarchs.” ButUkraine did enjoy the right to formal electoral democracy, and a polarizationemergedwhichwould be familiar to voters inmost rich countries.Corruptionwas rife across the entire political class, which was intertwined with theoligarchical control of the national economy, but at least there were differentteamstochoosefrom.In 2004, Viktor Yanukovych, a politician from Eastern Ukraine with acheckeredpast(hehadbeenconvictedofrobberyandviolentassault),facedoffagainst Viktor Yushchenko, a former central banker now championed by themorepro-Westernandnationalistcamp,andhisally,YuliaTymoshenko(knownas the “gas princess” for the way she made a fortune in the 1990s). OfficialresultsindicatedthatYanukovychhadwon,andPutincalledtocongratulatehim.Tymoshenko called on the people to come to the Maidan and protest, andhundreds of thousands of them did, braving the punishing Kyivan winter tocampout forweeks.Yushchenkohaddeep ties to theUS (hiswife,Kateryna,wasaUScitizenwhohadworkedintheStateDepartment),andgoodreasontobe suspicious ofMoscow (he had been disfigured by a poison thatmay havecome from Russia).10 Western politicians and media offered support to the“Orange Revolution”—so named because the protesters wore Yushchenko’scampaigncolor.It worked. The supreme court invalidated the results and called for a newvote,whichYushchenkowon,52percentto44percent.Formanypeoplearoundtheworld, thiswasan inspiring instantiationof“peoplepower” (adesignationbornoutof the1986uprising that removedUS-backedanticommunistdictatorFerdinand Marcos from power in the Philippines), and it became the mostfamous of the “color revolutions” that took place in the former Soviet spacebeginninginGeorgia.Likemostof those,however, theOrangeRevolutiondidnothingtochangetheoligarchicalstructureoftheUkrainianeconomy.Onceinpower,YushchenkoandTymoshenkobegantobickeroverherbusinessties,andconditionsremainedatrociousforregularpeople.Butculturewarisfree.Yushchenkowasabletothrowsomeredmeattomorenationalistic Ukrainians, if he couldn’t deliver on bread-and-butter issues. A2001 census indicated that 78 percent of the country considered themselvesethnically Ukrainian, while 30 percent considered Russian their “language oforigin,” and even more preferred to use Russian as a primary means ofcommunication.11 Under the new president, it became harder to do so—onlyUkrainian,theofficiallanguage,couldbeusedinofficialgovernmentbusiness,andYushchenkopushedformoremediainthenationallanguage.Manypeopleexperienced this new “Ukrainization” as the recovery of the national identity,andothersfeltitasarepressionofminorityrights.In2006thegovernmenttriedtomakeitillegaltodenythattheHolodomor,the“DeathbyHunger”inthe1930s,wasgenocide.Whilenomajorpoliticiansdeniedthefactofthefamine,thisdividedelites.Theothersideofthisargument,asYanukovych put it: “Itwas a tragedy, a common tragedy of the states thatmadeuptheSovietUnion”—thatis,itwassomethingtheUSSRdidtoitself,notsomethingMoscow did toUkrainians. StalinwasGeorgian, andmany peoplealsostarvedinKazakhstanandRussia.Thatkindofdivision,thedisagreementover whether Ukrainian patriotism necessarily implied drawing Russia as theantagonisticother,wasattheheartoftwocompetingvisionsforthefutureofthecountry.12TheninJanuary2010,YushchenkodeclaredStepanBanderaa“Heroof Ukraine.” That man’s organization had slaughtered around one hundredthousandpeople,andthiswasasteptoofarforalotofpeople.ForUkrainianswhoprizedthesacrificestheirfamilieshadmadeservingintheRedArmy,thiswasan insult.Both theEuropeanParliamentandtheSimonWiesenthalCenter(theJewishhumanrightsorganizationbasedinLosAngeles,USA)condemnedthe move.13 Yushchenko ended his presidency with dismal approval ratings,whichdroppedtoaslowas4percentin2009.14Butonhiswayout,hesaidhehadstucktohisprinciplesandcelebratedthefactUkrainiansupportforjoiningNATOhadrisentoashighas33percentduringhispresidency.15In the 2010 election, Yanukovych won again. But this time, internationalobserverscertified theelectionas legitimate.ThoughIhavenevermetanyonewhosayshewasagreatpresident,hewasmorefavorabletoeconomicinterestsin the east, and hewas seen as the best option to the peoplewith a differentvisionforthecountry.This“blue”votingbloc,incontrasttothe“orange,”sawUkraineasanecessarilypluralisticnationandwassuspiciousoftheversionofnationalism based in Western Ukraine and its sometimes far-right traditions.Many wanted to preserve some of the things (especially basic economicsecurity) provided by the USSR. In a 2013 Gallup poll, 56 percent ofrespondents in Ukraine said the fall of the Soviet Union didmore harm thangood,whileonly23percentsaidtheendoftheUSSRbenefitedtheircountry.16The split betweenUkraine’s two campswas often portrayed in ethnic andregionalterms,butitwasmorecomplicatedthanthat,anditoftenhadtodowithclass and urbanization. Even in very blue regions likeDonetsk orLuhansk, itwaspossibletofindpeopleinvillageswhospokeUkrainianandidentifiedwithethno-nationalistorright-wingcauses.Artem,whoisleft-leaningandpreferredamorepluralisticvisionofUkrainianidentity,isfromthebright-orangewest,buthiscitywassplitdownthemiddleduringthe2004OrangeRevolution.IdentityinUkraineisnotassimpleasfamilylineage,either—thequestionofwhomovedinto cities, during the Russian Empire or afterward, and underwentproletarianization along Soviet lines, is fundamental to shaping contemporaryloyalties. But until 2013, it remained largely true that far-right nationaliststendedtobeconcentratedinthewest,especiallyoutsideofcities(orintheUSorCanada,wheretheUkrainiandiasporafavoredhardlinepositions).Putin favored Yanukovych over his rivals, but he did not like him verymuch.17Domestically, his version of governmentwas an incompetent formofcrony capitalism.Yanukovych’s approval ratings slid downward soon after hetookofficewhilethewealthofhisfamilyrose.Hecouldnotofferhissupportersmuch more than opposition to orange policies on national and linguisticquestions.Conditions for ordinary people remained dismal. By 2013,UkrainewasoneofonlytwoformerSovietrepublics(alongwithKyrgyzstan)wheretheGDP had not recovered since the fall of the USSR—the former economicpowerhousewasnowaboutasrichasIraqorElSalvador.18AfterthecollapseoftheSovietUnion,millionsofpeopleleftthecountry,andthetotalpopulationhadshrunkfromfifty-twomillionin1991toonlyforty-fivemillionin2013.Populardestinationswere Poland (which entered theEuropeanUnion in 2004),whereonecouldearnmuchhigherwages(thoughimmigratingwaslegallytricky),andRussia.Whenitcametogeopolitics,Yanukovych(likemanyleadersinKyiv)playedBrussels andMoscow against each other. The 2012 “Association Agreement”offeredbytheEuropeanUnionrequiredliberalization(meaningkeepingwagesdown and cutting pensions), and it was not an invitation to actually join theEU.19VladimirPutindidnotwanthimtotakeit.ThedealwouldpullUkraineawayfromhiseconomy,andcouldevenserveasapreludetointegrationintotheWesternsecuritysystem.Theunexpected,continuedexpansionofNATOsince1999 had rankledRussian leaders of every stripe.20 The EuropeanUnionwasaskingKyiv to step overMoscow’s red lines, without offeringYanukovych avery good reason to do so. The EU, a young organization that had largelyavoided getting involved in geopolitical questions, seemed out of its depth.Russia,ontheotherhand,offered$15billionandagreatdealongas(aswellasallkindsof threatsofsanctionsandtradebans).Yanukovychmayhavebeenacrook,but itmighthavebeen rational foranyUkrainian leader to takePutin’sdeal.21EscalationOn November 21, Viktor Yanukovych announced he was not taking theEuropean deal. Mustafa Nayyem, an Afghan-Ukrainian journalist, usedFacebook to call for people to gather in the square. A few hundred people,perhaps a thousand, showed up.22 Maidan 3.0 drew on local traditions ofcontention—especiallythe1989moment,aswellastheOrangeRevolution—butitalsotookinspirationfrommorerecentoccupations.Onthefirstnight theyhadameeting inabar,a tackygastropubacross thestreetfromtheMaidan.Mustafasaid,“Ok—inEgypttheyhaddedicatedpeopletweetinginEnglish.Whoisgoingtodothatforus?”23Maria Tomakwas there from the beginning. Sheworked at theCenter forCivil Liberties, a human rightsNGO funded byWestern donors. But shewasinspired more by the legacy of dissidents active within the Soviet Union.Naturally, theMaidan would be a horizontal and “self-organized” movement,with a stage perhaps, but with no leaders, and she and other protesters usedFacebooktocoordinate.24Social media was important from the beginning, and early demonstratorswerelargelymiddle-classandwell-connected.Buttelevisionwasimportanttoo.Mediainthecountrywascontrolledbyoligarchs,oftenwithtelevisionchannelsidentifiably linkedwith a certainman and his business interests. Yanukovychhadangeredsome(butnotall)ofthisclassbyplacinghisownclanatthetopofthis system. From the beginning, outlets like Hromadske (funded by theNetherlands,theUS,andGeorgeSoros)—thisiswhereMustafaNayemworked—and Channel 5 (owned by chocolate industry magnate Petro Poroshenko)backedtheuprising,whilestationsrunbyotheroligarchswentbackandforthaseventsunfolded,apparently in linewith theirowners’personal interests.But ifyouwere far fromKyivandwatchingRussian television (asmanyUkrainiansdid over the following months), you would have ended up with an entirelydifferentideaofwhathappenedinthesquare.In a place like Odessa (a major seaside town in the days of the RussianEmpire known as the “Pearl of theBlackSea”), it is easy to find families, orevencouples,whodisagreeamongthemselvesontheveryfundamentalsoftheuprisingbecausetheywatchdifferentTVchannels.ButinKyiv,whenthepolicecrackeddownon studentprotestersunder thepretextof installingaChristmastree,bothsocialandtraditionalmediaspreadtheshockingimagesfarandwide.Soon,onehundredthousandpeopledescendedonthesquare.25ArtemandhisfriendsbroughttheirownsymbolstotheMaidan.TheytookaredflagandsewedthestarsoftheEuropeanUnionontothecorner.Theideawasthat they supported “Europe” in the sense of a social democracy and humanprogress, a vision of a continental future of prosperity and economic rights.Theirprioritiesweredirectdemocracyand“de-oligarchization”:theywantedtoput decisions, as well as economic power, into the hands of the Ukrainianpeople.And, they figured, if youwere lookingwest toEurope, you couldnotdefend any position that was misogynist or anti-LGBT. Their chant was:“Freedom,Equality,andSisterhood.”This was not the only interpretation on offer. For other people, the thirdMaidanuprisingmeantsomethingverydifferent.Euromaidanwasmorediffusein its demands than theOrange Revolution, since it was not clearly aimed atchanging an election result. And of course, global digital and ideologicalconditionsmadestructurelessuprisingsmorelikely.JustasinTurkey,itwasthepolicecrackdownthathadsetofftheexplosion,andtherewasnocleargoalthatcould unite the group except opposition to Yanukovych.26 Many participantsweredeterminedtoavoidtheperceivederrorsoftheOrangeRevolution,whichhadonlyeffectedatransferofpowerbetweenexistingpoliticalelites.Fromthebeginning,thecrowdincludedliberalswholookedwest,includingthosewhowereprofessionalmembersof“civilsociety,”suchasMariaTomak.Her group usedFacebook to createEuromaidanSOS, a crowd-sourced digitalservice providing volunteer aid and supplies to protesters in need. The liberalwinginthesquareincludedworkersinthetechsector—oryoungprofessionalswho lived like people in Berlin or might have friends who went to graduateschool withme in London. Theyweremore likely to believe that the reformpackageofferedbyBrusselswasgoodpolicy,oftenbecausethosereformswouldhavebenefitedtheirownclass.Thiswastheeasiestgroupforforeignjournaliststo find—inaddition to speaking the languageofdemocratic ideals, inEnglish,theirorganizationshavetalented,full-timeemployeestrainedandpaidtointeractwithpeoplelikeme.VeteransofthewarinAfghanistanconstitutedanothervisiblepresenceinthesquare.Likesoldiersfrommanyotherrepublics,theyhadinvadedthatcountryaspartoftheSovietArmy.Oppositionpartiesalsohadaclearinterestingettinginvolved. In2012 theright-wingSvobodapartyhadwonaround10percentofseats inparliament,and theycontrolledapartof thesquare. Itwasfoundedasthe Social-National Party ofUkraine, a reference toHitler’s outfit, in Lviv in1991. But in 2004 they changed their name to Svoboda, or “Freedom,” andstopped using theWolfsangel fascist symbol. They were still antisemitic—in2012aspokesmansaidactressMilaKuniswasnotreallyUkrainianbecauseshewasactuallya“Jewess”—buttheyhatedRussiansmostofall.VitaliKlitschko,aformerboxerandcenter-rightorangepolitician,wasaconstantpresence,aswasArseniy Yatsenyuk, the foreign minister under Yushchenko, and YuliaTymoshenko’sFatherlandparty.TherewasAutomaidan,aloosegroupofpeoplewhohadcarsandwerewillingtousethemtohelptheprotestmovement.AfewMarxist-Leninists even tried toget theirmessageouton the square.And therewere also a lot of other people, citizens without clear affiliations or explicitpolitical commitments, who just wanted the government to stop doing such aterrible job—tostopstealing, stopbeatingprotesters,and try toget thesizeofthe economyback towhere itwas twenty-fiveyears ago.They tended to leanorange,ornationalist,butthiswasfarfromuniform.And then therewere the far-right nationalistmilitants.They are sometimescalled“neo-Nazis”asshorthand,butifyougettoknowthem,theywilltellyoutherearedifferentschoolsofthoughtwithinthemovement.“Yes,afewofusareNationalSocialists,”theywillsay,“whileothersarejustfascist,somearearch-conservatives in the monarchist tradition, and others identify as warriorsdefendingthewhiterace.”27TheyaremostlyunitedinreveringStepanBandera.Nationalistmilitantsputupagiantportraitofhimonthecitycouncilbuildingsothat his huge face looked out upon theMaidan Square.28 It has always beenwrong to claim (as some propaganda narratives do) that in 2013, significantnumbersoftheUkrainianpopulationwereontheextremeright,oreventhatthecountryhadmoreoftheseviolentgroupsthanothercountriesintheregion.Butin the special context of the Maidan occupation, the far-night nationalistsmanagedtopunchabovetheirweight.Theydistinguishedthemselvesforseveralreasons.First,theyhadexperiencefighting,andfromthebeginningtheybelievedthatviolence would be necessary. If football ultras in Turkey or Brazil might beleftists,thesuper-fansforalotofclubsaroundtheworld(includinginUkraine)wereonthefar-right.Inadditiontoactualmilitarytraining,hooliganismmighthavebeenagreatwaytolearnathingortwoaboutconductingyourselfinariot.Second, theywereunited in an ideologically coherent project.Thesewerenotnormalpeoplewithdisagreementsoverhowtoimproveeconomicpolicy.Theywere extremists, often ready to die for their cause, who dreamed of a purerUkraine.And crucially, theywere verywell organized.Thesewere absolutelynot horizontalist organizations.British political scientistRichard Sakwa calledthese Maidan groups “neo-Leninist bodies of armed men strutting across thesquare, foreclosing pluralist options and undermining the representativeinstitutions of the state.” They were not Leninist in the ideological sense, ofcourse.Theyhatedthatman.Buttheyweretightlyorganizedcells,laser-focusedontheirmission.Meanswereentirelysubservienttotheirends.29ThemostimportantextremistgroupwasRightSector.Itreferredliterallytowheretheystoodinthesquareaswellastheirideologicalorientation—avisualpun—but thegroup’s constituent elementshadbeen trainingandpreparing forsomethinglikethissincethe’90s.There were also self-defense groups, called sotnia, or “hundreds,” whichwerebeingformedwithintheMaidan.ThenamereferredtoaspecificUkrainiantradition,which came from the days of heroic Cossack rebellions, of formingsmallcellstofighttyranny.Artemandhisfriends,anti-authoritarianleftists,decidedthattheywantedtoforma “hundred” themselves.Theywere committed to fighting for the cause,and their own self-defense group would reflect their particular vision for thecountry. They knew that Andriy Parubiy, one of the founders of the far-rightSocial-NationalParty(heleftin2004,asitbecameSvoboda)wasoverseeingthe“registration” of the groups in Ukrainian House, a large building that rebelscontrolledonthesquare.OnedayinJanuary,Artemandhisfriendsgottogetheraroundsixty leftists, anarchists, feminists, andsocialdemocrats, andpresentedthemselvesforduty.Someonewentofftodeliverthemessage.AsArtemandhisfriendswaited,they took in a bizarre and spectacular scene. Young people with shields andweaponryweresparringandformingscrumsandpracticinghowtopushagainstpolice lines. They had formed a little revolutionary riot training camp. Theanarchists in the group didn’t really like the idea ofwaiting around for some“military-lookingguywithabigbelly”togivethemapprovaltofight,buttheystayed there for an hour.A guy just like that did appear and said, “You don’thaveenoughpeople.Youneedonehundred.Comeback in exactly forty-eighthours and come unarmed.” This seemed weird, since they knew that other“hundreds”werearoundthesamesize,buttheyfigured,sure.Twodayslater,theyreturned.C14,thefar-rightmilitia,waswaitingforthem.C14 is the radical youth wing associated with Svoboda and derives its namefromtheneo-Nazi“fourteenwords.”30*Theyweredefinitelynotunarmed.Theyhadbatons,knives,andchainswrappedaroundtheirfists,andtheyimmediatelygot in theirfallenalloverthepoliticalspectrum.Inthisbook,Itrytojudgeprotestmovementsbytheirowngoals.Andinevitably,thestorywillbeshaped by what I know best. I pay careful attention to the role of theinternational media and give special focus to events that I lived through.WhetherIlikeitornot,itistruethatI,alongwithmanyclosefriends,havebeendeeplytransformedbythechangesinBrazil,andIwillhavetoappearbrieflyattimeswithinthenarrativeforittobehonest.Likemanyofmyfriendsinthecountry,Ihavespentcountlesshoursoverthelast decade trying to understand what happened to me in 2013, and whathappenedeverywhereafterward.Unravelingthismystery,ofhowsomanymassprotests have led to the exact opposite of what they asked for, has been apersonalquestofmine,too,andImustexplainmyrelationtoit.From2010to2016,IwasworkingasacorrespondentfortheLosAngelesTimes,andIalsoranablogforFolhadeS.Paulo,Brazil’smost importantnewspaper.After I left, Icovered SoutheastAsia for theWashington Post, bringingme in contact withtwootherepisodesthatarerelevantforthisstudy.Buttheothercharactersinthestoryarefarmoreimportant—andmuchmorecaptivating.Once we get to the end of the decade, we will return directly to theconversationsIhadwiththeseactors,reflectingonthepastandgraspingatthefuture.PARTONE1LearningtoProtestINTHESECONDHALFOFthetwentiethcentury,itcametobewidelybelievedthatthe natural way to respond to social injustice was to take to the streets andprotest—the more people the better. This historical development can only beunderstoodinthecontextoftheemergenceofmassmedia.In several of the world’s most advanced capitalist countries, movementsseekingpoliticalchangefoundthemselvesoverwhelmedbythepowerofradio,television,andnewspapercoverage.Evenwhenexplicitlyseekingtoavoidmassdemonstrations as their preferred tactic, they were swept up by the attentiongrantedtothem.Mediacoveragemultipliedtheeffectsoftheiractionsinwaystheactivistshadneverimagined;moreover,ittransformedtheverystructureofthemovementsthemselves.Theinventionsofwriting,andthenprinting,andthen thephotograph—andfinallythedevelopmentoftheabilitytoreproducesoundandmovingimages—werealltechnologicalleapsthatprofoundlytransformedhumansociety.1Indeed,itislikelythattheideaofa“nation”itselfwasrelatedtotheascendanceoftheprintingpress.2 It isstrange toremember thisnow,butfor thevastmajorityofhumanhistory,wecouldonlyseewhatwasdirectlyinfrontofourfaces,andtheonly languagewe could experience had to be produced by living vocal cordswithin a few meters of our ears. This is, strictly speaking, how our bodiesdevelopedtoexperiencelife.Itmadelittlesenseto“demonstrate” to theentirecountry with a protest march if only a tiny percentage of the population wasgoingtoseeit,andrulerscouldsimplychoosetoignoreit.Of course, people always had ways to react against ruling elites. Theseinterventionswere sometimes violent or imposed direct costs on the targets—people got killed, property got destroyed, grainwas seized by the population,andsoon.Theacademicterminologyforthewidesetofpracticespeopleusedinthese moments, from the ancient world to the twenty-first century, is“contention”orcontentiouspolitics.The US sociologist Charles Tilly noticed that across history, when peopleprotested, they tended to reproducepractices thatalreadyexistedaround them.Theydrewuponanexisting“repertoire”ofcontention.Thatmetaphorisfittinglytheatrical and musical. There are a set of instruments and routines that acommunity has, a selection of performances everybody knows, and they usethem in an improvisedway.3 Inmoments of rebellion, people turn towhat isfamiliar, even if something unfamiliar might work much better. In sixteenth-centuryFrance,Tilly shows (through an analysis of early nationalmedia) thatpeoplewouldhaveneverthoughtofdemonstratingororganizingarallyorstrikeinthewaywedotoday.Theydid,however,knowhowtorunataxcollectoroutoftown,forcedownthepriceofbread,orputonacharivari¸theperformanceofagroupbeltingoffensivesongsoutsidethehomeofalocaloffender,demandingretribution before they will shut up.4 Over time, innovation occurs, and newroutinesof contentionemergeas cultures change,but thisprocess is relativelyautonomousfromtheunderlyingcausesoftherevolts.INTHE1950SAND1960S,anewrepertoireofcontentionwasforgedthroughchaoticinteractions with the firms that were charged with reporting the news andmakingprofits.In 1951, British pacifists inspired by the Indian revolutionary launched“Operation Gandhi.” They sought the removal of the US military from theircountry, the end of nuclear weapons, and the withdrawal of the UK fromNATO.5 LikeBlack civil rights organizations in theUSA, theywere a highlydisciplined, tightly organized group committed to nonviolence and willing tosuffer personal consequences.6 They underwent extensive training and madeconcerted attempts to present themselves as upstanding citizens rather thankookyvegetarianeccentrics(intheyearsjustafterWorldWarII,pacifistsoftenhad that reputation). And, like Gandhi himself, they learned that actionsunreportedbythemediawouldoftenamounttonothing.7Inthebeginning,theyconsideredtwodifferentapproaches.Thefirstwastolaunch a bold “umbrella” campaign in central London, with the umbrellasymbolizingthefutilityandabsurdityoftryingtoprotectoneselffromanuclearexplosion. They would parade with umbrellas in Grosvenor Square, suspendthemfromballoonsoverthecapital,andcarrythemastheyfollowedprominentfiguresfromtheUSaroundthecity.Thiswasseenastooprovocative.Instead,theychosetogoouttomilitarybasesandatomicenergyplantsfarfromthecity.Theiractivismtooktheformofadirectmoralappealtothepeopletheyhopedtoconvert. But out in the middle of nowhere, workers at the military-industrialcomplexsimplyignoredthem,localfarmersmockedthem,andthemediadidn’tsend anyone to cover them. The pacifists found this embarrassing andineffective.Theyrealizedtheyreallyneededtogetpeople’sattention.Thismayseemobvioustousnow,butatthetimetheywerelearningbydoing.Onethingthepacifistsfiguredoutquicklywasthattheyhadtoexplainthemeaningoftheiractivitiestopassersby.Theyaddressedthisbymakingpamphlets.Massactionshadneverbeenontheiragenda,bothbecausetheyknewtheircauseswereunpopular,andbecauseabsolutedisciplinewasconsideredessential.But over the next few years, British dissidents—especially a group called theCommitteeof100ledbyphilosopherBertrandRussell—learnedthatassembling“verylargenumbers”incitieswasthebestwaytomakeasplash.Shiveringinafield somewhere was not. But the shift to mass protests created a troublingproblem—howcouldyoumaintainstrictdisciplineasnumbersswelled?8In 1960 in the United States of America, a group of young men foundedStudentsforaDemocraticSociety(SDS),aleft-wingassociationinspiredbytheheroic achievements of the Black civil rightsmovement in their country. Thelargely white students admired campaigns carried out by rock-solidfaces. “Get out of here!” they said. They insulted them for beingleftists and anti-fascists. “You are notwelcome inEuromaidan!”Thiswas nottheregistrationprocesstheyhadanticipated.“We decided that they had weapons, and we didn’t, so a conflict wasprobablynotagoodidea,”Artemsaid.Theyleft.Far-rightforceshadmanagedtoestablish somedegreeofhegemonyover themilitantprotestersgatheredonthesquare.TheydidnotpullthisoffbecauseregularUkrainianssupportedthem—theyfoughtforit,andtheywon.31The militarization didn’t only happen in the square. Starting in January,armed protesters occupied government buildings in Lviv. Militants seized amilitaryarsenal,andhundredsofarmedforcespouredinfromtheregiontothecapitalonadailybasis.Insurgentsformed“People’sCouncils”andtookpowerinWesternUkraine.32In a careful analysis of the revolt, Ukrainian sociologist VolodymyrIshchenkopointsoutwhyitactuallybecamerationalfortheradicalstoescalateto violence and why the far-right nationalists were well-positioned to takeadvantageofthatsituation.33Ideally,aresistancemovementcanemploydiversetacticstoputpressureonthestate—strikesandboycottsareespeciallyeffective.Thesearecoretenetsoftheliteratureandtraining,buildingontheworksofUSpoliticalscientistGeneSharp, thathadinformedmanyactivistNGOsandcivilsocietygroupssince theonsetof the“color revolution.”But inUkraine,unionstructureswereweak,much of the industrial heartland didn’t actually supportMaidan,andboycottsweretepid(thissituationisnotsouniquetoUkraineinthemassprotestdecadestartingin2010—strikesandboycottshavemostlytakenabackseat tohighlyvisible,massive street actions).Generally, the thinkinghasbeenthatviolentuprisingswillalienatesecurityforces(whomustdefecttoyoursideunlessyoucanbeattheminawar)andtheinternationalcommunity.34Butafter months of deadlock, the extremist minority, who were experiencedspecialists in thepracticeofviolence,offeredanotherapproach.Theyhad top-down decision-making, and they had a coherent strategy. They had beenpreparing for a war (against the left and Russia) for years. Right Sector wasindeed prepared to start a guerrilla war—inwhich case defeating theMaidanuprising would mean waging a full-on counterinsurgency to retake WesternUkraine,andmanypeopleinthegovernmentknewit.Abroad, things were different this time too. Major Western powerscondemned the protesters’ violence, but not as loudly as they condemned thegovernment’s repression.35 Given this balance of domestic and internationalforces,morechaosandmoreconflictwerelikelytobenefitthesquareingeneral,andespeciallythemilitantminority,morethantheywouldhurtthem.Itwasintheirinteresttokeeptheconflictonthestreets,whichtheycouldcontrol,ratherthanresolveitat theballotbox.Attheheightof theirpopularityinDecember,onlyabouthalfofthecountrysupportedtheMaidanprotests,andsupportbegantowaneinto2014.36TheUnitedStatesdidnothidethatitwasbackingtheuprising.SenatorJohnMcCainhadvisitedthesquareandtoldprotesters,“Weareheretosupportyourjust cause.”VictoriaNuland, the assistant secretary of state for European andEurasian affairs and the wife of influential neoconservative Robert Kagan,strolledtheencampmentsinDecemberandhandedoutsnacks.37ActorGeorgeClooneyrecordedavideoinsupportoftheUkrainianswhowere“strugglingtolook forward, and not back.”38 Politicians in the creaking blue coalitionwerequicktopointoutthattheinternationalreactionmighthavebeenverydifferentifarmed protesters had set up camp in front of government offices in Berlin orWashington,DC.39WhydidtheWesternpowers,andtheirmostprominentmedia,lookatKyivin early 2014 and see an uprising of “the people,” rather than a specificconfigurationofpolitical forces inadividedcountry?Acynicalanswer is thatUkraine could be used to give a black eye to Russia, which had become anofficial enemy again after Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton’s 2009 “reset”failed and Putin accused the secretary of state of fomenting protests in hiscountry in 2011.40 But scholar Richard Sakwa points to a deeper set ofideologicalassumptionsthatshapethewayweinterpreteventsintheWest.After1991, he wrote, we came to believe in “the inexorable advance of liberaldemocracy and the ‘European choice.’ Marxist historicism was replaced byliberal historicism, the belief that the telos—or purpose—of history wasknowable.Thisrenderedallthosewhoresisted.. .asnotonlymistakenbutinsomewayfundamentallyevil.”Ontheotherhand,thespecificitiesoftheforcespushingHistorytowarditsinevitableendarerenderedinvisible.Theuglinessoftheradicalnationalistscanbeignoredaslongastheyareshovingtheworldintherightdirection.ATOOnJanuary16, theUkrainianparliamentpassedadraconianpackagecrackingdown on the demonstration by introducing heavy sentences for illegal camps,banningtheuseofmasksinpublic,andsqueezingNGOswithforeignfunding(whichwasmostofthem,includingMaria’s).Theideawastoendthisonceandforall.Itdidtheopposite.Thesquarequicklydubbedthese“dictatorshiplaws.”Oppositionpoliticians,includingboxerVitaliKlitschkoandformer foreignministerYatsenyuk,calledforsnappresidentialelectionsandconstitutionalreform.Butfromthebeginning,theMaidanhadalwaysrejectedtheauthorityofso-calledleadersinthepoliticalclass,andthetwomendidnotactuallyhaveanyforcesbehindtheseproposals,orevenanywaytopressureforthem.Thesquareinsistedongoingfurther.41OnJanuary19,Automaidan,themilitantcarowners’collective,calledforamarchonparliament.When theprocession turned intoaviolentconfrontation,Automaidan backed off and distanced itself from the chaos. Right Sector,however,rosetotheoccasionandtookresponsibilityfortheviolence(evenifitmaynothaveactuallystartedit).42Inthethree-dayriotthatensued,peoplelosttheir lives, and the news of the martyrdom of protesters revolutionized thesituation indeed.Mariawasshockedby thedeathsandrecalls that for the firsttime, many of her liberal friends adopted the repertoire—Molotov cocktails,pyrotechnics,andcobblestones—favoredbyfootballultrasandtheradicalright.“Itwasnowusorthem,”shesaid.Alongwiththeviolentstandoff in thecapital, thegovernmenthadnowlostcontrol ofmuch ofWesternUkraine. This looked like the beginning ofmanycivilwarsthroughouthistory.43OnFebruary18,thegovernmenttriedtocrackdownonthesquare,thistimeby force, and it failed—not because of widespread civil disobedience, butbecausethearmedminorityfoughtback.Twenty-eightpeoplediedonthatday,including ten members of the Berkut riot police force. On February 19,Yanukovychwas ready to negotiatewith the opposition on new elections andconstitutionalreforms.TheeventstocomeonFebruary20madethisimpossible.At 8:00 a.m., bullets began to whip back and forth across the square.Protestersandpoliceboth fell to theground.Thiswas sniper fire.Someshotsappeared to come from buildings controlled by pro-Maidan forces. Over fiftypeople died—mostly protesters. Maidan supporters and international mediarespondedtothemassacrewithhorror.Securityforcesbegantoorganizations suchasCORE (theCongressofRacialEquality), and theywerehorrified by the domestic social conditions thatmade them necessary.By thistime, the United States—a Western European settler colony that rapidlyexpanded in size after its founding in 1789—had become by far the mostpowerful nation in the world, and it had never granted full citizenship to itsnonwhitepopulation.*Students for aDemocraticSocietyhad its institutional roots in anoldanti-Communistorganization,butthemembersrejectedanticommunismasaguidingphilosophyforpolicy.9TheyfiercelyopposedUSforeignpolicyduringtheColdWar, especially the interventions that took the sideofcolonialism in theThirdWorld.SDSsupportedcivilrightsandadvocatedforamoresocialisteconomy,anditalsotookaimatanemergingprocessthataffectedstudentsmoredirectly.AdvancedindustrialsocietyinboththecapitalistWestandthesocialistblochadundergoneaprofoundbureaucratization thatpushed individuals far away fromthespaceswhererealdecisionsweremade,andawayfromeachother.Intheirinfluential1962“PortHuronStatement,”SDSmembersproposed“participatorydemocracy,” which would mean that individuals engage directly in decision-making,andasysteminwhich“politicshasthefunctionofbringingpeopleoutofisolationandintocommunity.”10Objectively speaking, thesewere someof the richestandmostcomfortableindividualsthathadeverlivedonplanetEarth.Theyspenttheirtimelearningsotheycouldtakeimportantjobsinthemostpowerfulnationintheworld.Butthisgeneration of students often felt like they were little more than cogs in aneducationalmachinethatwasincreasinglyintegratedintothecapitalistmilitary-industrialcomplex.Theywereindeedimportanttotheeconomy,whichneededscientists and technicians, and their numbers were inflated by a demographicboom, meaning the balance of power shifted decisively to the young in the1960s.11SDSwasnotfocusedonlargedemonstrations,andhadrarelythoughtaboutinteracting with the media. It was a small group aiming to directly organizestudents,withoutamasscommunicationsstrategy.12 Itsmemberswerehesitanttocreate rigidstructuresor leadershippositionswithclearduties,whichwasaradical deviation from the way older organizations like unions and politicalparties had always operated. In the first half of the 1960s, SDS grew slowlythroughface-to-faceoutreachandpersonalconnectionsasitexperimentedwithnew forms of political organization. But in 1965, an unexpected surge ofattentionengulfedtheorganization.Thatfall,eventhoughSDShaddeclinedtoleadasetofprotestsagainsttheVietnamWar,themediachosetofocusontheorganization.SDSalreadyhadabitofareputationasananti-waroutfit,soperhapsreporters,alwayspressedfortime,had seen thename somewhere and coulduse it to tell the story.Writinglater, SDS president Todd Gitlin recalled that this pushed “a bewildered andincoherent SDS to the center of attention; SDSwas suddenly outfittedwith areputation for activity that drastically outdistanced its political reality.” Theyoung leftists had always been skeptical of the corporate press as amatter ofcourse, but they very quickly learned that mainstream journalism, embeddedwithin a certain ideological framework and driven by the logic of capitalaccumulation, could rapidly reframe reality in deeplymisleadingways.At thesame time, some of them grasped the enormous power available here, if theycouldonlycounterattackinthepresswithanelegantsetof“judo”techniquestofinesse their ownmessage intomassmedia channels. For example, one 1965SDSstatementpointedoutthat“wehaveseenantiwarleafletsphotostatedonthefrontpageofnewspaperswithcirculationsinthemillions.Wecouldhavebeenatthemimeographfortenyears,andnotreachedasmanydraftableyoungmenasthepresshasreachedforusinfivedays.”13Allofthispresentedtwoproblems.First,whowassupposedtodothis?SDSdidn’t have a press office, and its loose, quasi-leaderless structure made itdifficult to decide who was supposed to speak for the organization. Riftsemerged as the media identified arbitrary spokesmen and celebrities. Andsecondly—paradoxically—thepopularitybestowedonthegroupcreatedanevenbiggerissue.SDSwasfloodedwithnewmembers,allowingittogrowatarateof300percentinasingleyear.ButthesenewarrivalsdidnotwanttojoinSDS—theywanted to join the organization they had read about in the newspaper,which didn’t actually exist.They showed upwith longer hair, less ideologicalcommitments,andastrangesetofassumptionsabouttheorganization.14But because of the loose and “participatory” nature of SDS, there was noformal process for integrating and educating new members. They had paidintentionallylittleattentiontoorganizationalquestions.Insomecases, thenewrecruits(whowereneveractuallyrecruited)simplysetuptheirownnewchaptersomewhere, without ever speaking with the old guard. Gitlin came to theconclusionthatbothleaderlessnessandunexpected,rapidgrowthspelledtheendof themovement.By1967,someprotesterswerecomplainingabout“structurefreaks,”thosewhowantedtohaveanyorganizationwhatsoever.15Gitlin eventually came to some conclusions about the way mass mediaworked and what constituted a story for the modern press. To qualify, thephenomenonathandwouldhavetobenew—itwascalledthe“news”afterall—anditwouldhavetoarrivewithintensityandsurprisetheaudience.Themediawouldinevitablychoosefromahugeassortmentofexistingfactsandilluminatejustoneofmanytruths.Furthermore,anystoryhadtobereadilycomprehensibletothegeneralpublic.Ithadtofit intopreexistingcategoriesandcorrespondtotherangeof things thatpeoplealreadyknewaboutandconsideredpossible. Inotherwords, itmustbecomparable tosomething thathasalreadyhappened. Itmustbe“old,”atthesametime.16As the decade wore on, somemembers of this generation got caught in aperversefeedbackloop.Theindividualsthatquitelikedmediaattentionsoughtmore of it, consciously or unconsciously adopting tactics that would provokemorecoverage.ButnoneofthatchangedthesimplefactthattheUSgovernmentwanted to continue the war in Vietnam, and could afford to treat thedemonstratorslikeanoisyminority(withfrequenthelpfromthepress).Asmassprotest emerged as the predominant instrument of the anti-warmovement, theoriginalSDS leadershipdecided to retreat from the sceneandgoback to theirroots. They had neverwanted to privilege street demonstration, nor become asingle-issueanti-warshop.Theycommittedthemselvestoanewinitiativecalledthe EconomicResearch andAction Project (ERAP) andmoved into the innercitytoorganizeAfricanAmericancommunitiesintheUnitedStates.InvertingtheOldLeftThe“NewLeft,”asSDSandassociatedgroupsoften liked tocall themselves,wasformedasareactiontothelegacyoftheBolshevikRevolution.This,afterall, had been the guiding star for the “Old Left,” most specifically theCommunistParty(whichhadbeeninfluentialintheUnitedStatesinthe1930sand1940s).Butbytheendof the1950s, theOldLeftdidnotreallyexist in theUnitedStates.IthadbeensmashedbyMcCarthyism.Everyonewhowasinsufficientlyanticommunistwasremovedfrompublic life ina top-downprocess ledby theheadoftheFBI(thesameman,J.EdgarHoover,hadalsosoughttocrushBlackpoliticalorganizationsinthecountry).TheNewLeftintheUSwasmorelikeageneration of ideological orphans raised on television in one of the mostindividualist societies on the planet than a reaction against any existingtraditions. This certainly shaped the specific contours of their intellectualdevelopment, as did the context of theColdWar.17 Theywere quick to assertthatthedreamsoftheOldLefthadbeenpervertedbytheleadersoftheSovietUnion.Inmanywaystheneworganizationalapproachofthis1960sstudentleftcan be seen as a simple inversion of Leninism, the dominant revolutionarypracticeworldwidesince1917.WritingasanundergrounddissidentopposingtheRussianEmpire,VladimirIlyichUlyanovhadformulatedasetofguidelinesfororganizingarevolutionaryparty.WhatwecallLeninismalsohasrobustideologicalcontent—forexample,he supported the seizure of the state and the replacement of bourgeoisdictatorship with a “dictatorship of the proletariat,” which would be moredemocratic thanwhat came before it (since theworking class ismuch biggerthanthecapitalistrulingclass).Thiswasunderstoodtobeanimperfectform,atransitional stage on the way to full communism.18 The most fundamentaldifferencebetweenclassicalanarchismandthistraditionisthatanarchistsrejectthis intermediatephase.19Butasanorganizationalphilosophy,“Leninism”canbe adopted by groups of diverse ideological stripes. Lenin argued for a smallvanguard of professional revolutionaries, strictly disciplined and hierarchicallyorganized. “Democratic centralism” meant that decisions were madedemocratically,butoncethePartyhadmadeone,everyonewouldadoptthatlineandwork toward it collectively. If youdidn’t like it, thatwas fine, youdidn’thavetobeintheParty.Therewere a couple of reasons for this approach. First, theRussian socialdemocratswere in a life-or-death strugglewith theTsar and his secret police.This requires a very particular set of skills thatmust be accumulated throughexperience andpassedon to other trained and committed revolutionaries.Andsecondly,Leninwasengaged ina“desperatestruggleagainst spontaneity,” thecompetingrevolutionarycurrent that insistedworkerswouldriseupandcreatesocialismontheirown.ButforLenin,socialismisnotsomethingthatresidesinthe heart of every human being, only waiting to be discovered. It is theimplementation of centuries of scientific advancement and theoreticalelaboration.Hearguedthatanypurelyspontaneousuprising,takingthepathofleastresistance,wouldsimplyadopttheideologythatisdominantinitssocietyatthetime.Theywillgraspatwhateverisalreadyintheair.Becausetherulingclass had a lot more means at its disposal to propagate its ideology, therevolutionarymovementwouldneedtobeguidedbyacoherentideologyofitsown.20 Leninism insisted on subordinating means to ends, and individual toparty.Thegoalwaswinningstatepower,andthenstartingthedifficulttransitiontocommunism.Bythe1960s,SDSbelievedthat theofficialMarxist-Leninistsystemof theSovietUnionhadcongealedintoanundemocratic,centralizedbureaucracy.Therevolutionary means had become its ends. In the USSR, the hierarchicalvanguardPartywasnowthestate.SDS’sapproach—perhapsthethingthatwastruly“new”abouttheNewLeft—dictatedthattheyshouldadoptorganizationalformsnowthat theywould like tosee in theworld theywanted tocreate.Thenamegiven to thiswas “prefigurativepolitics”—whatyou aredoingnowwillprefigure,orshowaglimpseof, theworldyouwanttoliveintomorrow.Evenardent defenders of SDS recognized that this created a fundamental tensionbetween organizational forms and the goals of political change. This meantexperimenting with anti-hierarchical structures, and it opened them up tocriticismthattheydidn’treallycareabouttheirdemands.Eloquentsupportersofthisapproachadmittedthatthiswassomewhattrue,thatmeanswereimportant,as well as the ends. But, they said, they refused to corrupt their movement,whichwasalsoaboutbuildingcommunity, for instrumentalpurposes.LookingbackaftertheNewLeftfailedinachievingmostofitsstatedgoals,sociologistWiniBreineswrote,“Itismyconvictionthattheattempttoseekthe‘salvationof thesoul’ in politics, to forgeanewdefinitionofpolitics inwhichviolence,authority,andhierarchydidnotreignsupremeisthemostuniqueandpowerfullegacyofthenewleft.”21LikealmosteverythinginWesterncivilization,prefigurationhasrootsintheChristianintellectualtradition.Over1,500yearsago,theologianslikeTertullianandSaintAugustinelookedatelementsintheOldTestamentthatprefiguredthearrivalofJesusintheNewTestament.Forexample,Cain,whokilledhisbrotherAbel, the shepherd, prefigured themenwhowouldkill Jesus, the shepherdofmen, and so on. Over the centuries, the concept evolved (from a backward-looking, literary practice) and was reconfigured into forward-looking praxis,somethingthatcouldbedonenow,toanticipatetheEndTimes.Inseventeenth-century England, the radical Diggers movement (which occupied land andorganized strikes) justified its direct-action strategy with reference to biblicalprophecy.22Liketheideaofsocialism,thelogicofprefigurationwastheconsequenceofcertainhistoricaldevelopmentsandintellectualinstitutions.Backinanimaginedstateofnature,ifyouwantedtobuildyourselfahouse,itdidn’tmakesensetoact, while youwere cutting down the trees, as if you already lived in one. Ifmarauders attack your village, you should probably not respond by acting theway you hope to livewhen they are gone. TheNewLeftwas not the first torediscoverprefigurationinthemodernera.Inthenineteenthcentury,anarchistsactiveintheFirstInternational(KarlMarxwasalsoamember)hadasked,“Howcouldoneexpectanegalitarianandfreesocietytoemergeoutofanauthoritarianorganization! It is impossible.”23 Breines credited both anarchism and theGandhianradicalpacifistsas“realforerunners”oftheNewLeft.24Thisideologicalapproachdovetailedwith—orhelpedcatalyze—alibertariantrend that was in the air in the North Atlantic in the 1960s. Many in thegenerationbornafterWorldWar IIdidnotwant tobe toldwhat todo.As thedecadeworeon,newsetsofpracticesmade thestructuresdevelopedbyBlackcivilrightsgroupsappearrelativelyauthoritarian.ItwasnotjustwithinSDSthatsome of the original architects of contemporary contention found themselvesattacked frombelow.EvenBertrandRussell, the founder of theCommittee of100,foundhimselfbesiegedbyagroupofthreeyoungLondonerswhobaffledhimbyrefusingtoleavehisflat,forcingthemathematiciantocallthepolicetoremovethem.Inhisautobiography,henotesthatthisearnedthekidsquiteabitofmediaattention,whichmayhavebeenalltheywanted.25UnderthePavingStonesOutsideofNorthAmerica,theOldLeftwasverymuchalive.Marxist-LeninistpartiescomfortablygovernedmostoftheEurasiancontinent.IntheThirdWorld,the official Communist organizational model offered the hope of catching upwiththeworld’sadvancedFirstWorldnationsandprovidedanexcellentwaytocarry out the anti-colonialstruggle against rapacious European powers. Evensome countries that had suppressed local Communist parties, such as Egyptunder Gamal Nasser, received support from the USSR and attempted toimplementsomepartsoftheSovietmodel.26NasserhadbecomeaThirdWorldheroafter successfullyclawing theSuezCanalbackfromthecolonizersin1956.Bythe1960s,mostofNorthAfricaandtheMiddleEastwerelivingundersomeformof“ArabSocialism,”withNasser(in charge of by far the most populous country in the Arab world) inspiringwidespreadprideandhopeintheregion.Hewasneveracommunist,butinthe1960sNasserrelaxedtherepressionoftheleftandthencreatedaLeninistgroupcalledtheVanguardOrganizationtodefendhisrevolution.27Meanwhile, Latin America was safely under the indirect control of theradicallyanticommunistUnitedStatesgovernment(withtheCIAcarryingoutamilitary coup inGuatemala in 1954 andWashington offering tacit support foranotheradecadelaterinBrazil,ratherthantoleratemoderateliberalreformistsin the hemisphere), but an unlikely 1959 revolution in Cuba had electrifiedleftistsworldwide. InWesternEurope,officialCommunistpartiesalignedwithMoscow played major roles in national politics and intellectual life, comingcloseenoughtoforminggovernmentsafterWorldWarIIthattheCIAchosetointervenebehind the scenes.28 Itwason that continent, especially inGermanyandFrance,that“1968”wouldtakeonspecialmeaningfortheNewLeftoutsidetheUnited States. But that was a year of uprisings that reverberated across awiderangeofnationalsystems.Inthehistoryofrevolutions,acoupleoftruismshadalreadyemerged.Oneisthat they are only successful when security forces defect or are defeated inviolentconflict.EvenifMaoZedongwasbeingabitprovocativewhenhesaidthat“powergrowsoutofthebarrelofagun,”expertsagreethatheisnotsofaroff. You can’t run a country if the biggest army around wants to stop you.29Another is thatrevolutionaryopportunitiesoftenarisewhentherearedivisionsin the ruling class—that is,when elites are fighting amongst themselves.Andonemore truism is that revolutions are contagious; at least, uprisings tend toclusteraroundcertainmomentsintime.Newsofonesuccessspreadstoanothercountry,wherepeopletrytheirlucktoo;orrevoltshappeninresponsetoamajorinternationalevent,liketheendofawarorafinancialcrisis.The“SpringtimeofNations”in1848wasonlyoneofthemostfamousrevolutionarywaves.30Theendsofbothworldwarscausedtwomore.InFrance in the1960s, theradical left-wingstudentswerenotorphans liketheir North American counterparts. They had grown up in dialogue with thepowerful Parti Communiste Français (PCF). The young New Left there wereoften Leninists themselves, but of a different type. They were more likely tosupport Third World revolutionaries, whom they often viewed as the truesubjects of world history, the heroic protagonists pushing human progressforward.CheGuevaraandHoChiMinh’spresencehungovertheirgatherings,on placards or in chants,while the established party, the pro-Soviet PCF,wasmorefocusedontheFrenchworkingclassorganizedinitsunions.31InWestGermanytheCommunistPartywasillegal,buttheotherhalfofthecountrywasrunbyofficials loyal toMoscow.RudiDutschke,oneof themostprominentstudentleadersintheWest,knewthatsystemwell,ashehadgrownup there. In 1967 themovement radicalized after its raucous demonstration inWestBerlinagainstShahMohammadRezaPahlavi,themaninstalledasleaderofIranaftera1953CIA-ledcoup,wasputdownviolentlyandonestudentwaskilled. Dutschke emerged as a prominent voice railing against capitalistgovernmentbureaucracy,drawinginspirationfromprotestsintheUnitedStates(mostfamouslyeruptinginBerkeley,California),andaligninghisownstrugglewith the revolutionary leaders in theThirdWorld.32 InApril1968aneo-Nazi,inspired by the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. one week earlier inTennessee,triedtokillDutschke,sparkinganewwaveofprotestsand“sit-ins”oftentargetingsymbolsofUSpower.Anti-American protests spread throughout France. European studentsmounted theirowncritiqueof thebureaucratization theUShadpressured theircountriestoadopt,whichslottedthemintopredeterminedsocialfunctions.ThemediagavetheFrenchyouthspecialattention,perhapsbecausetheylookedsosimilartowhatalreadyhappenedinBerkeleyandBerlin.33StudentsatNanterredemonstrating since March agitated over relatively quotidian concerns (or,rather,nocturnalones—onedemandwas thefreedomtosleep inoneanother’sdormitoryrooms),but itwas theMay invasionandpolicebrutalityat theeliteSorbonneuniversitythatreallysetthingsoff.Stateviolencehadalreadyspreadto themetropoleduringanArab-leddemonstrationearlier in thedecade,whenpolicemassacred two hundred opponents of France’s policy inAlgeria.34 TheincursionintotheSorbonne,however,wasaviolationofmiddle-classvaluesthatshockedFrenchsocietyfarmorethanthemurderoflargenumbersofArabsonthestreet.The May explosion that followed combined some classic Frenchrevolutionary practices—barricades, throwing rocks at cops, strikes—withinnovativeroutinesandprefigurativepractices.A“hardcore”engagedinacycleof intentional “escalation-provocation,” in which committed militants wouldfight cops or fascists and invite spectacular repression, “immediately followedby a large and legal demonstration.”35 The “occupation”was one of themostimportantnewformsofcontentionthatspreadin the1960s,usedinParisas itwasinCalifornia.StudentstookovercampusfacilitiesandelectedleaderstoanadhocSorbonne“occupationcommittee.”ThePCFandunionsjoinedtherevolt,while new forms of life appeared to flower behind the barricades and inoccupiedspaces.Participantsfelttheirassignedfunctionsincapitalistsociety—students, workers, farmers—fall away, as human beings interacted directly ashuman beings. They lived in community and experimented with “directdemocracy.” When describing these days, French youths resorted to poeticlanguage often reserved for romantic love or ecstatic spiritual or psychedelicexperiences. Observers perceived echoes of older practices in the Westerntradition, pointing to the late medieval Carnival, in which hierarchies were(temporarily)overturnedinmomentsofeuphoricliberation.36Artistsandbohemians,includingmembersofapreviously(andintentionally)obscure avant-garde group called the Situationist International, sprang intoactionandfoundtheirownrevolutionaryfunctions,coveringthecityinpostersor libertarian slogans. “It is prohibited to prohibit,” said one; “Be realistic,demand the impossible!” said another;while a famous slogan proclaimed thatchaoscouldspontaneouslygenerateutopia:Souslespavés,laplage.“Underthepavingstones,thebeach.”ManyoftheFrenchstudentspraisedMao’sCulturalRevolution,whichwasongoing, whether they really understood the faraway events or not. Closer tohome in Czechoslovakia, the “Prague Spring” also erupted in 1968. In bothsocialistcountries,thedominantMarxist-Leninistpartieswererockedbyyouthuprisings that challenged their bureaucratic structures. Even in the communistworld,1968wasayearofrevoltagainstadministeredlifeandtheconservatismoftheOldLeft.37MaoZedonghadinstigatedthechaosonpurposetodestabilizethe Party he had helped build. The leader of the People’s Republic of Chinasought to ride the upsurge of energy with charismatic leadership and theelevationofalittleredbookofpowerfulbutindeterminateaphorisms(withoutcompletesuccess).Whenthingsgottoohot,Maowasabletorelyonthemilitaryand reestablishcontrolwhilemaintaininghispositionaséminencegrise in theCommunistPartyofChina (CPC) for the restofhis life.38Thingswent ratherdifferently for Alexander Dubček, the Communist leader of Czechoslovakia,whosoughtaliberalde-StalinizationofthenationalsystemintheWarsawPactcountry(SovietleaderNikitaKhrushchevhadbegunthede-Stalinizationprocessin 1956, much to the chagrin of Mao himself). Leonid Brezhnev, theunimaginative and pliable leader imposed by the Soviet bureaucracy in 1964,chosetorespondwithforce.Hesentinthetroops,andratherthanaddressingtheinflexibilityofthepartymodelacrosstheentireSovietspace,hedoubleddown.Thus began a long period of relative stability for the USSR, and of absolutecomfortforthehigh-rankingnomenklatura(Partymemberswithofficialtitles).Egypthaditsown1968,furtherdrivinghometheextent towhichthatyearunleashed a global wave of revolutionary contention. But circumstances therewere very different. Students and workers in one of the cradles of humancivilizationwerenotrespondingtothehorrorsofUSmilitarisminVietnamortoCommunistinflexibility.TheywerereactingtotheshockofthelosstoIsraelinthe “Six-Day” War, and the consequent crisis of legitimacy for the Nassergovernment.Since the 1950s, the United States of America had cultivated both SaudiArabiaand Israelas regionalcounterweights to thestrengthofArabSocialismandnationalism.At theirmostambitious, thoseprojectssought tobringall thepeoplesoftheArabworldtogetherintoasingleforce,whichwould(likealmostallof theThirdWorldmovement)oppose imperialismandseek to reshape theglobalcapitalistorder.SaudiArabia,areactionarymonarchyfoundedin1932intheoil-richArabianPeninsula,stoodinstarkcontrasttothesecularrepublicsintheregion.AndproudNasseristsnaturallysawtheZionistprojectasanaffronttoArabindependence,thelastgaspofaWesterncolonialphantomthathadnoplace ina truly free region.Losingawar to the tiny Israel,whether ithad thebacking of the United States or not, was a profound blow. The Nassergovernment had combined domestic repression with full employment andsoaringgeopoliticalambitions.Withthelattersuddenlydeflated,thesystemranoutofairtoo.Egyptiansrecallingthattimereportwalkingarounddumbfounded,unsure ofwhat they could believe anymore.After thatwar, both students andworkers took aim at the other parts of the bargain. Twice in 1968, Egyptiansconfrontedthemilitary-policeapparatusinthestreets.39Butthe1968constellationofuprisingsdidnottopplegovernments,notevenafter Paris was brought to a standstill for weeks. The PCF used the leveragegenerated by the unrest to demand a significant wage increase for Frenchworkers, reflecting both the desires of the union rank-and-file and the limitedambitions of Moscow, which had no interest in provoking Washington bymakingabidforrevolutioninWesternEurope.40WhentheOldLeftsucceededin getting the workers more money, this quickly took the steam out of theutopianstudentmovement.41SupportersofCharlesdeGaullewereable toputondemonstrationsoftheirownonMay30.ByJune30,moderateforceswonanelectioncomfortably,thoughdeGaulleultimatelyresignedayearlater.French-AustrianphilosopherAndréGorzasked,ina1968NewLeftReviewessay,whytheFrenchpeoplewouldawardtherevolutionarieswithvotesaftertheyprovedunable to assert their power to govern when they had the chance.42 He hadnoticed that you could only surprise the ruling class with a spontaneousexplosion once. Effective prefiguration, as he saw it, showed the masses thatyour concrete movement was worth buying into, and what it was capable ofachieving. That did not happen. By November 1969, when leftists tried toorganizeademonstrationagainstVietnam,thegovernmentsimplyforbadethem.Dissidentsreportedafeelingof“asphyxia.”43Overtheyearsthatfollowed,manyoftherevolutionarieswatchedinhorroras the eventswere redefined and reinterpreteduntil theywereunrecognizable.NoonehadplannedMay1968,andnoonecouldcrediblyclaimtospeakfortheuprising.Someoftheclassof1968hadgraduatedtoestablishmentpositionsinbourgeoisParisiansociety,andthesevoices tendedtoseeMayasadreamthathad eventually come true, rather than a failed revolution. So when Frenchtelevision stations asked soixante-huitards (literally “68-ers”) to explain whathad happened, they called upon these respectable or eloquent figures who—whetherthiswasintentionalornot—reflectedthedominantvaluesinFranceinthe1970sand1980s.TheactualsparkfortherevolthadbeentheVietnamWar,and its initial targets were clear—capitalism, US imperialism, and Charles deGaulle—butanarrativetookshapethatclaimedtheeventswereactuallyaboutindividualism and self-expression, not collective action. They were about theliberationofdesire,nothumanity.Thoughalmostnoonehadelectedtoidentifyas a student or “youth” back in 1968—as workers or Jews or militants orMaoists,yes—thestorywasnowthattheuprisingwasactuallyaboutaffirmingthese identities. Some soixante-huitards watching the television, rather thanappearing on it, fell into a deep depression. “Howwould I know,withoutmyownevidence,”onerevolutionaryasked,“thattheseyearsactuallyexisted?”44THROUGHOUTTHEFIRSTWORLD,ESPECIALLY theUnitedStates, theorganizationalapproach developed by the New Left became more and more popular inprogressive circles, most notably in those focusing on gender and minorityidentities.Theseexperimentshadtheirvocaldetractors.Inaniconoclastic1972essay, feminist activist and theorist Jo Freeman denounced the “Tyranny ofStructurelessness”—thatis,sheclaimedthatwhenamovementinsistsithasnoleaders, they emerge anyway; except, there are no fair and transparentmechanismstoselectorremovethoseleaders.Often,asmallcliqueoffriendsorthe original members of a group end up exercising de facto power with noaccountability. Freemanblames putative structurelessness for holding back theWomen’s Liberation movement in the 1970s, and making it impossible toachieverealwins.Laterinthedecade,thebattleoverthe“Old”leftplayedoutagain,thistimein the rapidly expanding field of consumer culture. This took place in a tinycorner of rock and roll, between two early punk bandsmanaged by the sameman.MalcolmMcLaren,aBritishartschoolimpresarioinfluencedbytheavant-garde(andthelegacyofMay1968inParis),knewthathewantedhisfirstgroup,the New York Dolls, to shock audiences. They already had a reputation forperformingindrag,buthewantedtogofurther.Sofora1975tour,hedressedthem in red jumpsuits (designed by his partner,VivienneWestwood) and hadthemperform in frontof abig,Communist,hammer-and-sickle flag.Thiswastoomuch.Guitarist