The Spirit of 1848

Huge protests have erupted in at least three countries. Ukraine we all know about, as it's been front-and-center in the news over the past couple of weeks. But there are also big protests occurring in Venezuela and Thailand:

Demonstrators pack public squares. Flames shoot into the air. Tear gas sends crowds scrambling. Bodies are carried from the streets.

Dramatic scenes are unfolding during anti-government protests in three disparate countries this week, on three different continents.

The images are striking, and things are heating up quickly. What's happening on the ground?

There's something happening here, and what it is ain't exactly clear, in other words.

While there is no way to say that any of these protests have been inspired by one another, it does remind me a bit of one of the most tumultuous years in world history, 1848. If you're not a history buff, fair enough. Teachers/college instructor do not spend nearly enough time presenting this history to students, and when you read about what happened it's easy to see why. From the Wiki:

The European Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Spring of Nations, Springtime of the Peoples[3] or the Year of Revolution, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in European history, but within a year, reactionary forces had regained control, and the revolutions collapsed.

The revolutionary wave began in France in February, and immediately spread to most of Europe and parts of Latin America. Over 50 countries were affected, but with no coordination or cooperation among the revolutionaries in different countries. Five factors were involved: widespread dissatisfaction with political leadership; demands for more participation in government and democracy; the demands of the working classes; the upsurge of nationalism; and finally, the regrouping of the reactionary forces based on the royalty, the aristocracy, the army, and the peasants.[4]

The uprisings were led by shaky ad hoc coalitions of reformers, the middle classes and workers, which did not hold together for long. Tens of thousands of people were killed, and many more forced into exile. The only significant lasting reforms were the abolition of serfdom in Austria and Hungary, the end of absolute monarchy in Denmark, and the definitive end of the Capetian monarchy in France. The revolutions were most important in France, Germany, Poland, Italy, and the Austrian Empire, but did not reach Russia, Sweden, Great Britain, and most of southern Europe (Spain, Serbia,[5] Greece, Montenegro, Portugal, the Ottoman Empire).[6]

In the end, the rebellions ended up accomplishing very little when it came to immediate, tangible benefit. But they did lead to a number of infectious ideas taking root. The fact that virtually every empire in the world collapsed in the subsequent years is testament to this.

Will the rebellions we are currently seeing spread to other countries? Quite possibly. The rebellions of 1848 spread around the world without radio, television, or the internet. What they did have was the telegraph, which clearly played a role in the uprisings. But can you imagine what might have happened if the revolutionaries had had social media?

And I would be remiss if I didn't mention the Moral Mondays demonstrations in North Carolina. One rally drew 80,000 people just a few weeks ago, though this story was mostly embargoed by the dinosaur media:



It will be worth paying very close attention, as the snows recede, whether these kinds of protests will spread.

Here's to a verdant spring.