People Power in the Era of Global Crisis: rebellion, resistance, and liberation

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between oppression, injustice, and liberation both theoretically and practically and in relation to contemporary global events and political history. The struggle for human freedom and liberation from structures of oppression and exploitation, and the relation to democracy and to the agents of social change, is the central subject of the analysis. The article summarises the critical analyses of the contributors to this collection, who examine the past several decades of `People Power' via popular struggles for substantive democratisation, and assess both the obstacles and achievements of these movements in a context of global, regional, and national political economic tendencies. The authors revisit the theses of `Low Intensity Democracy', which appeared in the early 1990s, in light of the recent upsurge of popular protest and rebellion in the context of an on-going global crisis.