ABSTRACT
In the Philippines, East Germany and other former Soviet bloc countries of eastern Europe, peaceful protestors confronted the military might of authoritarian regimes and defeated them. When counter-revolution threatened democratic reform in Russia itself, “people power” became the saviour of democracy. But “people power” does not invariably succeed: in Tiananmen Square it was literally crushed by the forces of totalitarian authoritarianism. Nor is “people power” the inevitable servant of democratic values. In South Africa, violent protest by the extreme right has aimed to obstruct democratic reform. Throughout re-unified Germany, protesting crowds have resurrected the spectre of Nazism, illuminated in the glow of burning refugee hostels.
