ABSTRACT
The development of an empowered, articulate and informed population, with full rights of free speech, assembly, protest and dissent, has never been more important. Societies globally are riven by ever-increasing levels of income and wealth inequality that are incompatible with genuine democracy. Moreover, these acute domestic tensions are accompanied by, and increase, the growing dangers of another even more catastrophic world war between the rival major powers. The two world wars of last century produced resort to authoritarian measures to suppress anti-war opposition and social discontent. Under today’s conditions, the right to protest is not only an indispensable safeguard of democratic rights, it is a means of advocating, articulating and advancing the fight for real democracy, which requires popular control over every aspect of society, including the economy.
