

Discover more from discursus
Weekly Roundup of Protest Events #10
Protecting kids in the US + Iran Rising + Protests in Sudan Continues + More
Hello friends,
I’m happy to be publishing a revamped version of our weekly roundup of protest events. Essentially, we are dropping the deep dive portion of the old format and focus exclusively on giving you a quick tour of what’s going on around the world of protest movements.
Rest assured, deep dives are still being published, but are to live in their own posts. If you missed the last ones, have a read at our deep dives on the presidential election in France, as well as the Rolling Thunder protest that followed the Trucker’s convoy in Canada.
As always, we encourage you to explore our monitoring app which gets updated every day with ongoing protest events.
Hope you enjoy the new format and please reach out if you have any questions, comments or suggestions on how to improve.
Olivier
🧒 Protecting kids in the US
Context:
19 childrens, aged 9 and 10 years old, as well as 2 teachers were shot dead by a heavily armed young man in Udalve, Texas.
This is the worst school killing in 10 years that happened on US soil.
Protests:
Still in shock, Texas residents spontaneously took to the streets to denounce the horrible shooting and first and foremost ask that we remember the names of those who were lost.
A NRA convention took place the weekend following the Udalve shooting and protesters gathered in masse to denounce NRA’s influence of loose regulations surrounding gun access in the US.
Those protests at the NRA convention continued throughout the weekend.
A counter-protest action was taken by the infamous Proud Boys, which led to some altercations but which was well contained by security officers.
Throughout the week, pressure has increased on legislators to pass stricter legislations against gun ownership.
The March for our Lives movement, founded by survivors of a Florida high-school shooting in 2018 that made 17 victims, is to gather on June 11 to denounce gun violence.
🧾 Iran Rising
Context:
The Iran population has been facing economic as well as social hardships for the past months.
This has led to frustrations and even calls for regime changes.
The Iranian government, increasingly under pressure, has been quicker to react and repress those protests.
Protests:
Iranians are taking to the streets because of rising prices for food and fuel. But there’s also more as some call for a regime change.
Furthermore, a building collapse in the southwestern city of Abadan which left 29 dead, has sparked some continuing protests that turned violent.
As the protests are spreading to multiple provinces, the government has been quicker to respond and swiftly repress that movement.
🇸🇩 Protests in Sudan Continues
Context:
As protests in Sudan enters its 8 month, the conflict between the population and the military regime that captured power through a coup is becoming more violent and further represssed.
Protests:
The biggest protest event in 2 months took place close to the presidential palace.
Protester were tear gassed and there were two new casualties.
⚜️ Bill 96
Context:
The Québec government introduced a draft law to further protect the french language in an overwhelmingly prominent North American english language culture.
Some of the measures are contested by the Québec english-speaking community.
The linguistic debate in Québec is a hot topic, with misinformation and polemic further polarising the francophone, anglophone and allophone communities.
Protests:
A initial march took place in Montreal before the bill passed into law.
And another protest took place as the bill finally passed into law.
💣 No to Russia’s Invasion
Context:
As Russia enters its 3rd month of the “rapid special operation”, opposition to the invasion of Ukraine continues.
Protests:
A group of protesters, including filmmakers from Ukraine, made their opposition to the invasion known In Cannes.
In eastern european countries, symbols of soviet past were taken down by protesters.
Go deeper:
BBC release a documentary on Navalny, which covers his rising opposition to Putin and poisoning. Even if you are familiar with this important figure, it’s a reminder that there is a substantial opposition to Putin in Russia, although seriously repressed at the moment.