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# The Week in 1 Minute: Revolts, revolutions and risk – February 25 – March 2 on openDemocracy
- URL: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/week-in-1-minute-revolts-revolutions-and-risk-february-25-march-2-on-opendemocracy/
- Published: 2014-03-02T00:03:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-04-23T01:37:00.000Z
- Description: Revolutions arise when a critical mass stands up in the name of human dignity – saying no to subjugation and domination. As Karma Nabulsi emphasises, these predicaments still fuel revolt in our societies: Rebecca Omonira-Oyekanmi tells us how female asylum seekers fight back against inhumane deten
- Author: openDemocracy Supporters
- Tags: The Week in 1 Minute, #Migrated, #en, #Import 2026-04-09 17:46, #appended-excerpt

**Sometimes the wave of revolt sweeps an entire country**: just look at Ukraine, where thousands rose up against a [corrupt](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/12a4b5b57e/7262321cfa/322f8b96e4&ref=opendemocracy.net) and [kleptocratic](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/12a4b5b57e/7262321cfa/dbb862e534&ref=opendemocracy.net) state. But what comes after might be the trickiest part. The [lack of assistance](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/12a4b5b57e/7262321cfa/438fe5bde2&ref=opendemocracy.net) from the west, the risk of [hijacking by the far right](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/12a4b5b57e/7262321cfa/b6af0cef2f&ref=opendemocracy.net) and the [tension around Crimea](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/12a4b5b57e/7262321cfa/9df0e0edc2&ref=opendemocracy.net) are but three of the challenges facing Ukraine, as Nicolas Bouchet, Cas Mudde and Taras Kuzio warn.  
  
Instructive in this regard is **the aftermath of the Arab Spring**. David Held and Kristian C. Ulrichsen look at [what hindered](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/12a4b5b57e/7262321cfa/24cb0a81e8&ref=opendemocracy.net) the initial aspiration for justice and political reform, while Gilbert Achcar explains the [legacy of Nasserism](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/12a4b5b57e/7262321cfa/80db1d8e87&ref=opendemocracy.net) in Egyptian consciousness... and exactly how this relates to the [predicted triumph](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/12a4b5b57e/7262321cfa/057f32b61f&ref=opendemocracy.net) of Sisi.  
  
Leila Zaki Chakravarti asks **what hope there is for political pluralism when the state infiltrates all layers of society**, [including football](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/12a4b5b57e/7262321cfa/3f414d6c50&ref=opendemocracy.net). The Tunisian outcome is more uplifting, and could even replace Turkey as the [model to follow](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/12a4b5b57e/7262321cfa/80e10be6c8&ref=opendemocracy.net) given the [moral and political failure](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/12a4b5b57e/7262321cfa/1809e7d8f7&ref=opendemocracy.net) of the AKP.  
  
People in the west, too, feel an urge to revolt. In OurKingdom's new [*Just Money*](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/12a4b5b57e/7262321cfa/b430f29f77&ref=opendemocracy.net) series, [Ann Pettifor argues](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/12a4b5b57e/7262321cfa/9a83e3c24d&ref=opendemocracy.net) that **we can end the despotism of finance**, while Costas Lapavitsas tells us how to [confront financialisation](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/12a4b5b57e/7262321cfa/220c721862&ref=opendemocracy.net) and Anastasia Nesvetailova unveils the [shadow banking sector](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/12a4b5b57e/7262321cfa/760f334dd6&ref=opendemocracy.net).  
  
Yet, our revolutionary impulse is held back by the static of [meaningless yet vitriolic debate](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/12a4b5b57e/7262321cfa/3103cd0b00&ref=opendemocracy.net) and the [divisions](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/12a4b5b57e/7262321cfa/00f56a9003&ref=opendemocracy.net) amidst the [oppressed](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/12a4b5b57e/7262321cfa/ab70c1f63a&ref=opendemocracy.net) (don't miss [Chitra Nagarajan](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/12a4b5b57e/7262321cfa/9a0bf4af5f&ref=opendemocracy.net) and [Rosi Braidotti](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/12a4b5b57e/7262321cfa/1ff51a8823&ref=opendemocracy.net) on the challenges of **intersectionality and political change**). Increasing adoption of 'non-lethal' control methods such as [water cannon](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/12a4b5b57e/7262321cfa/72688e1b6d&ref=opendemocracy.net) by western governments is [equally worrying](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/12a4b5b57e/7262321cfa/d6a12815d9&ref=opendemocracy.net), writes Anthony Barnett.  
  
Our times have already produced an extraordinarily diverse array of revolutionary thought – from a [new political space](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/12a4b5b57e/7262321cfa/2cd9ab260f&ref=opendemocracy.net) in Scotland to a [kinder economy](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/12a4b5b57e/7262321cfa/ce65ecf388&ref=opendemocracy.net). Don't miss our series of dispatches from the occupied Teatro Valle in Rome - introduced [here](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/12a4b5b57e/7262321cfa/44a4581ea0&ref=opendemocracy.net) by guest editors Andrea Mura and Dario Gentili. Highlights include Costas Douzinas on [new strategies of resistance](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/12a4b5b57e/7262321cfa/ed0b7be7b1&ref=opendemocracy.net), Engin Isin on the [role of art](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/12a4b5b57e/7262321cfa/423288ece2&ref=opendemocracy.net) in revolutionary politics and an attempt to build a [constitutional assembly of the commons](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/12a4b5b57e/7262321cfa/44fc74f99b&ref=opendemocracy.net). And finally, don't miss our [interview](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/12a4b5b57e/7262321cfa/f9a667fdd9&ref=opendemocracy.net) with David Harvey on **austerity as a politics of autocracy and the securitised state**.  
  
  
**Links not to miss:**

- [When may I shoot a student? An open letter to the Idaho State Legislature](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/12a4b5b57e/7262321cfa/915d7883a3/action=click&contentCollection=Europe&module=MostEmailed&version=Full®ion=Marginalia&src=me&pgtype=article&%5Fr=0&ref=opendemocracy.net)
- [Twitch Plays Pokémon – an experience in online collective decision making?](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/12a4b5b57e/7262321cfa/2c4b26a5f1&ref=opendemocracy.net)
- [oD cited on Fox News (yay?)](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/12a4b5b57e/7262321cfa/cf87ccbc88&ref=opendemocracy.net)

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Revolutions arise when a critical mass stands up in the name of human dignity – saying no to subjugation and domination. As Karma Nabulsi emphasises, these predicaments [still fuel](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/12a4b5b57e/7262321cfa/5664b2508b&ref=opendemocracy.net) revolt in our societies: Rebecca Omonira-Oyekanmi tells us **how female asylum seekers fight back** against [inhumane detention](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/12a4b5b57e/7262321cfa/4f77c9c310&ref=opendemocracy.net) and Kate Belgrave reports on the battle for [decent social housing](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/12a4b5b57e/7262321cfa/d7dfb6316d&ref=opendemocracy.net) by East London single mothers.