Cartoon by Halit Kurtulmus Aytoslu

Why so many people — in so many countries — are taking to the streets

CBC: For some, it's about a sudden hike in the price of a subway ticket. For others, the suggestion of a stolen election. Or a stolen country.

The flashpoints driving current unrest around the world are as diverse as the people pouring into the streets.

The world is at a high level of protest right now, says Robert O'Brien, a political science professor at McMaster University in Hamilton.

And he sees a common theme: "A dissatisfaction of both political and economic arrangements governing people and in different parts of the world."

In Chile, the anger was sparked Oct. 6 by a four per cent increase to the price of riding the subway in the capital of Santiago. But it was as though someone had just picked a scab.

Five days later, grocery stores were being looted, people were stockpiling food, and more than a dozen people were dead.

"Chile woke up!" people chanted, as the protests expanded into a denunciation of inequality, with demands for better access to education and health care, and an increase in wages.

While many may think of Chile as a wealthy, politically stable country, it is plagued by economic inequality and an income gap that is 65 per cent greater than the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average.

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets. An eventual apology and promise of social reforms from Chilean President Sebastián Piñera did little to stifle the fury, even though he pledged increases to pensions, a cut to the price of prescription drugs for the poor and a guaranteed minimum wage of 350,000 pesos a month (about $630 Cdn).

In Lebanon, a new tax on the popular WhatsApp messaging service prompted anger starting on Oct. 17. But as in Chile, that seemingly small development quickly gave way to wider rage over systemic corruption, inadequate public services and a looming economic crisis.

Schools, universities and businesses closed for days as hundreds of thousands of people filled Beirut's famed Martyrs' Square.

Just like in Chile, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri soon promised reforms in response — including a cut to politicians' pay and a new tax on banks, which would be put toward reducing a public debt that is one of the highest in the world, relative to Lebanon's size.

The protesters' reaction? Too little, too late.

"We're staying in the streets until the looted public funds are restored, until the government falls," protester Heba Haidar told Reuters.

""They are stealing," said Mohammad Jana. "The least we can do is civil disobedience."

There are issues in Lebanon and other countries that residents see as being the last straw, O'Brien says. So getting a tax hike reversed or a few social reforms isn't enough.

"Once people start to take action, they tap into, I think, a much deeper unease and unrest with how their societies are organized and how economic benefits are distributed," he said.

A similar sentiment brought citizens to the streets in Ecuador a few weeks earlier. The government there cut fuel subsidies in early October, and the price of gas soared.

The protests — led by Indigenous leaders — also grew to include anger over corruption, restrictive human rights and discrimination against the country's Indigenous people.

President Lenín Moreno initially said he had no choice — that the subsidies in place since the 1970s were no longer affordable. He backed down two weeks later, after days of seeing the capital, Quito, at a virtual standstill.

But talks between Moreno and the head of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador — aimed at keeping the protesters from returning to the streets — broke down.

And in Haiti, protests have once again erupted across the island, leaving at least 20 people dead. The anger there is also over the cost of dwindling basic goods, including gasoline, soaring inflation and corruption. The majority of people in Haiti earn less than $2 a day, while about a quarter earn less than $1 a day.

Opposition leaders say they will keep the protests going until President Jovenel Moïse resigns >>>