Protests around the globe have one thing in common

Bloomberg

Hong Kong martial arts guru Bruce Lee urged followers to “empty your mind, be formless, shapeless like water.”
That philosophy has driven months of anti-government unrest in Hong Kong. And it applies to protest movements elsewhere that are operating with quick-changing tactics and without clear leadership.
Mass demonstrations are not new. Anti-war and anti-nuclear protests swept the globe decades ago, as did the Occupy movement of 2011-2012 directed against globalisation and inequality.
But from Iraq to Chile, it feels like protests are everywhere right now. Huge street rallies, violent clashes with police, tires and buildings burning, shops smashed. Songs, chants, dances and flash-mobs. Crowds that gather and vanish in unexpected places, organised via encrypted messaging apps where people use pseudonyms.
In some cases the protests are driven by a backlash against austerity, as global growth slows and becomes even more unequal. But not all movements have the same spark, even if their form is similar. Leaderless protests can be hard for governments to deal with because they can’t work out who to deal with. Such activity may start from a single issue, then morph into a many-headed hydra.
A lack of central leadership can prevent infighting, but also pull movements in many directions, sapping momentum. Leaderless protests can be nimble but also turn rudderless and chaotic, hostage to violent fringe elements.
Hong Kong’s protesters have sustained demonstrations against China’s increasing grip over the city since June—all without a clear leader. That’s by design: During pro-democracy protests in 2014, the government arrested key leaders and threw them in jail.
The grassroots Yellow Vest movement in France has lost much of its momentum in the year since it began as opposition to higher fuel taxes—and morphed into broader grievances against the government.
The biggest anti-Kremlin protests for seven years erupted in Moscow this summer, defying crackdowns by riot police and efforts to decapitate the movement by preemptively detaining veteran Russian opposition leaders.
Algerians have been taking to the streets since February, initially to protest the re-election bid of Abdelaziz Bouteflika, one of North Africa’s longest-serving leaders, who eventually resigned in April and is not contesting the December election.
Thousands of Iraqis have challenged a government crackdown that has left more than 200 people dead since the start of the month to protest over jobs and public services.
Chile’s social unrest has
followed a pattern similar to Brazil in 2013.