Let’s not forget that state and social movements relation are governed by the political economy of a given period and how confident – and far – could the state go in repression and beyond the daily oppression. We should also differentiate between security states where regimes use all necessary means to survive and the advanced capitalist states where maintaining the status quo means rotation of governments, which have significant resources at their disposal, powerful media and interest groups that marginalise and vilify dissent. That also apply globally where international capital, international institutions and organisations and states work together to support or divert and co-opt this or that social movement when it suits their interests.
‘How elites are crushing dissent’ in Britain or France should be read differently from how regimes in Egypt, Iran or Russia exercise repression. After all, the title of the article does not apply to Britain, Germany, or even to France, where there are no revolutions and counter-revolutions.
And we are not in the 20th century where radical revolutionary movements and parties were aiming at taking power to implement a fundamental economic and social change. The internal dynamic and the international context today is very different. Yes, there are wars, climate breakdown, stagnation and inflation, and inequality, but in general the balance of forces and the ideological outlook of the social movements are largely seeking reforms.
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