Humanity appears to be suffocating. For eighteen months, the world has watched people in Gaza die from bombs or starvation, whilst in Ukraine the war shows no sign of ending. Thousands of children have been abducted by Russian invaders, thousands more killed by Israeli forces.
Meanwhile, beyond the battlefields, democratic nations are gradually transforming into authoritarian regimes. Trump deploys troops in Los Angeles to ban demonstrations whilst his inflammatory rhetoric knows no bounds—ideas that spread like wildfire across the globe.
Even in Cyprus, legislation is being debated to restrict protest activities.
Yet when oppression becomes suffocating, resistance begins to emerge. Saturday’s Pride march in Hungary exemplifies this shift. The stakes had moved beyond LGBTQ+ rights alone. Some 180,000 people sent a clear message to far-right Prime Minister Viktor Orbán that they would not surrender their freedoms.
Just two months earlier, he had passed legislation banning Pride marches, warning he would use facial recognition software to identify attendees. The prohibition produced precisely the opposite effect.
Tens of thousands who might not have participated under different circumstances took to Budapest’s streets, prompting the city’s mayor to thank the prime minister for creating “the most tolerant society he had provoked”.
Across the Atlantic, a 33-year-old with an immigrant background and radical ideas secured the Democratic nomination for New York City mayor—a direct response to Trump’s policies. Of Indian heritage, Muslim, born in Uganda and raised in New York to wealthy intellectual parents, Zohran Mamdani transformed from complete outsider to the strongest contender for mayor of the world’s most influential city.
His candidacy has prompted Trump to threaten federal funding cuts to the city. Mamdani promises rent stabilisation, free bus transport, free childcare, municipal food markets offering affordable groceries, and more.
How would this be funded? Through increased taxation of the wealthy. “Billionaires have already got enough. Now it’s your turn,” he declares in campaign videos.
His message resonates: he has received sufficient donations to announce he will accept no more, whilst tens of thousands of volunteers have mobilised to support his campaign.
In England, the popular Glastonbury music festival became a political stage with pro-Palestinian messages, though some extreme anti-Israeli military slogans prompted the BBC to issue an apology for its coverage.
In essence, people are saying “enough violence, enough oppression”.