Abstract

Pankaj Mishra’s phrase “age of anger” captures the current zeitgeist, not just in the United States and Europe but also many other parts of the world, including the East and Southeast Asian countries that are the focus of this section. Anger can be good for progressive causes. One thing that this collection of dispatches on misrule and discontent show clearly is the need to think of the current illiberal tide wreaking havoc at both ends of Eurasia, as well as to consider what happened before votes were cast over Brexit in May and in the U.S. election in November. The following pieces highlight just how widespread the disturbing trends associated with our age of anger are. But progressives will also find rays of hope in these accounts of repression in Asia, which are also full of examples of brave efforts to push back against authoritarian regimes.

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