In recent years, amid the rise of social media and online petitions, it’s been easy to feel like the transformative and successful movements of the past century—the civil rights movement, anti-apartheid protests, and anti-Vietnam War protests—were destined to become relics of history. However, if there was ever a year to debunk the claims of “slacktivism” and “armchair activism” that have proliferated during the internet era, 2014 was it.
In many ways, the anti-government protests in Turkey and the anti-sexual harassment protests in India in 2013 hinted at the groundswell of protests that would follow from West Africa to Eastern Europe to Central America. Protesters boldly challenged entire governments, hegemonies, and systemic injustices in discrete ways that somehow felt greater than the sum of their grievances. Though not all were nonviolent, most of the protests demonstrated an impassioned form of civic engagement that will leave indelible imprints upon the history books of the future.
Here’s a look at seven places where citizens got loud in 2014.
Screenshots of the man talking to the camera and with his momTikTok | 
Screenshots of the bakery Image Source: TikTok | 
A woman hands out food to a homeless personCanva
A female artist in her studioCanva
A woman smiling in front of her computerCanva 
A woman holds a cup of coffee while looking outside her windowCanva 
A woman flexes her bicepCanva 
A woman cooking in her kitchenCanva 
Two women console each otherCanva 
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Two women embrace in a hugCanva 
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A Reddit commentReddit | 
A Reddit commentReddit | 
Stressed-out employee stares at their computerCanva
Who knows what adventures the bottle had before being discovered. 
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