The self-immolation of street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi in Tunisia sparked protests that spread across the Arab world.

The Orange Revolution was a series of protests against a rigged presidential election, resulting in a revote won by Viktor Yushchenko.

The US boycotted the Moscow games to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

Student-led protests for democracy were forcibly suppressed by the Chinese military in June 1989.

Students in Soweto protested against being forced to learn in Afrikaans, the language of the apartheid government.

South African police fired on protesters demonstrating against pass laws, killing 69 people and leading to the banning of the ANC and PAC.

Launched by Gandhi during WWII, it was a mass protest demanding an orderly British withdrawal from India.

Viceroy Curzon partitioned Bengal to make it easier to govern (and to divide Hindu/Muslim unity), triggering massive nationalist protests.

Gandhi led the non-violent march in 1930 to protest the British monopoly on salt, a key event in the Indian independence movement.

Social Darwinism was used by imperialists to justify the conquest of 'weaker' races, arguing that European dominance was nature's way of improving the human species.