Protest, power, and psychological resistance: Navigating political despair in precarious times

In recent decades, the United Kingdom and many Western states have experienced the consequences of inequality, political conservatism, and elite dominance. Citizens face widespread economic precarity, fuelling emotional and psychological distress. Political unrest manifests in job insecurity, stagnant wages, a housing crisis, and the erosion of social support systems, all culminating in the current cost-of-living crisis. This paper explores the personal and collective emotional responses to these political conditions, with a focus on protest as a psychological coping mechanism and an act of resistance. By drawing on both personal experience and academic literature, I examine the ways in which anger, political despair, and critical political consciousness intersect in the fight for social justice.