It's unclear whether this interactive map created by Penn State doctoral candidate John Beieler truly represents every protest that took place on the globe during the past 34 years, but it sure does make for quite a visual.
It should be noted that the data compiled represents reported protests, that is to say, protests that have received media coverage over the years. And while the map does seem to indicate a sharp rise in worldwide protest activity—especially starting in the late 90s—Beieler himself notes that this may be due to the way reporting itself has changed as a result of evolving technologies:
"The number of events recorded in GDELT grows exponentially over time, as noted in the paper introducing the dataset. This means that over time there appears to be a steady increase in events, but this should not be mistaken as a rise in the actual amount of behavior X (protest behavior in this case). Instead, due to changes in reporting and the digital recording of news stories, it is simply the case that there are more events of every type over time. In some preliminary work that is not yet publicly released, protest behavior seems to remain relatively constant over time as a percentage of the total number of events. This means that while there was an explosion of protest activity in the Middle East, and elsewhere, during the past few years, identifying visible patterns is a tricky endeavor due to the nature of the underlying data."
Interestingly enough, quite a few blips go off inside North Korea beginning in February of 1995. One might question the veracity of these events, given the highly censored nature of that country's state-run media, but then again, perhaps these events indicate state-sponsored pro-regime demonstrations. It's not entirely out of the question. But when it comes to tight-lipped state media, Antarctica takes the prize. The map documents absolutely no protest activity on that continent since 1979, and it goes without saying that the fascist Penguin junta down there has something to do with it! SQUAWK!