Europe Is Aflame, and It’s Not Going to Stop

Mr. Jäger is a contributing Opinion writer and the author of “Hyperpolitics.” He wrote from Brussels.

A decade and a half ago, Time magazine chose “The Protester” as its person of the year. From California to Cairo, the weekly profiled more than 100 participants in public demonstrations throughout 2011: One was pictured wearing a black-and-orange gas mask, while from another, who spoke Arabic, the magazine “understood the words Facebook and Twitter.” Together they made up the aggregate that became the year’s hero.

Today, Time’s choice appears both timely and distant. As a fresh wave of protest roils the West, little of the magazine’s........

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