How the West’s promise of freedom created a world of anger

Video Duration 01 hours 06 minutes 25 seconds 01: 06: 25.

Key points

• This episode was produced by Mohamed Hassan, Marcos Bartolomé and Sonia Bhagat.
• In Deja Vu's next episode, Pankaj Mishra traces today's political anger to the Enlightenment and empire.
• Why does anger seem to rule the world today?

What happened

Why does anger seem to rule the world today? Pankaj Mishra traces our age of anger to the collision of Enlightenment promises of liberty and equality with empire, nationalism and capitalism. He asks what happens when those promises are broken – and when the Global South turns Western ideals back on the West itself. Pankaj Mishra, Author, Age of Anger.

This episode was produced by Mohamed Hassan, Marcos Bartolomé and Sonia Bhagat. It was edited by Alexandra Locke. Our engagement producer is Adam Abou-Gad. Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. @AJEPodcasts on X, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Published On 6 Sep 20266 Sep 2026.

The bottom line

Taken together, the developments around how the West's promise of freedom created a world of anger point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.