Political Protests
Policemen detain activist
Of the roughly 9000 blog posts here, perhaps 100 or so mention political protests in one context or another, raising the question: do they have any value? Understandably, this subject has received a great deal of study, especially since Donald Trump took office as President of the United States, bringing with him a torrent of protests concerning women, science, Muslims, the treatment of immigrants, pipelines, corruption/nepotism, police violence, climate change and the environment, LGBTQ rights, tax cuts for billionaires, etc.
Here are two pieces I personally found meaningful: “A Harvard study identified the precise reason protests are an effective way to cause political change” and the paper itself. Spoiler alert: the answer seems to be “yes, but not in the way you probably thought.”
In any case, it is very clear that the notion that protests are ineffective or perhaps counterproductive is incorrect.
Craig,
To claim “all protests are ineffective or counterproductive is incorrect”, is absurd.
Most protests are both ineffective and some are definitely counter-productive.
Protest movement which are effective and achieve an objective are very much in the minority.
Many activists involved in protests are the same “usual suspects” who turn up at any leftist type rally. For these hard core demonstrators, the protest movement is an all consuming crusade and social event.
Successful protest movements are those which can attract wide support among a broad spectrum of support and have very clear, realistic and achievable goals.
The largest protest movement (and the longest in history) began in the 1950’s with ” Ban the Bomb Peace movement”.
Although the message was clear, even desirable, the goal was never realistic or achievable. (the man in the turret of the T-37 tank wasn’t listening).
Ban the Bomb failed.
On the other hand, the Civil Rights movement in the US directed by Dr Martin Luther King, was a text book example for effective peaceful political protest. The aims were clear, support was broadly based and the objectives were both realistic and achievable.
Protests, like most human activity, is seldom black and white.