Tons of protests going on everywhere against Israel, but not a single government has changed their stance
Nope.
The world is fucked.
Only thing that could possibly turn the tides would be a massive return to the guillotine.
Read up on the civil rights movements or how women got the right to vote.
Protests 100% work
Note, 100% can work, but don’t work 100%.
History shows that protests worked either when the vast majority of the population striked, or when they were violent.
I am quite disillusioned that gathering in a single square for a few hours with some signs will ever change anything.
Only when there’s enough people that it’s bordering revolution. Note how many national guard were not only deployed, but actually found themselves in gun battles (over civil rights), it was nuts by today’s norms.
There were plenty of less peaceful groups too. So I guess they 100% worked too.
Yes because:
-
There is a visible action taking place. You are standing for something you believe in. This gives other people who may lack confidence or opportunity something to notice.
-
Those in authority cannot claim what they do is an unopposed position.
-
Those you are protesting on behalf of, even if they are going through hell, know that someone somewhere is not prepared to let their circumstances go unnoticed.
-
Those you are protesting against know that someone sees what they are doing.
Maybe if the person who’s actions are being protested against are reasonable. When protesters are met by military forces and detained in trumped up charges of terrorism, then they don’t work until there looks to be consequences for the person/group being protested.
As a rule of thumb if you have the military on your side protests get crushed. Look at Egypt for an example of what happens once the military gets involved.
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle\_of\_Blair\_Mountain](The Battle of Blair Mountain) is a good example on the US end. Striking US mine workers crushed by the US military on US soil. You could argue that it was one of many events that led to labor protections, but it wasn’t the inviting event and those protections came more than a decade later.
-
Protests generally don’t change policy, although politicians may use them as justification for something they already want to push through.
Preceding the Iraq War, there was the largest worldwide protest in history to try to stop the war from happening.
Protests are helpful at showing public sentiment, but they rarely change policy.
MLK was assassinated after he started focusing on class issues. The FBI tried to threaten him with an anonymous letter telling him to kill himself.
The Stop Cop City protestors in Atlanta are being charged with terrorism.
Immediately after the UK anti-war protests, I remember seeing how shaky Tony Blair was in a sabre-rattling speech (The same day or a day after), knowing that 1million people had hit the streets to disagree with what he was saying.
So they are acknowledged by politicians.
Policy on the looming war did not change, due to back-scratching alliances between the countries involved. The USA was shouting ‘jump’. The result, Allies: ‘how high’.
Good thing that just like the USA that they replaced Blair with someone who just had the balls to be an absolute piece of shit with zero remorse. Donald Trump and Boris Johnson make Blair and Bush look like fucking brilliant men of great integrity, which they are assuredly not.
Fred Hampton. Gandhi. Leftist governments that won’t bend to fascist/capitalist countries’ bidding. Edward Snowden, Julian Assange. Real threats are “reasoned with,” and if that fails, neutralized.
thats why leaders should only be placeholders. the real power is in the people agreeing and following the ideals.
Exactly!
Only ones that can materially disrupt things.
A protest with a permit or with permission is a parade.
Even those can still have some benefit - it can act as a networking opportunity for people to meet each other and plan other events / get involved in other ways, it can give a morale boost to people considering giving up, etc.
with or without guns?
Some, but not all.
Just remember, if the protest is peaceful and easy to ignore then nothing will probably get done. You must disrupt the flow.
No
i’m pretty sure you could crowdsource an assassination and get more results,.
You need to use your protests as recruiting grounds for more direct pressure on your government. You should establish or join a lobbying organization and recruit volunteers. You will have these people write letters to the editor, solicit for donations, call and write to your representatives, and schedule in-person meetings with government officials.
Standing on the street and yelling by itself is not enough, you need to become a part of the establishment to affect change, but you can grow your organization by finding people who have proven to be motivated. A protest is a great place for that sort of thing.
You’ve summed up the key take-aways I got from my youthful protests of days gone by. 1) Teach the newbies about the current protest issue and possibly related issues. 2) Recruit. 3) Make contacts. 4) ORGANIZE. Not everyone can lead or organize for an issue, but everyone can be a helper. Your local government officials don’t care about your single voice, but they DO care if you represent a block of voters that are going to vote based on policy X. A petition with a bunch of signatures means more than a single letter, but an organized group with many letters and petitions and phone calls all identifying as voting members of Anti-Fraking-Club (or whatever), which meets every Y days and wants new regulation Z … that will get more attention. It might not be enough to combat the deep pockets on the other side, but enumerating the members of an organized voting block is better than noting some rabble rousers in the streets.
if protests did nothing, they wouldn’t be forbidden in China and Russia and every other autocratic society
Also there’s the American protest, where the opposing political party mounts a counter protests and politicians let them fight amongst each other. Then there’s the French protest, where they set the barbecue on the tram tracks and walk in milions for days.
Not all protests are equal
Yeah they shoot us when we try to protest like the French? Kinda tired of this comparison because it’s not apples to apples. America’s protest laws are not kind and they’re getting worse.
No they wouldn’t. If they did, the uproar would be massive. Or maybe not, idk, I’m not a yankee.
Laughs in Hong Kong, or any other major protest in the last decade.
Theres a bunch of factors that go into good protests. Stuff like a single unified message (Occupy Wallstreet), good visibility (any random protest on a random street corner), a position that isnt stupid (The proud boys), if the media likes you, and probably a bunch more.
The key problem with Israel vs Palestine is that Israel is western, works with Nato, is in the UN, doesnt execute rape victims, doesnt execute gay people, claims keep coming true, etc.
Palestine on the other hand, is 99% Sunni Muslim for a very nasty reason.
Its a very dumb and uninformed position, spread by genodical maniacs.
It works when a government already sympathetic to the cause is in office
Protest movements against hostile state apparati usually have to get a bit more…intense, before they get change.
Difference between the civil rights movement and the Egyptian Arab Spring uprising
No, protests can’t enact policy in democratic countries. Voting can, boycotts can, and strikes can. You can organize all of the three as part of a protest, but it’s a lot more work than shouting with a fancy sign, and a lot less fun to do.
