August 15, 2021

Gold Static

When you care, your care circulates to make us all better. But what is the best way to show compassion that initiates change? Millions take to the streets to protest social injustice and societal wrongs, but does it do any good?

Do Protests Work?

In the midst of the pandemic and economic crisis, the United States witnessed the broadest, sustained wave of protests experienced in decades. Starting with the presidential election, there were demonstrations against George Floyd, police brutality, ICE, systemic racism, gun violence, mask-wearing, elected officials, eviction notices, voting rights, removal of monuments, and name changes. The Capitol itself was under siege.

But, do protests work? Zeynep Tufekci, writing for The Atlantic, says it takes decades to find out. In the short term, they let authorities know that people are unhappy and want change, but changes to the political system don’t happen overnight. It took over ten years for the 1963 civil rights March on Washington to go from idea, to organization, to dedication, to overcoming obstacles, to change.

The Capitol protesters with their goal of taking over the government were not well organized, and thankfully didn’t succeed, though they scared me and others wishing to preserve a country based on law. But, laws are not always fair, and when people don’t like them, they take their frustrations out with marches and riots.

Some protests in our country’s history have made a difference.

The Boston Tea Party on Dec. 16, 1773, sparked the First Continental Congress the following year, leading to the American revolution in 1775.
After 60 years of fighting, the Women’s Suffrage Parade, held in 1913 on the eve of President Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration, revived attention for the movement. It took seven more years before the 19th amendment granted women the right to vote.
The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom of 1963, where Martin Luther King gave his “I Have a Dream” Speech, led to the Civil rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
The Stonewall riots in 1969, where Gay and Lesbian communities resisted and protested harassment, led to decades of activism within the LGBTQ+ community. Starting in the ’90s, the Supreme Court established several landmark rulings, including one on June 15th of this year, legalizing gay marriage and making it illegal to fire employees for sexual orientation.
The 1969 Native American occupation of Alcatraz led President Nixon to abolish the Indian Termination Policy of the 1040s to forcibly assimilate Native people into American society.
The March for Our Lives in 2018 starting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida after seventeen people were killed, was a turning point for calls for gun-control legislation. Florida, along with sixteen states and Washington, D.C. raised the minimum age for gun purchases from 18 to 21, enacted red-flag laws, and banned bump stocks to increase the firing power of semiautomatic weapons.

Whether more recent protests will lead to change has yet to be determined.

The People’s Climate March in New York City in 2014 that drew nearly 400,000 participants protesting along with 2700 climate-related demonstrations in more than 150 countries brought attention to global warming. It wasn’t long after that President Trump pulled us out of the Paris Accord and cut the EPA’s budget. Though the Biden administration and various individual companies are trying to address global warming, success continues to elude our country and the world as we suffer more climate related crises.
The Women’s March on Washington in 2017 drew between 3.2 and 5.2 million people and inspired marches in 400 U.S. cities and 600 worldwide including one in Antarctica. Those advocating for reproductive rights and women’s rights remain concerned about future Supreme Court and state rulings.
Protests against police killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and others people of color were among the most intense in U.S. history. Starting peacefully, they quickly moved to violence, setting fires, breaking windows, spraying graffiti, and looting. As I mentioned last week, the Black Lives Matter movement has already created a generational shift, with 65 percent of those under thirty-five supporting the movement but what policies and laws will change remain uncertain.
Most protests occur when government supports those at the top and disadvantages those at the bottom. They often start with a single event, igniting long-held grievances. However, if they are not well-organized, they are doomed to die.

What makes protests successful? According to Dr. Catherine Fiechie in a speech given at the Common Futures Conversations Community, dialogue has to be the protest’s priority. Citizens’ assemblies, referendums, and participation in policy-making opens channels for institutionalizing grievances. She also advises that,

Protests have to be well-planned, focused, and clear. They must state the problem and what changes are desired. The George Floyd protests were unclear and demands varied from city to city. Cries to charge the officers who killed George Floyd turned into shouts to defund the police, train officers better, administer anti-social personality tests, rid cities of specific elected officials, ban behaviors such as chokeholds, end for-profit policing, end the War on Drugs, make reparations to the Black community, change hiring practices, override police unions, wear body cameras, and remove the Confederate flag.
Successful protests employ both digital means of communicating and professional media outreach. Social media plays a major role in facilitating participation. Flash mobs emerge as a result of Twitter, email, blogs, Facebook, and text messages. The #BlackLivesMatter movement gained worldwide visibility on Twitter and through traditional news sources, creating a sense of global unity. Onlookers provided videos of violence taking place that magnified their voices, but when messages put online were not honest and unbiased, they died. Human rights organizations have good techniques for maintaining the public’s attention.
All concerns need to be heard and everyone has to work together to find solutions. Protests work well when there is a broad coalition of support that amplifies the voices of the marginalized. The Occupy Wall Street protests against economic inequity, for example, failed because demands were unclear and protesters offered no solutions.
Networking with activists across the country and the world adds support to a movement, expands leadership skills, and puts protesters in a position where authorities are forced to engage in talks with them and hopefully answer their demands. Organizers of the Women’s March in 2017, received help from Planned Parenthood and over 100 other organizations to ensure its success.
Learning how to take political action should begin in school civic classes. Youth should be brought into discussions and educated in the process. Participation is integral to democracy and essential for creating critical thinkers. I was surprised when my fourteen-year-old grandson asked for Presidential Elections: Strategies and Structures of American Politics, for his birthday. At his age, I wasn’t interested in politics, but he and youth like Greta Thunberg, give hope for the future.
Non-violent protests are effective for they convey that they do matter. Movements do well that incorporate methods that have worked in the past and are strategic in their tactics.

Many of us are interested in what we can do to bring about change. Some people feel insignificant and powerless. Waving placards in a mob definitely makes a statement, but it is not for all. Protests fizzle without behind-the-scenes commitment. I, for example, feel like I can be more effective in other ways. There are many opportunities to get involved and lend your voice without having to march. The important thing is to get out of your comfort zone and take a step forward.

References

Dudenhoefer, N (2020) 7 Influential Protests in American History. University of Central Florida. retrieved from https://www.ucf.edu/news/7-influential-protests-in-american-history/

Garfield,L. & Ettinger,Z. (2020) 14 of the biggest marches and protests in American history. Business Insider. retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/largest-marches-us-history-2017-1

Blodget, H & Plotz, D. (2020) Wahl are the protests so much more intense. Business Insider. retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/why-are-the-george-floyd-protests-so-much-more-intense-2020-6.

Staff (2021) U.S. Civil Unrest. Center for Disaster Philanthropy. retrieved from https://disasterphilanthropy.org/disaster/u-s-civil-unrest/

Staff (2020) Protests. GlobalSecurity.org. retrieved from https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/usa/protests-2020.htm

Haan, L., Barrail, H.,Burdette, e.,Ciasnocha.M. and more. (2020) What Makes a Successful Protest. Chatham House. retrieved from https://www.chathamhouse.org/2020/12/what-makes-successful-protest

2017 Women’s March. Wikipedia. retrieved from https://en.wikipe dia.org/wiki/2017_Women%27s_March#:~:text=The%20Women’s%20March%20was%20a,day%20protest%20in%20U.S.%20history.