Mass protests have failed to bring about social change. It’s time for a new strategy.
Mass protests have failed to bring about social change. It’s time for a new strategy.
Peaceful protest is legal because it accomplishes nothing.
Peaceful protest was the compromise. It's time the owning class is reminded of this.
Peaceful protest is legal
And they're trying to change that too, just in case
https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/uk-passing-new-public-order-laws-marks-dark-new-era-peaceful-protest
It can if you do it right and have a purpose. Martin Luther King Jr. Did peaceful protests and changed America for the better.
The problem is there is very little to protest. If you are protesting current issues chances are your political party is already trying to accomplish those things. They are then fighting the opposite party for control.
This is a very uninformed understanding of history and politics.
"riots are the language of the unheard" -MLK peaceful protests are the alternative you give, the other option is violence. MLK new this. Despite how incredibly watered down and whitewashed his message and words have become when they teach about him in school.
I guess that depends on who 'we' means? The September climate protests were pretty big globally, with 50 countries participating.
As someone who has been to protests in the past for various topics, my experience is that the media isn't interested in reporting on them unless they get dramatic eye-catching footage. Which unfortunately usually means just the ones that have a physical fight break out make the front page anywhere.
Protesting does not do anything because politians are not accountable to voters. People who they are accountable to don't give two fucks if pleb burn down parts of cities. They will get contracts to clean it up.
Hurt their profits is the only language they understand.
Or, start taking the protests and riots to their doorsteps.
They don't care when you burn the areas they don't live in. But when you take the protest to them... They scream and call for more cops. But in the time it takes for the cops to show up, you can do a lot of damage, especially if you have a thousand friends.
I'm telling you, an army of vuvuzela-players and mimes to follow elected officials around in public, with a shift roster to get 24/7 coverage. No media interviews without the droning hum of a vuvuzela, no photo opportunities without a sneaky mime making an exaggerated lewd pose in the background, no pleasant meals with lobbyists without a distant but audible brrrrrrrrrrrr.
The media chooses not to report on peaceful protests all the time, but they always give coverage to Gaetz, Cruz and Graham talking absolute shit. Make them edit the videos to take out mimes and vuvuzelas.
Sir, this is a taco bell
Yeah obvs the police would side with and defend the politicians, you’d never be allowed to do that.
Police can arrest someone for playing a vuvuzela and being in the background of a photo? Probably, but... what do they charge you with, a noise disturbance? Better than an assault charge. The police are going to defend the rulers no matter how peaceful the protest.
CW: police violence
Remember when those UC Davis students got pepper-sprayed while sitting? Or "don't tase me, bro!"?
What mass protests? Have any of yall been protesting?
Have you? Hell, have I?
That's what I want to know
If you even say the word "guillotine" in most forums and you get banned, so no wonder things will never escalate to where they need to.
Liberals: "We want change NOW!"
Me too my brothers!
Liberals: "The Christo-fascists are taking control!"
Too late, they're in control and consolidating power.
Liberals: "Cops are running amok and accountable to no one!"
No shit. Just now figuring this out?
Liberals: "Turn in your guns and disarm yourselves!"
hold up...
My take is that if I went out in the public square tomorrow and they were setting up head removal devices and lining up landlords and student loan recovery agents and fossil fuel executives on the scaffold, I would shake my head and say "You know, I wanted to do this with progressive tax policy and UBI, but you broke democracy, so here we are..."
Democracy and peaceful protest aren't just nice things that we do for fun. They're what prevent the streets from running red when enough people get angry enough to do something. They're MUCH BETTER than violent revolution, for all parties involved. Any member of a ruling class that thinks they can prevent change when the time for change has come will find themselves in very bad trouble, sooner or later.
Mass disruption of the economy?
Well we should really try a mass protest first. If we can actually get people together we can see if mass protest work. The only other attentive is to compost the rich!
One huge problem is that we're too gatekeep-y to the political "other". If a large chunk of the population is excluded because you don't like who they voted for, you'll never get enough people marching to see a change
To protest what? That's the problem with modern times. Everyone is dead set in there beliefs and protesting doesn't change that.
Vincent Bevins just published a new book on this topic:
If We Burn; The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution
He was interviewed about it on the TrueAnon podcast, but I dunno if that was in the public feed or the bonus feed.
and no one gives a shit ( anyhow his first book about the CIA was pretty cool, too! I heard an interview with him about the new book on the Intercept podcast, and his narrative is something I‘ve been thinking about for some time. It‘s actually insane how the right could take the initiative instead of the left and now there‘s only little room to manoeuvre.
If you mean The Jakarta Method, Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World, that was one of the best books I've ever read. Blew me away. That's how I recognized his name in the show notes for the latest podcast interview.
We all fart into pillows for hours, then tell the baddies we bought a new fabric softener that smells like peach
People expect way to much change from a single protest. You need to contact your representative and get enough people to join in order to get some attention.
Your protest also can't be silly like a lot of recent protests are don't go protest the 2016 election or 2020 election as you will accomplish nothing. Also make sure you have some sort of purpose or end goal. All of the protests I've heard about have no purpose.
So you're going to ignore the decades of protests about climate action? That have all been ignored because the people in power will never give a shit about your protest if its easily ignored.
Small protests are easily ignored. DC climate action protest - 75k people in a nation of 300+ million - even if the muster 1m it's still peanuts. It doesn't even move the needle.
Take that same number, 1 million, and have the vast majority be from Georgia marching in Atlanta. Georgia is 10m with 7m available voters. Now we have enough numbers to push the needle.
Sure it's not on a Federal level, but politics are local. Federal action is a quagmire unless enough localities begin to gel behind a single direction - then those seeking Federal office will have to pivot.
If we take out the guillotines, there will be much change from a single protest
The only actual wealth redistribution to the working class that has happened in recent years are the flash mobs looting from stores during the pandemic
Change my mind.
No one gave two fucks about Hamas until they came through with gun fire and violence. Now everyone suddenly cares and a significant change will come to them.
If you believe we are above chimps and do not respond to violence, you are in denial. We are chimps with nukes.
It's not my job to change your mind, but if you really want, PM me your address and I can come by with promises and prove you will respond to threats. Just like politicians.
P.S. I just proved your point and I am just as bad as them. But the point was that this is the only way for rapid change within our lifetime.
I'm not convinced you have one to change.
If you try to defend yourself from the people oppressing and killing you, you’re just as bad as them?
What a shit lib take.
Nah fuck promises, i want delivery.
The answer is a general strike, but I have no fucking idea how we'd pull that off in the USA without the majority becoming homeless.
Cops can't stop general strikes
Crackdowns only turn supporterts to active rebels, and sympathizers to supporters.
State Violence only strengthens the movement.
Historically it has been sustained, smaller, local action that has produced results far more frequently than attempted general strikes. Everybody wants to do this the quick way and they aren’t willing to roll up their sleeves and put in the time to do it locally. They think that everybody’s just going to nod and stop working and it’s all going to be glorious, but that’s just not how it goes down. You can count the number of truly successful general strikes that were clear victories on one hand.
Consumption strike. Just stop buying nonessentials. Rent strike, mortgage strike. Protests are worthless if you're still buying crap from amazon and eating at chain restaurants.
I guess I've been on an involuntary consumption strike for the last 10 years or so then lol
Like the Roman plebs used to do. Just every pleb go on vacation to the country at the same time, leaving the rich to fend for themselves.
Mutual aid is probably the best we could do in the short term
You strike and just keep striking, they cant take you.out of your home if you have a gun...
I think what you'll actually find is that they definitely can.
Yeah, I've heard if you have a gun in your house the police will just give up and move on to the next.