I’ve seen many protests over the years, some of them are in the hundreds of thousands or even millions – Turkey, Paris, Israel and many more.
But except of getting of some steam I rarely see it do anything. So why are we so obsessed with the right to protest? Why not just vote every four years and go on with your life
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If the government sends people to beat you up, they care. Remember Ukraine 2014? Putin and his allies are still pissed off.
It does things. But you can’t go back in time to see what would have happened if there weren’t protests.
Protests can serve to sway public opinion and get people hype enough to actually show up to the ballot box.
A prominent enough one can influence legislation due to lawmakers not wanting to get voted out
Protest ended the Vietnam War and brought about the Civil Rights Act. The government cares.
The Poll Tax protests in the UK in and around 1990 worked.
That’s just one example. Imagine if the government pissed everyone off do badly that we all walked out and protested? They’d care right? So we need to value that right, be it big or small protests.
They’d love us not to have to it. Don’t get psyopped into thinking it doesn’t matter. Look at North Korea
Protests worked on Tesla. It turned a cool brand into the car almost nobody wants. It helped lower sales and lower resale value. It got the corporation to insist Musk stop DOGEing around and get back to working at Tesla.
Protests can work if it convinces other people that the issue is that serious. It’s easy to ignore one little news story. But if you get 100,000 people marching on an issue, it tends to get attention. .
Protesting does both. It works and let’s people blow of steam. The smaller ones will bring attention to a subject and hopefully help sway public opinion. For protests to make more immediate impacts (think late 60’s Vietnam era) they need to be much more widespread.
I always try to urge people to remember that they’re trying to sway public opinion with these gatherings. Once you strart putting up flags of other nations,, burning the U.S. flag or causing grief for the public they usually end up doing more harm than good….. kind of a shooting yourself in the foot type situation.
People need to let off steam in the periods between elections. Also protests can help keep people engaged and active during the time leading up to regularly held elections.
I don’t think protestors or organizers who are realistic ever think, “Well, if we all go out this Sunday, the President/Congress/government will see us and cave immediately to our demands.”
It’s about creating and sustaining momentum and engagement.
The current US gov’t only cares about what ever they are told to care about by whoever pays them the most $$
We need a General Strike.
If the government cared, we wouldn’t have to protest. The whole idea of a protest is to make them care. Many different methods with different levels of effectiveness:
There are those that try to appeal to the emotional/moral side of things. (Think of the children)
Make them fear for their jobs (if you don’t do it, we’ll find someone who will)
Make them fear for the economy (strikes and trade disruptions in general)
Make them fear for the safety of their voters (burning stuff, flipping cars, etc)
Make them fear for their lives (the Robespierre method)
I think you’re probably minimizing some of the things that are accomplished via protest. But, even if not, I think they probably cause decision makers to think twice before continuing further along the path being protested.
The reality is – protest works when it’s disruptive. Just ask Gandhi. He disrupted the ability of England to profit from India’s labor. It has to disrupt. Disruption might also be about public sentiment. It’s particularly useful in democracy because you can change people’s minds about the actions of the government.
Yeah, it does. Either through disruption of authoritarian regimes or persuasion in democratic regimes.
People think that functional protesting should be legal. Gandhi and King were peaceful, but not legal. Gandhi filled up the prisons until they clogged up they system. King upset the police until their brutality was broadcast on National news.
Women getting the right to vote took at least 80 years of protests.
Sometimes it takes a while.
Even if they don’t sway politicians… there is a lot to be said for the solidarity that comes from a protest. Being able to look around and say “I’m not the only one who feels strongly about this”. (especially when your own government seems to be trying to gaslight you)
Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.
I refused to participate in protests recently because I figured that no one gave a crap and therefore I shouldn’t waste my time. My wife suggested that, “It’s not for the government. It’s for the rest of the world to know that this isn’t who we are. It’s for the future.” I agreed with her and went.
I think it helps
Sometimes issues can’t wait four year. Protests can be disruptive, and in functional democracies it can scare representatives into changing their votes if their voters show enough passion about an issue, as it could lose them their seat. In a lot of the world, the only way to make a movement matter is by disrupting the flow of capital, and protests can help do this.
I also think it’s worth noting that the result of protests often does not get the attention the protests themselves do, unless it is a huge issue.
Plus, sometimes it just feels nice to voice your opinion
This biggest defense against protesting is to convince the people that protests don’t work. Remember that.
Eventually someone who cares about getting re-elected notices that the protests are big enough or swaying the right people to jeopardize their position. At that point they start weighing their options (continue to ignore and risk it turning into an electoral defeat, or bend a little to appease enough of the protesters to take some heat off).
Protest is when I say I don’t like this. Resistance is when I put an end to what I don’t like. Protest is when I say I refuse to go along with this anymore. Resistance is when I make sure everybody else stops going along too.
—Ulrike Meinhof
>vote every four years and go on with your life
Sometimes waiting four years might end with losing your right to vote before those four years are up.
Also worth noting, voting happens every 2 years for federal candidates in the US.
The purse is the only language they understand
First, the object of protest NEVER cares. That’s why you’re protesting; to force decision makers to take an action. The point of protest (and all of the associated organizing) is to show decision makers that they need to start caring or else there will be consequences.
Street protest is valuable (“works”) for three reasons: (1) it builds solidarity among the participants, demonstrates to them that they are part of something bigger, and encourages them to take further action, (2) it demonstrates to decision makers that the protesters have the ability to organize and conduct large scale action, and (3) it can bring an issue to the attention of potential allies.
During the US Civil Rights movement protest was able to show the violence and cruelty of segregation and thereby convince moderate voters that it was a problem that needed to be addressed, in turn forcing elected officials to respond to the demand of the voters. In that case the government “didn’t care” (in that it took no action to eliminate segregation) but was compelled to address the issue.
Yeah, at this point working and donating to sway public opinion is a better move. The current administration and their cronies are already dead set on enacting their agenda whether or not anyone cares. I think creating a unified and persistent message about the wrongdoings of this administration is paramount.
Study history. Yes it does.
No government can simply ignore protests because they have the potential to cause economic disruption if they spiral out of control. Either, they’d have to crack down, concede, or a combination of both.
Protests can take years or even decades to make a real difference. Think about the women’s suffrage and the civil rights movements. Suffrage started in the late 1800s. Civil rights started in the 1950s.
3 months of protests ain’t gonna move the needle.
Yes. It may not immidietly get the result you wanted, but if it did SOMETHING then you win. For example in recent times: no way el salvador thought this man would cause such a fuss. BECAUSE of the protests across the nation, el salvador KNOWS it cant just quietly kill him, which buys more time for someone to get him out (legally, illegally, I honestly dont care which) and to safety whereas without protests that guy would be super dead by now.
Sometimes.
I remember in 2008-10 when a few dozen old white folks in funny hats and mobility scooters lost their minds when a black guy was elected President and got enough attention to shift the political scene to the point we ended up with trump in 2016.
Did the protests get folks in power to change their minds on anything? They might have pushed righties farther right but they did also change the political landscape.
I mean nobody cared about the bolsheviks and they took power, nobody cared about the nazis and they took power.
Nobody cared about Gandhi, and he rose to prominence.
Nobody cares about any of it, but when it gains momentum, there’s not much you can do to stop it outside of “kill everyone involved and all bystanders”.
Nonviolent protests are pointless. If they worked you wouldn’t end up with revolutions.
If protest didn’t work, they wouldn’t try so hard to stop us from doing it.
Thank you for asking this question
Mostly protest doesn’t work at all regardless of what the government thinks. For the most part it just makes you look like a child to the average person.
When will it be time for pitchforks and torches?
Numbers and time. It never pays a ruler to have most of the population hating them. Also in when striking is also involved in the form of protest then the massive inconvenience it causes business owners gets them pressuring the government.
Thing is too many young people expect one protest and everything’s fixed. It takes constant continual action to change anything the Civil Rights movement took 10 years of constant carefully planned action, protests, marches, boycotts and even deaths to change anything. The Suffragette movement took 80+ years in the US and it took even more protests, marches, arrests, people dying, being arrested going on hunger strikes to change anything.
Read about the Suffragettes in the UK it was insane what they went through, read about the Civil Rights marches, they were literally lynched in front of whole towns that “Saw nothing” and still people kept on marching, Vietnam War protests took 10 years, read about the Kent State Massacre where the national guard killed kids protesting and still people marched.
Depends on the country. Mostly protests provide a sense of community for the people. In smaller countries you’re likely to have a bigger impact as it’s more important for the politicians to please the people. But in places like America, protests only really work at the county/ state level not federal. Trying to protest the at the federal level is much more difficult because the politicians aren’t at the state they are representing like 80% of the time, of that.
At least other countries know that half of us are repulsed and disgusted
Many things here:
Voting doesn’t really do much on its own. A lot of people in recent elections (such as the US, but also applies to my country the UK), vote for a candidate they don’t really like just because they desperately don’t want the other to win in a 2-party system.
As you say, there’s only an election every four years, or in my case, every five. A lot can happen in that time so publicly sharing your views can be a good way to build support.
While no, it might not do anything, it is definitely worth trying. Climate change for example is a big issue which could potentially impact the world to death, yet governments everywhere are not doing enough. It’s still helpful to try because even if it has the lowest possibility, it’s worth it.
It DOES work sometimes. Look at the Suffragettes, Civil Rights Movement, even some recent protests have influenced major decisions. Progress would be stifled dramatically without protests. If everyone was just like “Never mind, we’ll just wait until the next election” not much would really get done. The government may not care about the issues themselves, but they do care about public support and protests show that that’s not what they’re getting.
It was important enough to enshrine in the United States Constitution. I agree with the founders that our rights of assembly are important.
If you don’t care enough to protest, then don’t do it. I feel bad that I haven’t done more myself, but then I care about our democracy and the rise of fascist authoritarianism.
If the government doesn’t care, you aren’t actually engaging in meaningful protest.
Can you quantify how much money was lost by your mass strikes, marches flooding the streets, or other tactics?
If not then you are likely infiltrated by centrists who don’t actually want the status quo to change
There’s research showing that if 3.5% of a population participates in sustained, peaceful protest they are generally successful in achieving their goals. In the US, that would mean ~12 million people getting out to protest regularly. About 3 million turned out nationwide during the big protest last month. Expect that number to increase sharply when store shelves empty, inflation goes through the roof, and layoffs really get started.
Not protesting hard enough
You’re protesting to influence your fellow voters at the next election.
Protests don’t work that well.
Riots do.
Brings some attention to issues. The government may close the curtains and ignore, they may send someone to beat you or hose you or gas you. That’s hostile, protest is peaceful and if they get hostile, they are trying to intimidate. If people keep coming back to protest, the intimidation didn’t work. What else do they do now. I don’t know. It works to upset the leaders, if they are still stronger, there may not be enough protesters left. Otherwise the protest gets stronger. We don’t want this thing happening and we’re not going to shut up and leave until they stop doing it.
Nope. Public probably don’t care either, especially in the US.
Expanding off of this, what about protests in areas where the leaders agree with it?
For context, I live in a very blue area with very blue local & state congresses. I see liberal protests at my town hall and state Capitol regularly, but what does it do? Getting more people to vote won’t change the results, and our representatives in Washington are already some of the most vocal in the country, so while I’m not trying to discourage folks from exercising their freedom, I just cant help but feel like protesting is a massive waste of time and energy in my specific area.
They make people feel better about themselves, which is something I guess
>Why not just vote every 4 years and go on with your life
This is why we are where we are in the US. Voting for one of two candidates picked by billionaires every 4 years is not enough. We need to be organizing workplaces, communities, third parties, grassroots campaigns, pressuring our representatives. Just showing up and voting for the least shitty candidate every 4 years led us to fascism and now it’s going to be really hard to stop.
Protests are a great tool to organize people, spread information, and pressure the government. People have power when we work together. There are many of us and very few of them.
More importantly, do protests work if the media doesn’t cover them? That’s what’s happening in the US.
Protests are public marketing for your cause.
If protests worked, they would be banned. What works has already been banned.
Not really, this is what forms of direct action such as strikes, riot and things like that are for, today is actually an important day for that history, May Day, or International Workers Day
Protests have worked in places around the world. Think Nelson Mandela’s protests against apartheid, or Ghandi’s protests against British rule. Two supreme examples of how peaceful protests can change a government’s mind.
Protests work, for look at the protests about the Vietnam War, and others prior or since.
https://www.livescience.com/16153-10-significant-political-protests.html
No. It needs to impact them and their function either directly or indirectly.
Protests can topple governments, depending on how large the protests are and their longevity.
The opposite: saying nothin definitely does not work.
You can convince other people
But also, if the goal of a protest is to convince a government/corporation/etc of something, and they don’t care, you need to switch gears. Switch to a form of protest they have to care about. Depending on what you’re protesting and who you’re targeting, that might include strikes, boycotts, civil disobedience etc
If they don’t care, you’re not disruptive enough
Protests got Nixon to create the EPA and ban whaling.
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“I don’t protest injustice to change the world, I protest injustice so the world doesn’t change me”
No. Which is why you need more than a protest. You must fill the streets and grind this shithole country to a halt.
Sadly, I don’t think so, not with this government.
If they aren’t disruptive, they won’t work
There needs to be a threat of complete freeze of the country and/or a revolution
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Not the basic getting a permit and marching around holding signs. There has to be things like disruption, civil disobedience, and strikes.
I don’t advocate violence, but it’s been a common factor in almost every major win for the population here.
Protests serve as indicators of voting habits. If your a politician in a democracy, and would want to get reelected, responding to protests it a good way to do it. Thus protests serve as a way to signal public interest.
However, the less functional the democracy, the less functional the protests, so if the government does not care about mass protests, you can conclude the democracy is less functional, since the politician’s dont care about votes.
You need more than protests. You need disruption. The more a protest damages the normal functioning of a country, the more effective it is.
It’s not always about getting the government to care. Most of the time it’s about making the voters aware they should care.
News wise most people don’t know shit that’s going on in their country and even less of what’s going on outside of it. I dunno how many maga I’ve seen just utterly clueless to 90% of the things Trump says or has done.
I knew a guy who thought Trump was a good business person because of the TV show The Apprentice. A show 99% ran by NBC. He had no idea of the dozens of failed business ventures and at least half a dozen bankruptcies Trump has. He has no clue he’s a felon or is forbidden from running a non profit in New York.
Sometimes it’s just about being loud and annoying to wake up the lazy, disengaged people.
We the people of the United States.
The founders were genius because they baked into the system a way for the AOCs and the Bernies (or the other way if you choose) and the Marjories to sign up and tackle issues.
But the founders never envisioned an industrial world. We updated the mechanism and FDR set forth a path we’ve allowed erosion of: unions.
Pool our labor against the owner class (it’s not left/right, it’s top/ bottom)
From our pool we elect “placeholders”; people who see things our way.
This makes the effects government has on us irrelevant.
This is what FDR set us up for. We just forgot. But we can’t blame the owner class for acting as the owner class no more I can blame a snake for biting me. Oh but they’re immoral and unethical. Okay? Still doesn’t replace the need for us to unionize.
It boils down to the sustainability of the protest. Is this something that people will continue to protest for or will it dissolve as fast as it started. Protesting effectively pulled the US out of Vietnam. It does work, it’s all about the cause. Trans rights protests will not change anything because that’s a tiny fraction of the population, Vietnam a majority wanted it to end. Protesting only works if the majority are in agreement- regardless of the cause.
protests are the result of people wanting to express themselves, if enough people express themselves the government cant ignore them.
you dont see it do anything because youre not paying attention, if you were paying attention you would join a protest or at the absolute least show up to your city council meetings or maybe organize and join a local DSA/PSL chapter and get involved in local politics.
there is infinitely more going on than you could ever possibly know, you dont see it going on because youre not there.
Imagine youre one of those in the rich political class. And grass roots protests or general disgruntlement becomes palpable.
Thats the same as being in the finance industry and seeing capital growth or regulatory capture being accomplished by a company. Its a signal.
So the movement then can attract potential leaders to weaponize, and those leaders likewise look to use that movement to cement themselves into a popularity and office using the disgruntled to do so.
Protests haven’t worked for a while now…
I would honestly like to hear of a protest that has worked in the last 30 years?
Trucker convey in Canada…fail.
Occupy Wall Street….fail.
BLM marches…..fail.
Whatever it was called when all those ladies matched in D.C. against trump….fail.
Had a big protest in my home city a few years back. They blocked some bridges. Made some noise. You bet that was a big fail!
there is also the question of training. It may be that a protest, or a series of protests, will not change much. But ordinary people who may have never been involved in protest before can be brought into contact with this form of resistance and learn from it. It may be “Protest 101”, but for many people it is a necessary first step into resistance.
The powers that be do fear “the Street”. They fear things getting big and out of their control.
I watched a livestream of a talk recently with Condoleezza Rice and John Kerry (two heinous war criminals, inho). They were talking about the Middle East (where they had each just toured, talking to state leaders) and specifically about the threat an Israeli minister had made about Israel annexing the West Bank. They both said the Arab leaders were unanimous in saying that would be a hard “red line” because “they all feared ‘The Street’”.
Even these bloody authoritarians feared massive uprising in the streets.
Make them care.
No, protests no longer work in the age of information. Your signs don’t mean anything to people who don’t already know what you support, and those who don’t support you will not be swayed.
Protests are not some super tool for an immediate fix- they are only part of the equation and the fix is never immediate.
Protests rally support by showing people watching that they are not isolated in their feelings of anger.
Protests allow movements to gain momentum because people meet and form additional networks by organising and attending the protests.
Protests disrupt a media and/or political narrative that everyone is ok with what’s going on- that those in power have unconditional support.
Protests can also discourage people or companies on the fence from supporting those in power by making that support controversial. Companies in particular don’t want to be involved in controversies because it can crater their bottom line- look at Tesla for example.
If there’s enough of it to affect their votes, they ABSOLUTELY care. In order for that to happen, the protests must be large, organized, and publicized.
The protests mean nothing if the only people who know about them are those who are physically present. It’s difficult, if not impossible, to have any organized dissent without communication.
By themselves, with little action? Not usually, which is why it’s often called “slacktivisim”, real action, real costs, etc. need to happen to get change moving. Showing up to a weekend protest because it fits with your schedule, signing an online petition, changing your background on social media, etc. don’t do much.
Is the protest for something feasible? Is the message clear and understood by the activist? Do they have a clearly defined problem with a clearly defined solution?
The French strike a lot and often get what they want, or close to it. It all depends but fucking with a company’s or government’s bottom line can sometimes cause change. Always better to protest rather than doing nothing unless you’re in a country that kills protesters, of course.
It works when big corporations get spooked.
No it doesn’t
Yes, but not in the way people think it does. Protests work if there is ANYONE with power who could potentially point to you to give themselves some morale to fight. Protests are meant to communicate to elected representatives that there is a segment of their constituency that supports/opposes X thing. They are also good for networking with others who wish to volunteer their time for direct action.
It’s moreso to affirm and establish a wider network of people to get behind these issues they’re protesting for or against.
The government will care at a certain point.
Name a protest in the last 10 years that affected real change in government policy in the US
I can’t speak for other countries, only the one I live in
And I can’t think of a single protest that affected any real change in the way this country is governed
Oh, they care. They say they don’t, but they would much rather have 0 protestors than a million protesters. It’s not a good look
It really depends.
Protests are responsible for unions, the 5-day work week, civil rights, even the right for men to go shirtless.
Now if we’re talking about petitions, I can’t recall a single one that made a difference.
Protests have varying levels of effectiveness. The “hands off my pussy” march and shit like that is just a photo op so no changes come from that obviously
The government insists on “peaceful” protests because they can safely ignore them while continuing to do whatever it is that’s being protested. No. They don’t work. Revolutions bring changes. No revolution played out in peace.
Protests scare the shit out of leaders, especially totalitarians. They often end up with the totalitarian being dragged through the streets and strung up at a gas station with piano wire (Moussilini) or literally torn limb by limb into pieces (Quaddhafi in Lybia). In other contexts, it means the leader’s time in office is coming to an end with the next election.
In the beginning, like we are now, protests communicate to others that haven’t noticed that something is up. Why are people protesting Tesla? Wait, Musk did what? WTF is going on?
We are in situation right now where pretty much nothing will work. The usual “Write to your representative” bullshit has zero effect on pretty much anything. Even “Get out there and vote!” is quickly approaching useless. The only thing that will work is something that will probably get me banned if I say it.
The sign-holding alone may not, but things like civil disobedience and mass strikes do. Protests help people form networks and learn how to organize.
even if it doesn’t “work”, at least standing up won’t make you look like a complicit loser in the future. like people decades ahead can look back and think “they tried.” instead of seeing nothing but despair.
Americans are obsessed with the kind of protests that are pretty much guaranteed not to change anything. All effective protests contain an implicit threat. There are too many of us for you to be able to stop us. We are being peaceful for now, but our patience is limited. If your rulers don’t believe that you will ever act on this threat, they will ignore you. Look at the latest anti-Trump protests. A bunch of people who didn’t vote for Trump in the first place and don’t agree with what he is doing now got out and marched to announce that they don’t like what he is doing. So what? There is absolutely no new information being communicated and the powerful people that support Trump had no reason to withdraw their support. What are the protestors going to do – vote? Nobody is worried about that anymore.
It only works if they can’t control it and it affects them. Like if all the truckers stopped delivering and crash the economy.
Google tianenmen square
Could you imagine how much worse Trump would be without the media image he craves so much? He realllly hates his poll numbers and the hate from protesters. It’s kinda his best quality if that makes sense. Could go either way though. 50/50 is better than a zero chance.
In 2022, China abruptly abandoned its COVID restrictions after people held large protests against them. Even autocrats have to respond to public opinion. Why do you think they bother with censorship?
Depends on how you protest.
Protesting has never really accomplished much that I am aware. On the other the power of the wallet has achieved some success when enough people join in.
Journey, not the arrival, dude. People at protests are networking with each other and experiencing injustice firsthand. The fight for power never stops, either you take it or someone else will.
The more fascistic the government, the less protests are gonna matter to them, yeah. But at some point protests go beyond a right and become a necessity, even if the government doesn’t care – to show them that the public aren’t sheep; and to show each other that we aren’t alone. The mutual emotional support is seriously important, especially when situations are particularly dire. [Israeli]
No. Off hand I can’t think of anything meaningful that has changed solely through protest being the means of action.
No if the gov’t doesn’t care it has pretty much no effect. What it can do is energize opposition for the next election. Actually voting is far more effective, and yet many don’t do it.
If it does, it’s not measurable.
If it doesn’t, then there would be no reason to stifle it.
But the right to do so must be protected.
Protesting is an important part of the reform process, but no, protesting alone doesnt accomplish any change.
Protests are effective only if they hurt the target in some way. This can be through loss of face, as the protest makes people aware of some negative aspect of the target. This can be through interference with the target’s activities.
If the protests don’t interfere with what the target wants to do, and they don’t embarrass or shame the target, they accomplish nothing.
Basically the only way for it to work is for those in charge to feel the sting. Basically what I am saying is take America for instance. We have the right to protest, but we typically use it wrong what we should do is everyone stop working. If you are driving pull to the side and sit for say twenty minutes. And for those twenty minutes nothing gets done boats don’t get loaded, nothing gets bought, factories stop making goods. At which point a leader reaches out and says next time we shut it down for a week. Our country’s problem being the law makers are no longer listening to those electing them, but rather those who are financing their campaigns. It is therefore them we have to inconvenience.
Just because Trump doesn’t care that doesn’t mean that individual members of Congress who have to face an angry constituency don’t care.
You need a carrot and stick. The stick has to particularly strike home so the carrot looks appealing.
Protests aren’t for the people sitting in office. Riots are.
Protests are for everyone else watching. They are to get attention and build support for a movement.
If you get enough people to notice something things will change
Protests work in the sense they show displeasure. Boycotts work as well. “Government” is too big a word. Protests affect individuals in government…so target accordingly
It doesn’t work if the government doesn’t care, but the government generally does care on some level. Protests can influence a lot of things the government cares about but usually a handful of protests don’t push the needle enough for them to be bothered.
Protests need to be disruptive (not necessarily violent or damaging) to effect change. Generally speaking, the larger a protest the more security personnel are required to monitor it, so even large peaceful and respectful protests can create strain and political pressure.
I think they can work, it just doesn’t work like that…it helps bring support to a cause, you see a human face who is affected. Protests can help put pressure on the offending party. Maybe the gov doesn’t care but the reps will because they can be replaced by another elected individual. It maybe the only way to get the message across to politicians.
People don’t seem to understand what protests actually do. They aren’t meant to change minds, they are meant to get attention. Even the haters will talk about the protests, and as the discussion goes, they will learn more about the issues and hopefully (to the protesters) at least open up a the change. It’s a slow process and the protests are just a step to keep something in the minds of people.
Not really, no. That’s also why protests are so inefficient. Sure some people say “look at east Berlin lol” completely ignoring the system was already in ashes and they only speed ended up an already passed policy by a whole fucking day. But let’s be real here somewhat recent demonstrations with hundreds of thousands of people just made their government make them ignore more and the protesters just went home at some point
Too many responses talking about the right to protest. That wasn’t the question.
The question was, does it work?
The answer is no, it doesn’t.
It’s a {soft} show of power, friend. The “government” needs to be reminded now and again that we are many and we can mobilize.