Success in Protests

In class last week, we discussed whether protests were ever successful and how their success is measured. Our guest this week showed the class that protests are just “one tool in the toolbox”. It must be part of the campaign arc within the movement in order to have a successful attempt at change. She explained that her job is more about the logistics of a social justice movement rather than just taking to the streets. A protest cannot just be put together without a base or an objective.

It is important for organizers to design a strategy of how to obtain your goal. This statement contradicts the statements made by our guest speaker of the importance of goals. She stated the goals need to be obtainable and specific. It is difficult to measure the success of a protest without these goals. These goals need to be agreed upon by the group. Without this cohesion, many different messages can come out of protests, which would blur the message. As the reading stated, this was a criticism of the women’s march. An overall message of women’s rights, but information about reproductive rights and the President’s harassment scandal thrown in mad the objective of the March obscured.

Our speaker also mentioned targets. Our reading discussed the woman’s march and how the obvious target of that was at the new President, Donald Trump. However, the speaker explained that while he got the message they did not necessarily have access to him. There was no discussion with him to explain or change opinion, but I also think that is because the organizers knew he would not give them the time of day. The amount of access you have changes your approaches to the target. Since the people have so little access to the President, it was important that the march be more about solidarity and size than actual change. However, our reading stated that size assists in affecting change. Other protests occur right outside politician’s houses so that they can show their disruption will affect him.

Something I hadn’t considered before the speaker mentioned it was the effect of the country’s administration on the momentum of demonstrations. Under the Obama administration, there were still protests, but we lived in a sedated state almost because he was still protecting certain rights and generally upheld progressive values. Now that the Trump administration has taken over there are opportunities for protests all the time because the list of people he offends or attempts to strip the rights of continues to grow.

We discussed how a protest is not useful in the campaign arc of a social movement if there are no organizers getting people’s information for future engagement opportunities. I have only been to three protests in my life and there was never anyone canvasing the participants for contact information. The follow up of a protest is arguably the most important according to our speaker because that is how to grow your base for future events. The organizers of the women’s march even admitted that they were not concerned with future plans considering the time constraint of the demonstration.

Protests can have multiple goals. There can be external ones like getting a law changed or gaining access to someone is power. However, goals can also be internal and based on solidarity. Demonstrations like the pride parade are a good example of this because the LGBTQ community has won the right to marry, but there is still a stigma around it. Places like the pride parade create safe spaces for those who are not always welcomed in society and that can be considered a win for the community similar to modifying a law.

The reading insisted that nonviolent protests were more effective than violent ones, but our speaker did not totally agree with this statement. She confirmed that a protest should stay nonviolent, but she also acknowledged the place of violence and that some act that may be deemed violent do not have to be. For example, looting is not a form of violence if it is for survival. However, the reading stressed that nonviolence is a staple when it comes to a successful protest.   

Our guest’s insight allowed us to see a protest as a small piece of a plan instead of the end of one. It depicted how policy change does not always decide a protests success and how research and experience sometimes differ in their analysis of a successful protest. The success of a protest is based in the planning and goals not necessarily with the turn out.