Responsible citizens have an obligation to provide solutions and to institutionalize them in an inclusive way. When protests erupted in Chile in October over a rise in public transport fees, they were initially disjointed and disorganized.
Many different groups, each voicing their own grievances, took to the streets and the government responded brutally. Key civil society groups and political parties then stepped in and soon enough found consensus around a single set of demands, to be pursued through a referendum process.
Through the referendum, all Chileans were able to quantify support for concrete change, as a constitutional process was backed by an overwhelming majority of the electorate. The road to achieve sustainable change is always long for protesters but through dialogue mechanisms, you can institutionalize channels to voice grievances to those in power and increase the likelihood of success. For a protest to be powerful, you must communicate clearly about why you are protesting and what changes you desire.
When it comes to communication, there are clear lessons to draw from the MyDressMyChoice protests in Kenya. In , a woman in Kenya was publicly stripped by men at a bus station and groped for wearing a mini skirt. The men claimed she tempted them. Thousands of Kenyan women were angered by the act and the constant abuse of women while in transit. The incidence gave birth to the MyDressMyChoice protests where Kenyan women took to the streets to demand the elimination of all forms of violence against women and, in particular, calling for prosecution of the men who stripped the woman and for this to be explicitly be made illegal.
The men were arrested and prosecuted and it is now illegal in Kenya to strip a woman. Although we have a long way to go in terms of protecting women in public spaces in Kenya, the MyDressMyChoice protests made it clear that if you assault a woman you will be prosecuted. A key reason for the success of the protest was that Kenyan women were very clear in their demands.
From the Arab Revolution to the MeToo movement, both traditional and digital platforms have provided a valuable contribution through their ability to spread news, create visual representations of events and extending the potential for active engagement beyond physical barriers.
During the pandemic, mass gatherings represented a health hazard for both individuals and the wider community. However, movements like BlackLivesMatter have nonetheless been able to obtain worldwide visibility and support.
The use of hashtags, amatorial reporting, live-streaming and instant communication has enabled international engagement, reduced the chances of suppression and manipulation of stories and shown the importance of digital protest participation. This can pressure governments to engage with the matters animating protesters, demonstrating that both in-person and virtual contributions can help encourage impactful resolutions.
You will need a broad coalition of many different people to support your protest if you want it to create change. Often protests occur when governmental policies are inconsistent with the needs of citizens. This can lead to urgent calls for change and one way to bring about this change is in the form of protests.
The Avenue Addressing poverty can heal an increasingly divided country Andre M. Metro Areas U. Perry , Rashawn Ray , and Gabriel R. Play Audio. Sanchez and Fred Dews. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Indeed, the past few decades in the United States have featured many large and widespread protests without corresponding immediate change. Large numbers of people marched around the country in early to oppose the impending invasion of Iraq, but the war and the occupation proceeded anyway in March of that year.
The Occupy movement in the United States saw marches in communities and 70 major cities quickly , and then went global , but inequality has gotten worse since then. Neither numbers nor streets are by themselves magic wands for change.
What about when protesters do things that are difficult? When protesters undertake acts that risk jail time, like the Catholic pacifists who broke into nuclear-weapons facilities to smear them with blood, or even death, like holding marches when a government or its paramilitaries will shoot and kill? Clearly, high-risk actions, especially if they inspire mass participation, have the potential to be more piercing in their impact.
They certainly risked being shot at, something that had happened before. This time, though, Marcos realized he could no longer control the country and fled instead. The current Black Lives Matter protest wave is definitely high risk through the double whammy of the pandemic and the police response. The police, the entity being protested, have unleashed so much brutality that in just three weeks, at least eight people have already lost eyesight to rubber bullets.
One Twitter thread dedicated to documenting violent police misconduct is at entries and counting. And nobody seems safe—not even a year-old avowed peacenik who was merely in the way of a line of cops when he was shoved so violently that he fell and cracked his skull. Chillingly, the police walked on as he bled on the ground. After the video came out to widespread outrage, and the two police officers who shoved him were suspended, their fellow officers on the active emergency-response team resigned to support their colleagues.
Plus the pandemic means that protesters who march in crowds, face tear gas, and risk jail and detention in crowded settings are taking even more risks than usual. Sustaining such widespread protests for weeks under these difficult conditions is no easy feat, and there are indications that these protests are already having immediate impacts.
In Minneapolis, where the killing of George Floyd was the initial spark, the mayor called for sweeping structural reform, the city council passed a resolution to disband the police force and replace it with a community-led model, and the police chief pulled out of negotiations with the police union. Many other localities have been considering similar initiatives to scale back police departments. Does that mean high-risk or difficult-to-pull-off protests can always work to scare authorities into implementing change?
Sadly, repression works. Medications that need to be taken on a schedule in a labeled prescription bottle if possible with the understanding that you may be away from home much longer than anticipated.
We asked some organizers and civil action experts about key things to understand about protesting. Here's their advice. Do not go to a protest without knowing what it is you're fighting for.
Don't show up and ask someone there to educate you. If you're a non-black ally, do the work yourself and study as much as possible—not only about the actions you're protesting but the context around them.
You might know that a senseless tragedy took place, but do you know about the history behind the countless other events like it? This Twitter thread offers some excellent guidance. There are also several books you can read to gain more knowledge about racial justice. If you aren't black, you shouldn't be speaking over black protesters. Think about that. Be prepared to amplify what others are saying. Be prepared to listen. If you aren't comfortable with potentially physically intervening, shielding black protesters from police violence, and listening more than you speak, your efforts to be an ally are likely better spent elsewhere.
Mental preparation is important. Protesting can be physically grueling and emotional taxing. You may experience sheer joy. You might cry. You might get angry.
You might get scared. Most likely, you'll experience all of the above. Take the time to prepare yourself before heading out. Make sure to drink some water, apply sunscreen, and eat a meal. Also, Snyder notes, the First Amendment to the Constitution does not protect protesters against unlawful activity, which includes destroying property or assaulting other people.
If you can avoid it, don't protest alone. It's important that you go with at least one other person so you can have each other's backs. There is strength in numbers. Know your "roles" within the group before you go so you can be prepared for anything. For example, maybe one of you is prepared to drive the group home if the situation gets dicey, maybe one of you has first-aid training, or maybe one of you is hyper-observant and prepared to monitor your surroundings to keep tabs on the vibe.
Stay close to your group. Meet up beforehand, stick together the entire time, and leave the protest together. If you don't have a group, check social media sites—there are probably discussions where you can find people to meet up with locally. There will be a lot of people and a lot of emotions. You need to have a plan for what to do if the situation escalates. Pick a spot to meet if your group gets separated for a certain amount of time.
For example, if you get separated for more than 30 minutes, you meet back at a designated street corner. It might be smart to have a few spots to meet at in case one is inaccessible.
You should also have multiple routes planned for if you need to leave and streets are blocked off. Is there a curfew where you live? Have previous protests in your city escalated to violence? Will there be portable bathrooms stationed along the route, or should you map out places to relieve yourself after chugging water all day?
Prep a plan. If you're exposed to tear gas or pepper spray, contacts will make the experience much worse. Wear glasses if you have them.
If you wear contacts, protect your eyes with sunglasses at the minimum, though ideally you'll be wearing goggles or keeping them handy. For the same reason, avoid wearing makeup or oil-based products like lotions, as the irritants in dispersion measures deployed by police can stick to them. Write down your emergency contacts' information. Write down the number of emergency legal counsel—several law firms are offering pro bono representation for arrested protesters.
Research the firms in your area. You may also want to write down the number of a local bond fund. You should have two copies of these phone numbers on your person—write them in the notepad stashed in your bag, on the hem of your shirt, or on a notecard that you keep in your pocket.
As a redundancy, you can also write them somewhere on your body like your forearms , preferably in permanent marker. Once you arrive and join in with your fellow protesters, follow this advice on how to behave and how to stay safe. You can designate a certain person in your group to make this a top priority, but regardless of who you're with, you should maintain awareness of what's going on around you.
This is important for numerous reasons. Is someone wearing steel-toed boots, a colored armband, and a hearing device, and also showing the outline of handcuffs in their pocket?
That person might be an undercover cop. Is someone carrying a bag of supplies emblazoned with a big red cross? They might be a street medic. Did a protester fall down get hurt while marching?
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