The Pointlessness of Protest

Protests cause havoc in cities and demolish communities all over the world. One moment the streets are peaceful, the next, there’s mayhem, distress and violence. You question everything – your leader, your beliefs, your society. Everything.

Is this the world that you want to live in? Is it the one you want to call ‘home’? The one where you feel safe and happy?

Picture yourself in Hong Kong amongst all of the confusion, where there is an everlasting hint of danger. One particular day of protest recently turned into a riot that saw businesses burnt and damage caused that will cost millions and millions of dollars to put right. 100 petrol bombs were thrown and four policemen were injured. Sadly, there will always be those disaffected members of society who exploit the ‘excitement’ of a physical protest for their own ends. 28 people were arrested on that one day in Hong Kong and most of them were charged with burglary… burglary. Not protesting or making a political statement but using it as an excuse for criminal activity. They had taken advantage of the anarchy and chaos to loot shops and steal from homes. Whilst police attention is diverted, who is protecting us? Do you want to be scared for your safety, for your family, for your happiness?

No.

I know that you would not want to wake up every single day scared to death, not knowing if there would be a riot round the corner because you didn’t trust your fellow humans, you friends.

What have these protests done to tourism, to peace, to your child’s future? They have brought a decrease in the amounts of tourists to Hong Kong, they have encouraged anger and violence and crime in the streets. They have meddled with the minds of school pupils causing them to strike and sacrifice their education, their future, our future!

Is this not all pointless? Are the arrests, casualties and people scarred for life just for nothing? When will this nightmare end because protests alone are causing damage and they are not producing the positive outcome the demonstrators are praying for.

As you listen to these words, literally thousands of protests are taking place around the world. Hundreds of thousands of people are getting angry in the streets but, tragically, most of these efforts will pass without remark, revealing the miniscule impact of protests in general. An Oxford University study found that public opinion hardly comes to bear on legislation, and the results of most protests confirms this.

Many of you may remember The Women’s Day March of 2016. Throughout the UK and in nearly seven hundred cities all across the world, millions of people marched, chanting both for female empowerment and against President Trump. The hats were great…The signs even better! However, they were confronted by results that ran counter to their goal of ensuring reproductive rights for women worldwide. Just two days after the protest, President Trump signed an executive order stripping American aid from foreign institutions that offer abortion services, and further rollbacks on reproductive rights in the domestic arena followed.

Imagine the optimism. You think that you have tasted hope, you think you will change society, you think you have the power to change people’s minds.

You are wrong. There is a huge body of evidence that tells us that protests alone are not enough.

Now all you taste are the salty tears rolling down your faces after you are left in despair because your world is falling apart. The government remain unfazed. The terror, wreckage and stress is pointless.

Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech bookended the Civil Rights Movement’s march on Washington, yet the march itself cannot be credited for the civil rights legislation that followed it. Protest was just one part of a layered nonviolent resistance tactic employed by the movement for a decade before any legislation was signed. Protests can win the battle of exposure for a cause, but they do not win the legal wars that make change possible.

Which is why I say no. That two letter word that Flora likes so much. No to havoc, no to danger, no to protest.