As this discussion has been going, I have started to wonder what the point of protesting is in general. The idea of a Calgary protest (some small gathering of mostly white progressive people in another country in a city most don’t really even think about) seems even a bit embarrassing to me. What’s it for? What’s the goal? Are you going as a sign of support for people in the US that will likely never see your small gathering? Is it to encourage change, and if so... how?
I get the protests the are born from a need to do something, anything, and how those spread. Are they effective? Maybe not, but I understand how they kick up in the first place for people so closely tied and emotionally linked to the situations they’re protesting. But when they jump to another country, days later, I’ve often wondered what the point of that is, because something about it seems so self serving or as a result of just something others are doing. It doesn’t feel as organic and born from the passionate need to make something known. So it feels... weird.
Anyways, as I was thinking about how useless disconnected protests seemed, I started wondering why all protests seem so ineffective. There’s been a decent amount of debate about whether violent protests or non-violent protests are more effective, but I found this article during my browsing, and the answer might be a bummer: neither is effective, and neither really has been since the 60s:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2...-to-protesting
In short, because protests have been largely disorganised since the 70s, there’s really been no actual path forward. People would be better served reaching out to their elected officials directly, or purposely attempting to enact change within the system.
None of this to say that people in the US shouldn’t protest, but that I hope the pressure continues in an organised fashion to make real change. Because if it’s just protesting, nothing will change, where violence is involved or not. It’s going to take individuals to actually step up and make change knowing they have all these people behind them. That’s going to be how these protests are successful, not some expectation of change from those already in power. And as for the people going to the Calgary protest tomorrow, I hope there’s more to your plan than showing up, walking, and going home. Because as good as this makes us feel, there needs to be more for any of it to matter.