Recently, there’s been a swarm of rousing protests and peaceful demonstrations across the country. Even in Claremont, changes to the demonstration policy on campus that limits student ability to protest has sparked something of an uproar. This comes soon after the mass campus mobilization and consequent student march in response to racial incidents and other expressions of prejudice at the 5Cs. The Claremont Colleges administrative attempt to suppress student protest was met with widespread contention and the formation of a passionate committee dedicated to reforming the controversial demonstration policy.
As I returned home for winter break, the subject of these protests came up in conversation with a friend of mine who goes to school in Chicago. She described to me how despite the interest that the #BlackLivesMatter protests had initially piqued in her, she had gradually grown more blase towards them. The continuous demonstrations outside her window eventually became almost routine and somewhat of an annoyance rather than revolutionary. This, for a lack of a better word, trivialization, of such an important issue was incredibly interesting and made me contemplate the true effectiveness of protest as a tool for affecting change in this generation.
Protest, n. an organized public demonstration expressing strong objection to a policy or course of action adopted by those in authority. This expression of dissent definitely has a long list of pros. The organization that comes with a protest is often immense, but the result is a space wherein like-minded warriors of social justice can come together to find an arena to express their oft-controversial perspectives of important issues.
A protest binds people together in solidarity against an authority or problematic idea. Demonstrations allow for the development of independent voices as well as amalgamation into a diverse and united force to bring about changes by raising public awareness about a particular concern. From people who have little to no knowledge of the issue to those who oppose the righteous side without the full story, the importance of demonstration as a means of increasing the information and knowledge available in the public realm is tremendous.
Additionally, protest as a tool for bringing about reforms in policy is vital, providing an arena for the governed to bring the issues that concern and plague them to the fore of attention of those who govern them. This essential component of social fabric aids in introducing necessary administrative changes that may otherwise have gone unnoticed and unchanged. For it was the culmination of civil unrest in protest that overthrew the Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych. For it was demonstrations of mass resistance in the South that propelled the civil rights movement. For even the President of the United States describes protest as ‘necessary for triggering the nation’s conscience’.
However, it is also important to play Devil’s advocate and consider where peaceful protest falls short. Often enough, the scope for raising awareness is fairly limited, what with the protesters who are already familiar with the substantive content, and many of those who do not know falling far from the spectrum of onlookers of protests. Even so, this visible and powerful force fighting for a particular issue can often aggravate naysayers who sense growing opposition to their cause. This could cause them to grow gradually more militant and respond in an untoward manner. Truly, the possibility of peaceful demonstration escalating into violent conflict is probably the most concerning drawback of protest. The ‘mob mentality’ of protesters in large groups makes protests extremely volatile, much like the recent instance at CMC, where a student misspeaking her views was viciously booed by the surrounding protesters. Even in this information era, spreading knowledge can’t always combat institutionalized problem as well as we’d like. As previously discussed, protests can also often grow repetitive, losing momentum.
The right to freedom of expression and freedom to peaceful protest are crucial to the functional working of a democracy and can never be violated. It is impossible to underestimate the true value of non-violent resistance, although the message may sometimes get lost in translation. Through effective organization and clearly achievable goals, the power is protest can be incredibly potent and persuasive.
