Point of Protest Volume 2. Episode 1
Point of Protest
Volume 2. Episode 1. February 26th, 2024
February 11, 2024
Showed up for “Participaction”
Protest is what you make it!
“Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence.” – Leonardo da Vinci
Considerable effort is often required to move a needle. This is particularly true when the needle is still at its lowest possible point. Many people have come to this truth on their own when confronted with the need for an action they find necessary to make. Taking that first step is most definitely required if there is any hope that the work needed to make actual progress can occur. This truth can be proved over and over when discussing the topic of change. When a shift is needed in political or societal areas, it usually cannot occur without a first step and then continued and insistent applied pressure on the area, also known as protest.
“A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration, or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval, or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one. Protests can be thought of as acts of cooperation in which numerous people cooperate by attending, and share the potential costs and risks of doing so. Protests can take many different forms, from individual statements to mass political demonstrations. Protesters may organize a protest as a way of publicly making their opinions heard in an attempt to influence public opinion or government policy, or they may undertake direct action in an attempt to enact desired changes themselves. When protests are part of a systematic and peaceful nonviolent campaign to achieve a particular objective, and involve the use of pressure as well as persuasion, they go beyond mere protest and may be better described as civil resistance or nonviolent resistance.” (Wikipedia, Protest 2024)
Free Palestine Demonstration
2024
In this modern era, we can extend our understanding of protest by considering the work of the heroes many of us have come to admire as a result of their important and inspiring contributions. Ghandi and Martin Luther King chose to pursue and encourage non-violent forms of protest reasoning that love and consistent pressure would eventually force the overthrow of oppressors. Malcolm X provides us with a different vantage point pushing the idea that those under the thumb of unjust rulers make change “by any means necessary”.
Black Lives Matter Demonstration
2020
Times Up, Black Lives Matter & Free Palestine are all recent movements whose influence has been seen not only locally here in the US but internationally. In many cases protestors took to the streets with some even developing new strategies in the interest of keeping their participants as safe as possible. The Buy Black movement set into motion more that 200 years ago was adopted by the counterculture Black Liberation Movement as a means of uplifting the black community by leveraging their economic power. In recent times consumers have begun to consider the fact that they can “vote” with their wallets deciding to divest their dollars from companies whose ethos or actions go against the best interest of their would-be customer.
Find The Form of Protest that Speaks to You
There are many different ways of participating in protest. What is truly most important is adding ones voice to the cause in the way that makes most sense for them. Placing meaning behind any action that one deems important can help to push the needle of protest from dead center into action.
Wikipedia (February 13, 2024) Protest https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protest
