SJS/CRE 287 - Why Protests Work, even when not everybody likes them

 Why Protests Work, even when not everybody likes them by Mark and Paul Enger

1.      Last spring student protesting Isreal’s war in Gaza sprang up across college campuses throughout the U.S.  one even here at Miami

a.      Some resulted in campus lockdowns, occupying of administrative buildings, canceling of graduation ceremonies, and arrests.

b.     But over the last few years disruptive protests have also covered a wide range of social movements

2.      Since 2023 we have seen animal rights advocates disrupting UK’s Grand National horse race and Victoria Beckham’s fashion show

a.      Abortion rights protests

b.     Striking dock workers in Canada 

c.      Climate protests blocking access to oil and gas terminals

d.     And a multitude of protests regarding ICE and Immigration

3.      Authors see it as a positive development, forcing both public and those in power to pay attention to issues of importance that otherwise might be ignored.

a.      A vital tool of civil resistance

4.      All disruptive protests are not equal. Not all equally beneficial at advancing a cause

a.      Some win popular support/leading to escalating energy within movement

b.     Others drive away potential participants, repelling sympathizers and inviting state repression.

c.      Some actions lead to victory, others to self-isolation and alienation from wider public.

5.      Studying the dynamics of polarization can help movement participants maximize impact and prevent protests from backfiring.

Understanding How Protests Polarize

1.      Polarization is typically viewed as negative

2.      Sometimes politicians sweep it under the rug therefore even when polarization is not present the movement is ineffectual

3.      The alternative to polarization in political systems is not always agreement or compromise or civility -its suppression.

4.      Protests are polarizing -this means they force people to take sides

a.      Not always a bad thing

5.      Civil Rights movement was polarizing

a.      It forced us to take into consideration Jim Crow segregation, and racist terror

6.      LGBTQ sometimes links controversy and requires politicians to take a stand one way or another

7.      Polarizing protests takes a suppressed/simmering issue and brings it to a boil

a.      Move it to the front of public discussions, and at least temporarily place it above other disputes and ordinary deliberations.

b.     As stated by Frederick Douglass ‘earnest struggle for progress is exciting, agitating, all-absorbing, and for a time being puts all other tumults to silence. It must do this, or it does nothing’.

8.      The polarizing issue is both perceived as inevitable and necessary part of social change processes.

9. Mobilization of collective defiance/disruptions it causes has always been essential to the preservation of democracy, as stated by Frances Fox Piven.

10. Polarization, however, in the wrong hands, can do great harm

a.      It can be utilized to retard or push back social justice

           i.      Lie when racist and xenophobic tropes effectively turn public anger against immigrants.

11. but it is critical that progressive social movements effectively utilize polarizing force as a tool rather than something that must be avoided.

12. The critical question is how you help participants and the public take your side rather than driving them into the arms of the opposition.

13. It is not luck, but it is a deliberate strategy to maximize resources.

14. Leveraging change through withdrawal of cooperation helps produce civil resistance- but how

From Radical Flanks to a Birmingham Jail

1.      Acting nonviolently in pursuit of social change, a just goal is better than passivity or complacency. 

2.        Managing polarization takes skills and allows organizers to shape the protest outcomes

3. Dynamics of polarization work differently in the context of short-term electoral contests than in longer-term activists’ campaigns.

4.      Positive and negative polarization can occur at same time

a.      Highly visible protests draw new sympathizers while also driving others away.

b.     E.g., The White Citizens’ Councils grew in the South even as the Civil Rights movement was being launched -consider the Montgomery bus boycott.

5.      Because polarization cannot be avoided, it is important to encourage positive outcomes rather than negative ones.

6.      Radical flank effect -sometimes the presence of a more militant faction within the movement -made activists deploying more controversial outsider tactics may make the demands of mainstream reformers appear more reasonable

a.      Consider Malcolm X, Black Panthers, and Martin Luther King.

b.     Thus, Johnson and others were  more willing to negotiate with King than face the alternative.

c.      These are examples of radical flank effects.

7. Another reason polarization is complicated is that it prompts members of the public to polarize around several different things at the same time.

a.      Such as the issues at hand, the methods being used, and the target of the protests. 

b.     Some may dislike the idea of protest but want to change the structure or other target.

8.      Alternatively, demonstrations often make headlines, and thus report on protestors’ demands, so while some may disapprove of the tactics, they nevertheless support the cause.

9.      Tactics may be objected to such as being noisy, impatient, or discourteous -but nevertheless leads to increased support.

10. Consider King’s 1963 letter from Birmingham Jail -written not in response to racist opponents to the movement.  Rather to people in support of the cause who criticized the demonstrations as untimely and objected to their tactics.  King argued: Frankly I have yet to engage in a direct-action campaign that was well timed in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation.  Thus, King argued that the campaign was both necessary and effective.   

11. To make social movements acceptance in mainstream observers who dislike disruption and tension caused by protests, one just identifies the underlying issues.

12. Non-violent resistance takes this approach where its chosen tactics are often controversial and despised, causing organizers to consider relative benefits vs. downsides.

a.      Therefore, modern movements use polling data, focus groups and simple conversations to judge responses from different groups outside immediate circles

The Spectrum of Support

1.      Goal of social movement is to ensure that the spectrum of support is favorable.

2.      Victory does not come from total conversion of all constituencies rather it comes from making qualified progress

a.      Strong leaders are effective in assuring support from most constituents.

b.     Organizers do not expect to win over everyone

c.      Spectrum of support sometimes spectrum of allies represents the same principle see page 7

d.     Objective is not to win over the worst enemies of change, rather to convert neutrals into passive supporters and turning passive sympathizers into active allies and movement participants.

e.      While shrinking the ranks of the opposition, making them more insecure, less resolute, active and committed.

f.        It is not necessary to win over the opposition it is necessary to move those in the middle (ambivalent_ over to your side.

Against Protest Shaming

1.      Radical flank effects and effective polarizing effects have been researched over recent years.

2.      Strong evidence that protests and protests movements can be effective at achieving desired outcomes, have positive effects on public opinion, public discourse and voting behavior.

3.      Organizers can gain support, even when many people do not like tactics being used.