Read the rest.Protests within a functioning democracy are fundamentally different from [the fall of the Soviet Union, the Arab Spring]. The protestors face no significant danger. This is not to say that we should turn a blind eye to cops violating civil rights, strong-arming peaceful demonstrators, or the kind of treasonous fraud perpetrated by the authorities that occurred during the G-20 summit in Toronto. All those responsible for these crimes against my country should be punished severely for them, though I know that they never will be. But there is a world of difference between a brief stay in a local lock-up and a court appearance, and facing a firing squad or ten years digging rocks with your bare hands in a mine. Protesters in Canada do not face danger great enough to classify their actions as examples of great courage. I’m not implying that they shouldn’t engage in protest. Protest is urgently needed. But it is not helpful or honest to misrepresent its nature.What motivates real protest in a democracy is not physical courage, but civic virtue....This is why I do not feel any gladness when professional pseudo-revolutionaries, conventional ideological “anarchists” or “radicals” participate in such protests, or attempt to take them over. They are there precisely to validate the “good guy” image of the authorities, and to torpedo the moral legitimacy of the protest. They perform exactly the same debasing function that Islamic Fundamentalist groups have done for the Arab Spring.Within a democratic polity, one finds protests occurring all the time, precisely because a free society should be open to them, and should encourage them. But such protests differ greatly in their quality. Some protests tell us little more than that somebody is angry about something. Since another, equally large or influential group may be equally angry about an opposite state of affairs, this seldom has any influence on either opinion or policy. More sophisticated protest aims at influencing public opinion, by 1) making clear what is wrong about some public policy; 2) putting forward a different, presumably better policy; and 3) convincing a broad public of the wisdom of acting to this end. In a democracy, effective protest should merely be the initial step in a process culminating in real political organization and action. This action must, to be genuinely effective, translate into people marking x’s on ballots in the end. If it is merely a ritual, an amusement, or a way of blowing off steam, it is not progressive.
Ancient, medieval, Islamic and world history -- comments, resources and discussion.
Tuesday, January 03, 2012
More from Phil Paine on intelligent protest
More from Phil on the limitations of current forms of activism. An excerpt:
Labels:
French Revolution,
Phil Paine,
politics
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