How protesting works

After observing recent protests, I spent some time researching how they work. I was curious whether protests are effective and what makes one successful. Here’s what I learned.

A protest is a statement or action expressing disapproval of or objection to something. Protests take different forms such as individual acts and mass demonstrations. The goal of a protest is typically to influence public opinion or to influence policymakers or both.

A protest is not terrorism. A protest and a terrorist attack may both support the same cause, but the approaches differ. Terrorism is the the illegal use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims. It appears peaceful protests often spur terrorist acts. This is no surprise considering how human emotions work. Regardless, protesting and terrorizing are not the same thing.

A protest is effective if it furthers change. The change that comes from protesting is rarely transactional. Instead, change must accumulate over time before it leads to innovation. 

Therefore, the most effective protests are part of a larger social movement. Black Lives Matter is one example. 

The most successful social movements (and protests) achieve three core outcomes.

First, successful social movements shape public opinion, language, and every day behavior. They create new ideas that challenge the status quo.

Second, successful social movements disrupt by becoming impossible to ignore. They increase the cost of supporting the status quo.

Third, successful social movements sustain themselves for the long term. They organize protests, raise funds, increase participation, and develop leaders to challenge the status quo over an extended period of time.

Black Lives Matter is succeeding in all three areas.