The lady doth protest too much, methinks.

[MA-Caver]

Lady, gentleman whomever... there were a lot of protesting going on... some peaceful some violent, some... deadly.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/11/in_protest.html
Taking their desires to be heard to the streets, thousands of protesters and demonstrators around the world have recently been marching, shouting, praying, and engaging in both theater and violence to make their points. From quiet, prayerful requests for peace in Mexico to the violent takeover of an office building in London to student demonstrators in Chile and gay rights activists making a statement to the Pope in Spain, the past two weeks has been full of protest. Their reasons are many - anger with austerity measures, frustration with incumbent governments and globalization, frustration with policies in other countries - even protests against other protesters. Collected here is a view of protests and demonstrations around the world over the past two weeks.

Understandably people DO have the right to speak out against things that are WRONG. But of course WRONG is relative to whomever sees it.

Yet as some of these photos have shown some go just a bit too far and some too far way out in left field. Are people so incensed that they are spurred to violence whenever they feel they're not being heard? ... or IGNORED?
Is it worth people getting hurt (or killed) so that voices can be heard? I'm speaking of protesting not terrorism which is (in a way protest... radical violent protest to be sure but sometimes a protest)... yes, there are OTHER reasons for those enacting terrorism but I'm speaking about those who use terrorism or violence to get their message across (if ever).

Obviously those who use extreme violence will be passed off as nutters or extremists that are best arrested and ignored... and forgotten.

The other mildly violent ones, I think are usually spurred on by those joining in who have no real association or affiliation with the group protesting. Just to start a fight and then sneak off and watch the action as it unfolds. ...d'bastards. Either way the photos show what's making people upset over the last two (or three) weeks.

Are we going to see protests against the TSA in the upcoming months... particularly during the busy holiday season?

Thoughts? Comments?

 

[Bob Hubbard]

All protests get results....unfortunately some are not the ones you hoped for.

 

[Sukerkin]

Protest is a useful measure for governments to see just how unpopular some of their decisions are. But, as with any tool, if it is over used, it gets worn and less effective.

What inspires the protest and the method of it's execution can also have a huge impact, as does media exposure.

For example, over here in Blighty on the 11th, there was a vile protest that took place during the two minutes silence to commemorate the Armistace. Almost inevitably, it was a small group of Muslim radicals who took it upon themselves to burn British Legion poppies and use megaphones blast out accusations about British troops. The media almost to a 'man' turned their back on this and did not report it. I only know about it because I saw a small article in one paper.

Without media exposure, any 'protest' is just a bunch of malcontents making a row.

As to the incident I mentioned above, I am not sure if the media did the right thing in not making it widely known. It most certainly would have inspired some fairly 'robust' reactions from the BNP and EDL, to put it mildly.

But it would also have raised a howl of counter-protest from much of the population I think, a howl loud enough to make such extremists (and our government) realise that, whilst we are pretty laid back about most things (even if we do think the "Multi-cultural Society" is a bust), enough is enough.

 

[Sukerkin]

By the way, from that impressive array of photographs of protest, the one that I found to be most effective was from the Polish anti-fascist demonstrators. Dignified and powerful - that's how to get your point across :tup:.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

I liked all the photos. Great photojournalism.

Civil disobedience and protest are long-held and time-honored traditions in the USA. A valid form of self-expression. Violent protests are put down and must be, but that does not mean that those who participate in them do not have valid grievances.

Protesting in general provides a safety valve for societal pressure that might otherwise find release in even more dangerous ways.

Personally, I find most protests, especially those that might result in violence, to be antithetical to the concepts of self-defense and thus, I would tend to avoid them (unless attending as a photographer).

 

[MA-Caver]

For example, over here in Blighty on the 11th, there was a vile protest that took place during the two minutes silence to commemorate the Armistace. Almost inevitably, it was a small group of Muslim radicals who took it upon themselves to burn British Legion poppies and use megaphones blast out accusations about British troops. The media almost to a 'man' turned their back on this and did not report it. I only know about it because I saw a small article in one paper.

Without media exposure, any 'protest' is just a bunch of malcontents making a row.

As to the incident I mentioned above, I am not sure if the media did the right thing in not making it widely known. It most certainly would have inspired some fairly 'robust' reactions from the BNP and EDL, to put it mildly.

But it would also have raised a howl of counter-protest from much of the population I think, a howl loud enough to make such extremists (and our government) realize that, whilst we are pretty laid back about most things (even if we do think the "Multi-cultural Society" is a bust), enough is enough.

In many ways true... but sometimes history shows that if protesters don't get the exposure that they want (from either a small blurb in the paper or splashed across 3 inch headlines on the front page of every major newspaper)... they could and have resorted to extreme measures to be heard. So ignoring them might've been a good thing or it might ignite a fuse.
Time will tell.

...unfortunately