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a reminder on the difference between demonstrations and protests (slrpnk.net)

submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

If you make the comfortable citizens uncomfortable, that puts social, political, and financial pressure on the ruling class to change their policies so the protesters go away.

Or, to punish the protestors or make them go away. That's a much less labor-intensive pathway back to comfort than is changing the policies. And, if you're unbothered by a lack of support or agreement from the general public, there won't be anyone to replace them.

So yeah, if protesters block a freeway to a major financial district, and a whole bunch of corporate drones commuting to the headquarters of major banks and energy companies and PR firms can't get to work, that does in fact hurt the planet destroying ruling class.

How much impact to their bottom line has been seen in their quarterly reports?

If you're unbothered by the idea of needing to convince any currently-unconvinced people to join with you, then how would that impact ever increase above its current level?

And it pressures them because their corporate drones send complaints up the ladder to upper management and the politicians that support them.

You think that the people you made late for work are lobbying their bosses to stop destroying the planet so the protestors will go away and they can be on time for work again, and those bosses are listening, and that's the avenue by which we're going to stop climate change?

I'm not trying to be cynical or critical. Good change I can get behind and I feel guilty that I haven't been doing much to make it happen myself. But you're not convincing me that this is the way.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Here's the thing. There are two ways to stop protests: repress protesters or change policies.

As cynical as I am about the average American, there is a limit to the level of violence against protesters the country will tolerate.

So of course the inconvenienced middle class will demand their masters stop the protests. And of course their masters will turn to state violence and police power.

But if the protesters are brave enough and committed enough and refuse to back down against violence, we'll see the same thing as happened in the civil rights movement: people see the commitment of the protesters and come to support their cause, and people see the level of violence deployed against the protesters and out of guilt and shame demand their masters find a peaceful solution.

(This is why the American right wing is trying so hard to normalize violence against protesters and convincing people (like you) to blame protesters for making violent repression necessary - so they can use violence more freely before public opinion turns against them. Just so you know.)

You think that the people you made late for work are lobbying their bosses to stop destroying the planet so the protestors will go away and they can be on time for work again, and those bosses are listening, and that's the avenue by which we're going to stop climate change?

Yes. Exactly. Being late for work one time won't change anyone's mind. But when there are ongoing protests, ongoing unrest, when the middle classes are inconvenienced and disrupted over and over again and those darn stubborn climate protesters won't stop no matter how hard the police beat them, well, then you might see a demand for genuine change.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

I have been on a train with a bunch of other corpos heading home after a company event when an indigenous protest stopped the train on its tracks. We started out quiet, but the debates that happened in that cabin over the cause of the protesters got really heated. Some people were just shocked that anyone would agree with the protestors after they were making us, the corpos late.

It was a stark example about how maybe I'm part of the problem.