Picking up from where we left off last week, it was pretty clear that Reagan wanted power concentrated along lines of race and wealth in general. The specific concern about college protesters struck me more because of what I see with protest now.
There is a lot that can be said about responses to protests against the murders of George Floyd and Michael Brown, but for right now let's focus on Palestine.
A few months ago I was coming back from Sacramento. The traffic coming into PDX seemed unusually low. As we were leaving the airport, we saw the reason why: protestors marching against genocide in the road, stalling traffic behind them.
The other people in the car said several critical things about the marchers, including that not only would that not help, but that if they were made late for their flight they would immediately be against that cause.
"So being late would make you support genocide?"
Yes, that was perhaps a little aggressive, but this was important! I have less and less patience for people not thinking things through. (I am aware I may be alienating some people on Facebook as we get closer to the election.)
This led to a discussion on Israel and Palestine and the overall issues there. I said things that were hard to answer. There was an attempt to turn it to feeling sorry for the children, which I get, but is also a way of missing the point.
I don't want to go over all of that. There is probably more clarity for people now than there was at the time. Even so, you still have some people denying it's genocide, or arguing it's earned, or going full-blown Antisemitic, and various points in between.
I suspect that anyone who will support the slaughter in Gaza because of a protest was already supporting it.
That does not mean the protesters are doing a good thing or doing it well.
I wrote on this topic a little in the wake of the Occupy protests, but not all protest is effective. Sometimes, all you are doing is ruining someone's day. I believe many are sincere, but I would not be surprised if some really enjoy being obnoxious while considering themselves morally superior.
What would make protest effective?
The establishment was bothered by student protesters and draft protesters during Vietnam, but I don't know how much it effected policy. We did see effective protests during the Civil Rights Era, so that might be a better place to look for examples.
Let's look at the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
The reason to protest was clear. Not only did the seating rules mean that sometimes Black passengers were not allowed to sit even when there were empty seats, but because they needed to pay at the front and then go to the back door to enter, sometimes drivers would pull away. The drivers were more abusive than the company policy called for, but that system of inequality made it easy for drivers to show their power abusively.
The request was to end that policy of seating and entrance, as well as hiring Black drivers. Those were concrete steps that would improve the situation. They would not fix racism -- something much harder -- but they would remove some of the bolsters of racist abuse and make that area of life safer and more pleasant for Black passengers.
The bus company did not have motivation to fix this, but they did have motivation to make money; the boycott had a strong and direct impact on that.
It took them 381 days. That is not something you can do easily or without planning. It took ride organization and fund-raising, but also raising each others' spirits and providing encouragement when people got tired.
There is some planning involved in blocking a road or disrupting a Christmas tree lighting, but whom are you affecting and how?
Raising awareness can be worth something, but then is there a place to direct that awareness?
If you are striking at the pockets of a specific business, does that business have any control over the situation?
One of the sad things about the conversation in the car is that as we started reaching some understanding, and talked about effective protest, I had to admit that I could not think of good ways to catch the notice of people who would actually have an impact.
That is not just related to the situation in Palestine. If you think about climate change or other issues, the consolidation of wealth to the top 1% has made it very hard to hit them in their pocketbooks.
It doesn't mean that things are hopeless, but it will require different ways of thinking and acting and organizing.
It may require a complete rethinking of priorities.
Related posts:
https://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2023/10/palestine.html
https://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2024/06/dominator-culture-and-social-media-gaza.html
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