this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2024
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"If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal" - Emma Goldman
In the last 100 years, protest movements have given us women's suffrage, workers rights including the weekend and overtime pay, gay rights, civil rights, etc. History shows us that we can have positive change, but it's not as easy as just voting.
We can see right now how protest movements are moderating the Democrat's support of Israeli war crimes.
Yeah it's because humans took action and actually did something real to create what they wanted to see. Those changes were because entire populations decided to change things and they had a simple goal that others could get behind.
This is also why there is so much media focus on what makes people different from eachother today. So we don't unite like others did before us.
You should educate yourself on the history of protest. The media has always been a serious impediment. There was never an "entire population" uniting or a "simple goal that others could get behind". It was always extremely difficult. It often looked hopeless. Many people were killed in the streets, and others were brave enough to replace them.
Overall I think feeling helpless in the face of monumental challenges is normal. But closing your eyes and telling yourself "nothing can ever change, so why bother" is self-soothing and pathetic.
Things can change, and you can be a part of that positive change if you put in real effort.
You are right, I actually never read about the history of protests. Do you have any books to recommend?
I would start with MLK, collected essays, no one writes about protest more eloquently.
A Peoples History of the United States by Howard Zinn gives a great broad overview.
Death in the Haymarket by James Green is a great history of the first decades of the labor movement.
Doris Kearns Goodwin's Leadership in Turbulent Times goes in depth on LBJ and the civil rights movement.
On the Duty of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau for the classic philosopher's take.
We've Got People by Ryan Grim details the successes and failures of the movement in the last decade.