Protests have filled the media for a good portion of 2019. From Hong Kong to Chile to Kahuku, people are seen protesting what they say are injustices.
According to faculty members, successful protest results from a good organization and delivering a clear message that appeals to one’s ethic and moral standards. Psychology and political science experts from BYU–Hawaii said protests are a complex issue. They said protests ethicality comes from an unfair system, and successful protests share common themes of attention, messaging, and organization.
Commenting on the seeming spike in protests, Troy Smith, a professor of political science, said he thinks, to a limited extent, “social media is leading to that. In part, there is a much less willingness . . . among many to do the hard work of working the traditional pathways to power: building coalitions, compromising, working together, generating an enormous number of different groups to work within the system to make change.”
What makes a successful protest
The question of a successful protest is difficult, shared Boyd Timothy, associate professor of psychology. There is no one formula to success, as is shown by the history of protests in the world. “On one hand, we’ve seen successful protests as the GM sit-down strikes began in 1936, which won workers recognition of a union, the Montgomery bus boycott which resulted in Alabama integrating its bus system, and the Salt March that led to a series of events culminating in India gaining independence from Britain.“
On the other hand, tens of millions across the world protested the American invasion of Iraq in 2003, and yet the war advanced unimpeded. The Occupy Wall Street protests were comprised of nearly 1,000 encampments, but no discernible reduction of corporate influence on politics has resulted. The Dakota Access Pipeline was moving more than 500,000 barrels of oil a day not long after the beginning of the Standing Rock protests.”
If people shift their focus away from immediate policy reversal, they see a trend towards more successful protests, Timothy explained. Some such areas include “persuading self and others towards political activation, increasing the probability of future protest activity, increasing financial contributions to political causes, increasing voter turn-out, and solidifying one’s own ideology.“
Each of these outcomes may not be associated with an instant reversal of policy, but they certainly can have a long-term cumulative effect on policy, Timothy said.
Ethicality
In a country partly founded on protests, Smith said there is a clear place for protests. “The ethical justification for a protest is that [the protesters] feel the system is unfair and does not adequately consider their voice or perspective.”
The United States is certainly a prime example of this thought, he shared. “America began with protests, to a certain extent, with the Sons of Liberty and the Boston Tea Party. Then you have [Henry David] Thoreau’s essay on civil disobedience because he refused to pay the tax to fund capturing runaway slaves. Then there was Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr, [both prominent American Civil Rights protestors]. All of these are important components that support a certain type of protest within a free, democratic republic.”
However, American ethicist Bruce Weinstein, writing for his website theethicsguy.com, lays out a clear ethical code protestors need to follow to prevent harm and uphold the moral standing of a protest. He includes points from “obeying the law or be willing to accept the consequences” to “being respectful increases the chances that you’ll get what you want.”
Smith described how while unethical protests can achieve their objective, they also can harm themselves. “Clearly unethical protests can sometimes be successful in achieving their objectives. Often, unethical protests create a backlash against the protesters that tend to undermine both the legitimacy, the acceptance, and the sympathy others would give to the protests. That is oftentimes what is necessary to make it a successful protest.”
To achieve an ethical, successful protest, Smith said protesters need to tap into the moral base of those they are trying to persuade. This can be effective because “humans are moral beings. We want certain moral truths. We need certain moral truths. We need to behave in certain moral, ethical, just ways. I think it is those sorts of things that move people to stand up.”
Common threads
There are three common threads found by researchers when it comes to protesting, according to Timothy. The first of these is attention, followed by a clear and appealing message and organization.
The attention factor means the individuals and the message need publicity, explained Timothy. “The more they are heard, the greater the potential influence they can have, not just to impact policymakers but also to other citizens who may join in their efforts.“
This essential characteristic can be fraught with hazards. It is difficult to gain attention by conforming to social norms – by acting ‘normal.’ Accordingly, the most effective way to garner attention quickly would be to act in an extreme, even abnormal, manner.”
There is danger in this method, however. Timothy described how extreme behaviors can be counterproductive. “For example, recently the climate protesters, Extinction Rebellion, successfully drew media attention with disruptive and irregular behaviors such as gluing themselves to trains in London.“
However, they also received very vocal criticism from inconvenienced local citizens and from contributors to social media messaging globally. While [the protesters were] successful at getting attention, some argue these tactics failed to garner much support. Their tactics may have overshadowed their message.”
The second trait, a clear and appealing message, means there has to be an obviously discernible cause and it has to appeal to more than just the small group of already-committed supporters. “We have seen recently that clarification over the meaning of hashtags connected to movements can dominate the discussion while the intended message behind the hashtag gets lost,” Timothy shared.
Smith discussed the importance of this trait, saying because a protest is always going to be a bit disruptive it needs to be very clear about what the objectives are. “When you hear multiple different ideas of racism and xenophobia, police abuse, there were multiple different things and no real clear idea of what the objective was. You can have a protest that raises awareness, but I don’t think it’s going to be effective.
“If you are going to disrupt people, then the means need to be balanced with the ends. You can’t cause all sorts of horrible disruptions like not letting people get to work and school or to the hospital when you’re asking for something that is big in your eyes, but maybe not that great in other people’s eyes.”
Questions people should ask themselves, he said, are, “Will it connect with people beyond the smaller group of already-committed supporters? Is it easy for non-group members to understand and therefore to defend? Are the goals or grievances framed as consistent with shared values?”
The last trait is organization. As Timothy stated, “A continual protest is more difficult to ignore than one that can be ‘waited out.’ The difference between groups that can endure beyond the typical short-attention span of media reporting and those that dissipate when media attention is drawn elsewhere is in large part due to differences in organization.”
Other methods
Especially in a place like Hawaii, which is the most centralized of any state, according to Smith, there are certain methods that may be more effective than protesting, such as coalition building or challenging the legal system. “North Shore doesn’t have very much political power. On Oahu, it is majority rules, and the majority is in Honolulu. They can dictate to the North Shore.“
If the North Shore wants [more] influence, protests maybe, but they’re unlikely to have much influence unless they can really capture the symbolic element. But the other thing is working through the legal system, like challenging an environmental study.”
The Albert Einstein Institution gives nearly 200 ideas for making people’s voices heard. Among the ideas are public speeches, boycotts, leaflets, and media.
The important thing, according to the Institution, is choosing the right method for your cause. “It must be clearly understood that the greatest effectiveness is possible when individual methods to be used are selected to implement the previously adopted strategy. It is necessary to know what kind of pressures are to be used before one chooses the precise forms of action that will best apply those pressures.”