The Student Room Group

Do you believe peaceful protest actually works?

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I don't think ever protest has have violence because it doesn't set a good precedent. It doesn't set a good example or a good reputation.
I don't think violence should be used just for the sake of it. First and foremost a protest should be peaceful.
If a protest gets too violent their argument and their cause might be forgotten in the wake of violence.
Reply 21
Original post by jblackmoustache
No name dropping (e.g. Martin Luther King, Ghandi, etc) because we know them all.


People always use them as an example but they were actually failures. Ghandi achieved what he did because Britain wasn't in a position financially to keep the empire. The whole empire crumbled because of Britain being financially crippled, not because of good will.

Also having studied the civil rights ... some black people believed in King and followed him peacefully.Others despised him because he begged the white people to be accepted and those who disliked King turned to other radical violent groups to get their point across. The American government were terrified of these radical violent people so they had no choice but to agree that Kings terms were better than the radicals :rolleyes:

I hate when people use Ghandi and King as examples of peaceful protests working.... Governments don't do $**t for peaceful protests, they only change if something worse will happen if they refuse to act.
Reply 22
Nope no peaceful protest ever worked there is as much evidence for Martin Luther King creating race equality in the US as there is for Malcolm X doing it. The UK gave up India because of its lack of money because of World War 2 not because of Gandhi.

peaceful protests against cuts = cuts are still on track to happen

revolution in Libya = progress towards the ridding of a dictator

hmmm I know which option sounds more effective.
Reply 23
Original post by Joinedup
Ghandi
Martin Luther King
etc etc.

I think there needs to be some specific conditions for it to work though.


Well it is arguable that Ghandi's peaceful methods had little impact on forcing the British out of India. Time and time again, peaceful protests in India was either brutally put down by the british authorities or had evetually descended into violence. If you look closely at the years leading up to India's independence, you would see that World war 2 probably had largest impact on ending British rule.
Peaceful protest works in some contexts. In 1990 it was not the (actually pretty small) riots, but the peaceful 200,000 person march through London that forced the Thatcher government to stop the implementation of the poll tax.

However there comes a time when action is inevitably the only way of standing up for what you believe in.
Reply 25
Peaceful protests tend to attract more sympathy like King's movement and to some extent is successful, but I believe radical movement attracts far more attention; for example the Libyan protests and Black Power movement; however the Black Power movement did have limitations because of the violence used, consequently less whites were sympathetic.

But really, I think non-peaceful direct action is more effective.
An interesting quote:

"If peaceful protest worked they would make it illegal"

eta: I don't support violence btw
(edited 13 years ago)
Reply 27
Peaceful protest can only work if the police/army switch sides to depose those in power. The UK government is no longer answerable to the public, they serve their capitalist industrial masters.
No, I don't. I would like to believe that peaceful protest works but I don't think it does in this day and age. I mean Ghandi, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King have all achieved what they wanted peacefully but in London you hear about a 'peaceful' protest and you can be damn sure that the protests will errupt in violence (eg- Student fees march, the march against the cuts). I do believe that it's not the actual protesters who smash everything up but people who are just looking for trouble and use the protests to cloak their illegal activities and this makes me lose faith in 'peaceful protest'. Smashing up Fortnum&Mason, really?
Original post by JordanS93
People always use them as an example but they were actually failures. Ghandi achieved what he did because Britain wasn't in a position financially to keep the empire. The whole empire crumbled because of Britain being financially crippled, not because of good will.

Also having studied the civil rights ... some black people believed in King and followed him peacefully.Others despised him because he begged the white people to be accepted and those who disliked King turned to other radical violent groups to get their point across. The American government were terrified of these radical violent people so they had no choice but to agree that Kings terms were better than the radicals :rolleyes:

I hate when people use Ghandi and King as examples of peaceful protests working.... Governments don't do $**t for peaceful protests, they only change if something worse will happen if they refuse to act.


Actually, reading your post I totally agree. Peaceful protest NEVER works.
Reply 30
The elements of a potential protest are; a vocal/talented speaker/leader, vast amount of people(overcoming the majority is nearly impossible considering protest never go above 20m here). And of course rationality as to why the protest is occuring. Last but not least is the media, it greatly influences the views of the majorty(I assume they're being paid to display only the bad by the government or maybe it's just more presentable)
Original post by No Future

Original post by No Future
An interesting quote:

"If peaceful protest worked they would make it illegal"


Second that.
Reply 32
I don't believe any kind of protest works (at least not in the UK), our government has made it very clear that they will not listen to us. We may have elected them, but once they're in, our government is pretty authoritarian in it's "shut up because we know better" attitude towards the publics views.

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