Protesting....What good does it do?

I've been trying to say for quite some time that peaceful protests are useless. They have never really propagated any real change unless they backed by violent uprisings. People often like to reference Ghandi and Martin Luther King as examples of peace bringing about change. However, at the same time that they were starving themselves (I never really understood how hunger strikes actually help...) and marching on Washington, violence was another factor in inciting change.

In India, there were a multitude of violent outbreaks that help incite Indian independence including the Anushilan Samiti and Jugantar.

During the civil rights era, the Black Panthers were a group that incited violence as a way of change.

The Vietnam War did not end because of pressure from protests. It went on for at least 16 years despite protests for about 13 years. I really don't think that 13 years of protest really had that much effect on the decision to remain in Vietnam. The reason they evacuated was more likely because they had been there too long and oil prices were too high to continue to fight a lost cause.

And then I turn to the current example. Through 8 years people have been protesting against George Bush but what has come of that? He was re-elected (and I don't care whether you think its legit or not, he's been in power there is no reason to squabble over how he got there) despite protest and God forbid that people keep thinking that protests are going to work if McCain gets elected.

And let's not forget the greatest example of all! (TANGENT: And this is where a lot of people are hypocritical. It's hilarious to see a peaceful protester exalt the likes of Che Guevara, whose very core was inciting violence around Latin America and eventually the Congo.) Cuba! Where the whole idea of change was violence. You march into town, blow up a few buildings, kill the right men, and the world (or at least Cuba) is a better place for it. (Let's just be clear I don't want to quibble over whether Castro and Che actually helped Cuba, I have my opinion and nothing is really going to change that. This is a piece about violence and protests--argue about that.)

I just want to make it clear that I am not inciting anyone to violence. I just wanted to point out something that I've been thinking a lot about. The reason I believe people protest is similar to the reason people donate to charities: it makes them feel like they are actually doing something. I've said over and over again that boycotts don't work. They just end up hurting the workers. We get angry at corporations for belittling people but we belittle them even further by suggesting that we have the solution to their problems. On top of that, we do not know the history of what these people have been through; it is very presumptuous to assume that we know what is right for them when all we really know is a tiny snippet of what is going on in their whole life. The histories of Latin America, of Africa, are far more complex than any regular Joe Shmoe could understand. I've been studying Latin America for 4 years and I have only begun to scratch the surface of what is a really wide and deep problem that a few protests and boycotts only enable. I've heard it said that "Compassion is just a nicer way of looking down your nose" (lyrics found in OKGo's What to Do) and I believe that is totally true.

-girl behind the curtain

p.s. I'm bitter, no hiding it, but don't disclaim my opinions because of that.

I challenge all of you to give me one example whereby a peaceful protest (by itself) has helped stop something (child labour, work camps, slavery, sweat shops, wars, etc). I would really like to hear an example so that I won't be so very bitter about all of this.