This is specifically in regards to the most recent No Kings, because I’ve been seeing, for the first time, normie libs being jaded toward the No Kings protests, I’ve seen surprising amount of “what are these actually accomplishing?” But what’s wild/sadder to me is all the responses being “well, I know they’re useless, but we can’t do anything until November”
Like Americans venerate non-violent protests, to the point all protesting is just completely symbolic, but can’t even take a page out of the civil rights movement and do a nonviolent protest that are actually a protest, like blocking a highway or a sit in, physically blocking people/things from getting places, you know, actually being disruptive, they just accept this tepid shouting parade for a couple hours every 6 months. I’ve been a doomer on American protesting for years now, sorry about the rant post
Disruptive protests work by drawing attention to the specific system that's being disrupted by being reasonable, and the injustice that's inflicted by cops in response.
Like, a sit-in on a segregated bus: black guy gets on a bus, is beaten by cops for it.
Disruptive protests don't work for more abstract problems, because opponents can focus on the protest and it's disruptiveness without acknowledging the problem it's in response to. Like, if protestors throw soup on (the glass barrier in front of) a painting, people can discuss the ethics of soup-throwing without mentioning climate even once.
In other words: disruptive protests are a tool, and only useful if used right.
PS: the civil rights protesters were all specifically trained for what to do, and to expect police brutality and to not retaliate. None of it was spontaneous, and it wasn't random jackoffs thrown in with a "figure it out".