Now That's How You Protest

Last week I posted my thoughts on the protest by disabled folks at the capital. I admired the logistics and organization of that protest, but I still think they went about it the wrong way. And I agree with Kleinheider, it matters whether or not the protesters live here.

Yesterday we had a huge gathering for an entirely different cause. This one was about immigrant rights. (See NiT for Brittney’s experience and a local blog round-up) Those folks know a little more about how to throw a protest rally. The created enough of a fuss to get plenty of attention, but didn’t disrupt the life of everyone that works downtown. Most importantly, they held it at 6 PM, after people were done with their work day, so they didn’t foul up the life of everyone who works downtown. Sure streets were closed, but they told everyone ahead of time what was going to happen, rather than just jumping out into the middle of the street. Inconveniences aside, that’s just safer than pushing a bunch of wheelchairs into the street in order to stop traffic.

All in all, I think it’s much more persuasive for your cause if you don’t cause people a lot of grief, and you don’t come off as a bunch of professional protesters. But then again, maybe I just feel that way because I walked through the ADAPT protest, but was no where near the immigration one.

It's completely useless to this post, but everytime I hear protesters chanting I think of "We're not going to protest!!" from PCU. Great movie. Jeremy Piven's best pre-Entourage work.