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I don't *really* wanna add more of my thoughts to the "protests: are they good or pointless" conversation, but one thought I don't always see talked about is that the same protest "tactic" can be less or more pointless depending on where it's occurring & in what context.

Like, to me, massive citywide protest in big "liberal" city where libs peace-police everyone and then by & large go home without having actually changed or even challenged anything is a very different scene than "300 folks in a Nazi town put themselves out there & show others in that town that not everyone supports or agrees with the fuckin Nazis."

I think those two protests, though organized on the same lines, have achieved (or maybe just, put into motion) very different things.

Personally, I'm severely over the whole protest scene. But as a historian, I also know that context can alter meaning significantly.

Mar 29 at 1:02amWeb
Show threadnerd teacher 🦇1d ago

@angelteeth So much this. It's also about what people do with those protests. When these things are led and organised by people who have, for example, an electoral goal? It's likely not going to have the same impact as when people just straight up deny access to platforms to politicians and instead focus on both protesting and building connections between people.

Also, also! It's about what people do to make these events accessible. Are there multilingual people in the organising that enable people who don't speak the dominant language of a place to participate and also stay safe so they know what's going on? Are there people in the whole crowd who are aware of what's happening so that chaos is less likely to occur (if cops or opposing protesters attack)? Are people ensuring that the event is safe for disabled people to exist in any capacity (masking, communication, etc)? (Part of the reason I will not go to protests where I live is both because I usually cannot hear any of the speakers, no one knows what's going on when cops choose to close in and scare people, and my language skills aren't that great. Plus, way too many citizens still love leaving immigrants to get caught so they escape, despite us being way more precarious in existing here than they are.)

Because even if those events don't do something in the immediate, being very prominent about building communal care into something and pushing people to do it? Can be helpful, too. It might even shift the way people behave in other events or protests, making them easier to participate in for more people... which can only help them.

(Side note: I keep wanting to call 'protests' as 'manifestations' because I keep hearing and seeing people use the closest English translation, lol.)