lloram239 , 10 months ago

So, mission accomplished? These protests are to get media attention, police made that happen. If police would have cleaned them up a little nicer, you’d never have heard of this.

vlad76 , 10 months ago

The activists wanted attention and they were going to block the road until they got the maximum attention that was possible. This is that maximum. I do believe that the cops were reckless. They should have just walked up, cuffed them, pack them up, and just drive away.

sludge , 10 months ago

like, ethically. they should have quit and joined the blockade.

vlad76 , 10 months ago

The effectiveness of being a public nuisance is arguable, if your goal is to actually get more people to share your opinion.

sludge , 10 months ago

the goal is long past convincing anyone to agree that climate change is happening, it is, you have to exert pressure to get political change and that won’t happen without being a “nuisance”.

vlad76 , 10 months ago

Well, that is an argument for it.

Thevenin , 10 months ago (edited 10 months ago)

There are three forms of protest. Some are meant to evangelize. Some are meant to enact direct consequences. And some are meant to demonstrate the commitment of supporters.

The history books love to spotlight evangelism, but an effective protest movement needs all three. One is the carrot (MLK), one is the stick (Malcolm X), and one is an ultimatum – an implicit show of force displaying how many people will wield that stick if the audience doesn’t pay attention to the carrot (March on Washington).

While I question the effectiveness of making a traffic jam for people heading to Burning Man, the next time you see a climate protest, I want to encourage you to ask yourself what kind of protest it is, and who is its intended audience.

cnnrduncan , 10 months ago

Climate activists have been trying to fix things through peaceful, unobtrusive protests for decades now. It’s achieved sweet fuck all and we’re almost out of time.