Inconveniencing Others With Issues and Potests - EcoTrain's Question of the Week

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What a question for this week! How could I not have an opinion on it? In its current Question of the Week @ecotrain is asking us whether Activists Who Inconvenience The General Public Are Justified. Well, let's see... There is a whole list of answers that are popping up in my mind right now, all depending on how we look at the topic. What do we mean by "inconvenience"? Who is the "general public"? And what kind of "activism" are we talking about?

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Okay, the last question is made abundantly clear in the prompt post: the example cites the cases of Insulate Britain and Extinction Rebellion who have made it into the news by blocking traffic. And the general public in these cases are probably people on that highway who were inconvenienced by said protest. I couldn't help laughing, because I remember being inconvenienced myself in this exact same way a few years back, by a teachers' protest in Mexico City.

A Personal Story

They were in the public education system, and had been promised a meager raise to their abysmally low salaries for several years. And that year... after having kept their hopes up, they were told once again that there was no money left for a raise. So they took to the streets. Meanwhile I could not access the corporate offices where I myself was supposed to teach a language class. As a result I missed out on being paid for a 90 minute light-hearted chat, which may have been more money than what my marching colleagues got for a whole day of k-12 classroom management, plus preparation, plus homework, exams, etc... (all seriously hard work, as I am well aware of). Still, at that moment I was quite upset at their protest, and didn't feel the least bit of solidarity with them. Anyway, I just wanted to relate the irony and the complexity of the situation.


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Permission for Protesting?

One of the reasons that their protest managed to wreck havoc on the already chaotic inner city traffic of Mexico City, is that it came right out of the blue. Okay, that's not true, anyone would have predicted that this would happen... In fact, the teachers themselves may have threatened it in case their request for a pay raise was rejected. Still, when they started marching they sent the police scrambling to close down avenues and frantically try to redirect traffic to alternative routes, by itself causing more disturbance than the march. "But how can they just have a protest without a permission?" my inner German was wondering. When I told my wife, she almost lost it laughing: "Isn't that the whole point of a protest, that you do it without asking for permission?"


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Thinking about it, I had to admit that she had a point. What the Germans call "demonstration," is always well organized ahead of time, announced to the authorities, including the exact route they are planing to march on, so they can accommodate traffic and it won't cause too much disturbance. The result is more akin to a Sunday walk in the park, or maybe some folk festival. Sure, they carry signs and chant slogans, but it's usually very orderly, peaceful, up to the point of being boring. This also means that they need substantial numbers to be even mentioned in the news, and so I have always questioned how effective such a march actually is in bringing a message across... not to mention having their demands met.

The Issue Is Irrelevant

Okay, so maybe it is necessary to inconvenience the public in order to be heard. And I can imagine the frustration of climate activists who keep going on marches for years, only to be completely ignored not only by decision makers, but by most everyone too. What makes the situation worse, is that they are doing it for all of us! Our climate concerns everyone, not just those who need more money to survive. So in the case of Extinction Rebellion and even Insulate Britain, they have my full sympathy. But here I should add that in principle every cause should be treated equally. Or who am I to pick one over another?

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If we decide certain issues to be more valid than others, that would be the end of democratic discourse. If some group were to protest for forcing everyone to drink a cup of mint sauce every day, I still think they should have the same right to demonstrate for their outlandish idea, even though I am against force-feeding by principle, and despise the taste of mint with a passion. And sure, if one group can inconvenience others, then everyone should be allowed to... of course up to a certain point!

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Levels of Inconvenience

This brings us back to my question at the beginning about what "inconvenience" means. Being late for work (or your date, or your grandma in the hospital) is bad enough, but sometimes a protest brings physical damage with it. As much as I dislike fur coats, I think throwing blood on someone wearing one oversteps the line of inconvenience. (Not to mention, it's probably as counterproductive as you can get, since the affected fur coat wearer is most likely to get another one!) And yes, then there is the whole smashing of windows, tipping cars, and burning down whole blocks in angry protest. I don't think I need to get into how bad all these things are, no matter how noble the cause might be. Though in these cases I should acknowledge the desperation that may drive people to do these things. Not that it excuses destruction in any way, but it should be treated as a serious warning sign that something is really going wrong.

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How Effective Is a Protest?

One of the issues mentioned in the QOTW post is whether inconveniencing others will help find supporters of the cause. Speaking from personal experience, I'd say no! But then again, I don't think that's the idea either. As I said, getting into the news might be more important, raising awareness by any means possible. But even then, I kinda doubt whether many people will be prompted to join the cause, simply because they saw people protesting on TV. And as for their goals... I'm even less sure about them.


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Insulate Britain may actually speed up the process of forcing homes to be decently insulated, but that's because it is something that has been on the way to begin with. (Though honestly, the real problem they are inadvertently highlighting is a deeper rooted one having to do with limited home ownership. - Clearly if people owned their homes they would insulate without being forced to do so.) As for Extinction Rebellion, my doubts are much greater. Are they actually going to affect the ongoing climate change by forcing the powers that be to implement radical changes? Maybe it's just me, but I really don't see it happening. Still, if they want to protest by glueing themselves to the pavement, let them have it. It may cause the rest of us some inconvenience, but at least we can be sure that our freedom of expression is protected.



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15 comments
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This is a good point, because freedom is what makes us who we are, without giving us the right to speak our mind, it would be as if, we are living in isolation, so I agree on this, although their actions may be a problem to others, at least let their voice be heard.

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Right, this is certainly something to keep in mind next time we're stuck in traffic due to a protest, especially if we don't agree with their cause: at least we are protecting OUR right to protest. Thanks for stopping by!

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The right to freedom of expression is, indeed, a valuable democratic tenet. Intelligently argued and your conclusion is pretty valid - I don’t think that inconveniencing people brings fans to any cause, it might well do the exact opposite. I reckon that if you want your issues to be addressed, protesting responsibly is the way to go. Interesting points. Thanks for posting in the EcoTrain

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Thanks for your comment. Indeed it's two different pairs of boots whether inconveniencing others is justified and whether it makes sense and is helpful for the cause. At that point one may even question whether protesting makes any sense at all, or maybe there are better ways to raise awareness to an issue.

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Following the right channel for your voice to be heard or for attention to be gotten brings more results than not following the right channel. I do agree with you on this because all protest is done for the seek of everyone, but tben it is better to protest the right way to avoid any such of violence, retaliation or in worse case stampede which I have witnessed before and it was a gruesome experience for me.

Enjoyed reading your post! Thank you for participating in the QOTW. We hope to see you next week!

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Thanks for stopping by to comment! Oh a stampede... that sounds horrible! That's when a group stops being conscious of its individuals, and everyone hurting everyone by trying to save themselves in panic. I'm sorry you had to witness such a thing. It must have been awful!

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This is interesting. Even though when we think the activists are inconveniencing others due to damage to properties and loss of lives in the process or even missing out on something important due to blockage of roads, there is still a way to make it peaceful and calm so as not to bring any loss afterwards.

We all have freedom and when some people come out to fight for it in the right approach, there is nothing wrong and the protest would go more smoothly than taking on anger mood to get what you are asking for.

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I agree: demanding things in an angry way is never helpful. Pointing things out peacefully is a more productive approach. Thanks for your comment. 😀

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When some people come out to fight for freedom in the right way, there is nothing wrong with that, and the protest will go more smoothly than if you take an angry stance in order to obtain what you want. We all have freedom, and when some people come out to fight for freedom in the correct way, there is nothing wrong with that.

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Right! This is something we (should) learn in kindergarten: if you ask for something nicely you are more likely to get it than if you throw a tantrum.

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great response! and that is interesting how you felt and experienced protests in mexico.. and also rather cool that you can still support protests despite that inconvenience! its a tough question because its quite general, and no two demonstrations are the same.. and of course it depends what side of the fence you are sitting on..

i think at the very least it would be nice if there was some kind of dialogue with groups who protested.. rather than arrest them perhaps it would be better if there was some kind of listening that happened, that these people feelings could be honored.. especially when its a lot of people..

times have changed i think too.. i cant remember anyone really getting that upset 30 years ago when we did some much bigger protests than what we see today.. the cops were so friendly and we just did our thing and that was that.. nothing changed of course.. so i suppose if nothing else its a good time to vent!

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Well, I thought it was a good example since it directly inconvenienced me, while the cause they were protesting for (unlike environmentalist ones) had literally nothing do with me. Still I support their right to protest, as that's the very least one can do.

I really like your idea of shining a spotlight on the protest, so they can get into a dialogue with the opposing side (if there is one). I think this would immediately diffuse tension and prevent a violent escalation of the demo. And yes, I'm thinking particularly about issues and people we don't agree with (such as a Nazi march for example). Instead of ignoring them, hoping they would just go away, we should give them the time and space to voice their views reasonably. If they handle it well, it could lead to an interesting dialogue. If not... well, better luck next time.

I keep hearing that protests, and the way the authorities react to them, have changed over the last decades, but I'm not sure I'd put it that simply. As you said, no two demonstrations are the same, and it depends on the time, the place, the size of the crowd, and the issue on how it goes down. Which is also what makes this topic so complex to write about.

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