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ThreeLittlePuigs t1_j5cppwl wrote

The difference is in intentionality, targeting, and sustained action. That’s how you create change. Not one off protests against broad “problems”. Concrete actions against issues creates change.

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abx99 t1_j5d2ax4 wrote

I would kinda put all that under the umbrella of "good organizing," which is also necessary for a boycott or strike to work.

However you want to go about it, you need to have really solid organizing efforts.

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dzogchenism t1_j5d8hww wrote

Sustained action is the key.

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ThreeLittlePuigs t1_j5d9dk0 wrote

That and specificity plus intention. Most people Tilt at windmills ignoring actual issues for problems instead

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DookieFoot2022 t1_j5depb3 wrote

Exactly. I was always taught dont ever bring up an issue without some kind of solution. saying "End police brutality" is so fucking stupid. How about instead something like "We demand descalation training" and protest until you get it.

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SeeThinngsDoStuff420 t1_j5cq5s2 wrote

Boycotting and Unionizing are forms of protest.

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Outrageous_Fall_9568 t1_j5d8c32 wrote

The railroad workers are in a union and where not allowed to boycott/protest

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Lastboss42 t1_j5djl1o wrote

what happens if they do?

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Insterstellar t1_j5dmkpz wrote

The union President will go to jail and the union & strikers will all be fined.

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John_Hunyadi t1_j5dnma8 wrote

So you strike til they meet your new demands of releasing the union president and rescinding the fines.

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Lastboss42 t1_j5dw41g wrote

alright, and then the rail workers still don't get back to work. now what?

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kenji-benji t1_j5digja wrote

Protest changed the Sonic movie.

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bautron t1_j5dmccc wrote

I honestly believe they did it on purpose.

Producer: Make its mouth weird so that people lose their shit. Then we "fix it" with one that actually looks like Sonic from the video game.

Illustrator: l gotchu fam.

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Hard-R-Smitty t1_j5d9fdf wrote

He’s saying you and 50 buddies with signs on the street corner for one or two afternoons doesn’t do shit

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ThreepE0 t1_j5dacg3 wrote

However… it does.

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[deleted] t1_j5damsn wrote

[deleted]

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deethy t1_j5dh466 wrote

Demonstrating has long been unpopular but that doesn't make it ineffective. You definitely need a goal, it can't be aimless (like the Occupy movement). Either way, protest has historically been portrayed in a negative light (for obvious reasons) so if it makes people upset that's par for the course.

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Insterstellar t1_j5dmvaq wrote

Occupy was pretty effective in changing public opinion. Before Occupy economic inequality wasn't widely acknowledged as a major issue, support for capitalism was far greater, and almost everyone thought they were middle class rather than thinking in terms of workers vs the 1%.

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jdith123 t1_j5cpea5 wrote

Tell that to the French government

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greatwhitequack t1_j5ctopa wrote

I think the protests in France are doubling up as worker strikes though.

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RelaxedWithHumor t1_j5cuy0j wrote

The French people are going back into the Reign of Terror and will probably storm the Bastille again...

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Aktor t1_j5d7t3f wrote

There are a lot of billionaires that have a little bit too little terror in their lives.

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iTzChewii t1_j5cevr0 wrote

This is something I've been saying for a while now. If you want change, you have to be willing to stop supporting the people that can make those changes. Hit them in the pocket and watch the change come forth.

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JamonDeJabugo t1_j5cul82 wrote

Biggest strike: get 50 million people to not pay their mortgage for a few months...

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w33dcup t1_j5dc5s0 wrote

Give it a minute...the Fed monetary and political fiscal policies will take care of that.

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cockmanderkeen t1_j5d7eox wrote

It's not an either or.

Most people that protest, don't buy the things they're protesting against. Protests can raise awareness to some causes.

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CuriousCryptid444 t1_j5cjyel wrote

I feel like protesting can actually make movements less popular…

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APileOfShiit t1_j5cn2ra wrote

They can also be used to create disinformation about said movements, so they really do go against themselves.

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CoolioMcCool t1_j5cxkij wrote

Yup, only takes 1 or 2 idiots out of 10's of thousands of protestors for them to get a clip and paint the whole protest as being violent and full of idiots.

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roymondous t1_j5da1q5 wrote

Strikes and boycotts are types’of protest. What you really want to say is that single marches don’t change anything and that we need to mix it up with others. Those types of protest generally weren’t ever meant to just be by themselves. Look at any successful social movement and absolutely you will see them use many types of protests.

The public marches have their place and their reason. They are one tool in the arsenal of social movements. They aren’t meant to be the only tool tho…

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bruno_do t1_j5cjwb2 wrote

It doesn't need much knowledge of economy to understand this. I really dont get why protestors doesn't change their way of doing things.

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bullybullybully t1_j5cn9n6 wrote

The example I point to to illustrate this is the “occupy” movement from years ago. One of the biggest demonstrations in recent memory, lots of media attention, zero actual results. Target the capital (meaning money, not the building) to get anything done.

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RJFerret t1_j5ddxph wrote

But also there was no practical goal to the occupy movement, they literally were having meetings to try to come up with goals to present to media. It was funded apparently by a company from Vancouver, Canada, people were being bussed in and provided tents and sleeping bags, but no indication what to represent. It's not like they were for or against anything, and different groups came up with different things, like bank regulations, we want food and access to bathrooms while we're here, or we're the 99% (whatever action that's supposed to represent).

When I was trying to figure it out I figured follow the money, and I never was able to figure out why a Canadian company was invested and promoting it. Maybe just as PR for themselves locally? *shrugs

Looking at the Wikipedia page on it now, there's nothing really different.

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parabolicurve t1_j5csa1c wrote

Yep. It's passed into distant memory for most people. You might get a "Oh yeah, I remember that." And the 1% are happy as a pig in shit because of that.

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idkalan t1_j5cqk6h wrote

Because the average protestor doesn't really want to be inconvenienced.

They'd rather protest Amazon due to their work practices but will refuse to boycott Amazon Web Services because they like Netflix, Spotify, and various other services that use AWS.

They don't really get that change will happen when they too change

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ATXDefenseAttorney t1_j5con55 wrote

Plenty of protests still work. This is not, NOT, not a LPT.

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ZLUCremisi t1_j5d9jd8 wrote

Protest can bring changes. And has in last decade

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matrixfan0831 t1_j5dsdiy wrote

Off the top of my head, gay marriage was largely protest signs and marches.

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Garaleth t1_j5d9vnh wrote

You can't effectively protest, strike or boycott with an aim of demanding someone fix something.

You need to specify what you actually want them to do.

Don't demand they fix worker conditions.

Demand they don't count toilet breaks against your working hours.

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Moccis t1_j5crtd4 wrote

Vote with your wallet. Most things in this world only change if companies can make money (or lose less) on them

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ca_agent t1_j5cs89m wrote

When was the last time a boycott changed anything?

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brannana t1_j5czmpt wrote

Here’s a list of successful boycotts since 2000

https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/ethicalcampaigns/boycotts/history-successful-boycotts

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ca_agent t1_j5d0d48 wrote

Many of those feel debatable as to whether it was the boycott or something else. Negative publicity isn't the same as a boycott, for example. Decades of efforts by Peta doesn't sound like it was really their efforts that caused change...

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brannana t1_j5d11lu wrote

If you want to split hairs and argue long term effects, take it up with the article’s author. Im just the messenger. The point is, boycotts work quite often.

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ca_agent t1_j5d1cvx wrote

You're using the author's work to prove your point, which I think it does poorly. Your point was not successfully made Mr/Ms messenger.

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brannana t1_j5d41ow wrote

Were there any on the list you don’t object to?

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ca_agent t1_j5d4h14 wrote

I didn't read them all, all the ones I read I felt were at least somewhat exaggerating the results of the boycotting.

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brannana t1_j5d4x72 wrote

So your objections are based solely on your “feelings” about their accuracy, and not hard data? And your biggest objection is that you feel the effect of the boycott is “somewhat exaggerated”?

One of us is failing at proving their point, but it’s not me…

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ca_agent t1_j5d58zb wrote

Your goal was proving the point, not mine...

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brannana t1_j5d68ny wrote

We have different points we’re trying to make, genius.

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ca_agent t1_j5d6lsh wrote

I'm not trying to prove anything, Socrates.

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brannana t1_j5d81ny wrote

So you’re just talking to make noise? You’re not trying to say that the article I posted is bad?

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ca_agent t1_j5dcj19 wrote

Not every comment has to convince someone of something, sometimes you can just enjoy the ride.

I do think the article you posted was written with a bias towards trying to make people believe boycotts work without actually providing evidence they work. So yeah, I guess that means I think it is a bad article. Not saying you're bad, just probably the first article you thought was sufficient, wasn't to my eyes.

If I was to write an article trying to prove that boycotting works, I would strive to include data showing loss of profit due to the boycotts as well as shareholder meetings or complaints about those losses resulting in a change of company policy. To the point of this post though even that is insufficient...

This post implies that boycotts create change that protests can't. So changing a store from stocking one item versus another is not the sort of change a protest is aiming for. I don't see a boycott changing how police interact with black people, or how politicians interact with religious groups to the detriment of women's rights.

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KernelViper t1_j5cz5yv wrote

Last year?

When the russians invaded Ukraine some companies decided to stay in Russia and got boycotted (at least here on Poland, but to some extent also internationally) quite hard and some if not most of them pulled out off of Russia due to decline in sales on other markets

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ca_agent t1_j5czv3u wrote

Did it change anything though? The goal wasn't really to get the shops out of Russia, it was to save Ukraine via economic pressure on Russia.

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Yeah28 t1_j5cwcbc wrote

Bus boycott, by Martin Luther King Jr.

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Procedure-Minimum t1_j5d171h wrote

Enough people boycotted diary milk in Australia that nearly every cafe has dairy alternatives.

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ca_agent t1_j5d1qfr wrote

That's pretty cool, haven't heard anything about that. How did the boycott work? Did they boycott the cafés specifically or all dairy products?

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Procedure-Minimum t1_j5d2ifm wrote

Just cafes that didn't have non dairy alternatives. It was a slow boycot, people just would walk in "do you have soy milk or something non dairy?" If they said no, people went somewhere else. Cafes learn, and now they all have options. This sort of thing leads to change pretty quickly.

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ca_agent t1_j5d2z4l wrote

That does sound effective. I imagine grocery stores had to start stocking more ofnthose alternatives as well to support the cafes.

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hiddenmage t1_j5d6ub4 wrote

Check out Dungeons & Dragons changing the OGL. That's happening right now.

Fans hated what they were doing and started canceling their DnDBeyond subs. WoTC lost and estimated 40,000 subscribers in a couple days and changed their story.

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thatkellenguy t1_j5cucpx wrote

This belongs on r/changemyview or something

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Sentsuizan t1_j5d5y84 wrote

Strikes and boycotts are forms of protest

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needhelpbuyinMGSgift t1_j5d88jx wrote

If you want evidence of this, watch Iran right now. We are bringing an economic revolution to get rid of the dictatorship. #womenlifefreedom

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Hard-R-Smitty t1_j5dafrc wrote

That’s not the impression that the news is giving us over here in the USA… the impression they’re giving us is that the government is winning, I haven’t even seen anything about Iranians protesting in weeks

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rojm t1_j5dawmq wrote

And that’s why the government allows anti-union laws to be broken and even threatens legal action against strikers

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sometimeagreatnotion t1_j5dbb5z wrote

Strikes have always been the way; they helped bring about democracy

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dr_reverend t1_j5dezk5 wrote

The key to protesting is to actually protest and effect the life of the person causing the problem. Go protest at the guy’s house, 24 hours a day. Block them, follow them everywhere. Make them and everyone associated with miserable. That is how you protest, not blocking traffic and affecting the lives of unassociated average people.

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pdieten t1_j5djqke wrote

People held protests in front of the homes of the US supreme court justices this past summer after the Dobbs decision. It's a sure bet that all they accomplished was to make the justices that much more certain that they decided the case correctly.

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keepthetips t1_j5cbyio wrote

Hello and welcome to r/LifeProTips!

Please help us decide if this post is a good fit for the subreddit by up or downvoting this comment.

If you think that this is great advice to improve your life, please upvote. If you think this doesn't help you in any way, please downvote. If you don't care, leave it for the others to decide.

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moviesetmonkey t1_j5ch5h8 wrote

Great, I'm gonna strike against anti abortionists and boycott cops.

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FrostedBanner t1_j5co5os wrote

About as effective as a protest.

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moviesetmonkey t1_j5f8li3 wrote

Honestly it's feeling like riots are about all that works. Audrey's murderers got arrested for fear of riots. There were definite rumblings.

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halfsieapsie t1_j5cpz6q wrote

We'll see what the wealthy are going to do about our house trying to tank global economy. If the wealthy have any pull, debt ceiling crisis will be resolved by tuesday

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hryssar t1_j5d0jey wrote

Not giving a company money helps. Hell loom at last two weeks for dungeons and dragons/hasbro and you got proof in abundsnce. Heck their big hope for a movie is even at jepordy because they pissed off their entire playerbase

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bubblessourjohn t1_j5d6wog wrote

Protesting has never done anything tbh. When the first railroad strikes happened (the ones back in the 1800s if you know about US history) the workers boarded themselves up in the facilities or they destroyed them.

The lessons history teaches us is to fuck up their shit cuz they ain't payin you

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bisforbenis t1_j5d6ys6 wrote

I think part of the problem is that many protests tend to have broad goals protesting a broad problem

They’re much more effective when it’s “Hey, that law you passed, the X act? Get rid of it, and we’ll chill” or “give us a law that protects against Y and we’ll chill”.

The specific message allows for easy buy in, makes it hard to misrepresent their demands, and gives a clear path for politicians to calm things down and resume normalcy.

Like for example, protesting “gun violence” is too broad, it’s hard to get sustained but in, easy to distort what they actually want to drum up opposition, and vague to fix, but if you were to protest and demand “we want to raise the age to buy guns to 21”, that’s very specific, there’s no questioning what they want, it’s really easy to know which side you’re on, and it makes it VERY clear what needs to be done for the protests to stop. I’m not trying to make any specific arguments here, rather just providing an example about what I think works better.

Protesting to express frustration over a problem and saying “please do something” is much less effective than “we demand this law be stricken down” or “we demand this law be put in place”. But in the US specifically, a lot of protests have been more vague, which doesn’t mean they’re invalid in what they’re upset about, but the vagueness of demands make sustained buy in difficult, make disinformation campaigns easier to leverage against it, and give politicians too much leeway in how to handle it, so they kind of fizzle out because it’s unclear when enough has been done to meet demands.

Compare this to France’s current “don’t raise the retirement age”, it’s very clear what they want, and if their politicians want to quell unrest, it’s very clear what needs to be done, if they simply do not raise the retirement age, things go back to normal immediately, and it’s kind of hard to distort such a simple demand

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IronRT t1_j5dbq0j wrote

Copped a 55” oled during the last protest. Changed my at home entertainment.

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5838hjolcen8 t1_j5dh83x wrote

Protesting definitely brings change

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MrDirector23 t1_j5dhxh9 wrote

You people just say stuff without thinking about what you’re saying

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Inside_clifford8562 t1_j5di24j wrote

Lol a person who doesn't like work comes up with another excuse not to work. Don't suggest other people be like you.

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zmamo2 t1_j5djfkr wrote

Protests work only when the pressure the right people. Like if your protesting outside of a politicians office or being bad publicity in a public figure your more likely to get results than just blocking a random street corner

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PersonalityDefects t1_j5djl1t wrote

This has been true for literally all of human history lol why is this "shocking" or new "news" lol

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thephantom1492 t1_j5djley wrote

Bus drivers around here are on strike. Being considered essential services they are legally forced to work. So what do they do? They put fluorescent signs in the windows and stopped to take payment for the ride. They provide the service for free, so they lose money. Should fix the issue within a month or 6...

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DoubleOscar7 t1_j5djnb7 wrote

Everything is media driven now.

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unisasquatch t1_j5dkq2l wrote

I love the idea of protesting a company by buying product and then burning it in the streets. This is why boycott matters.

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Fenzel t1_j5dkvrx wrote

I try to explain to people the only vote that actually means anything is to not purchase something. Voting or not voting for someone means nothing, deciding to never purchase from a specific entity is the only real “vote” there is

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pattyrobes t1_j5dle26 wrote

So like, when do we start taking to the streets again? George Floyd got us to do it, will it take another death?

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boing757 t1_j5dlg68 wrote

Spoiler,nothing brings change.

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kewlaz t1_j5dmpdq wrote

All protesting does is put you on database somewhere. Also covering your face doesn't necessarily gives you Anonymity.

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TheBigDog27 t1_j5czi76 wrote

Wow this is such a PRO TIP!!!

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TrulyStupidNewb t1_j5dgefs wrote

I think the Chinese protests managed to bring about some changes. The covid restrictions were reversed after the protests went out of control.

Similarly, right after the trucker protest in Ottawa, Canada reversed a lot of its covid restrictions.

Coincidence? I'll let you decide.

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trachbreaker t1_j5dgf8u wrote

I don’t get to destroy shit when I strike and boycott. Until then I’ll continue to loot stores and set fire to buildings.

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Karasumor1 t1_j5cpjaa wrote

anyone telling you otherwise confirms that it's the right thing to do

protests are just parades at this point

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TheStupidGeek t1_j5d4bth wrote

wow. as if the BLM riots did nothing...

I'm assuming you're in the US. guess what - the government is by the people and for the people.

boycotting does literally nothing. show me a successful boycott in the last 5 years.

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SpiderFarter t1_j5cxraa wrote

Biden’s policies have cost the rich, semi-rich. Middle class and everyone else trillions in lost wealth so you got that going for you.

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