Calling All Activists

[edit the sad parts]

I have been to about 3 protests during the time that America announced it was going to war with Iraq. Obviously, we didn't stop the war, but I was happy to voice my opinion by taking to the streets with my fellow citizens to show we were NOT okay with it. I feel like people are way too apathetic these days. I want to see more street action, dammit.

What are some of your experiences?

p.s I am in no way claiming to be an activist myself, but it is definitely something I have a burgeoning interest in.

[steel_croissant]

Are we talking only about war protests? I've participated in a march, but not a war related one. Also, I think it's great that you were involved; even if it doesn't solve the problem it's vital that people stand up for what they believe in.

[Eravial]

I think I've only done a couple. One was at Kent State University a few years back on the anniversary of the 1970 shootings protesting our current various wars and military actions in the Middle East. The other was protesting the passage of Cali's Prop 8 on the day that there were protests in most major U.S. cities as part of the No H8 campaign. While it's true that my personal presence at these things probably didn't affect the causes at all, I think protests (and festivals, such as gay pride, for the positive/celebratory equivalent) are very good for visibility and making people aware that certain issues exist and have strong support. I also go just to be among like-minded people.

[Aum]

I think only myself and two other people I know have ever been to a protest. Kind of sad.

Democracy is on the decline due to lack of participation, IMO.

[letyourlifesing]

Yes, lots, of varying different kinds and on many different issues, some of which I organised, some of which I simply participated in.

[Meperidine]

Yeah--followed my mom on the protest trail as a baby and picked it back up again a few years ago. The first one I remember was outside the Pakistani embassy over the Mukhtaran Mai case, and I got on TV AND her case worked out!

[Neko]

I haven't and no one in my immediate meatspace has, as far as I know.

Although, my boyfriend's brother did heckle at one of the town hall meetings about health care reform. But I don't know if that counts.

[Sonic#]

I've protested on occasion. My first was against the Iraq war. My last was over a year ago, in the wake of California's Proposition 8 being voted in. I've tried to go to a couple since then, but things have kept coming up.

I tend to be somewhat skeptical of the power of many protests. Some are ill-organized, others ill-targeted. Sometimes protests feel like they are simply cathartic, venting a little rage. There's nothing wrong with that, as long as there's an actual effort to get something done. But I always hope to be in a protest that does make a difference, and I know that I have to show up to do that.

[Tweek]

Just the one, I went up to London for the Countryside March

[helium]

I've never been to one even though there have been several in my area. I feel really guilty about not going to protest when the bastards in county government said they were going to shut down every one of the public libraries in our county, but they keep holding protests in towns that are over 1/2 hour away and I never have a way to get there.

[Bork]

I've never really felt passionate about something enough to go protesting on the streets about it.


Well, there was a pro gay marriage protest, but it was the morning after my 21st birthday, so I'm pretty sure I was curled up in the fetal position for the entire protest.

[Rainbow Dolphins]

the bastards in county government said they were going to shut down every one of the public libraries in our county,

What!?

[newlydiscovered]

I've been to a couple, nothing recent though. I went to protests against Australia joining the war in Iraq, but that was ages ago now. I've also been to a couple protesting the logging of old growth forests in Tasmania because I live here, and the forests are amazing and beautiful and take hundreds of years to grow and they're turning them into woodchips... WOODCHIPS!!

[helium]

the bastards in county government said they were going to shut down every one of the public libraries in our county,

What!?

Yeah. For a while the county budget guy's plan to balance the budget (like most of California, we're running out of funds) was to cut the budget of every one of our public libraries to $0, effectively shutting them down completely. In the end all but four of them were closed, and those four barely have a big enough budget to stay open for two hours a day, three days a week.

[Mathmo]

I've only been to one - protesting the University of Cambridge's investment policy (not having any way of screening stuff for ethics before investing in it). The funny thing was, I half-dragged a friend along to it who wasn't actually that bothered, but because he looks like a total hippy (long hair, bright rainbow jacket, etc) he got especially asked to hold a banner and be photographed and stuff.

[Enigma]

I'm one of those apathetic people who cares passionately about stuff and never does anything other then argue. If there were a protest for something I cared about at a time when I was free I would go, but I never hear about anything til it's in the paper the next day.

[Storage and Disposal]

I don't really see any protests worth joining around my town.

[The Other Lizard]

Lots of protests! Politics = my life.

Canada is a terribly apathetic country, and living in the capital and being involved in politics has made me realize how much people do have the power to change things and yet we do not exercise that power. So I do whatever I can.

[steel_croissant]

The one I went to was the Texas portion of the Global Marijuana March. We gathered up a bunch of friends and drove down for the opening with sign-making, then the march and the setup at the capitol, and stayed until after everybody returned to the park where we had met up. It was a pretty great day and given that it was held in Austin there was a lot of local support. The best part was when we were marching up to the capitol and I kept seeing, next to the roadblocks the police had set up to let us through (we had a motorcycle escort as well), people in heavy-duty wheelchairs watching us go. They were all clapping and crying, and looking just really touched by the whole thing. My gran has multiple sclerosis, which I'm sure at least a few of those people had (plenty of things MM can help with that aren't MS but I know it's one of the big ones - and they don't have dispensaries in the UK according to her so she can't even obtain it at all), so that especially hit home for me. We all agreed that we felt like we were marching in their stead, because they couldn't. The way they looked at us felt really amazing.

[A.K.A. Z]

Never cared enough.

[SakuraSong]

There are always protests happening around the city, but I never hear about any of them to join them in time. Once, there was a peaceful protest at my school because the state government was going to raise CUNY tuition (again), and I was going to join, but they deliberately planned it during the time when most students would have classes.

I ended up going to Bio Lab, and they ended up being blamed for wrecking school Financial Aid offices, prank calling the police, and setting off a shitload of fire alarms within our area. Later on, we found out that it was a group of NYU students who were pulling all that shit. Superior education =/= maturity.

[The MoUsY spell-checker]

The one type of activism that I'm committed to is cycling activism, and bike-related protests tend to be done on bike, so I don't think of them as protests.

I do usually go to Reclaim The Night each year, but in Sydney, it's on the last Friday of October, so it always clashes with Critical Mass. (This in practice means that I end up leading Critical Mass to Reclaim The Night year after year. Yay for joint protests!)

Other than that, in Sydney, the standard time for protests is 1 pm on Saturday outside Town Hall, for various causes such as indigenous rights, same-sex marriage, and some others that I agree with but don't really care too much about. There's usually at least one each month for something. I'll go if I have the energy and have no other commitments. (In practice, that doesn't happen much. I tend to either double-book myself or stay out late the night before and end up sleeping in.)

As a uni student, I get invited to lots of protests. There was a time when I walked past some people with signs and banners on their way to a rally, and I thought, "there's a protest and no one invited me?" even though I was busy with something else at the time and wouldn't have gone to the protest anyway. xD