this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2024
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If protesters get arrested for protesting, then what will we do if the government goes against the people?
Punishing protesting is a form of domination, something that only has its place in dictatorships.
I do get being punished for destroying someone else's property, but not for protesting.
Protesters don't necessarily get arrested for protesting, usually its for creating a disturbance, like blocking roads and bridges, and doing weird shit like throwing tomato soup on paintings and gluing yourself to a museum wall. Protesting in this way is meant to be provocative, they know they'll get arrested, but it gets on the news and gets people talking.
Personally I'm not sure why they targeted painting in an art museum specifically, they were protesting the extraction of oil. Maybe because they were oil paintings?
You're wrong about people knowing that they're going to be arrested for many protest activities. The point of marching is that it doesn't damage anything and it doesn't hurt any people. That's why people go out and they walk in public places and on roads and on bridges, because it doesn't harm anyone so there's no reason to arrest anyone, but it does make their presence felt so people can't pretend the problem doesn't exist.
If your solution is that anytime a protester does anything disruptive, they should be arrested, that will encourage all protesters to immediately move towards property damage. If they're going to get locked up anyway, why not break the windows of the companies that they think are doing such a bad job? Why not burn a few police cars? Then they'll be making the presence felt and taking funding away from people who don't deserve it.
Sure I guess that there are likely some protesters that blindly protest without thinking about the consequences of their actions, but break laws get arrested, you don't get a free pass just because you're protesting.