No Stupid Questions

Depends. A protest that happens for a grand total of a single day will do jack shit. A protest that lasts several days usually tends to get some results. If the end result is a piece of shit, an organized front will start protesting again.

The thing about protests is that they have, more than bring attention to something, is annoy and/or threaten the powerful. If you ever see a protest where the police is protecting the people, that shit is most definitely defending oppression (happened a lot in Brazil in the last 10 or so years). You know how strikes are almost always shown as utterly villainous, something done by "freeloaders" who "don't want to work", by corporate media? That's because it's annoying the powerful, the protest is working and the powerful are fighting back behind the scenes.

Protests that "don't bother anyone" are bound to be forgotten like a tiktok video. That's a real problem, because sometimes a lot of innocent bystanders also get annoyed, like in the case of strikes. A strike of bus drivers will fuck up a LOT of workers, and possibly hurt them much more than any powerful figure, so it's super easy to turn public opinion go against them.

That's the problem of society, the majority of people don't have power, so the only way they can be heard is by joining up for a common purpose. Powerful people can make one or two calls to fight back against a mass of protesters.

Absolutely protests change the world.

Both the women's suffrage movement and the civil rights movement in the US were significantly fueled by protests. It takes more than protests, but protests can play an important part.

Check out France protests sometime

Protest toppled a couple of leaders during the Arab spring. Even with Israel, Biden has started sanctioning West bank settlers and sends veiled threats about respecting life. It is not much, but without protests, we wouldn't even see that.

Sometimes they do, sometimes (most times probably) they don't. However they don't work 100% of the time if attempts are never made.

Effective to the degree they have a material impact on the economy and psychological impact on the powerful and their lackeys. I would argue many of the BLM protests had an effect, if minor, because many cops quit and many cities still have fewer cops than they did before due to difficulty hiring.

Blocking commerce, looting, and arson of empty buildings have significant economic and psychological impacts. From an American perspective, successful social movements like, the suffragettes, civil rights movement, anti-slavery activists, and workers rights groups all engaged in such strategies. It wasn't until well after that these movements were sanitized to be "non-violent".

Sometimes.

You mention the specific example of Israel which is literally the most complicated conflict in the entire world. Most people are already aware that it is happening, all the arguments on both sides of that are very well known, there is not really anything novel that can still be said about it. So protests about it (on any side) are not going to have a lot of effect.

Some do, some don't. What kind of answer did you expect?

The only thing the state understands is violence, money and power. We can do nothing to threaten their power or violence, but we can threaten their money through general strikes. Bring capitalism to its knees and they too will bend.

Protests can be highly effective if you follow the proper procedures, set a time and place that is well publicized, apply for the proper permits, coordinate with local authorities, stay within the allotted boundaries making sure not to overcrowd the area, do not disrupt traffic or commerce, do not intimidate the peacekeeping agents placed there to protect you, and please do not damage the provided velvet ropes or barricades

In our small town - just a few thousand people, in an extremely red area of an extremely red state: there is a lady that stands on a corner of the main street though town (1 of 10 intersections). She wears her mask with a Gaza flag pattern and holds a Gaza flag with a small poster board that says like "Free Gaza" or something.

I support her right to protest, but I'm not sure that it's doing anything or what her goal even is. No idea what her protest is designed to do other than virtue signal.

On the other hand I spend time in February making sure my kids and friends/family on social media see images of civil rights protests - brave people attending school or sitting at a lunch counter.

I think protests can work and can change things, but context and strategy matter a lot.

Protests are very good at causing civil unrest, damaging public property, making other peoples days worse, and swaying their view further away from your cause

If any of those are your goal, they can be quite effective

They help your rich opposition to identify you so they can quietly filter you into poverty or bring you an accident.

I think they can work, but only when certain pieces are there. The protest must have:

• A clearly defined goal
• Existing support somewhere in the government, or a financial incentive for people in the government that oppose you.

For example, civil rights and women's right to vote had some governmental support. The protests had well defined goals, and helped raise awareness and support for those people already in government to enact change.

On the other hand, the 1% protests a few years ago, and more recently, BLM, had ambiguous goals. Without clear goals, no existing government support could be identified. And there was no financial incentive for others to act. The protests raised awareness but ultimately had little real effect unfortunately.

I do wonder if things have changed though. I think public shaming helped enact some changes in the past, but no one has shame anymore.

I think the best way to put it is that protests can be effective only when they present a credible threat of some sort against the people who have the power to make changes to whatever the protest is about. That threat may be direct violence, it may be electoral change, or it may be something else, but a credible threat of some sort is absolutely required.

Protesting against Israel, therefore, is of little use in most situations. The protesters pose no credible threat to Israel, so their decisions aren't going to change. And the protesters generally are not representing much of a credible threat against their own governments either, so their own governments are also not moved to change.

Yes