The futility of protest

Stand your ground without needlessly martyring yourself for no gain whatsoever.

The video version of this article may be watched here.

It is the great myth of liberal democracy that the voice of the people is amplified by congregation. That all we need to do in order to tell the ruling class what's what is to gather together and protest. That they will listen. That they will care.

I write this piece with two sets of protests in mind; two sets of protests which shatter the carefully constructed ruse that the power held by the people is the driving mechanism of democracy. One changed life as we know it and the other will be a footnote, condemned to be forgotten in a decade and doomed to never see its own vision.

Why? It's simple: the success or failure of a protest movement is pre-decided. The regime - with its instruments of power in middle management, human resources, media, education and policing - has the ability to make the good bad and the bad good. It will editorialise, alter language, gaslight, and if necessary, lie outright to protect its interests.

This is a regime that will resort, immediately, to destruction without a second thought. It won't kill you, it'll just ruin your life. It is permissive to its friends and ruthless to its critics.

2020 saw the most widespread political violence in America - and its satellite states -  for a generation. Rioting, arson, looting, attacks on police and federal property, dozens killed, statues torn down, American flags burned, and an autonomous zone declared. Yet the only thing we were told by the instruments of non-governmental power was that this was peaceful, an earnest rebellion against a cruel system, in the civilly disobedient tradition of Gandhi. And now, two years later, it is but a memory, even for those who stood against it.

The self-given label of ‘mostly peaceful’ was, and still is, evidently not true. What is true is that, despite the carnage and wanton criminality, the Black Lives Matter movement - and the general wave of activism in the name of social justice - has been a resounding success. Its language entered common parlance at an unprecedented speed, to the point where its underlying philosophy is taught to children in schools as if it were objective truth. In many American cities its demands were met immediately and without question, its message was deafeningly echoed by celebrities and politicians alike.

Contrast that with the response to the Capitol siege, an event which, while uncivilised and disturbing, did not bring about anywhere close to the same level of destruction and chaos as the summer riots. It did not endure as long, and did not enjoy the approval of the established cultural and intellectual order.

Consider also the gulf between police action, here in the UK, against Black Lives Matter events and anti-lockdown protests. Two images come to mind: officers kneeling, and officers throwing an elderly gentleman to the ground.

The point I am trying to make, is that protest and street mobilisation is not a universally available tactic. The Progressive cause is in cultural ascendency, and thus owns the machines of information: education, media, entertainment, big tech. They own the narrative, and, the jewel in the crown, the White House. In this imbalance of narrative power, the truth is irrelevant and nuance is a nuisance.

Compare again the destruction, length and social acceptability of the Black Lives Matter summer to the fallout of the riot at the Capitol building. In the former, a majority of charges were dropped, and local government refused to stop the mayhem. In the latter, federal resources were exhausted almost immediately and still are seven months later. This is not a coincidence.

Another disparity which betrays the inherent problem is the risk of catching and spreading COVID-19 at a protest or rally. Of course a Trump rally, an anti-lockdown march or a ‘stop the steal’ protest is a ‘super spreader’ event, with a Typhoid Mary under every red hat. Meanwhile, leading public health ‘experts’ declared protests on the other side of the coin to be perfectly safe and above board. As it was, humorously, put, ‘systemic racism is the real public health risk’.

As the title of this polemic states, for conservatives, lockdown sceptics and, dare I say it, anti-vaxxers, protest is futile. If you fall foul of the machine of information, you do not have freedom of speech, press or assembly.

You will be slandered without shame or the burden of proof, you will be labeled a domestic terrorist or a threat to public safety. Again, this is not a coincidence.

So what can we do? We have to be brave, but also prudent. Stand your ground without needlessly martyring yourself for no gain whatsoever. If you are a dissident, then walking around with a shirt or sign that loudly proclaims your dissidence will get you nowhere but six feet under, figuratively.

There are steps we can take to resist the ceaseless authoritarian trend of Progressivism without being mercilessly crushed. Start small social groups and gate-keep the hell out of them, hold clandestine meeting for the discussion and proliferation of ideas, slowly introduce apolitical or apathetic friends to alternative viewpoints. Form strong and covalent communities. But whatever you do, do not go out and protest.