Protest or Persuasion

Protest or Persuasion in democracy.

Protest is a form of political persuasion. Waleed Aly today described how uncomfortable he was as noisy immigration protesters boarded his train. They did not react with him at all. But, in writing about it he described protest as one of “the very ideas that underwrite democracy’.

Bullying protests

A lot like gang bullying, it often produces exactly the opposite effect to what was wanted. Protest is a blunt tool mostly ignored by politicians as it has no great impact on them or their careers. It creates a “them and us” situation in which the politicians dig in to justify their current position. This is because it makes them look silly so they resent the protesters.

Persuasion by Votergrams

Far more effective are Votergrams from the individual “protester” going to each and every MP explaining what that protester wants. More importantly explaining why. If solutions are complex as is often the case, the Votergrams will provide community-acceptable solutions.

Persuasion

Polite persistent political persuasion in the privacy of parliament is generally far more effective than protest, but then protest comes free.