[Closed] Have street protests ever made a difference?

Get with the programme grandad, if you want to create real change in this society copy and paste something right-on into your facebook status

Watching this latest student demostration, has there ever been a change in policy due to direct street protests?

I dont know... but my mate Ghandi would.

poll tax?

[url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cable_Street ]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cable_Street[/url]

One of the most effective pieces of direct action in British political history;

[i]
The anti-fascist groups erected roadblocks in an attempt to prevent the march from taking place. The barricades were erected near the junction with Christian Street, towards the west end of this long street. An estimated 300,000 anti-fascist demonstrators turned out.

Over 10,000 police, including 4,000 on horseback, attempted to clear the road to permit the march to proceed.[citation needed] The demonstrators fought back with sticks, rocks, chair legs and other improvised weapons. Rubbish, rotten vegetables and the contents of chamber pots were thrown at the police by women in houses along the street. After a series of running battles, Mosley agreed to abandon the march to prevent bloodshed. The BUF marchers were dispersed towards Hyde Park instead while the Anti-fascists rioted with Police. 150 demonstrators were arrested, although some escaped with the help of other demonstrators. Several members of the police were kidnapped by demonstrators. Around 100 people were injured including police, women and children.[/i]
[i]The Battle of Cable Street was a major factor leading to the passage of the Public Order Act 1936, which required police consent for political marches and forbade the wearing of political uniforms in public. This is widely considered to be a significant factor in the BUF's political decline prior to World War II.[/i]

so not all bad, by any means.

Probably not - the pro-hunting demonstration was attended by about 600,000 people yet hunting was still banned.

The anti Iraq II war demonstrations were considerably larger and we still went to war with Iraq.

Draw your own conclusions...

Edited: jon1973 pointed out my idiocy

I think the Poll Tax ones must have made a difference, it didn't last too long.

I was there!

The former eastern bloc, and the soviet union

the pro-hunting demonstration was attended by about 600,000 people [b](that's 1 in 10 of the population... [/b]

er.. no it's not.

99 out of every 100 people didn't want to attend the pro-hunting demonstration...

jon1973 - you're right its not (swift edit)!

Tollpuddle matyrs too.

So that's at least 3 successes. There must be more otherwise people wouldn't bother

But did you see the pro-hunt demos? They were catastrophically misjudged

and we were all very well behaved. 😉

Maybe thats why it didnt help 🙁

This one caused a bit of a hoo-haa at the time

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peterloo_Massacre

The long term effects were rather more profound than a few new office windows at Tory HQ

I find it harder to think of change without direct action
Votes for women - women had to die to get the vote less than 100 years ago.
Unions and associated legislation.
the ones where they ignored us - Iraq for exampl makes me think we just did not go far enough. they can only govern and sh1t on us with our consent they [ rich and powerful] need us far more than we need them as they make money from us and we make f all from them.
Awaits ernies input later

I think the French use rioting as part of the democratic process don't they..? And Latin Americans..

There was a march in my town against a new Asda becuase it would spoil the scenery.. we didn't get a new Asda.. which is bloody daft cos now we still have an old lorry park and a very dated bus station instead.. plus only one supermarket effectively.. which results in us having the highest prices of any tescos in europe.. (rant over)

This is another what have the bloody Romans done for us

the pro-hunting demonstration was attended by about 600,000 people yet hunting was still banned.

Tony Blair has stated to making sure the bill was full of holes so hunting could continue after the ban. He admitted that he new nothing about hunting issues when he agreed to the bill - but did by the time it was finalised.

How much of this was helped by the demonstration? Quite alot i'd say.

Have street protests ever made a difference?

[i]The anti Iraq II war demonstrations were considerably larger and we still went to war with Iraq[/i]

maybe not at the time, but there's no chance of any govt ignoring that sort of strength of feeling again

Have the students got some good ideas about where the money will come from? I should imagine that will have a greater impact than any protest.

yunki - that sums up this nation more than anything

Go to war on a flimsy false pretext and a pack of lies?

Collective shrug.

Commit yet more troops to a pointless and un-winable war in Afganistan?

Yawn.

Bankrupt the country, while letting the people who did it off scot free.

Yeah.... whatever

Persecute the poorest in society for the mistakes of bankers?

What time is corrie on...

But hang on a minute.... they want to do what?!!! THEY WANT TO DO WHAT?!!!!!

BUILD A ****ING ASDA???!!!!! OVER MY ****ING DEAD BODY THEY WILL?!!!!!
TAKE TO THE ****ING STREETS!!!!! TONIGHT WE MARCH ON THE CAPITAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

maybe not at the time, but there's no chance of any govt ignoring that sort of strength of feeling again

Bhaaah hah hhah hah haaaaa!!! haaa! ha!

Sorry, let me compose myself... why not?

This is a democracy FFS, we all know whats coming down the pipeline and we support these decisions using our vote!

the pro-hunting demonstration was attended by about 600,000 people yet hunting was still banned.

so in effect... this is one of the few examples of democracy actually working honestly and fairly..

And there is no way on earth that 600 000 folk were on the pro hunt march.

[img] [/img]

Just as well I'm not young, eh Trois Poissons?

Mon aéroglisseur est plein des anguilles.

And there is no way on earth that 600 000 folk were on the pro hunt march.

About 599,999 of them were just folk who'd come up to look at the electric light phenomenon that we have in That London. And go shopping for some new wellies.

This is a democracy FFS, we all know whats coming down the pipeline and we support these decisions using our vote!

This is the funniest thread in ages.

If nothing else, mass participation in street protest exposes a lot of people to the reality that the status quo is maintained by the violence of the agents of the Police State.

Mon aéroglisseur est plein des anguilles.

😀

even more useless, at schools all over England today, students decided to walk out at 11pm for a mixture of "free university", "reduced university fees" and "EMA's being brought back". They set of at 11 around the school grounds and came back in at 12 for dinner. 🙄

when I asked why they didn't just b*gger of home, they said they weren't aloud. Half of them had no idea what they were wanting and kept changing the chants. I still can't see how disrupting a school for an hour can make any difference to the way the government deals with tuition fees.

I of course, stayed inside where it was warm 8)

The original Poll Tax uprising certainly managed to drag out some concessions from the ruling elite - as did Jack Cade's Rebellion 🙂

Nowt like stabbing the mayor of London in front of a wimpy little King to capture some attention....

I think that there is some evidence to suggest that the civil disturbances in inner cities of England in 1981 resulted in some positive if somewhat limited changes and perhaps a wider appreciation within the system that a lack of political representation in certain sections of society and overt police racism are only ever going to have a negative effect on society.

when I asked why they didn't just b*gger of home, they said they weren't aloud. Half of them had no idea what they were wanting and kept changing the chants. I still can't see how disrupting a school for an hour can make any difference to the way the government deals with tuition fees.

I imagine this is more about educating the children towards being more pro-active adults.. I guess that they could have sat in classrooms not learning to spell properly or something instead..?

In South Korea they do.,

A million people marching over US beef, literally, beef

when I asked why they didn't just b*gger of home, they said they weren't [b]aloud[/b].

I imagine this is more about educating the children towards being more pro-active adults.. I guess that they could have sat in classrooms not learning to spell properly or something instead..?

Heh! Got there before me!

I was waiting for the 15-minute 'edit window' to close.... 😉

I did think about spelling that, then the thought passed and I ploughed straight on 😆

No you didn't.

girls allowed

Without question....

Swampy and the anti-road protesters caused the number of road building projects to be reduced. The transport minister at the time later admitted this, as well as saying that their reasoning was sound (ie. increasing road capacity just increases traffic and all the associated problems).

This thread seems to show direct action works.

Have the students got some good ideas about where the money will come from? I should imagine that will have a greater impact than any protest.

Vodaphone could pay their tax bill, for starters.