The Atlantic featured an excellent article on the general ineffectiveness of protests a few years ago. The writer argues that the problem is that, while it is very easy to get people to join a protest, there are not a lot of people who are willing to sit at the table and hammer out the paperwork necessary to ensure change. In short, people want to get out for a good time, but they do not want to put in the serious work.
Why Street Protests Don't Work
How can so many demonstrations accomplish so little?
In today’s world, an appeal to protest via Twitter, Facebook, or text message is sure to attract a crowd, especially if it is to demonstrate against something—anything, really—that outrages us. The problem is what happens after the march. Sometimes it ends in violent confrontation with the police, and more often than not it simply fizzles out. Behind massive street demonstrations
there is rarely a well-oiled and more-permanent organization capable of following up on protesters’ demands and undertaking the complex, face-to-face, and dull political work that produces real change in government.
Technology Policy at Princeton University, who writes that “Before the Internet, the tedious work of organizing that was required to circumvent censorship or to organize a protest also helped build infrastructure for decision making and strategies for sustaining momentum. Now movements can rush past that step, often to their own detriment.”
What we’ve witnessed in recent years is the popularization of street marches without a plan for what happens next and how to keep protesters engaged and integrated in the political process. It’s just the latest manifestation of the dangerous illusion that it is possible to have democracy without political parties—and that street protests based more on social media than sustained political organizing is the way to change society.
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/04/why-street-protests-dont-work/360264/
