I found this insightful article in looking for press coverage of the protests this weekend in Washington D.C. As the article predicts, there is very little media coverage, and most of it comes from small town newspapers or alternative media.
The Limits of Protest
This weekend, thousands will gather in Washington, DC to protest the rapacious policies of our federal government. Those who go will be fired up, they will meet other activists, and they will probably make some news. It seems to be our civic duty to travel across country to join them there, if we can, and make our voices heard by bringing the most people possible.
This all sounds very good, but it doesn’t mesh with past experiences mobilizing to DC. The anti-war movement enjoyed marching, and did a lot of it–I trekked from Michigan to demonstrate against the Iraq war, twice. Everyone was fired up, but we made little news, coverage was spun to focus on the worst of us, and in the long run, it’s hard to see what we achieved. No wars were stopped, no change was imposed upon the political establishment, and perhaps most significantly, when the demonstrations dispersed, everything went back to the way it was. We went back to our lives, with nothing to show for it but the immediate reaction.
Large demonstrations are appealing for several reasons. For one thing, they’re fun. Instead of a lonely door-to-door canvass where you must defend your beliefs to sometimes-hostile strangers (scary! until you try it), you’re getting together with thousands of like-minded people. It’s like planning a trip, or a party. They’re also appealing because many of us were taught that great political achievements, notably in civil rights, were forged through mass demonstrations. But in politics, the most high-profile events are rarely the most significant.
Read more here.
