And so the price and economic cost to one of the most globalized cities in the world is quite significant in that regard. There's not a single pathway to successful movement, but in general, the more organized you are, the better able you are to frame your movement and the grievances, the better able you are to control what is going on in the streets and how that plays out.
That's what makes for a more successful movement. When you have movements that are not successful at framing their message or their grievances or engage in violence, that undermines their overall message. So, in this regard, I think Chile is an example where, by my reading of it, it seems to have been more violent and more focused on looting and destruction of property.
And that also poses an economic cost. But from a perspective of persuading the broader population, it may not be as successful. And also, in terms of justifying a more repressive government response, it's not successful in that regard. The most successful cases have been in Lebanon, where protesters seem to have gotten the government to agree to a large package of economic reforms or political compromises. And so, instead of responding with repression or violence, the government responded with concessions.
Beyond that, I would say it. The protesters in Hong Kong have been very sophisticated and resilient. The Hong Kong movement is creating what I consider to be somewhat of a new models of protest in terms of really utilizing technology to created extremely decentralized movement and has sustained itself over time. And so some of those tactics and that model have been models for other movements elsewhere, such as in Catalonia, where they're explicitly trying to learn from that sort of model.
So I mentioned the airport occupation where they first shut down the airport and then they started protesting in the airport. And that's something that the Catalonians have picked up explicitly on and have explicitly replicated that tactic. While focus is often placed on mass action, movements may need to employ a number of strategies to ensure their sustainability.
Movements should have both long-term advocacy strategies and short-term protest strategies. Within this framework it is possible to have different interest groups within a movement working towards different aims and lobbying different external interest groups.
It is important that leaders emphasise the purpose of all these strategies and the fact that they can coexist.
This conflict management strategy should give every person a role in a movement that suits their political affiliation or level of activism as closely as possible. While it is possible to house people with conflicting political values in a single movement, it is crucial that a movement establishes a set of core minimum standards that cut across political opinions and to which all members subscribe. An example of such a standard could be that members will not resort to violence. In this instance, violence must be properly defined, with clarity about whether it includes controversial aspects such as damage to property or responding to violence from the police.
This works best with formalised civil society movements or established protest movements. Many protest movements, particularly those that represent youth or student causes, are made up of people who have never participated in protests before. It is important to plan for this inexperience to ensure the safety of members of a movement and the efficacy of protests.
Protest organisers should ensure that everyone knows the route that a protest march will take, what safety measures are in place and how to react if the police are violent or deploy teargas or similar weapons. For instance, because many protesters were participating in mass action for the first time in the Chilean student protests, leaders printed educational material explaining the procedures and safety protocols and held meetings to discuss the details of these.
In Brazil, civil society organisations often hold lunchtime seminars on how to protest and protect yourself from the harmful effects of less-lethal weapons, including appropriate clothing and exit strategies. It is important to have specially designated staff who can carry out first aid, mark out the route that a protest march is following and provide protection to protesters, where necessary.
Staff can be made up of members of a movement who have the relevant expertise, volunteers or hired professionals, where a movement has resources for this. The Chilean student unions paid to hire people to fulfil these roles during the student protests in Panic in crowds can be dangerous as it often leads to stampedes or violent responses from the police. The inequalities that plague society in general are present in protest movements too.
Equally, movements may have gendered dimensions requiring specific attention. For instance, women are often the targets of sexual assault by fellow protesters or the police see here , page Further, as is the case in Chile, movements representing the interests of indigenous people have less social and political capital than movements made up of groups that enjoy certain privileges, such as urban students. This inequality in responses by security services reinforces the lack of trust that these communities have towards members of the security services.
It is important for movements to evaluate constantly the demographics of the people who form their membership. This evaluation should be accompanied by a critical reflection on the social struggles that different groups face and a conscious effort to avoid the perpetuation of behaviours and attitudes of exclusion within a movement.
This can be done by ensuring that members undergo sensitivity and implicit-bias training and that there are proper reporting mechanisms that allow members to report instances of abuse or discrimination. Movements must ensure that they support members who are particularly vulnerable or movements that represent the interests of vulnerable groups.
However, it is crucial that this is done through collaboration. This involves reaching out to excluded groups to establish their needs and the assistance or partnership they seek. A decision to help other movements and their members should be based on mutual respect and cannot be taken based on preconceptions that privileged groups have of the needs of those who experience inequality.
Because of their privileged position in society, some movements or people are less likely to face violence or repressive responses from states than others. It is important that movements and networks of movements think carefully about who is best placed to make demands and use this to tailor their advocacy approaches.
For instance, in Chile, universities in rural areas that cater predominantly to indigenous people faced similar funding struggles to universities in more privileged urban areas. However, the members of movements from urban universities were less likely to be abused if they held mass protests than their counterparts in rural areas. The movements collaborated to ensure that urban universities furthered the cause of rural universities during their mass protests, without the indigenous protesters having to put themselves at unnecessary risk.
Police brutality affects many members of protest movements. Police officers are often not properly trained to deal with large crowds or are not taught the need to respect the fundamental rights and integrity of those participating in protests. Violent reactions to protests from the police lead to injuries amongst protesters and often the escalation of violence as protesters act to defend themselves see here , page It is important that states develop proper training procedures for police officers to ensure that human rights are protected during times of protest.
All crowd-control measures should be evaluated to determine their compliance with human rights standards before they are deployed see here , pages Protest movements and civil society organisations should arrange advocacy campaigns around this issue see here.
Civil society organisations should develop training materials and offer to assist states in properly training the police to deal with mass gatherings. Numerous civil society organisations are indeed doing this see here for examples.
In certain contexts, recognising that police officers are just people who have been given a job and are often afraid when doing this job humanises them. Once the police have been humanised, it is easier to see that they can be brought on board with a cause that a movement is protesting for.
In Armenia, protesters in gave sweets and flowers to the police and attempted to befriend them. As a consequence, during the Velvet Revolution there was only one instance of police brutality and it was met with condemnation from all sides. It is unlikely that police will engage in violent reactions when they empathise with a cause and are treated well by protesters. Depending on the context, the police may be less likely to use violence against prominent people, out of fear of reprisals.
For instance, journalists, celebrities and high-ranking officials are likely to be treated with caution because of the influence they possess. Protesters should attempt to form good relations with these people so that they will assist in preventing brutality and arrest. For instance, at the Standing Rock protests in the USA, military veterans acted as human shields to prevent violence against protesters see here , page Similarly, at many South African universities, white students, being less likely to be targeted by police violence than black students, formed human shields to prevent the arrest of black students during the student protests at the University of Cape Town see here.
To mitigate abuses of force and brutality by the police and gather evidence for potential prosecutions in the event of police criminality, protest movements may consider deploying people to record protests and any policing operations during a protest.
Alongside photo and video evidence, protesters should document and collect any other evidence, including of weapons and munitions, that may be useful for prosecuting misconduct by the police or counter-protesters. Additionally, evidence collected may lead to different and additional forms of advocacy.
For example, teargas canisters have multiple identifying marks that should be recorded. In protests in Bahrain in , a teargas canister produced by a South African arms manufacturer was allegedly discovered as a result of its markings. Scrutiny of weapons exports is one example of an action to address social ills that may lead to different forms of advocacy and protest against different targets see here for more information about evidence collection.
In contexts where police brutality is prevalent or protest movements have protested for extended periods of time, protest fatigue — where protest leaders no longer have the energy or mental or physical strength to protest further — can often weaken movements. Members of movements should be aware of the difficulties associated with protest fatigue and ensure that suitable mechanisms, such as psycho-social support, are accessible and that debriefings take place after protests, especially were violence has occurred.
Sometimes movements form to counter a cause or change for which an organisation or movement advocates. This is most common when the issue underlying a movement relates to a value-laden or moral question, rather than an issue of service delivery or government failure.
Movements and counter-movements often clash with one another and provoke violence that can delegitimises both see here. Activists set up food banks and donation centres with clothing, masks, hand sanitiser and other goods. Amid the protests, the city banned chokeholds and neck restraints like the one used on Floyd. Officers are also now required to try to stop improper force by fellow officers.
The state passed similar police reform legislation in July. Some promises — like a commitment from city leaders to dismantle the Minneapolis police department — have stalled in recent months. But BLM Minnesota and other groups have been able to start or reignite conversations around reparations and economic inclusion for Black communities. That will continue to be a priority, Crews says, moving into The work of Black Lives Matter chapters has been seen in the streets, legislatures and the ballot boxes of other cities across the US.
Other cities took significant steps in considering reparations for descendants of slaves. California established a task force to make recommendations on reparations. The issue also gained renewed interest at the national level. Confederate symbols and statues came down. Protesters forced businesses, media organisations and other companies to finally recognise and examine institutional racism and develop policies to address it.
And many cities enacted police reforms — albeit not at the level many would like. But with all the successes also came setbacks. Ten local chapters wrote an open letter earlier this month, expressing concern with the global network in how recent decisions were made and money has been allocated. According to a Pew study , support for Black Lives Matter surged in June at the height of the protests but fell by September, though the majority of Americans 55 percent still say they strongly or somewhat support the movement.
Among Black Americans, however, support has remained strong. At the same time, police killings have not stopped.
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