There’s nothing like the emitting of carbon to spark off a protest – and I’m not talking about climate change.
Thursday’s Canberra leg of the Olympic Torch relay could flash scenes of serene placard holders, smiling families with balloon-toting children or it could ignite in a hot bed of troublemaking chaos – it all depends on the type of protesters that turn up.
The success of promoting a cause through protests and rallies relies on getting the message across to effect change – but how many of these protesters are fuelled by true conviction and how many are present for popularity or plotting for trouble? The types of protesters are the true, the trendies and the troublemakers – which ones are good or bad for the cause they purport to support?
What is a protest?
Protests are a part of some societies – they are the voice to an idea, a cause, and can be summed up by some catchy by-line ‘save the X’, ‘free the Y’. Protests can range from candlelight vigils outside embassies to Molotov fuelled rage and car overturnings.
The Olympic torch relay is but one example that has aroused such a range of reactions, radiated by the full spectrum of protester types.
True Protester
Who is a true protester then? They are the people that follow the cause in all sincerity – the real vegans, not the ones who wear Nike shoes with leather upper. The real greenies, who chain themselves to Huon pines for months on end. They are the organisers of protests and can actually describe what they mean by ‘anti-globalisation’ with an articulate and passionate explanation, backed up with reasoned and evidenced facts.
Trendy Protester
Whereas if anyone ever did a survey of the crowds at protests they’d also come across those who cannot explain what drove them to leave their house – the trendy types whose idea of green is to use recycled loo paper only to have a 20 minute shower. Trendies are identified by rubber bangles and rainbow bumper stickers with slogans of ‘save-the-whales-dolphins-green-tree-frog’. On a sunny day, they love a stroll with their mates, even to anti-globalisation protests that in principle should see them naked of their jeans sewn on shores far away and shipped to a store on Queen St.
‘Sorry day’ is one example of trendy protesting, the champagne socialists with kids piggy-backed on shoulders walking across the Sydney Harbour Bridge – but would they give up their house if it was on traditional land? The trendies may seek publicity for themselves, like the French Olympic team with their chic little badges to encourage unity – who are not even frog-spined enough to say ‘Free Tibet’. Even if they came right out and said it, do they really know what it means suddenly uproot and remove infrastructure, even if provided from via a despotic foreign invader, from an agrarian based economy?
Despite trendies wearing more ribbons than a West Virginian kiddie beauty pageant entrant, do they detract from the credibility of the cause, thereby diminishing the ultimate aim? No, they’re just jumping on the bandwagon – not everyone can be a Condoleeza Rice of current events, but trendies can follow the lead of true protesters, and help them out by getting in the faces of politicians.
Troublemaker protester
Helping the cause is not on the mind of the bloke with the hair product and fu^% Bush t-shirt who replies to the query of why globalisation is bad: ‘ I dunno, I’m here to impress the chicks’.
If not to impress, then to cause distress and unrest – the troublemaker protester is the one we see on the news, their flannelette shirt dragged along the concrete by riot-geared cops, stubbled face hidden behind dreadlocks and snarling dogs. One imagines a post-protest get-together of counting how many pigs they punched.
The troublemakers may get the journos foaming at the mouth, but does their behaviour really help the cause? They might try to justify their actions as ‘nice guys finish last’ and ‘passive resistance is for pussies’. On one level, they may be right – it takes a shake-up to shock anyone into change anymore. But troublemaker protesters who use gratuitous violence as their vehicle are bad for the cause – they turn the politicians away as much as the general voting public. For a cause to be heard and acted upon, getting politicians on side is essential because all they care about is the next election. Sure, in countries that don’t have elections, I can understand a bit of biff, but do Parisians really need to throw eggs and bottles at the relay bus and Londoners need swarm upon the torch runner?
When that flame comes by, will there be peace-signs or sirens? For the sake of the Olympic cause of unity and humanity, let’s hope the true and trendy protesters lead the way.
