How (not) to protest

or why "super gluing" yourself to the road is one way of doing it.

There was apparently a "protest" in the city yesterday. The "Extinction Rebellion" rent-a-crowd was out and about trying to ram their "message" home.  A colleague was late to a meeting as a result of having to go the long way around them. 

Going "the long way around" would be an irritation for most people. It might make them a few minutes late. It made my colleague rather later than that because he has mobility issues. There was more than time involved for him. There was physical effort. He spent the rest of the day feeling physically exhausted. Thankfully one of his work mates got him to the train at the end of the day and his wife picks him up. He spoke to me from home - in bed before 8pm. 

I am sure this would not worry the protestors in the slightest. They would probably see it as a good thing. It would be couched in terms of "well it made him aware of the issue" and "this is the sort of thing everyone will have to put up with if they don't do as we want". These are the sort of protestors who don't think twice about taking up police time and resources. They don't think twice about clogging up the magistrates' courts to get a slap on the wrist. It is "all in a good cause".  Disrupting traffic, trespassing, endangering themselves and other people is all beside the point. They have a message to get across. 

But is it really getting the message across?  

We have a quite extraordinary right to be heard in this country. We can do it in any number of legal and effective ways. Contrary to the belief of many politicians do listen to what their electorates are telling them - if only to try and get themselves re-elected. People running successful businesses are the same. Protests like the one held yesterday don't impress them. Protests like that won't change their minds. Those sort of protests just cause the targets to be more determined, more annoyed and less likely to listen.

I have protested in my time. I have protested by writing letters. I know other people who have done the same thing. It might seem an odd way of going about it - but it works.