I would very much like to answer this question, the main reason being my Son is an activist, and I get many mixed reactions from people on his work. But at large people appreciate.
First of all, I need to mention one thing, that yes not every cause of an activist is justified. When I say that I mean there are many times when some people get on the road for a cause which is not really justified. But then who decides what is justified and what is not. What may be relevant to one may not be relevant for another. While one person may agree to be vocal about it, another would find it a nuisance. It is very difficult to identify in such a case if the cause is justified or not.
Being an activist is a work of guts, it is not every person's cup of tea. A lot of people have an opinion but they feel afraid of raising their voice. An activist comes up with a lot of courage to voice the opinion. When an activist is getting onto the road for a cause, it is not his or her personal agenda, they are doing it for some greater good of the people. There may be some disturbances but people need to understand that what they cannot stand up for and speak for these activists are doing.
At the same time, the activist should also be mindful about not disrupting public services in any way, because that's where they also lose public support. For e.g., getting onto the roads and blocking the traffic is not a very good way of voicing out their opinion. It should be done in a manner where in there is no inconvenience cause to the ones who are not participating.
Sometimes people think, it is not my problem and with that they just turn away from activist agendas. But living in one society everything at some point of time becomes our problem, which is what people fail to understand.
Just for e.g. some activist taking out a rally for LGBT rights. Majority of the people think what have we got to do with this agenda, it does not concern us and they find it a nuisance. But then think of it, some day if you have a certain member of your family in this category, will you still remain quiet and not support.
Yes, if the activist does not carry out their agenda with proper planning and they disrupt the normal day to day functioning of the society then it is not justified. Fighting for a cause does not mean that you have the right to behave in any unjustified manner. How ever reliable or justified your cause is, one should never expect that every single person will support in the cause, because everyone has their own view points.
For e.g. my Son has been vocal on the vaccine agenda and the lockdowns during the Covid times. They did several road protests. In the first few ones they hardly received any support and he was very disappointed that people were not rising up to the occasion. I had to tell him that he should not expect that, because his agenda cannot be everyone's agenda. There are many reasons why they would not want to join the protest. Some thought it was all justified, some were scared, some were in their own world busy with their life and not concerned.....there are many types of people and not necessarily everyone will agree no matter how noble your cause is.
Couple of years back, there were some activists in Mumbai city who were voicing up against the forest land which was being planned to be used up for building a metro system in the city. Many people got on the roads to protest against this, but there were some who still supported the government saying it was justified, City needs a metro system. Now think of it, this is such a grave matter but still there was not 100% support.
Disrupting routines in the city is not a very good idea, but then sometimes I personally feel that is the way to be heard else they do not get the required attention. The worldwide protest that was happening during the Covid times for the insane lockdowns and vaccine mandates, if they would have not happened, this situation would have never ended or you can say slowed down. We would have still been in lockdowns and counting on the number of vaccines shot after shot. I will not say it was not justified.
The Farmers rally in India took a very bad shape, it went on for a year and after that finally the government agreed to repeal the farm bills. When they started, they were doing very peaceful rallies sending out their messages, they never disrupted any day-to-day life of common public. They moved from one place to another peacefully and in a planned manner. But they were not being heard, rather on some occasions the police guys provoked them and then there was violence that happened in their protest, which was against their wish. Many people said that it was not justified, but how can we say it was not justified. It was a matter of their livelihood and they were not being heard with calm talks and negotiations. Only after a strong oppose for a year they finally got some results. What would you say on that...Not my problem? Ideally every Indian should have been a part of that protest.
Sometimes what we may feel is not justified may be something very important and life concerning for some group of people. I would say that all activist agendas should be carried out in a disciplined and planned manner with proper approvals and in peaceful manner, but then there are times where people are left with no choice, then that is the time the whole of public needs to understand that this is for something greater good and be supportive as much as possible. Most of the times these protest and rallies go out of control because they get provoked. Any violence is not justified.
Thank you for visiting my blog. 👼🏻👼🏻💖💖🌹🌺🌸
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Well reasoned and argued. I agree that protest should be as peaceful as “possible”, depending on the issue at hand. Some things cannot be tolerated in silence. ❤️😊🤔😊❤️
That's what I too believe that somethings cannot be tolerated and we get pushed to extremes testing all our limits until we break out.
This is difficult part about protesting: nobody likes to inconvenience others, but on the other hand, as a protester you want to be heard. If people are not allowed to express their concerns how they be heard? Also, if the issues are literally of life-and-death importance, protesters may see no other way than the most radical manifestation. This could take the form of violence and destruction of others, but also such shocking practices as self immolation. In my opinion whenever something like that happens, it's always a sign that something else is really not in order.
Absolutely I agree to that, and if you study about the violence that have happened in some of the protest, they are triggered by the governments and police. Majority of the times the protestors do it peacefully unless they are provoked and harmed.