Goal oriented vs feelgood protest events

[eridani]

http://www.nationofchange.org/what-can-activists-learn-romney-s-47-percent-1348667512

Working class people see campaigns as practical, because they have stated and achievable goals and targets that can yield to the campaigns’ demands. I remember a typical reaction of Philadelphia working class people to most of the activist protests at the 2000 Republican National Convention: “Nuthin’ but fun and games.” Especially emphatic were some African-American working class members of a group that does direct action — including civil disobedience — to make gains for poor people. The ones I listened to were not only dismissive, but angry at the waste — both of the protesters’ energy and the city having to spend extra money.

Working class people often experience middle class people as self-absorbed, claiming space for something that turns out in the end to be only about themselves. Even when a black person confronts a white middle class activist for what appears to be racist behavior, a typical white will explain themselves at great length with long excuses and righteous claims — turning their own hurtful behavior into an occasion for making it all about them.

That pattern offers a lens into looking at activist demonstrations that seem to have no other object than self-expression. The problem is not confined to radical anarchists; polite Quakers also have a tendency to stand in vigils that have no clear relation to achieving change. “What is the point?” a working class person might ask