We've seen the most sustained waves of protests
over the years from kids striking for climate
change, to Justice for
Women, Black Deaths in Custody, to pro
Palestinian rallies recently. We've seen protests
all over the world from Hong Kong, to the UK, the
US, even Russia.

Do they accomplish something?

Do they work?

No...next question.

On second thoughts, it depends on the aims of the protest and protesters. If the aim is to disrupt the lives of people who disagree with them or to demonstrate the protesters' imagined virtue, then yes, they totally work.

Protests can demonstrate the importance of a
belief to society at large and let authorities
understand that their actions will be opposed
( stopping our involvement in the Vietnam
war, protecting the Franklin and the Daintree),
and so much more.

In general, protests turn on themselves so, pointless exercise & waste of resources !

Protests may not succeed in the short term but they
may have long term effects.

They work because they direct attention towards
an injustice and can change people's lives.
For example - protests helped to win the 8 hour
working day, secure women's right to vote, end
criminalisation of homosexuality.

Protests are important for those who are often
ignored by our formal political systems - whether
its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
pushing for self determination or school kids
whose future is at stake and yet who can't vote to
choose the representatives who will determine it.

Protests continue to play a key role in
highlighting the wrongs in society be it domestic
violence, worker's rights, and so much more. People
feel compelled to show up for good causes.
And of course protests achieve much more if they are
peaceful. Violent protests turn people against
causes.