Cav's Place

This post can be said to be mainly aimed at certain people who try to organize protests in Romania, and particularly in Bucharest, on issues that clearly won’t get the attention of the masses. As such, it’ll contain some specifics that may not apply too well to other places or situations, but the general idea should be of use to anyone trying to kick off a protest on a niche issue without having a strong organization or a solid group of activists to rely on.
This may be even more fitting at this particular time, when large protests seem to be kicking off in more and more places, because this tends to make the small protests even smaller and more difficult to kick off. When the big protests, on issues that have mass appeal, grow and get more attention, those who would be in any way willing to take part in something like this tend to join them, greatly reducing the number of potential attendees for any other protests that may take place at the same time. In turn, that makes the media and the politicians focus only on these major protests, meaning that it becomes even more difficult for people to even learn of the smaller ones, and those who do hear of them may well say that it’ll be pointless to attend, since they’ll be getting little to no attention anyway.

The particular situation around here is even more difficult, because Romanians generally don’t tend to take part in protests, so there are extremely few dedicated activists and, if you exclude the major political parties, next to no organizations capable of organizing a large protest. But it can’t be a singular case and, as I already pointed out, the large protests that are now taking place all over the world tend to take people away from the smaller ones, meaning that anyone trying to make something happen regarding an issue not covered, or at least not sufficiently covered, by the large protests is likely to face similar problems.
Under these circumstances, it’s crucial not to rely on the fact that people will come. Many most likely won’t and some of those who may originally intend to attend will be put off by the very small number of attendees and turn back, reducing the potential size of the protest even further. In turn, a very small protest sends the message that people don’t care about the issue in question, which may make the media and the relevant authorities pay even less attention to it in the future than they would have if there wouldn’t have been any protest at all! And since that must be avoided at all costs, a protest organizer must first determine whether having the protest take place at the specified time and place is even worth it.
A person protesting on the street may easily be worth a hundred of signatures on an on-line petition, but there are times when it’s well over a hundred times easier to persuade people to sign such a petition than to take part in an actual protest. What’s more, there are several other things that fall in between signing a petition on-line and taking part in such a protest, such as writing messages to or calling the relevant authorities, boycotting or, quite the contrary, purchasing significant quantities of certain products, taking part in flash mobs and so on. It’s the protest organizer’s job to determine whether any of these would be more effective than the protest under the current circumstances and change the plans accordingly.

In case the protest is deemed to be the most effective, as well as for those determined to have one regardless of the circumstances, gathering a sufficient number of people from the beginning is crucial, so you’ll probably want to be certain that at least a hundred people will attend. Unless you have the backing of an organization capable of producing such a number of activists on short notice, that means making sure that as many people as possible know about the protest and that anyone interested in taking part can easily do so. Pick a time and place suitable for as many people as possible, because a solid protest at the “wrong” time is much better than a weak one at the “right” time, and announce the details at least a week in advance, more if at all possible. Try to also discuss with the potential participants, offering them advice on reaching the location if necessary and making sure that enough of them will arrive on time.
Once you have a sufficient number of people to start the protest, the second key point is gaining the support of the passersby. You’ll want to have a clear message, with a general idea that’s easy to grasp at a glance and details readily available for anyone interested, and try not to offend or inconvenience anyone other than the target of your protest, or at least offend and inconvenience them as little as possible, preferably also leaving the site of the protest better than you found it. This requires careful planning, discussions with the core group of protesters and perhaps even removing some people from the group, but it’ll be the difference between having people decide to join the protest even if they didn’t intend to do so at first and driving potential protesters away or even ending up with a more or less spontaneous counter-protest nearby.
Last but certainly not least, you’ll want to make the most of any attention the protest will receive, whether positive or negative. On top of having a clear message, this implies having people fully prepared to present your issue to anyone who asks, as well as people fully prepared to mediate conflicts and deal with any potential police presence. Being a small protest, this should only require a total of five to ten people, but at least one or two of them will need to know how to properly discuss the matter at hand with any potential representatives of the authorities, how to very briefly present the issue to the media in a way that’s most likely to make the news, how to explain the cause to an interested passerby in order to gain said person’s support and how to calmly persuade the police that no action should be taken against the protesters. After all, the protest itself attracts attention, but these spokespersons will actually make the message known.

If it looks like a lot of work, that’s because it really is, but if you’re not up to it you probably shouldn’t be trying to organize a protest in the first place. A proper small protest can accomplish a lot, but one that’s too weak or offends or inconveniences too many passersby ends up actually harming its own cause, so it should be avoided. Quite simply, with the exception of true life and death situations, when you have no other options, a small protest is generally something that must be done right or not at all.