The Problem with North American Protest Movements
Protest, at its core, is a tool of necessity to demand change. In North American corporate-capitalist democracies, it instead functions as a timid expression of values.
This past weekend, I attended a pro-Palestinian protest in my local city. Yet what I’ve seen, be it here in Canada or down in the USA, is that we lack power, compared to West European protests like those in France or Italy.
There are numerous reasons as to why, the first being the legal, social, and economic constraints. Requiring a permit to protest is, for lack of a more civil term, truly stupid. A government that explicitly allows you to hold protests does not fear the protestors.
These protests are then chained by what is “permitted.” Disproportionate police violence has often been noted against protestors of colour, those supporting them, or other minority groups. Failure to disperse leads to fines and arrests.
Economically, people cannot afford to strike without risking their very own survival—many live paycheck-to-paycheck, meaning that without pay, they are unable to afford food and rent (with the right to food and adequate shelter being recognized as fundamental human rights by the UN, ironically).
While many West European countries are heavily unionized, allowing for some form of pay to continue flowing during protest actions, this is not the case in North America.
Under corporate capitalism, even attending a protest becomes difficult, let alone maintaining actions. Large-scale, multi-week actions like certain Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests were considered exceptional; most are much shorter and lower impact.
These short-lived, symbolic two-hour protests, therefore, often fail to escalate meaningfully. Further, the lack of clear demands in some protests, such as the No Kings protests that took place across the USA, leads to criticism within leftist, centrist, and right-wing circles alike.
More generally speaking, apathy and individualism in Western liberal democracies dilute the perceived power of collective action. While some protests in the Global South and across Europe are known for their escalation, from peaceful marches to general strikes to direct, violent action, this is unseen in North America, where escalation is constrained harshly by legal risks, economic vulnerability, and societal tolerance thresholds.
While I don’t believe North American protests are wholly meaningless, despite what the above may suggest, it must be conjoined with other methods, such as BDS campaigns (such as the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) Movement) and the organization of mutual aid.
As Marx wrote in Impeachment of the Government:
Starve the enemy and refuse to pay taxes! Nothing is sillier than to supply a traitorous government with the means to fight the nation, and the means of all means is money.
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Love this! So here in the US - there are MASSIVE boycott campaigns clearly having an effect.
Target. Amazon. Home Depot (the ice scrappers). Disney. Spotify. People are choosing to opt for small business instead of big oligarch chains.
I do think the no king protests had an effect. And I do think the regime fears them but seeing as protesting is first amendment they'd have a lot of trouble. Even many on the right value the first amendment - the freedom of speech.
Hits nail on head...