There’s nothing quite like a good protest. The zillion dollar question is what makes a protest good. Better yet, what’s the definition of “good”?
A good protest means the reasoning is clear, the demands are apposite, and the approach is nonviolent.
- Clear reasoning means the cause is just and evidence supports any claim of injustice or wrongdoing.
- Apposite demands mean what the protestors are asking for in regard to social or political change is apt in the circumstances that exist.
- And a nonviolent approach means the method is a peaceful pursuit, seeking understanding, recognizing as The King Center notes, that the aim is “to defeat injustice or evil, not people.”
Monday evening was the start of the Jewish holiday of Passover. And yet, note the Tuesday headlines, this one from AP, “Pro-Palestinian protests sweep US college campuses following mass arrests at Columbia.” There are protests across the country. They are largely anti-semitic. Jewish students were asked to leave Columbia University. Harvard closed their infamous Yard. A Jewish journalist at Yale was stabbed in the eye.
The activity begs the question: where’s the line between free expression and a safe and inclusive campus?
It’s not hard, friends; it’s the final piece of the good protest triad. It means the protest embraces a nonviolent approach.
According to The King Center, “Dr. King often said, he got his inspiration from Jesus Christ and his techniques from Mohandas K. Gandhi.” There exist six fundamental tenets of his nonviolent philosophy:
- Nonviolence Is a Way of Life for Courageous People.
- Nonviolence Seeks to Win Friendship and Understanding.
- (As stated above…) Nonviolence Seeks to Defeat Injustice, or Evil, Not People.
- Nonviolence Holds That Unearned, Voluntary Suffering for a Just Cause Can Educate and Transform People and Societies.
- Nonviolence Chooses Love Instead of Hate. And…
- Nonviolence Believes That the Universe Is on the Side of Justice.
I’m sorry to see the current hurt on the college campus. I’m sorrier still to see the hate.
Gleaning from the wisdom expressed above…
- It takes zero courage to be violent.
- When violent, one could care less if another really understands — and even less about any semblance of friendship.
- How sad it is to see the enmity aimed at a specific people group. These protestors are being awful toward Jewish people.
- They clearly haven’t read Dale Carnegie’s classic, “How to Win Friends & Influence People,” as what they are doing is not an effective way to transform people or society.
- Violence chooses hate instead of love.
- Violence creates more injustice. Injustice to address perceived injustice changes few hearts and minds. It makes fewer still want to be like those who hold said beliefs.
Let us thus be frank and clear about what’s really happening. These protestors are not simply “pro-Palestine” demonstrators. As highly-respected journalist Bari Weiss writes, they are people “openly celebrating” the terrorist group, Hamas, and also, “physically intimidating identifiably Jewish students.” Says Weiss:
“For a second, imagine that black students at Columbia were taunted: Go back to Africa. Or imagine that a gay student was surrounded by homophobic protesters and hit with a stick at Yale University. Or imagine if a campus imam told Muslim students that they ought to head home for Ramadan because campus public safety could not guarantee their security. There would be relentless fury from our media and condemnation from our politicians… This weekend at Columbia and Yale, student demonstrators did all of the above—only it was directed at Jews.”
Bottom line: these protests are clearly not good.
They are concerning and contemptible, too.
Respectfully…
AR