Types of Political Protest - how can we enhance our piece?

“A protest is an expression of objection, by words or by actions, to particular events, policies or situations. Protests can take many different forms, from individual statements to mass demonstrations.”

So what are these different types of protest and why are they relevant to our topic? To enhance our piece with regards to staging, characterisation and simply care it is important to research some of the possibilities there are when it comes to protesting, not just as a part of the Occupy movement, but for anything. This will make our piece more relevant to current protests and happenings, as well as more visually interesting for the audience to watch and understand.

Public Demonstration - Marching

One of the most common forms of protest is to take to the streets in large numbers and walk down the middle of the road chanting slogans and carrying large banners and cards. This is a widespread practice because it is simple to organize – just one Facebook event can be enough to gather people together – and it is has an instant effect. Roads are blocked, traffic caused; the natural flow of the city is disrupted. A visual representation of how many people are protesting – in Occupy’s case “the 99%” - is an effective element of this, which might be useful for our performance. There is power in numbers.

Here is an example of an Occupy march.

Picketing

A large group of protesters gather outside of a targeted building, therefore discouraging people from entering it. This would be relevant to banks or government buildings that represent certain areas the Occupy movement focus on. We could use this in our piece as a clear visual message to the audience, as protests such as this draw attention from the general public to the issue in hand.

Die-in

This is when protesters fake being dead, and lie in the streets sometimes covered in fake blood and wounds with banners and messages about what the protest is for. This disturbing form of protest is effective because it is visually striking and has a sharper edge than a sit-in but it is still peaceful.

Here is an example of a die-in.

Peace Camp

A very popular form of protest, especially in the Occupy movement, is to camp outside a relevant building or organization for weeks, months or even years to show devotion and protest for a particular issue. For example, thousands of women set up a peace camp at RAF Greenham Common in Berkshire, UK, to demonstrate their opposition to nuclear weaponry being sent from there. Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp became world famous, as 30,000 women joined hands around the base in protest. It conveys an image of unity and peace. 

The Human Microphone

This is a technique employed by many during the Occupy Wall Street protests. The voice of one speaker is amplified through repetition by the voices of the group around them, conveying messages to an even greater amount of protesters who may be out of earshot. The phrase “mic-check” is used to signify the beginning of a human microphone session.

Here is an example of a human microphone, or amplifier.

All of these different forms have potential to be incorporated in to our piece, and even if they are not, they add to our understanding of the different branches of the Occupy movement and of protest in general.