by Roy Ngerng
I grew up in a place where we were told not to protest, that it’s wrong, that I’m a troublemaker.
When I first started protesting, I didn’t really know what to do. I’ve always been more ‘kuai’ (obedient), so when I first started protesting, I didn’t know what was the right thing to do.
Should I be angry and shout? Should I gently protest? Should I hold a sign and look pretty? Should I speak to inspire? Should I talk about facts when I protest? Should I be unruly to be heard? Should I be friendly with the people I’m protesting against?
When you grow up in a restrictive environment, and protesting is not something people usually do, you do not know where to start.
But as with all new things, we have to start somewhere.
Now that I’m in Taiwan, people protest often. It’s their right.
The ministers and police here do not generally prevent people from protesting. In fact, they are required to respond to people’s demands and protect citizens’ rights to protest.
Because people here are so used to protesting, they’ve also learned to develop more strategic forms of protests.
For example, if someone tries to purposefully anger the protesters, people here learn not to retaliate.
In fact, during recent protests with regards to recalling the Kuomintang (KMT) legislators from power, people are telling one another, that if someone tries to attack them, they should just keep saying sorry to diffuse the situation. It’s a useful tactic to deescalate, and prevent negative sentiments from disrupting your protest.
But sometimes, anger is part of protests. People protest because they may have genuine grievances. Those in power have the power to change things, and if people are angry at them, it’s the responsibility of those in power to try to understand why, and properly respond using the power they have to do so, such as by changing or coming out with better policies.
Not everyone knows how to protest, or even if we don’t, escalating and getting angry could be part of the strategy. And this is all fine. If we grow up with a culture of protest, as is the case in many democracies, we eventually learn to use different tactics to achieve our aims, some more peaceful than others, some less so.
Politicians use this too, it will be naive to think that those in power, and especially those with security accompanying them, can be so easily offended by protests. In fact, facing protests are part of the job. If your job is to create policies, and sometimes you create policies which offends or discriminate against particular groups, you have to be prepared for criticism.
Most people don’t bat an eyelid when a politician insults another politician, or mock or discriminate against another politician or person, because people in power are given a lot of leeway, especially when they’ve been in power for a long time, and their rude behavior is so normalized, people don’t even realize it’s bad behavior.
In places where protests are the norm, it’s the same. People don’t bat an eyelid when you protest. They get on with their lives. Or if it’s something they are concerned about, they join in. That’s the freedom to choose in a democracy.
This is what I’ve learned in Taiwan. Protests are so normal, we get on with it. If the protests are meaningful, people join in. If it’s a joke, people ignore it. And many times, the government responds, by letting the public know what policies they have or are planning, to address the grievances.
So, it’s ok. It’s ok to not know how to protest. It’s ok to use different strategies to protest. It’s ok to be angry, to be funny, etc. And if we start protesting more often, we learn how to protest more strategically.
In fact, one dismay I have is that, because I grew up in an environment where protests are frowned upon, I did not develop better strategies to protest.
Strategies for protest are not just useful during protests, they are also applicable for negotiations, for more effective communication, for making deals, trying to find leverage and seek consensus.
And I will tell you who I think is one of the best negotiators I’ve met—a Burmese woman who knows how to give the literal middle finger, who knows when to use anger, and when to use persuasion, and when to haggle, let an old auntie when a deal is close; and she knows when to cry on cue to evoke sympathy and guilt.
And part of the reason is because she’s been involved in numerous protests and the inconveniences that come with it. You want to be put in a position where you are confronted with uncertainties and even heightened emotion, and where you are forced to think on your feet and make quick but smart decisions to get out of it—something that protests present an opportunity for.
And by not learning the art of protesting from young through trial and error, it means we lose a very important aspect of knowing how to use hard and soft methods to achieve your demands. It makes us less equipped for some aspects of work, and life.
So, yes, for people not used to protests, we may judge others for not protesting in a way we are not comfortable with. But it’s a learning experience both for the people trying to protest, and those observing the protests.
And we want people to be able to protest, so that they learn to identify effective ways of protesting, and society as a whole develop effective mechanisms to negotiate and seek consensus.
When we are quick to judge someone, it means cutting off an aspect of our ability to learn.
In Taiwan, I’m still learning. But I also feel that I’m getting too old, and I seldom go out to protest now.
But I feel fortunate to be in a space where I am able to observe people’s organic participation in protests, to see how they grow and develop, and how it helps strengthen a sense of self and national identity in the country.
When we learn to appreciate the function of protests to enable society to grow and develop, it is beautiful.
This was first published on Ngerng’s Facebook post and reproduced with permission
The post Learning to protest: How restriction stifles dissent and strategy appeared first on The Online Citizen.
