Have you ever engaged in political protest?

[tsmandy]

Just out of curiosity,

Have you ever been pissed off enough about something to go to a protest, take part in civil disobedience, etc? If so, what for?

[Quinn]

Yes, more than once. In my teens, while in high school, a friend and I sacked the mayor's campaign headquarters during a close election. It was in New Jersey, and that's all I'm going to say about the location. I actually wrote about it once here on HA. These days, I don't bother with that sort of thing and prefer the use of far more potent means: money.

-Quinn

[qeuqheeg222]

i was a chef in a swanky restaurant in a capital city in the midwest where governers of the state had the habit of being the last customers in the door on a sunday night..well this shit got old and well lets just say two former guv'ners got diced up pubes in their chicken salad sandwiches...looks kinda like coarse ground pepper actually...

[LG]

i was a chef in a swanky restaurant in a capital city in the midwest where governers of the state had the habit of being the last customers in the door on a sunday night..well this shit got old and well lets just say two former guv'ners got diced up pubes in their chicken salad sandwiches...looks kinda like coarse ground pepper actually...

I'm sorry but that's not a protest, that's just nastiness. A protest is a public and vocal manifestation of dissent, not a sneaky act of vengeance. If you're going to make a protest you should be willing to stand up and be counted. If you're going to make a protest, you have to speak up, not go behind someone's back and do something gross.

(I'm not necessarily condemning you by the way. I'm just saying that what you did was not a protest)

As for me, the answer is yes, several times and often very vocally, by taking non-violent direct action, helping and managing campaigns and by the use of the written word (the pen, apparently, is mightier than the sword) on several issues (social, political and environmental). I still do sometimes.

Did it ever help? Yes, a couple of times, it actually made a difference.

[chefmike]

I took my 18 year old niece to the big peace rally in DC a few months ago.

[Cuchulain]

I've been to numerous rallies and protests on the local and state level and I've walked a lot of picket lines over the years.

[tsmandy]

I took my 18 year old niece to the big peace rally in DC a few months ago.

Awesome. How was the rally? I mean, if it was sponsored by UFPJ then it was probably the same damn rally they always have, still... Just because its boring, doesn't mean its irrelevant (or does it?)

Just interested in who sees themselves actively engaging society over things that they care about, or whether people relegate democracy to the shopping mall.

Although LG, I disagree, I think putting pubes in the governors dinner is most definitely a protest of some kind, had it been arsenic, it most definitely would have been thought of as a political act.

[chefmike]

It was very moving to me because my niece was there with me at her first political demonstration. I also brought a couple of people from work, so we all had a blast for a good cause.

[insert_namehere]

Although LG, I disagree, I think putting pubes in the governors dinner is most definitely a protest of some kind, had it been arsenic, it most definitely would have been thought of as a political act.

Nope, it would have been murder. I'm sorry, being the last guy in a restaurant is hardly a "political" act. At that point, the Governor is merely a customer.

Now, if he'd just asked the state legislature to put in some sort of draconian rules regarding restaurant employees and had someone put chopped up pubic hairs in the gov's salad, then notified the Governor or the press or someone that he/she'd done so based on that political act... THEN I'd consider it a protest.

[tsmandy]

Although LG, I disagree, I think putting pubes in the governors dinner is most definitely a protest of some kind, had it been arsenic, it most definitely would have been thought of as a political act.

Nope, it would have been murder. I'm sorry, being the last guy in a restaurant is hardly a "political" act. At that point, the Governor is merely a customer.

Now, if he'd just asked the state legislature to put in some sort of draconian rules regarding restaurant employees and had someone put chopped up pubic hairs in the gov's salad, then notified the Governor or the press or someone that he/she'd done so based on that political act... THEN I'd consider it a protest.

Lighten up Mr. Serious, don't be such a literalist.

[qeuqheeg222]

okay...the pubes....the pubes..however;i have gone on and joined the ranks of protesters numerous times from la raza/boycott grapes rallies in the 70's,a anti racism rally in about 1972 with coretta scott king as the key speaker,and i played in a punkety rockety band in the 80's that played to many protests against this and that to remember-i guess the rock against reagan prtoest tour was probably the biggest ..acorn rallies for higher minimum wages in new orleans back in the 90's...second line parades...

[thombergeron]

Busted one up, once.

[trish]

Every Saturday for approximately the last half year I been joining our local peace initiative in rallying against the war in Iraq. Of those driving by who respond to our signs, most are favorable. Very very few will yell something derogative or flip the finger. When they do, they punch the gas and peel out like they're either ashamed of their own opinion, afraid they may be persuaded by moral and political reason or both.