Protest Meetings
Summary
Protest Meetings — Sharp’s method 48 (Protest meetings), one of the 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action: a public gathering in which participants collectively express dissent or solidarity, classified under the Public Assemblies subcategory of nonviolent protest and persuasion [source: commons-198-methods].
Body
Gene Sharp’s 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action catalogues method 48 as Protest meetings, classified under the Public Assemblies subcategory alongside Assemblies of protest or support (47) and Camouflaged meetings of protest (49) [source: commons-198-methods].
A protest meeting is a sustained indoor or outdoor gathering at which a campaign makes its demand in a face-to-face setting — a town-hall meeting, a rally on the steps of a public building, a courtroom sit-in with speakers. Distinct from a march (which is movement) or an occupation (which is duration), the protest meeting is concentrated speech in a public frame. The form scales from a small vigil with one speaker to a stadium rally with multiple speakers and a coordinated public narrative.
Worked examples
- guineans-campaign-against-government-repression-2009 — the 2009 Guinean stadium massacre at a protest meeting in Conakry, illustrating the high-stakes risks of the form.
- poor-people-s-campaign-demands-federal-intervention-to-end — the U.S. Poor People’s Campaign (1968) built protest meetings and encampments into a national campaign of civil disobedience.
- bangladeshis-use-art-and-performance-demand-release-bangladeshi-photographer-shahidul-alam-2018 — a 2018 protest meeting demanding the release of photographer Shahidul Alam fused art, performance and public assembly.
See methods-of-nonviolent-action for the broader method library.
FAQ
What is a protest meeting?
Protest Meetings is Sharp’s method 48 (Protest meetings), one of the 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action: a public gathering in which participants collectively express dissent or solidarity, classified under the Public Assemblies subcategory of nonviolent protest and persuasion [source: commons-198-methods]. Gene Sharp’s 198 Methods catalogues method 48 as Protest meetings, alongside Assemblies of protest or support (47) and Camouflaged meetings of protest (49).
How does a protest meeting differ from a march or occupation?
A protest meeting is a sustained indoor or outdoor gathering at which a campaign makes its demand in a face-to-face setting — a town-hall meeting, a rally on the steps of a public building, a courtroom sit-in with speakers [source: commons-198-methods]. Distinct from a march (which is movement) or an occupation (which is duration), the protest meeting is concentrated speech in a public frame.
What range does the form scale to?
The form scales from a small vigil with one speaker to a stadium rally with multiple speakers and a coordinated public narrative [source: commons-198-methods]. The form is versatile enough to host a one-speaker vigil and a stadium rally under the same tactical name, with the operational demands scaling accordingly.
What worked examples illustrate the form?
The U.S. Poor People’s Campaign (1968) built protest meetings and encampments into a national campaign of civil disobedience; the 2018 Bangladesh photographer campaign fused art, performance and public assembly into a single protest meeting demanding the release of Shahidul Alam; and the 2009 Guinean stadium massacre at a protest meeting in Conakry illustrates the high-stakes risks of the form [source: commons-198-methods]. The same method has been used in low-risk vigils, sustained campaigns, and high-risk confrontations alike.
Related
Learn more
- On Wikipedia: Protest — CC BY-SA 4.0