PROTESTS that have been going on recently to the extent that some rallyists and policemen got hurt by water cannon by the police and the uncontrollable commotion at the rally were not something unusual and cannot be considered as the precursor of President Arroyo’s presidential exit. As said by Peter Buckman — who has been involved in radical activities both in the US and England — mankind is animated by discontent. You can’t find a citizen in a democratic country who isn’t unhappy at higher taxes, workday routine, overcrowding, pollution, insecurity, increasing impersonality of government, and corporate control, or rising costs defended by administrations who clamp down on wages. These are the concerns of otherwise contented people in capital states.
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In his book "THE LIMITS OF PROTEST," published in New York as early as 1970, Peter Buckman already wrote that in most countries, demonstrations tend to occur in periods when political conflict, expressed through the "vociferous play" of political parties, is dormant. For the uncommitted affluent middle class, who can be relied on to turn out for peaceful demonstrations against flagrant injustices of a moral complexion, the function of their protest is to make a criticism a virtue without making renunciation a duty. All that needs is some discreetly enjoyable ritual. "The most important thing in a protest is to test the right to dissent." The uncommitted see no logic in a protest that threatens the security of the participant or leaves him worse off than before.
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If one reads "The Limits of Protest," he will realize, as Buckman wrote, that the uncommitted liberals mostly renounce the use of force for reasons both moral and practical. What we have seen about the continuing protests should not alarm us, especially the police and military. In Buckman’s view, it takes a lot of courage to protest on the border of violence and illegality in an age conscious of law and order. Such courage is frequently born of bravado, but more often of desperation. When such an event takes place, the government would be ready what to do. It could respond with suppression, co-optatation, or conciliation. He wrote that as strength has been one of the essential characteristic of leadership, the government should not appear weak. It would send in police and troops.
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Whether the reader agrees with Buckman’s conclusion in his "The Limits of Protest," let me paraphrase what he said: The capitalist system provides the greatest comfort and freedom of the largest number of people in the modern world. Yet it suffers millions inside and outside its borders to starve; commits greater and greater crimes in the name of civilization; and is steadily reducing its vaunted freedoms under the banner of "progress." This is partly the fault of those who protest. They offer empty demonstrations on vicarious issues, opportunities "to something" which are more gesture than substance, vacuous rhetoric and pious imprecations, "Smash the system" shouts, and marches to the amusement or anger of onlookers and passersby...[Bobbs-Merrill Co. Inc. N.Y.]
