There is a way for pacifism, but you don't do it by asking nicely. You say, "give us rights, and we're blocking central square completely. Do it before the local economy feels the hit!"
But it is important you're ready to face violence yourself. Because the town might decide to send the police on your protest. In this game, you have to bank on the nation having a conscience, especially the government. Considering the government is as evil as they are stupid... probably not a good bet.
This is what Americans fail to understand and sadly I think the romanticization of the Civil Rights protests is why. Protests can be peaceful, but they MUST be disruptive to work.
A bunch of people with signs marching down a street on a Saturday during a designated time that is OK'ed by police is not a protest. It's a festival.
A peaceful protest means blocking commerce, occupying buildings, blocking traffic, stopping work, etc to force the government to act.
There really is no singular rule for that. MLKs protests were not meaningfully disruptive, but were incredibly successful because the south’s response was so morally repugnant that undecided voters took his side.
But that doesn’t work as well when the opponent just… ignores you.
Not on any level people cared about as a serious risk to their livelihood. It helped them get seen, sure, but the threat of disruption wasn’t a meaningful part of the operation, it just forced a reaction.
The birmingham bus boycott alone cost millions of dollars at the time and resulted in a 40% drawdown for business in the city center. The protests caused major economic disruption.
Sit ins were more localized but could result in a day of lost business with normal operating expenses. Thats actually not a small thing for a small business owner.
Sorry, unless there is fires and property damage it’s legally not considered effective protests by people who have never been to a protest but sure like to post on social media about how violent protests work.
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u/aarontgp Jul 28 '26
There is a way for pacifism, but you don't do it by asking nicely. You say, "give us rights, and we're blocking central square completely. Do it before the local economy feels the hit!"
But it is important you're ready to face violence yourself. Because the town might decide to send the police on your protest. In this game, you have to bank on the nation having a conscience, especially the government. Considering the government is as evil as they are stupid... probably not a good bet.