The protest movement becomes a habit and seems all there is to be done is protest. Protest becomes a life style and locks the participant in protest mode. Capitalism is a very robust movement it will not shift by protest alone. In fact it may gain strength by certain forms of protest. We have all seen the balaclava window breakers at the marches, who smash and run, (and leave some other poor person to deal with the retaliation)

Building movements (hopefully what protest is about) is about doing what needs done not doing the obvious. How we build parallel movements to challenge the state and take it over on our way to a creating a fairer society and stopping the corporate global oligarchy that is threatening our very existence?

Of course we need to protest and react against things we feel are wrong. Protest can become a right of passage to those who feel bad about the world and feel that they just have to do something, but it is not an end in itself. If the same amount of energy that is put into public displays of protest were put into community organising, we may see some change rather than just more protesting. The gains through protest need to be balanced against the gains of the authorities to suppress it and the public to weary of it.

We need to take responsibility for our actions. Protest may be the beginning, but the most important thing is what happens after. What do we put in the place of what we protest about, how do we maintain the same exciting energy of the protest in the day to day running of our organisations, and in the dynamics of our solutions. These are thoughts that should run concurrent with protest activities. – if we are using them to win something and to create alternatives.