Political protests are not effective on their own

Regardless of the number of its participants, a protest cannot be considered effective unless its protestors take it upon themselves to inform others about what they are protesting. These conversations tend to occur after people leave a march or an event, providing them with meaningful discussions once they are no longer at a protest. Solely protesting can achieve immediate success, but this victory is short-lived. According to University of Washington professor Abhinav Gupta, protests on their own need evidence-based education to truly create a more lasting impact.^[1] Gupta’s study found that protests “do little to expand the objectives of a cause more broadly” and solely create disruption-based tactics (Reference 1). To elicit change, disruption-based tactics must pave the way for evidence-based tactics in order to educate and inspire the public about specific issues.