Unlawful Protest Action - What To Do?

[AndyD]

You say it's 'becoming' embedded in our culture. Surely it's an integral and long established part of our culture going back decades if not centuries.

What to do is a good question. I'd suggest just smile and carry on because stress is a killer as much as rampaging rioters are. Using any tactics to prevent this behaviour will be considered simply another attempt to enforce colonialist/white values in a country where they have no place.

[Dave A]

You say it's 'becoming' embedded in our culture. Surely it's an integral and long established part of our culture going back decades if not centuries.

If we go back a few decades, back then the legislation was draconian and the very legitimacy of the government of the day was questioned. Do you suggest the same applies to this day?

Surely the purpose of incorporating peaceful protest into the Constitution was to allow this channel of expression in a healthy way. What we have nowadays is a long way from healthy.

I also don't recall us having "protest action" being this extreme in the Mandela and Mbeki era - or even at the commencement of the Zuma era. Up until and including Pholokwane, it was song and dance...

What to do is a good question. I'd suggest just smile and carry on because stress is a killer as much as rampaging rioters are. Using any tactics to prevent this behaviour will be considered simply another attempt to enforce colonialist/white values in a country where they have no place.

You've got me thinking about cause and effect.

Could it be that protest action is becoming more extreme because lawful peaceful protest has been entirely ignored by those in power of late?
Which in turn means people have had to resort to more dramatic means to get attention and redress for their issues?

Is the problem the result of the culture of the populace, or actually the culture of government?

[AndyD]

You've got me thinking about cause and effect.

Could it be that protest action is becoming more extreme because lawful peaceful protest has been entirely ignored by those in power of late?
Which in turn means people have had to resort to more dramatic means to get attention and redress for their issues?

Is the problem the result of the culture of the populace, or actually the culture of government?

I'd be a lot more inclined to entertain this line of thought if the violent actions of protesters were aimed at institutions or property of government instead of stoning and overturning cars on highways, setting fire to soft-target infrastructure and looting foreign owned businesses etc.

[Citizen X]

You say it's 'becoming' embedded in our culture. Surely it's an integral and long established part of our culture going back decades if not centuries.

What to do is a good question. I'd suggest just smile and carry on because stress is a killer as much as rampaging rioters are. Using any tactics to prevent this behaviour will be considered simply another attempt to enforce colonialist/white values in a country where they have no place.

"A HUNGRY mob, is an angry mob."

[Dave A]

It defies reason how these protesters think. My view is that it is just lawlessness and should be dealt with as such.
Please explain to me how you want me to have sympathy for your cause if you randomly stone motorists or attack innocent bystanders?

"A HUNGRY mob, is an angry mob."

Two thoughts that seem to belong together.

[Blurock]

"A HUNGRY mob, is an angry mob."

I know many poor people and none of them gets involved in acts of violence when they are not happy with their circumstances.
They also do not steal and despite their poverty, they still share what they have. Maybe it is because they know suffering, they can imagine what other poor people must go through and they do what they can to assist others. So many privileged people would not even give a pesty car guard one rand.