‘The joy of analogue protesting’

One of the notable aspects of the recent Bristol Against Austerity march was that it was organised by a group of sixth form students. Seventeen-year-olds from a generation who are supposed to be entirely Internet-focused, unable to bestir themselves from their smartphones and tablets, struggling to fulfil even the basic necessities of life unless it comes with a supportive app.

And yet it was they who proactively organised a demo, made placards and marched up and down Park Street. It’s nice to see that it’s not just in the world of fashion that the 1980s are back in style.

Meanwhile, my Facebook feed has erupted with a torrent of demands from my forty-something friends that I sign online petitions. To save the NHS, protect the Human Rights Act and defend the Arts, please click here.

It seems that it’s us grown-ups who have become enraptured by the quick-click instant gratification of the virtual petition, huddling indoors over our glowing screens, lulled into the belief that breaking off from completing yet another pointless Buzzfeed quiz in order to put your name to something on 38degrees is a valid form of protest. It’s so much more convenient and instant that having to go through all the palaver of actually going outside and demonstrating.

But sometimes quick and easy isn’t best. Just as we’re moving away from instant coffee to the hand-crafted loveliness of an artisan flat white, maybe it’s time to recognise that the ersatz protest of the online petition is a feeble substitute for the real thing: the turkey twizzler of popular dissent. Whilst its debatable whether street protests ever truly affect change – as the million people who marched against the Iraq War can testify – I’m guessing that the freshly-elected government, comfortably surveying their absolute majority in the House of Commons, are more likely to pay attention to thousands of citizens on the streets than a few thousand names submitted by sedentary keyboard class warriors.

Conspiracy theorists might even want to consider the following hypothesis: what if sites like change.org and 38degrees have been specifically created by the powers that be to neuter the expression of citizen anger, a placebo button for the malcontent to press to vent their frustration without ever disrupting life in the bricks and mortar world?

That theory may be farfetched, but even without a malevolent intent behind it, that’s precisely what they’re doing. The splutterings of the laptop-wielding classes are all too easily consigned to David Cameron’s junk folder.  The quick click may be a cheap way of buying yourself some property on the moral high ground, but it’s ultimately as insubstantial as a luxury villa in Second Life.

So the next time someone tweets or shares a link to another online petition, take a moment to think. Is this something you feel strongly about? And if it is, is it not worth actually getting out of your chair and going on a march, or organising a meeting, or at the very least taking the time to write a strongly worded e-mail to your MP, rather than just the quick fix of click and sign? 

Those 17 year olds at Bristol Against Austerity have discovered the joy of analogue protesting – perhaps it’s time their parents threw away their mouse and joined them.