Why the Occupy protests are different

It is a truism that protest in the last 30 years 'Protest' has taken a backslide in effectiveness compared to its heyday in the 60s-70s (not forgetting the 20's). While the Vietnam Protests didn't prevent the war (much like the Iraq protests), they had the effect of putting the government on the back foot as citizens sent a clear message that they weren't convinced: Government had to do a better job of justifying the atrocity of war.

Protests have won and defended key civil liberties in the past, without them the State is left unchecked as it continually accrues political power.

The reason as to why protests affect change is their legitimacy. Protests engage the State or other major political actors in a public debate that requires the 'protested practice' to be justified on rational moral terms. We, the people, by virtue of living system of government that is accountable to our will, make the call as to whether this 'protested practice' is justified. Every single person can do this: all that is required is a true (or approximating true) representation of the facts at hand and the ability to reason rationally by reference to identifiable morals.

The problem with protests in the last few decades is that a) protests have come to be practiced less as a public debate and more as an Entitlement Claim by differing communities and b) Politicians and Statusquoists have become better at casting the terms of the debate so as to alienate protesters from the general public. This is why many don't have any patience for the Occupy protests: they are seen as just another factional interest group taking advantage of the welfare state to secure more 'rights' and entitlements.

However, as the Occupy movement at its core is opposing a 'protested practice' (the current global economic order) that commentators from all stripes have identified as a serious problem, it is engaging the public in Legitimate Debate. While there are many protesters that are using the old methods of confrontation and assertion of ideology, these methods are outdated tools from last century.

These protests are different because they are happening in the Age of Connection. It isn't hard to get a message out: it just has to be a good one. Where in the past only civil disobedience could attract the attention of the citizenry, now we have Facebook and 24hr news.

The protesters, if they want to go about this the right way, need to promote Legitimate Discussion by asking tough questions. And to do that we start with something everything can agree on: the current way of doing things isn't working.

Let the debate begin.