There’s nothing civil about modern Leftist protest

Leaderless, nihilistic and attention-hoarding: progressive protest is more interested in headlines than structural change

Activist icon Bayard Rustin, the subject of a recent Netflix biopic, once argued for smart and disciplined protest movements that emphasised the civil part of civil disobedience. 
“We need, in every community, a group of angelic troublemakers,” said Rustin, who successfully organised the March on Washington in 1963.
Unfortunately, today’s left-wing movements don’t resemble the civil rights protests of old. They only recall the “troublemakers” part of Rustin’s quote. Consider the farcical sight of pro-Palestinian activists attacking Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez last week for her stance on the Israel-Gaza conflict. They interrupted her date night with fiance Riley Roberts outside the Alamo Drafthouse in Brooklyn and attempted to cajole the congresswoman into calling Israel’s military campaign against Gaza “a genocide” by filming a confrontation with her.
“It’s not OK that there’s a genocide happening, and you’re not actively against it,” the person behind the camera says. 
“You’re lying,” AOC yells back in response. “It’s f—ked up, man.”
On this, the congresswoman is correct. Since October 7, she’s voted against a resolution condemning Hamas, said no to billions in aid for Israel, and has called for a “permanent ceasefire.” AOC is not only far from a Zionist but a vocal member of the Democratic Socialists of America and The Squad – the most progressive major political faction in Congress. 
To condemn AOC for not being left-wing enough on Israel-Gaza is the equivalent of a Maga-type calling out Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago for insufficiently pushing the case that he won the 2020 election.
The failed AOC “gotcha” moment is just one in a long line of high-profile stunts that seem designed to upset both politicians and ordinary people off – not win hearts, minds, and votes for the causes of, say, stopping a foreign war or preventing climate change. The disruptive protesting strategy is everywhere these days, with daily incidents of protesters dressed in N-95 masks and keffiyehs blocking traffic on major thoroughfares or vandalising high art. 
This braindead strategy boils down to three simple steps: be super annoying, get media attention, and repeat. 
I’ve witnessed this constantly in Atlanta, ground zero for the left-wing “Stop Cop City” movement. In Georgia, a ragtag group of anarchists, radical environmentalists, and professional activists have battled against Atlanta’s plan to build a pricey new police academy by, for instance, firebombing police cars and contractor-owned construction equipment. 
At Stop Cop City’s national conference in Tucson, Ari. last weekend, a group journeyed downtown to shatter the windows of two bank branches and spray paint “No Cop City” on the walls for their tenuous financial connection to the Atlanta Police Foundation. 
Maybe these pranks will earn some fleeting attention, but there’s little evidence that it’s helping advance concrete political goals. Instead, it’s likely counterproductive. Atlanta’s Public Safety Training Center is still being built, albeit now with a $20 million price increase the city claims is primarily due to the protest movement’s actions. 
The problem is that Stop Cop City wasn’t built to change its strategy – it’s intentionally structureless and leaderless. Its credo is that all actions of protest are equally legitimate, whether a peaceful march through the streets or tossing a Molotov cocktail into a police cruiser. 
The American public strongly disagrees. According to a 2023 YouGov poll, at least three-quarters of Americans believe it’s always or usually acceptable to protest by creating a petition, calling representatives, handing out flyers, singing, boycotting, or marching. What they hate the most is rioting, blocking traffic, defacing property, disrupting public events – all activities favored by today’s leftists. 
There’s evidence that even the true believers are growing tired of the act. Trevor Neilson, an American entrepreneur who originally funded the eco-activist group Extinction Rebellion, told The Times that Just Stop Oil should just stop it. “It is just disruption for the sake of disruption,” said Neilson.
Perhaps AOC, who, ironically, once called for making politicians “uncomfortable,” is now thinking the same thing. As she strolls away from the activists filming her in the now-viral video, she can be heard repeatedly saying that stalking her wasn’t doing anything productive for Palestinians.
“You’re not helping these people.”