In an era where more and more young people are getting involved politically, many movements have been getting another wind and a surge of support from the younger generations. Many of these movements turn into protests and demonstrations, such as the annual Women’s March, The Stride to SAVE Lives and School Strike for Climate. 

With more of these protests and marches occurring, there have been more and more criticisms of these movements, calling them a waste of time or ineffective, especially with the rise of young individuals leading the way when it comes to reform.

Protests have been leading movements for centuries. They cause attention, which can cause change. Take the women’s suffrage movement. It began in Seneca Falls with a meeting among a small group of women, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, women who would eventually go down in history as some of the most influential and popular suffragettes. Eventually, these ideals spread across the nation, and women began to protest. Some of their protests were in the form of marches, like the 1913 Suffrage Parade, where thousands of women gathered in Washington, D.C. the day before Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration. This singular protest has been credited as the reason behind the revival of the suffrage movement, resulting in women gaining the right to vote seven years later, with the ratification of the 19th Amendment.

By causing attention with these protests, more support is gained. Had the women during the suffragette years not continued their work and protests, they may not have garnered and gained the same amount of support, which could mean women would not have gotten the right to vote until decades after, if at all. 

The current protests occurring are spreading even more quickly than before, due to social media and how rapidly people can share information with each other. Greta Thunberg, one of the most discussed people in the news currently, had her movements and ideas popularized by social media. She had posted photos of her protesting climate change on Instagram and Twitter back in 2018, and a year later, she is traveling the world, spreading knowledge about climate change and demanding reform, with hundreds of thousands of people supporting her and protesting as well. The more who protest, the more support is gained and the wider spread the issue becomes. They are showing governments who do not want to do anything that they would not stay dormant and silent. They are demanding change, and will find a way to do it no matter the cost.

Another huge aspect of these protests is education. By attending these demonstrations, people learn from each other. They share the most effective ways to reach out to senators to make change, they tell people how to register to vote, they tell people how to make their voices heard. With this knowledge shared, changes are made. People are getting more politically involved and educating themselves on how they, an individual, can actually make a difference in something they believe in. 

So, no, these protests are not a “waste of time.” They are a way to spark change. They are a way to inspire the next generation. They are a way to learn what the next steps are. More than anything, they are a way to show we will not stop until change is made.