I don't think the goal is to convince the people stuck in the artificially created traffic about Gaza. I think it's to get news coverage from sites like nbcnews.com so as to raise the profile of the Gaza war so that politicians must address it. You are welcome to argue whether that's an effective strategy, but I think that's the intent.

Also, side note.. Social progress rarely comes from rule following.

/agree

I fully support the cause, but this just ain't the way to effectively protest the system. I feel the same way about the climate activists throwing soup on art instalation (yes I know they are all protected, but to the average person you still look like an ignorant fucking asshole).

If you want to spur change, then you need to make it uncomfortable for your representatives to take a public position than conflicts with your ethics. Do so peacefully, but forcefully and as often as is feasible. You are much more likely to garner public support that way, and normies generally love anything that make politicians look bad.

I feel bad for the people in traffic but the protestors only get to this state because of repeatedly being ignored by the government. If normal protests aren’t cutting it anymore and you don’t want to be violent then what options do you really have? They (gov) just don’t listen.

Yeah. I saw some of the posts across Lemmy trying to organize this.

There it was presented as blocking shipping ports. I thought that was odd. Wasn't sure how that was going to affect Israel, but whatever.

Then the day comes and they're doing this low effort reposting-of-a-meme-everyone-has-seen-already version of protest and I just rolled my eyes.

"Innocent people are being murdered in Palestine, so I'm going to go prevent someone that also hates what is happening from visiting their dying grandmother! That'll show 'em!"

🙄

Completely agree. Blocking the average Joe driving home will get attention, but potentially for the wrong reason. I think your edit is perfect. Inconvenience those in power that can do something about it now, not someone who can really only do something when voting.

The objective is to appear in the News, which will result in way more people becoming aware of just how many people are against what Israel is doing in Gaza and the US Administration's support of it, which in turn will lead others to become more open about they themselves being against it since they will feel that "we are many" rather than "it's just me" - grassroots movements independent of established politicial and media networks, no matter how many potential supporters they have, must be seen in order to grow otherwise they'll just fizzle away and nothing will change.

That usually means some kind of stunt in an important and highly public place which is almost certain to affect lots of members of the public.

Barelly disturbing a handful of politicians as you suggest would not make the News unless the Press was already there for some other reason and it would still have to be some kind of stunt (think the Iraqi guy that threw his shoe at George Bush) for the Press to even mention it in the news.

Unfortunatelly in the World we live in people have to use marketing strategies to merelly be seen, more so to have soap box to be heard by the rest of the nation, especially in Theatre Of Democracy countries were the "choice" is either pre-selected A or pre-selected B, and were the Press is not at all a Pillar Of Democracy independent of the Political Pillar but is pretty much joined at the hip with Political and/or Wealth Powers.

If it had the kind of Political and Press environment were those things could just be done the way you naivelly (or maybe misleadingly) suggest, the US would be quite a different place in terms of Power, Voice and Representativeness and not one where the only electoral "choice" is between two genocide-loving presidential candidates.

Those poor schmucks also have a voice and have political power. And you can't deny the optics of the Golden Gate Bridge being closed, it's an iconic throughway. I'm not sure if there are any instantly recognizable parking garages.

MLK Jr. literally wrote about this exact same thing in his Letter from Birmingham jail.

that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Councilor or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: ‘I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action’; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a ‘more convenient season.’ ”

I mean, the people they're irritating aren't the ones that can do anything about it. All you're doing is pissing everyone off. Go to your state's capitol and fuck that place up instead.

Mm and how has the average San Franciscan contributed to a war on the other side of the planet?

So you were in favor of the fascist Canadian trucker rally?

Yeah fuck those people trying to get to work!

If you hold me hostage, violence is an option.

Nothing like exercising your right to protest by infringing on everyone else's right to travel freely.

This is such a pathetic attempt at both.

You didn't fuck any shit up and if the government, police etc really wanted to, they certainly could've fucked them up. Go hard or go home, blocking a bridge on another country is completely idiotic.

They probably pissed some Israelis off who will purposely go shoot some kids over it.

Honestly, Bay Area commuters who use that bridge regularly probably couldn't tell the difference