The road blockade for the purpose of world betterment is now seeing widespread use. In Berlin, activists take to the streets and block traffic axes. The group describes itself as Last Generation and wants to draw attention to the issue of food waste as a sub-problem of climate change. The motorists directly affected react rather unenthusiastically. They have very acute problems that leave no room for the abstract rescue of the world. Footage can be seen online of angry people trying to drag the protesters off the street. Something similar is happening in Canada, although with a different goal, but with comparable methods – and a few orders of magnitude more intensive. There, truckers block roads in the capital Ottawa with their trucks. They are protesting against the government’s corona policy, which they reject or perceive as a threat to their existence. They, too, are now reaping some headwind from the beleaguered population of the city.
The goals could not be more different, and they can be wrong or right for different, sometimes weighty reasons. But both protests have something in common: there is a good chance that they will backfire and reduce public support for the respective causes. The more extreme the form of protest, the more it alienates even people who actually approve of the goal of the actions. Psychologists have observed that this applies regardless of political orientation. Whether animal rights activists, Trump supporters, opponents of abortion, climate protection activists or demonstrators of the “Black Lives Matter” movement: Burning shops, blocked streets, calls for violence against the police or other forms of escalating protests measurably reduced support for the respective concerns.
Psychologists refer to this as the “activist dilemma”. On the one hand, demonstrators must draw attention to their concerns. It’s easier with extreme actions that make others outraged: Corresponding images spread the fastest on the Internet and are greedily picked up by the traditional media. What excites, finds an audience. Blocking roads with great moral presumption creates powerful images – screaming activists, yelling truck drivers, police officers, traffic jams, yelling and yelling, mutual accusations, the whole program.
Protests and social movements are successful when they create identity. Even if observers get the feeling that they are their own people fighting for something. But anyone who finds the means of protest reprehensible or even repulsive will also distance themselves from the demonstrators and their goals. Activists, as has also been shown by psychological research, often lack the intuition for it. Anyone who is convinced of the moral absoluteness of their goals interprets rejection and failure as a reason to administer the same medicine again in increased doses.
If you really want to achieve something, you have to conquer hearts instead of alienating them. It would be a first step to refrain from unimaginative, annoying or destructive actions – and instead to think creatively about protest. Only enthusiastic attention can be converted into support.