We cannot claim our right to protest by force!

In democracies, protest is a right. 

Protest is, relatively speaking, a way of showing a contrary reaction to an event or situation.

According to Article 34 of our Constitution, titled “The right to hold meetings and demonstration marches,” the behavior of those who wish to express their opinions is protected by law. 

However, have you ever seen protests in Turkey yield positive results on any issue?

In other words, have you ever witnessed a situation where a portion of society expressed a dissenting opinion and the situation changed in the opposite direction?

The most recent example is the Bill on Amendments to the Animal Protection Law, which has occupied the public agenda for some time and is referred to as the ‘Massacre Law’; it was accepted by the TBMM Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Affairs despite all opposing views and protests.

In other words, the logic of “Even if you tear yourselves apart, we will do what we know” prevailed again. 

When we look back, we do not see any instance where a protest found a positive response. 

In fact, every protest causes the event we are reacting to to be concluded even more quickly. 

Some protests even result in arrests, detentions, and even violence. 

So, in our country, protesting does not work. 

“How will we cope with the logic of 'We will do what we know out of spite'?”

Since decision-makers seem to have practically sworn to do the opposite of what a certain segment wants, how will we change a practice we find wrong? 

I think we could be successful if we say the exact opposite of what we want, organize protests in that direction, launch campaigns on social media, and scream at the top of our lungs. Why, you ask?

Because the probability of them saying, “If these people are making this much noise, this must be a good thing, let’s do the opposite,” is higher than the probability of them actually hearing our voices.