Since President Trump’s inauguration, New Yorkers have hit the streets, the parks and the airports in protest. From the record-breaking Women’s March on January 21st to celebrities gathering outside Trump’s hotel at Columbus Circle, people of all backgrounds have strived to make their voices heard in the city.
Bodega owners went on strike to protest Trump’s travel ban, with lawyers working pro-bono at John F. Kennedy Airport to offer advice to those stranded at Arrivals. At Battery Park, thousands of people joined the “#NoBanNoWall” protest and Trump Tower itself has been a target of daily protesting.
David Jones, Chair of the Political Science Department at Baruch College, stated that protests are “an outlet for people to express themselves”. Jones, 48, believes “there is a power to it when you do it with other people who feel the same way”.
Gerasimos Karavitis, 38, a Political Science Professor at Baruch, agrees, saying protests are for people “who need to express themselves, regardless of whether this expression will have an immediate impact.” But are these protests effectual?
“If you can’t articulate A, B or C, it is hard for that movement to have an effect,” Jones says, referring to the travel ban as an example of something concrete for people to target as a singular issue. “But the more people who protest, the more likely it is that the protest is going to be successful.”
Jones went further, saying protests that “aren’t being violent, are more likely to be successful in the long run,” whereas Karavitis commented that, even if there is no immediate success, “many of them [protestors] will continue to go to protests” and not to be “fixated by results”.
Describing the protest experience as something similar to a concert, Jones believes everyone is in “solidarity” with one another, singing the same song together in sync.
Karavitis concurred on the galvanizing effect protests had on New York City. “They contribute to the preservation of a critical consciousness in the city,” stated Karavitis, “and this is important.”