The lesson of protest is that people who are organised have a louder voice.
Sometimes they change things.

Here are the answers:

1. It started on Halloween, 1517, when a noisy monk nailed a manifesto to the church door. What appropriate name does this religious 'reformation' have? The Protestant Reformation.
2. A 1789 Paris protest march turned violent – and gave birth to a new form of government. What date is celebrated in France, and what's it called? Bastille Day, 14 July.
3. In 1773, angry British colonists dumped 45 tons of tea into Boston Harbour as a protest against taxes. Sounds messy, but why was the Tea Party a big deal? The tea was worth millions of pounds. Seriously: that stuff was expensive.
4. On 2 August 1848 in Rochester, New York, Abigail Bush and some other women did something previously unheard-of in the US. What was it? They organised a women's political meeting. They spoke in public. (Very shocking.)
5. In 1911, 80,000 people marched in New York City because they were outraged about the deaths of 146 women and girls. What had happened? The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory caught fire. Locked doors prevented escape. People wanted reform and unions. They got them.
6. In 1930, Gandhi led 60,000 people on a 23-day march to break the law. What did they do that broke British law? Collected salt from the ocean. We are not making this up.
7. What form of protest did Nelson Mandela organise that made 26 June 1950 significant? 'Stay at Home', a form of national labour strike.
8. We all know that Martin Luther King made his 'I Have a Dream' speech during the August 1963 March on Washington. But what, exactly, were the protestors demanding at this event? That Congress enact legislation to secure civil rights for all Americans.
9. We know the protestors at Tiananmen Square in Beijing wanted democratic reform. About how many people were gathered there before the tanks arrived? At least 1 million.
10. In 1989 – 200 years and a few months after the fracas in Paris – crowds of people helped remove a hated barrier in Europe. What was it? The Berlin Wall.

Turn on your news or check out your Twitter feed. Who's protesting what today? Remember, it's a tradition by now.

Make babies, not nukes.

Dmitri Gheorgheni

16.07.18 Front Page

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