The co-founder of Green New Deal Rising in the UK, Fatima Ibrahim, argues the case that it is not only the right of citizens to stage noisy, in-your-face protests, but doing so is the most effective political action they can take. In his words, “Noise and nuisance are among the few ways to actually force politicians to listen.” For many people, that view is hardly new. It may seem cynical to state that any form of political action sanctioned by a government wishing to retain its place of power will assuredly be ineffective. Why wouldn’t it be? Why would a government not wanting to be distracted from its own agenda allow voters to have access to a form of action that could threaten to unseat it? Or even influence its policies? Ibrahim provides detailed supporting evidence of the effectiveness of noisy protests in the past. His conclusion: they’ve worked before; they can work again. If so, should we wonder why governments oppose them? Imagine what would happen if the large, silent middle of the electorate also engaged in similar forms of “nuisance.” Might it not lead to a true democracy: a form of governance that seems to be eluding us at present given our antiquated first-past-the-post electoral system? With the urgency of problems like climate change and wealth inequity now facing every one of us, don’t we need the most effective form of political action if we are to sway those holding political power to again take up the cause of the common good? If Ibrahim is right, noisy nuisance protests may be exactly that.

Only noisy protest makes politicians take action to avoid climate catastrophe. The Guardian, October 8, 2021. “From the Suffragettes to the anti-apartheid movement, people taking disruptive action have been on the right side of history.”