Let me be clear. I am all for world peace, however, I don't think it's realistic or even possible. But don't take my word for it. If you want to be convinced utopian world peace is impossible, just take a good look at the people who spend hours repeating the word "peace" on the hub.
I realize the recent peace demonstrations have not had a great turnout since last year, however, there always seems to be at least one individual with enough persistence to stand around the Miami University seal everyday with his middle and index fingers raised and parted.
His solidarity is all that is left after last year's daily gatherings where a handful of idealistic Miami students spent hours at the hub, bearing notebooks with the word "peace" written in big, colorful letters. They wanted to make it clear to everyone they were against violence, and they would not stop protesting until their lofty vision became a reality ... or at least until it was time to resume their normal lives.
In the end, the peace demonstrations did not achieve anything. The protesters may have convinced themselves they were "spreading awareness" or making some sort of symbolic gesture, but it's more likely they were clamoring for a way to save their beautiful souls. In essence, their stand of liberal solidarity was the most patronizing display of arrogance I have ever seen in my life.
They demanded peace as if everyone around them were completely indifferent to war and violence. Is there anyone out there who, ultimately, does not want peace? Do the protesters care more about peace since they are making an active effort to promote it? No, nothing could be further from the truth. Still, the case of the Miami peace kids can tell us a lot about protest in general.
With every passing demonstration around the hub, the possibility of peace appeared increasingly remote. Their ambiguous demands for peace, far from being a collective symbol of hope, indicated the highest expression of futility. Instead of an intelligent, feasible demand, their seemingly modest cry to end global violence was so narrow and shortsighted it actually worked to undermine their own cause.
Any idiot can advocate peace, but it takes a slightly more refined sense of reality to understand its obstacles. By rendering peace as something simple and accessible, the protesters were pointing out its own impossibility. The interesting dynamic of their "effort" is that they knew this was the case. Did they really believe they were contributing to the realization of world peace? No, they were smarter than that. Then why did they spend all that time protesting? I have no idea.
Many protesters fail to understand their infinite demands for peace are always preempted from the beginning. For example, millions gathered Feb.15, 2003 in cities around the world to protest the U.S. invasion of Iraq. While they were aware the decision to invade was final, the war protesters made it clear they did not agree with their governments' policy.However, those in power actually profited from the opposition. Not only did the demonstration fail to change the already-made decision to invade, it actually served to legitimize it. During his visit to London, George W. Bush's reaction to the mass demonstration was, in effect: "See all of those protesters out there? We are fighting so Iraqis can enjoy the same freedom to protest against their government!"
Does this mean all protesting is useless? No, in fact, protest can be very effective when it isn't watered-down with vague requests like, "Give peace a chance." The lesson here is infinite demands for peace are doomed to fail since those in power can easily say something like: "Your critical demands are so wonderful. They remind us of the kind of world we all want to live in.
Unfortunately, we live in the real world, where we have to work with what is actually possible." In order to make any sort of impact, protesters should make finite, strategically precise demands that cannot be met with the same excuse (examples of successful protests are conducted by Students for a Living Wage, gay rights activists, etc.). This was not the option chosen by Miami's peace activists. Instead, they decided to saw away at the very branch on which they sat.
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