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Once you’ve protested, click on the badge on the right to claim your well-deserved badge! The first time you claim a badge you will get a bronze one, if you protest again you can get a silver and then a gold one!
Stick with your buddy at all times.
Ask an adult to join you on your protest and stick with them at all times.
Find a protest that supports a cause you care about.
For example, if you care about climate change, you might like to join in with Fridays for Future.
Ask an adult to help you search for a protest that is safe and enjoyable for people of all ages.
Who is organising the protest? Do their views broadly line up with yours? Is the protest suitable for youth activists? It may be useful to check out news articles or social media posts from protests that the organisers have hosted before to predict how this one might go.
Make sure you know where the protest is starting and finishing. Consider looking at a map to find Tube and bus stations along the way in case you want to leave early.
These help raise awareness. The bigger the sign, the more attention you will get. But remember that you will be walking around for a long time so make sure you can carry it. Keep words on your sign to a minimum but make them emotional, witty and bold! You might meet with your buddy in advance and have a banner-making session.
This might include money, phone, water, snacks, umbrella, suncream and layered clothes to adjust for the weather.
Throughout history there have been some very effective protests. Some have united up to 10 million people to speak out about a problem. Protests have been responsible for huge changes in society. A clear example is the Montgomery Bus BoycottA decision to not buy or use products or services in order to show support for a cause. in Alabama (USA) from 5th December 1955 to 20th December 1956.
The boycott started when Rosa Parks, an African American woman, was arrested and fined for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on the bus. The boycott was a non-violent protest where black people simply refused to take buses. They wanted an agreement that black people would be treated equally on buses, with first-come, first-served seating used.
Before the protest, black people formed a huge percentage of the bus riders. So the boycott meant that bus companies lost about 3000 dollars a day (equivalent to 90 thousand pounds in today’s money). They lost over a million dollars (about 30 million pounds today) over the course of the boycott!
After 381 days of protesting, on December 20th, 1956, the laws treating white and black people unequally on buses were changed. The boycotters had won!
Protests can make a real difference. These are just some of the change-makers who have organised or taken part in protests that have led to real change:
