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As Frederick Douglass, an American social reformer and aboliltionist leader, wrote in Reconstruction (1866), “There is cause to be thankful even for rebellion. It is an impressive teacher, though a stern and terrible one.”

Riots and protests have been used historically as a vessel to highlight a systemic flaw in the institutional structure and to promote a cause for change in a democratic polity. We are well informed of the peaceful demonstrations and fracas that emerged as an aftermath of the alleged murder of George Floyd by a white policeman.

The protests in May 2020 sends a message that police brutality and racial prejudices run deep within our very fabric of society, which was quickly adopted by some other countries to highlight similar predicaments. We will consider the notable examples in which protests have facilitated a shift in attitudes towards a certain demographic and changed government policies.

One resonating example in the US is the Civil Rights Movement in 1963 to ensure equality for all and for public enfranchisement. On the Eastern side, the protests against the extradition bill in Hong Kong ultimately led to the suspension and withdrawal of such. It is established that protests and riots are a means, a channel, akin to a pressure group where the people voice their dissatisfaction towards the government. It signals that it is well past time for a change to happen if they are to maintain an evolving egalitarian society.

Should we then support protests and riots?

Protests are a right in a democratic society as a means of freedom of expression, an avenue to be heard. However, riots resemble a more violent approach to alter the status quo. This is where the demarcation is drawn, if protestors merely exercise their right to free speech against an inherent flaw within a democracy, it is acceptable that they should be given ample space to start a movement that the society needs to evolve and the previous notions are anathema. If the protests turn violent, causing undue damage, vandalism, and possible threat to lives, it should be condemned vehemently because society will tumble into anarchy if we do not.

For instance, the looting during the midst of the symbolic George Floyd protests will only serve to dilute the movement and equip the authorities with the cause to curb these efforts under the guise that it poses a threat to law and order. Nevertheless, both approaches are a means to an end, to send a message, in which the effectiveness of such is only achieved if the government truly respects the views of the public and not curb their right to do so.

I shall end with a quote from the speech of the late Martin Luther King Jr., which has never more aptly described the current state of affairs; “In the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear?”