How a protest leads to real change

Pussy Riot protest
Supporters of the Russian punk band 'Pussy Riot' wear masks and tape their mouths shut as they protest in front of the Russian embassy in Warsaw on August 17, 2012. A Moscow court handed a two-year jail sentence to the three feminist punk rockers who infuriated the Kremlin and captured world attention by ridiculing President Vladimir Putin in Russia's main church.
WOJTEK RADWANSKI/AFP/Getty Images

We're hearing about plenty of protests this year. Between Pussy Riot, the Occupy movement and demonstrations in Europe over the economy, it seems the world is always protesting. But are these protests really effecting change, or are they merely an outlet for anger?

Michael Kazin, professor of history at Georgetown, will join The Daily Circuit Monday to talk about what constitutes an effective protest in a world where most organizing and activism now occurs online.

Kazin wrote about the difference between the Tea Party and Occupy movements in The New York Times:

Despite their rhetoric, most right-wing activists want to keep Medicare, Social Security and a huge defense establishment - which, together, make up the lion's share of the federal budget. So Republican politicians could embrace the Tea Party, without fear of alienating the bulk of the electorate.

The Occupiers, in contrast, condemned the entire "free-market" gospel and the powerful structures that profit from it. To succeed, they need to change millions of minds, not simply elect hundreds of reform-minded Congressional representatives.

Ralph Young, history professor at Temple University, will also join the discussion.

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