Deaf President Now!: The 1988 Revolution at Gallaudet University

6. Why Was This Protest Successful?

6 . Why Was This Protest Successful? Social scientists consider protests to be short-lived collective actions , precipitated by clear grievances, in which relatively powerless people attempt, by extraordinary (and frequently disruptive ) means, to secure responses to demands that are usually specific and directed against clearly defined targets (Piven and Cloward, 1979; Lipsky, 1968; Oberschall, 1973; Rose, 1982; Zolberg, 1972). In the short run, it is easy to distinguish between protests that are successful and those that are failures. A successful protest has its demands satisfied, while an unsuccessful one fails to achieve any of its demands.l Presumably some 1. It is true that other definitions of success are possible, such as raising the level of consciousness about issues related to a protest, or recruiting and radicalizing participants . But some ofthese have to do with longer-term impacts and thus are dealt with in chapter 7. protests fall somewhere in between, although, because of the clarity of the demands and short time span, the immediate success or failure ofa protest is usually reasonably clear. While it is not unheard of for protests to be successful in attaining their demands, it is relatively unusual for a protest to be successful in achieving its demands as quickly and as completely as DPN did. Ifwe compare DPN to other protests in which students were involved, such as the Free Speech Movement in Berkeley in 1964, we find that the DPN protesters attained more of their demands, in a much shorter period of time, than did the protesters in the Free Speech Movement (Christiansen and Barnartt, 1989). The DPN protest was not uniquely successful, contrary to statements still being made about it, but it was perhaps unusually successful. What factors produced this success? In order to respond to this question, we turn to social scientists who have written about successful protests or social movements. Some factors revealed by their research include using or emphasizing violence or other disruptive tactics (Gamson, 1975; Piven and Cloward, 1979); focusing on a single, morally persuasive issue (Biklen, 1983; Rose, 1982); and having outside support (Lipsky, 1968; Rose, 1982), including that from communities , government officials, and the media (Johnson, 1983). Additionally, we suggest that the lack ofany counterprotest, addressing the issue to those with power to deal with it, and environmental aspects are also important (Barnartt, 1989; Christiansen and Barnartt, 1989). Several of these factors, including the use of disruptive tactics and a focus on a single (or limited) issue, are defining characteristics of protests and are two of the ways in which protests differ from longer-term social movements. However, we suggest that the other factors listed above, as well as additional factors we will spell out in this chapter, increase the probability of success of a protest. Table 1 outlines the factors we feel contribute to the success of all protests and which contributed to the success of DPN. POLITICAL/CULTURAL CLIMATE A supportive political and cultural climate is a basic precondition for the success of any type of collective action (Smelser, 1962). For a protest, this climate must include both acceptance of the use of protests as a 168 : WHY WAS T HIS PRO T EST sue C E S S F U L ? TABLE 1 Factors Important for Successful Protests 1. Political/cultural climate Supportive of protests in general Supportive of the particular tactics used Availability of cultural "frames," with precedent for "frame extension" 2. Type of issue Frame extension possible Morally persuasive Limited and clearly defined goals Addressed to those with power to change it 3. Protester effectiveness Effective means of recruiting potential protesters Cohesiveness Resources Effective leadership Charisma 4. Outside support Faculty and staff Professional interpreters The deaf community Hearing people Government Media 5. Temporal progression of events Suddenly imposed major grievances Leverage or coercion against authorities Lack of a counterprotest Actions of the opposition 6. Environmental factors Geography Weather WHY WAS T HIS PRO T EST sue C E S S F U L 1 169 strategy for social change, as well as acceptance of the particular type of protest tactic used. If such a climate does not exist, for example in totalitarian societies such as China, a protest cannot succeed. The political climate in the United States has changed since the emergence of the civil rights movement in the 1950S. There is greater tolerance of protests now than there was before 1950. Ideologies and political values emerging in recent...