The Art of Succesful Protesting: Thinking Outside The Box

I've been paying attention to the protests that have dogged the tour of the Olympic Torch on it's journey around the world.

I am in total agreement about the chronic human rights abuses that the Chinese government regularly carries out. Those who want to make a point about a regime that is honouring the spirit of fellowship and fair play with it's lips, whilst having at it's heart, an attitude that is light years away from such a concept... have my full support.

It's even more appalling that our Governments are spending money protecting the political interests of the Chinese Government, in the face of many of their own citizens who are opposed to that Government. It is clear that they value eastern investment more than they value the people who pay for their extortionate parliamentary expenses packages.

It's clear that international police forces have been incredibly well briefed and prepared... deploying an extensive amount of resources and using flexible route planning to frustrate the attempts of the protesters.

Have you ever noticed though, when it comes to protesting...the most whacked out schemes are the ones that generally succeed? Police are extremely well equipped to handle people on the streets... but when you come out of left field with an idea like climbing the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco (see below), it gives them less time to form an effective strategy and the best they can hope to do is act retrospectively - diversions or making subsequent arrests.

If you want to put the mockery of an Olympic flame out.... I favour an airborne strategy. I think an excellent idea would be to hire out one of these babies:

That's right... a fire plane, or at least a crop duster. Just fly in out of nowhere and ditch fire extinguishing materials on the targets below you. A substance such as the one deployed above would be especially poignant; the red tint would serve as a reminder of the blood shed in human rights atrocities.

One thing though... I wouldn't try it in the US... they'd shoot you down.

The question of people's right to protest in the name of causes such as Tibet raises another in turn. In four years time... is my country going to be finding itself in a similar situation over crimes committed by it's own politicians. Sure, they may not be as numerous... but the causes that people might find reason to protest for or against... are certainly powerful enough.

I guess I'd better start saving up for flying lessons then.