By putting mask on you sending a straight forward signal, that you do submissing to your owners + the health risks that comes with it. Rather have a t-shirt or jumper with text on it if you that scared to talk to people and socialize OR... I had this great idea this morning which I shared already. Contact your local advetiser and find out how much costs bus stop advertising. Create a funding for it where you will ask you local sceptics for support and once reached the correct amount, buy it and advertise. Also much bigger place for text than t-shirt or mask and less risky to your health.
In order to have an effective protest, one that has a chance of getting real momentum, not just some pointless personal "statement", you have to study carefully what actually worked in the past. Politically. And what failed.
Maybe it because I have family in France and am very familiar with the ebbs and flows of the Gilet Jaune over the last few years and just how incredibly effective it was in changing government policy. The policy of a government lead by a narcissistic bully of the highest order. The Bonnet Rouge in Brittany in 2013, which was a precursor to the Gilet Jaune, ended the governments attempts at "Green" taxes on transportation in short order. Thats how you seriously intimidate authoritarian governments. Which all French government are by nature. Both the Gilet Jaune (before hijacked by Black Bloc and the casseurs) and the Bonnet Rouge show how it can be done successfully.
Your individual non compliance of mask rules achieves nothing. In fact less than nothing. It just alienates the large number of people who have been frighten into passive submission by the hysterical coverage by the media of what is a actual a minor new virus . Individual non compliance just allows us to be characterized as "cranks". A tiny minority. But if you hit upon a bonnet rough type public demonstration of disapproval and solidarity then if lots of yellow masks (for example) start appearing more and more people will realize just how many other people think the current situation is the height of insanity. They are not alone. It will get a momentum of its own and you now have a chance of getting to critical mass. Which is about 10% / 15% of the population.
As for public demonstrations, a complete waste of time. As someone once said public demonstrations are for middle class people who dont understand how politics actually works. Those huge demos against the Iraq Wars (both of them) sure stopped those wars from ever happening. And that even bigger Countrywide Alliance march. That ended the ban on hunting. Not.
If you want to demonstrate effectively against the current hysteria then it's best to look for successful mass movements in the past that actually did change core government policies. The Gilet Jaune and the Bonnet Rouge movements are the only two successful ordinary people political movements that have changed fundamental government policies in a fairly short time frame that I am aware of. Going back to the 1950's.
Because as of now we have at most three months or so before the really serious economic collapse starts if this madness continues. Then we will start to see the really oppressive government regulations come into force. I am talking on the order of the 1973 Three Day Week level of intrusive regulations. Except this time the regulations wont be framed or enforced by people whose approached was informed by experiences during the War. Just an army of tin pot dictators armed with technology and regulatory powers undreamed by the typical jobs-worth of 50 years ago.
The only way to stop them is get enough people to demonstrate in an effective way their disapproval. And not wearing a mask wont do that. But a yellow mask protest just might.
In order to have a colour revolution you must have some readily identifiable banner of colour. A masque jaune just might do the trick.
I'm liking the idea of a protest mask - (I found a PLACEBO mask online without the huge postage bill and it's on the way.)
I guess the gilet jaune thing took off because the 'uniform' was readily available and anyone could get one. Something like this would have to be easily put-together; at least in the beginning. That and some sort of FB campaign to reach non-followers of lockdownsceptics (until it is taken down, that is - things like that are getting censored).
Would a bus stop ad be allowed/accepted? Look what happened when the feminists had "woman = adult human female" billboards put up, and slogan t- shirts put on statues...
I was wondering about a legal protest where no more than 6 of us (can be multiple groups of 6!) dress up as sheep with face masks on and tethered together by rope clearly marked out at 2 metres and invade supermarkets dishing out leaflets with truth bombs? If you like, you can also Baaa as loud as you want to RAM the message home! 🐑🐏🤣
Some good ideas here. I thought about the demo yesterday but agree they're actually counterproductive. I think the big issue is sceptics feeling isolated and being bowed into submission so the best thing is to look for ways of bringing people together. I'm experimenting with a small gathering once a week in a local park. We had 8 last week! (two groups of course!). Then yesterday instead of going on the demo I got together with a friend and set up a stall in the local high street (Seaford in East Sussex) and stuck up a few posters and gave out our own leaflets. It was a bit uncomfortable but a very positive experience. I would say about 20% or so of people were positively sympathetic. Interestingly some of the most sceptical were themselves heavily masked up! There are a lot of shy sceptics out there who just need encouragement and when people are less isolated our movement will surely grow. I've been going unmasked until recently but it just got too uncomfortable lately. I've also engaged a bit on local social media but come to the conclusion that is counterproductive too as people aren't open to reason and if you put your head above the parapet you just become a scapegoat and an object of hatred. One thing I've thought of is getting together small flash mobs to enter an agreed store or supermarket unmasked and to slowly go round genuinely doing some shopping but also engaging with others then after 20 minutes or so going in a group unmasked to the checkout. Protest facemasks are a good idea. Also stickers and badges - any ideas about design or production?
