What Protests of the Past Can Teach Us About Protests of Today

KQED's Forum

KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 12 June 2025

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the days since President Trump sent the National Guard and Marines to quell protests in Los Angeles, demonstrations against ICE raids have been held across the Bay Area and nationwide. This weekend’s “No Kings” protests, timed to the day of President Trump’s military parade, are expected to draw large crowds across the country. We take this moment to look back at times when protests have been successful instigators of change, and times when protests may have hurt a movement. What does it mean to have a successful protest? Who is the audience and how are they persuaded? And what should demonstrators know in this modern age of surveillance about the risks of hitting the streets and safeguards that can be taken. Guests: Omar Wasow, assistant professor of political science, UC Berkeley Andrew Couts, senior editor overseeing cybersecurity, privacy, policy, national security and surveillance coverage, WIRED Valeria Ochoa, community organizer, Faith in Action East Bay - one of the organizers of Oakland's Tuesday night interfaith vigil to protest ICE raids Liliana Soroceanu, organizer, Indivisible SF - one of the organizers of San Francisco's No Kings protest Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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1:15.3	From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Alexis Madrigal, with the anti-ice protests in L.A. and locally and the upcoming No King's events this weekend, we're talking about protest this morning. What purposes do they serve? What can we learn from the
1:22.8	history of protest in America? And how is modern technology transforming what happens on the ground?
1:29.8	We'll be joined by journalists and activists as we sort through the past, present, and future of getting in the streets.
1:35.9	That's all coming up next, rich tradition of protest. Nobody takes to the streets
2:03.8	as often or with as much gusto as the Bay Area. Civil rights, the Vietnam War, gay rights,
2:10.4	the Iraq War, Oscar Grant, the Muslim travel ban, Black Lives Matter, Gaza, Bay Area activists
2:16.4	are often early on the scene and loud.
	...

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