A new scapegoat for the inability of the government to contain the Coronavirus is found in protests. The strategy of demonizing protests has benefits for the government on two fronts: no blame has to be put on politicians for the continual mismanagement of the pandemic and the government can keep silencing the public’s demands with the pretext of the pandemic. This tactic does influence a lot of our fellow citizens and can be further used as a divide-and-conquer tactic. Indeed, massive gatherings of people are banned during the pandemic, but protests often remain present. Thus, it is interesting to explore whether or not they should continue being organized in this peculiar time.
The main argument against protests is that they can become a breeding ground for the virus to spread further. This is possible, however, it becomes less and less probable by following all the medical protocols, since the protests are already happening in open spaces. An example of this was the great number of people present during the trial of the former political party and terrorist organization “Golden Dawn”. There, everyone was wearing masks and no sudden spike in cases was observed the weeks after the fact. Since people can go out for an hour at a time and a curfew is in place, town squares and parks are as full as ever, reminiscing the protests in their numbers but being less strict with the medical protocols.
Let’s assume however that protests are indeed to blame for the rise of covid cases and the spread of the pandemic. Are they then reprehensible?
The pandemic has brought about great changes in our way of life and a lot of turbulence. It has also legitimized directives that under any circumstances we would never tolerate: movement restrictions, curfews and even whole industries closed. With the many socioeconomic changes and problems that these changes brought about, a lot of anger is justified. People are losing their incomes, their usual way of living and we expect them to keep silent and “Stay home”? To that question, some would respond positively, by invoking the argument that only that way can we go back to our proper way of living. However, that is wishful thinking. A third wave of the virus is coming while we are in quarantine for the second one. How are we asking people who see their rights being trampled, for patience, without even knowing how long they have to wait? If we are not done with the pandemic this year, will we still ask people to not react? When all of us see the government’s wrongdoings concerning the pandemic, aren’t we endangering our society more by staying silent?
It is unacceptable to prevent people from voicing their concerns in a fair and democratic society. At this point, some people are reacting only to specific protests that (due to their social and political beliefs) they find redundant. Indeed, some protests are less important than others. But the importance of a cause can only be gauged by the number of people supporting it. People are not going to protests to have fun. They can just go out for an hour by themselves without risking infection from the disease or being trampled by police.
In a democracy, protesting is vital for the promotion of the issues that the public cares about. The right to living is the most important in our political system, but in an extended quarantine, it is not threatened by the virus alone. In any case, every citizen in their struggle for their own rights, must always respect those of others, which in this specific case is to always abide by the health protocols, especially if they are protesting.