Dictionary Definition
protest
Noun
1 a formal and solemn declaration of objection;
"they finished the game under protest to the league president";
"the senator rose to register his protest"; "the many protestations
did not stay the execution" [syn: protestation]
2 the act of protesting; a public (often
organized) manifestation of dissent [syn: objection, dissent]
3 the act of making a strong public expression of
disagreement and disapproval; "he shouted his protests at the
umpire"; "a shower of protest was heard from the rear of the
hall"
Verb
1 utter words of protest
2 express opposition through action or words;
"dissent to the laws of the country" [syn: resist, dissent]
3 affirm or avow formally or solemnly; "The
suspect protested his innocence"
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Etymology
From protesten < protester < protestare < pro- "before" + testare "to testify" < testis "witness".Pronunciation
Verb
Translations
to make a strong objection
- Arabic:
- Chinese: 抗议 (kàng yì)
- Dutch: protesteren
- Finnish: protestoida, esittää vastalause
- French: protester
- German: demonstrieren, protestieren
- Hebrew:
- Italian: protestare
- Japanese: 抗議する (こうぎする, kōgi suru)
- Korean: 항의하다 (hang-ui hada)
- Norwegian: protestere
- Portuguese: protestar
- Russian: протестовать (protestovát’)
- Slovene: ugovarjati, protestirati
- Spanish: protestar
- Swedish: inlägga protest, protestera
- Telugu: నిరసించు (nirasiMchu)
to affirm
mostly US: to object to
- Finnish: vastustaa, protestoida
- German: Einspruch erheben, Einwände äußern
- Norwegian: protestere
- Slovene: protestirati, ugovarjati
- Swedish: protestera mot
Noun
- A formal objection, especially one by a group
- A collective gesture of disapproval, sometimes violent
Synonyms
Translations
formal objection
collective gesture of disapproval
- Dutch: protestactie , manifestatie
- Finnish: mielenosoitus
- French: manifestation
- Greek: διαμαρτυρία (diamartyría)
- Slovene: protest
- Telugu: నిరసన ప్రదర్శన (nirasana pradarSana)
Translations to be checked
Derived terms
Swedish
Pronunciation
Noun
protestRelated terms
Extensive Definition
Protest expresses relatively overt reaction to
events or situations: sometimes in favor, though more often
opposed. Protesters may organize a protest as a way of publicly and
forcefully making their opinions heard in an attempt to influence
public opinion or government policy, or may undertake direct
action to attempt to directly enact desired changes
themselves.
Self-expression can, in theory, in practice or in
appearance, be restricted by governmental policy, economic
circumstances, religious orthodoxy, social structures, or media monopoly. When such
restrictions occur, opposition may spill over into other areas such
as culture, the streets
or emigration.
A protest can itself sometimes be the subject of
a counter-protest. In such a case, counter-protesters demonstrate
their support for the person, policy, action, etc. that is the
subject of the original protest.
Historical notions
Unaddressed protest may grow and widen into dissent, activism, riots, insurgency, revolts, and political and/or social revolution, as in:- Northern Europe in the early 16th century (Protestant Reformation)
- North America in the 1770s (American Revolution)
- France in 1789 (French Revolution)
- The Haymarket riot, 1886, a violent labor protest led by the Anarchist Movement
- Martin Luther King's 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, a key moment in the Civil Rights Movement
- SOS (Save Our Sons) were moderate middle class women who would hold silent protest vigils-founded in 1965
- The Stonewall riots in 1969 protesting the treatment of homosexuals in New York City
- The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
- The many ACT-UP AIDS protests of the late 1980s and early 1990s
- The Seattle WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999 protest activity against the World Trade Organization
- Anti-globalization Protests in Prague in 2000
- Serbia in 2000
- Feb. 15, 2003 Iraq War Protest - 6-10 million in 60 countries
Forms of protest
Commonly recognized forms of protest include:Public demonstration or political rally
Some forms of direct action listed in this article are also public demonstrations or rallies.- Protest march, a historically and geographically common form of nonviolent action by groups of people.
- Picketing, a form of protest in which people congregate outside a place of work or location where an event is taking place. Often, this is done in an attempt to dissuade others from going in ("crossing the picket line"), but it can also be done to draw public attention to a cause.
- Street protesters, characteristically, work alone, gravitating towards areas of high foot traffic, and employing handmade placards such as sandwich boards or picket sign's in order to maximize exposure and interaction with the public.
- Die-ins are a form of protest where participants simulate being dead (with varying degrees of realism). In the simplest form of a die-in, protesters simply lie down on the ground and pretend to be dead, sometimes covering themselves with signs or banners. Much of the effectiveness depends on the posture of the protesters, for when not properly executed, the protest might look more like a "sleep-in". For added realism, simulated wounds are sometimes painted on the bodies, or (usually "bloody") bandages are used.
- Protest song is a song which protests perceived problems in society. Every major movement in Western history has been accompanied by its own collection of protest songs, from slave emancipation to women's suffrage, the labor movement, civil rights, the anti-war movement, the feminist movement, the environmental movement. Over time, the songs have come to protest more abstract, moral issues, such as injustice, racial discrimination, the morality of war in general (as opposed to purely protesting individual wars), globalization, inflation, social inequalities, and incarceration.
- Radical cheerleading The idea is to ironically reappropriate the aesthetics of cheerleading, for example by changing the chants to promote feminism and left-wing causes. Many radical cheerleaders (some of whom are male, transgender or non-gender identified) are in appearance far from the stereotypical image of a cheerleader.
Written demonstration
Written evidence of political or economic power, or democratic justification may also be a way of protesting.Civil disobedience demonstrations
Any protest could be civil disobedience if a “ruling authority” says so, but the following are usually civil disobedience demonstrations:- Public nudity or topfree (to protest indecency laws or as a publicity stunt for another protest such as a war protest) or animal mistreatment (e.g. PETA's campaign against fur)
- Sit-in
- Raasta roko (people blocking auto traffic with their bodies)
- Some other publicity stunts
As a residence
- Peace camp
- Formation of a tent city
Destructive
- Riot - Protests or attempts to end protests sometimes lead to rioting.
- Self-immolation
Direct action
Protesting a government
Protesting a military shipment
- Port Militarization Resistance - protests which attempt to prevent military cargo shipments.
By government employees
Job action
- Strike action
- Sitdown strike
- Walkout
- work-in
In sports
During a sporting event, under certain circumstances, one side may choose to play a game "under protest", usually when they feel the rules are not being correctly applied. The event continues as normal, and the events causing the protest are reviewed after the fact. If the protest is held to be valid, then the results of the event are changed. Each sport has different rules for protests.By management
By tenants
By consumers
Information
Literature, art, culture
Religious
Usage in American English
In American English, the verb protest often acts transitively: The students protested the policy. Elsewhere one can still find intransitive usage: The students protested against the policy; or: The students protested in favor of the policy.Teach-in
Early protests began with basic things such as a teach-in. These were organised from 1965 onwards, at these speakers representing different viewpoint debated issues.Economic effects of protests against companies
A study of 342 US protests covered by the New York Times newspaper in the period 1962 and 1990 showed that such public activities usually had an impact on the company's publicly-traded stock price. The most intriguing aspect of the study's findings is that what mattered most was not the number of protest participants, but the amount of media coverage the event received. Stock prices fell an average of one-tenth of a percent for every paragraph printed about the event.See also
- Action on climate change
- Anti-globalization
- 2006 Dalit protests in Maharashtra
- First Amendment to the United States Constitution
- France Protest
- Gandhigiri
- 2006 Indian anti-reservation protests
- May 1968
- Police
- Port Militarization Resistance
- Protest art
- Protests against the 2003 Iraq war
- Right to protest
- Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
- UK fuel protests
- 2008 Republican National Convention Protest
References
External links
- Slideshow of pictures from the Amnesty International denounce torture rally at Portland, Oregon.
- Essay examining ICTs and protest
- High-tech protest at the 2004 Republican National Convention
- Parenting Versus Protesting: Are They Mutually Exclusive?
- Is There A Legal Age for Political Dissent? Teens at Protests!
- Important Protests Mapped on Platial.
- Why public demonstration is a useless form of activism Criticism of protesting from the libertarian think tank, the Prometheus Institute.
protest in German: Protest
protest in Galician: Protesta
protest in Hebrew: תנועת מחאה
protest in Icelandic: Mótmæli
protest in Dutch: Protest
protest in Portuguese: Protesto
protest in Russian: Протест
protest in Simple English: Protest
protest in Swedish: Protest
protest in Tamil: எதிர்ப்புப் போராட்டம்
protest in Yiddish: פראטעסט
protest in Chinese: 示威
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
affirm,
affirmance, affirmation, allegation, allege, announce, announcement, annunciate, annunciation, argue, assert, assertion, assever, asseverate, asseveration, aver, averment, avouch, avouchment, avow, avowal, bad debt, ban, bashfulness, be at
cross-purposes, beef,
beefing, bellyache, bellyaching, bitch, bitching, blackball, blackballing, boggle, boggling, boycott, break bounds, break
step, call in question, categorically reject, challenge, combat, combative reaction,
complain, complain
loudly, complaining,
complaint, compunction, conclusion, confirm, confront, contend, contend with, contrariety, counter, counteract, counteraction, countervail, counterwork, creed, cross, cry out against, declaration, declare, default, defection, defiance, delinquence, delinquency, demonstrate, demonstrate
against, demonstration, demur, demurral, demurrer, denial, deny, depose, destructive criticism,
deviation, dictum, difficulty, diffidence, dim view,
disaccord, disaccordance, disagree, disagreement, disallow, disappointment, disapprobation, disapproval, disapprove, disapprove of,
disclaim, disclaimer, disconformity, discontent, discontentedness,
discontentment,
disenchantment,
disesteem, disfavor, disgruntlement, dishonor, dishonoring, disillusion, disillusionment,
displeasure,
dispute, disrespect, dissatisfaction,
dissent, dissent from,
dissentience,
distaste, drop out,
enter a protest, enunciate, enunciation, except, exception, exclude, exclusion, expostulate, expostulation, express, face down, face out,
face up to, falter,
faltering, faultfinding, fight, fractiousness, front, frown at, frown down, frown
upon, go against, grievance, grievance
committee, grimace at, gripe, griping, groan, groaning, grouse, grousing, grumble, grumbling, have, hesitance, hesitancy, hesitation, hold, holler, howl, inaccordance, incongruity, inconsistency, indignation, indignation
meeting, insist, insist
on, inveigh against, involuntarily, ipse dixit,
issue a manifesto, join the opposition, kick, kick against, kicking, lay down, levant, look askance at, look
black upon, low estimation, low opinion, maintain, make a stand, make
waves, manifesto,
march, meet head-on,
modesty, murmuring, negativism, noncompliance, nonconcurrence, nonconform, nonconformance, nonconformism, nonconformity, noncooperation,
nondischarge of debts, nonobservance, nonpayment, nonremittal, nonviolent
protest, not abide, not approve, not comply, not conform, not go
for, not hear of, not hold with, not pay, object, object to, objection, obstinacy, offer resistance,
oppose, opposition, opposure, opt out, originality, ostracism, ostracize, passive resistance,
pause, peeve, peevishness, pet peeve,
petulance, picket, picketing, play at
cross-purposes, position, position paper,
positive declaration, predicate, predication, press
objections, proclaim,
proclamation,
profess, profession, pronounce, pronouncement, proposition, protest
demonstration, protestation, protested
bill, put, put it, qualm, qualm of conscience,
qualmishness,
querulousness,
question, raise a howl,
rally, reaction, rebuff, recalcitrance, recalcitrancy, recalcitrate, recalcitration, recoil, recusance, recusancy, refractoriness, refuse to
pay, reject, rejection, reluct, reluctance, reluctantly, remonstrance, remonstrate, remonstration, renitence, renitency, repellence, repellency, repudiate, repudiation, repulse, repulsion, resist, resistance, revolt, rock the boat, run
against, run counter to, say, say no to, say-so, saying, scolding, scruple, scrupulosity, scrupulousness, set down,
show fight, shrinking,
shyness, sit in, sit-in,
sniping, speak, speak out, speak up,
squawk, squawking, stance, stand, stand at bay, stand for,
stand on, stand up against, stand up to, state, statement, stickling, stop payment,
strike, strive against,
submit, take exception,
take exception to, take issue with, teach in, teach-in, think ill
of, think little of, thumb down, thumbs-down, traverse, uncollectible, unconformity, uncooperativeness,
under protest, unhappiness, unwillingly, utterance, view with disfavor,
vote against, vouch,
welsh, whining, withstand, withstanding, word, yapping, yell bloody
murder