Are Public Protests in Public Places Effective Ways of Bringing Change - Essay Example

It was the largest ever seen demonstration in the capital that attracted over 250,000 people and one of the first to have extensive television coverage. The Cairo’s Tahrir Square, which was a protest against the country’s leadership, that is, revolution against former President Hosni Mubarak and his regime. The two events are memorable as they have some similarities and differences depicting the nature of public protests in the past and recent years. The two events being the best examples of public protest, indicating that public protest in public places can be an effective way of bringing change to the people.

The atmosphere and conditions that led to the protest of Civil Rights March (Washington DC 1963) started way back in 1950s and 1960s where the civil rights movement in the United States was for political, legal, and social struggle to gain citizenship rights for black Americans and to achieve equality. A racial unrest of civil demonstrations was sparked off by the police action in Birmingham, Alabama that had media coverage showing how dogs and fire horses were turned against protestors who were still young in their early teens (ABC, 2005).

In The Tahrir Square (Cairo 2011) protest, around the year 2005 and 2006 after the re-election of Mubarak opposition started to demand for political changes. The protests were however, started because of a June 2010 incident in which a young man Khaled Said was allegedly beaten by police. This is the same period that there was unrest in Tunisia and protests in Egypt has been linked to this protest too. The high levels of unemployment of black people, the persistence racial segregation, the poor and minimal wages at their jobs, the disenfranchisement of many African Americans, and the slow or lack of any meaningful reforms by earlier protests led to this march of 1963.

This led to demands for the passage of a meaningful and comprehensive civil rights legislation, the protection against police brutality on the protestors, and the ending of cultural separation in public schools. Further, it led to enactment of laws that prohibits racial unfairness in public and private hiring, a major program for public-works to provide jobs for the black Americans, a 2 dollar an hour minimum wage, and the call for a self government for the District of Columbia which had a black majority (Anheier, 2004).

In the 2011 Egyptian protests, it were mainly for political and legal issues including; the main issue being the end of President Hosni Mubarak’s regime, uncontrolled corruption, lack of freedom of speech and free elections, economical issues including high unemployment, police brutality, food price inflation, state of emergency laws, and low minimum wages. More than 250,000 demonstrators descended upon the nation’s capital to participate in the march of Washington for “Jobs and Freedom” on August 28, 1963.

The protest began with a rally at Washington Monument where several celebrities and musicians performed and the protests became a collective celebration too. This was one of the largest demonstrations by various civil rights organizations in United States showing their unity in agitation for Jobs and freedom. The participants went from National Mall to the Memorial which was a mile long away. At the Lincoln Memorial, there was a three-hour long program, which included speeches from prominent civil rights and religious leaders.

The two outstanding speeches came from came from John Lewis and Martin Luther King, Jr. The march was