A protest or a project?

Protests let off steam. They organize people who might not show up by creating a moment in time where there’s enough opportunity and social pressure that they participate.

A protest sends a message.

But almost every time, the very things that made a protest appealing mean that it fails to change much. That’s because protests are momentary, temporary and urgent. The status quo is good at surviving protests. That’s why it’s still the status quo.

The alternative is a project. A project begins with a protest that ends with, “we’ll be back tomorrow, and we’re bringing our friends.”

A project is impatiently persistent. It plays a longer game, one that can outlast the status quo.

A project identifies the system and brings a systemic approach to changing that system.

Projects can seem boring when seen with a stopwatch, but they’re powerful when measured with a calendar.

September 21, 2023