{"id":5057,"date":"2020-03-07T14:39:58","date_gmt":"2020-03-07T14:39:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.celesteh.com\/blog\/?p=5057"},"modified":"2020-04-03T12:45:37","modified_gmt":"2020-04-03T11:45:37","slug":"how-to-give-a-speech-at-a-protest-demonstration-or-rally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.celesteh.com\/blog\/2020\/03\/07\/how-to-give-a-speech-at-a-protest-demonstration-or-rally\/","title":{"rendered":"How to give a speech at a protest, demonstration or rally"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The recent London Met police watchlist specifically was worried about the radicalising power of emotive<\/strong> speech. This is because emotive speech works. You can list facts and figures in your speech, and you should, but people act based on how they feel. Conveying a sense of urgency, outrage and hope, simultaneously is the heady mix to build a movement and actually create change, no matter the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being outside is\ninherently distracting and you need to keep energy high, so keep the\nspeech short. 3-5 minutes is ideal. You also want to make sure to\nkeep people engaged, so starting with some chanting or call and\nresponse is a great way to give people some initial energy. The\nchants you use at this point should work to build group identity.\nThey can use the name of the organisation (\u201cWhen I say\n\u2018extinction\u2019, you say \u2018rebellion!\u2019\u201d) or be about the\ngeneral cause that has brought everyone out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then you want to\nstate the problem or issue that is the main topic of your speech.\nStart by setting a scene, go more into details about what the issue\nis, save the most outrageous parts for last. You want it to start in\neveryday, accessible language. Keep the emotional level rising\nthroughout the speech. It\u2019s fine to engage the audience between\nsections. (\u201cAre we going to stand for this??\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second major\npart of your speech, shorter than the first, is making demands.\nGradually raise the stakes. It\u2019s fine to make some demands of the\ncrowd, but you need to know the audience and quit while you\u2019re\nahead. If you ask a bunch of middle class white climate activists to\ngo vegan, this might be the push that some of them need. If you tell\npeople to quit their jobs and become full time activists, you\u2019ve\nlikely gone too far and undone some of your previous good work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The largest demands\nneeds to be against the target of the protest or of the state. Again,\nthese need to gradually up the stakes. Start with something everyone\naggress with and push so that it\u2019s still entirely reasonable but\nwould require major system change to implement. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example,\n\u201cBritain must outlaw the importation and sale of the products of\nslave labour\u201d is a good starting point. This is an obviously good\nidea. But carry on with, \u201cBritish companies must not profit off of\nslave labour anywhere in the world.\u201d Also extremely reasonable, but\nmuch harder to implement. This is what you want. Carry on, \u201cAll\nproceeds any British company, subsidiary, or owner, must have any\nproceeds of forced labour confiscated. This money must be paid out in\nrestitution to individuals and communities effected by this\ndisgusting practice!\u201d That\u2019s a transitional demand. Because we\nwant to outlaw slavery globally. Apple products made by slave labour\nshouldn\u2019t be on sale in our shops, but nor should they be on sale\nanywhere. That this would be hard to implement is good \u2013 it shows\nthat the entire system must be overhauled to respect human rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some groups feel\nthat making capitalism a direct and named target is pushing things\ntoo far and will lose audiences. I increasingly disagree with this,\nbut use your judgement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then make sure to\ngive hope. If you were talking about slavery, you could talk briefly\nabout how Britain sent out it\u2019s navies to free slaves in transport.\n(True!) Or you can be more generic (\u201cWe can change and we will\nchange! We will fight and we will win!\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

End with chanting\nthat is more specifically tied to what you spoke about. (\u201cClimate\njustice \/ human rights. One struggle \/ one fight\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Performance Practice<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Your speech is a performance. Do things you would do to prepare for a performance. You may need to practice speaking into a PA or practice the whole speech. You’ve written something that sitrs emotions, so deliver it with those emotions – be passionate! Stand up straight. Look determined. Take a deep breath. You can do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to talk into a PA<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you are using a bullhorn, hold the microphone close to your mouth. Speak slowly and clearly. If you are using a system with a more normal microphone, hold it part way down. Do not grab it by the business end and especially don\u2019t cover any grill or openings with your hands. Point it at your mouth. As with a bullhorn, speak slowly and clearly. If you get feedback, move behind the speaker and make sure the mic is only pointing at you \u2013 not any speakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"How<\/a>
Holding a microphone<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Talk emotively and persuasively to crowds of people<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[48,81,400],"class_list":["post-5057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised","tag-howto","tag-protest","tag-speak"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.celesteh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.celesteh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.celesteh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celesteh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celesteh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5057"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.celesteh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5078,"href":"https:\/\/www.celesteh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5057\/revisions\/5078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.celesteh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celesteh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celesteh.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}