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Why nonviolent protests work better
The formal aspect of "legislation product" is very important since if it is proven to run counter to the proper rule, then the entire law could be annulled.
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Up in flames: Protesters run past the Hotel Indonesia Transjakarta bus shelter in Central Jakarta as it is engulfed by a fire during a demonstration on Thursday, October 8. 2020 that turned violent. (JP/Seto Wardhana)
T
he omnibus Job Creation Law, which aims to disentangle the complex web of investment business and create more job opportunities, has waged protests in many parts of the country. Thousands of students and labor union members resist the “big bang” law, saying it will decouple the labor rights and harm the environment.
The protests have turned violent, with demonstrators throwing rocks, burning Transjakarta shelters and public facilities, while police have fired tear gas to “tame” protesters. Two weeks since the bill was approved, the protests and violence have continued.
People protest for a lot of reasons, but we don’t know if they, especially the violent ones, lead to policy changes.
From research on social psychology, protests are linked to several variables such as grievances, efficacy, politicized identity and anger.
Research from Stekelenburg and Klandermans (2013) in The Social Psychology of Protest, suggests that grievance and efficacy would predict protest participation.
At the very core of every protest are grievance, the feeling of illegitimate inequality, and the feeling of relative deprivation.
Research suggests feeling part of a group that you perceive as deprived is especially important in protest engagement. We could see in the narratives of the protest against the omnibus law the shared grievances over the unjust clauses targeting workers as the deprived group.
