Demand Makers

Who are the demand makers? More importantly, what is their game? Are these players of the demand-making game paid or do they volunteer to speak out and stand-up for social justice?

Let us be very clear from the onset. A demand maker is not necessarily a protester, although they might become a protester if necessary to get their demands met. Many protesters are not making any actual demands.

Before you start to defend your position, against mine, by claiming that protesters are always protesting to make demands, just consider that some protesters are paid and do not actually know for what they are protesting. They are not really making demands. In some instances the protesters are given a chant to say, while they stand in protest at a designated and planned location.

Sometimes there is a goal, to get a cause noticed, by the government or corporation. The protest is a seeming last effort attempt to insist on a cause of action or to demand a cease and desist action of a government or corporate entity. 'Do this now!' 'Stop doing that!' 'From here to there' 'This that and everywhere'. What is being said? I don't know. Chants are rants that express a personal sentiment, albeit not a logical statement. Logic is not usually present in the 'heat of a protest'.

In the hustle and bustle of the 'crowd gathering situation' and with the 'mob mentality' at play, there really is no way to know what is being asked for and no clear way to know how to appease the collective group.

Collective intentionality is actually a branch of social science. Its main tenet holds that 'If the collective will is strong enough, then reality can be reconstructed to fulfill the will of the group'. Before being dismissive of this claim, let us consider major collective movements throughout recent History; civil rights marches, which led to affirmative action. Now diversity and inclusion programs, which seemed everlasting guarantees to ensure the 'balance of equality' in the access to education and work are being outlawed in some states in the United States of America; namely in Texas, as well as other states.

The vast numbers of people involved in Civil Rights marches were nothing short of miraculous. That's right I am claiming a gathering of a million people for the 'Million Man March in Washington" to be a miracle, as well as other massive gatherings of people for a march or just for a get together. As an Event Planner, I can tell it is a challenge to get even one hundred people to arrive at exactly the same time for an event. Some people will arrive early, others on time and some people will arrive fashionably late.

The gathering of a million people or more, in one place, at the same time, all saying the same statements, being of one shared heart, is a miracle. The otherwise divisiveness of people's minds and behaviors, as matter of 'human nature' is so natural that a certain protest against individuality and a succumbing to the 'collective will' and to a 'losing of oneself' into the group, is against one's will. People have varying perspectives and divergent behaviors, normally.

The demand makers are really the 'brains behind the scenes' that orchestrate the protests from a distance through various levels of organizers. As anyone that grew up and played the 'broken telephone' game in school would know, the initial message to be conveyed is totally changed and seemingly unrecognizable, at the final stage of being said by the group, versus what was meant to be said.

Protests, by and large, are grand performances of political leaders, as demonstrated expressions of political statements, by other means than a political speech. Just consider how many homeless people lay on the street, in nearly every major city, in America and in countries throughout the world. Why don't these poor people organize and demand food and housing and the right to work? Are they not able to speak and stand and get together at one place?

I believe that any group that is marginalized and wants to be treated better can protest, but relatively few groups do actually protest. The main 'actors' or players of the protest game are union members, at a strike, to demand better wages or improved working conditions. It is in a 'nutshell' unionized labor. A union is an organization that is really organized, with a set structure and hierarchy, of leadership, management, representatives, delegates and members.

It 'stands to reason' that most organizations try to emulate the brilliant structure of a union. One must then ponder if protesters are not trained by unions? Is this a paranoid conspiracy theory? Perhaps. But maybe not.

Unless a union of one kind or another is giving support, by funding or training protesters, then there is really no way for a protest to occur and certainly no possibility of success, without the support of a union.

Who are the demand makers? You tell me?