Has a protest ever succeeded?

Call me an old cynic, but that's how I feel about this. Yet again we see a group of unwashed decend into a field set up camp, and hope to change the world.

However, what these people never seem to want to do is to do it in a democratic way ie stand for election as a protest - like Wyre Forest MP Richard Taylor, who famously won his seat on the back of a protest against a hospital closure. Instead these people will break the law to further their cause.

The protestors against the Heathrow expansion have already stated that they will not guarentee that they will protest legally. So if that is the case why are being allowed to stay there. Everyone has the right to free speech, but in turn we all have the responsibility to obey the law.

I also think that protests like these, that do seem to attract the most wierdest looking people, are always destined to fail. After all let us looks at their track records. Firstly Greenham Common, a "peace camp" protest which lasted 20 years against the storage of nuclear weapons at a US air base, the effect of which was never noticed. In fact, we are still storing nuclear weapons, and just put a new order for Trident's replacement.

Secondly, the poll tax protest/riots. The protest and subsequent riot did not succeed in stopping the poll tax from being implemented, it was actually political pressure that caused the tax to be scrapped.

The Newbury By-pass protest. Do you remember Swampy? Buried himself in a tunnel to try and prevent the by-pass from being built. The result, a lovely new by-pass around Newbury. Not exactly successful.

However, if you look at the East London River Crossing, this road building project was stopped by legal means. There was petition after petition, questions raised in the House of Commons, court case after court case, ending with the European Court preventing the building of the road.

So you see, simply protesting will not succeed, if you want to get anything done you have to do it by political and legal means. When will the great unwashed of these camps ever realise.