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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Vol 35 no. 9. 9 May 1972

Taking your Chances

Taking your Chances

"Is The Dream Over?" was based around one central theme, that demonstrations do not affect the policies of the Governments against whom they are aimed. This is a realistic reading of the recent history of protest marches, both here and in the U.S. And although there were and still are people who would disagree, who believe that marching has a direct effect on policy, I think most would go along with the author of the article when he says that demonstrations were only intended as a means of showing strength and of focusing public opinion on the issue. Within this limited framework the demonstrations in New Zealand against the war in Indo-China have undoubtedly made an impact, just how much success is of course another question. But when a movement is protesting against the mass murder of Asians and the wholesale destruction of their lands, it cannot forgo any opportunity to increase its support or to prod people into looking at the issues.

However I agree with the author that a time does arrive when the issue-evoking potential of demonstrations is exhausted, at which point marching may become counterproductive ie: marching for marching's sake, rather than to highlight the issue. Naturally, if it could be shown that marching did affect policy, then I would say keep right on, but unfortunately this is not the case—the New Zealand troops came out when Nixon allowed Holyoake to take them out. Our efforts did not figure in that calculation.