What are some famous individual protests?

    I just discovered a website called Listserve that specializes in top ten lists. Most of them are pretty random, like “Top 10 Failed McDonald’s Products” or “Top 10 Fascinating Facts About Cheese.” But there are some serious ones too. The one that naturally caught my eye was titled “Top 10 Individual Protests.”

    Given the recent success of Aminatou Haidar’s hunger strike, I thought this to be a wholly appropriate time to share the list and see what people think. Who else should have been on it? Once you get beyond some of the obvious names it gets tough.

    In general, I think Listserve did a great job. I learned about two people I had never heard of before: Zackie Achmat, an HIV campaigner who refused to take antiretroviral drugs until all four million of his fellow South Africans had the same opportunity, and Vedran Smailovic, who played his cello in public during the midst of the seige on Sarajevo in 1992. Nor did I know about Louis Armstrong’s refusal to represent the US in Russia because of what happened in Little Rock.

    I look forward to reading what other names folks come up with…



    Recent Stories

    • Analysis

    Climate activists in New England can finally celebrate ‘the end of coal’

    April 16, 2024

    With the last of New England’s coal plants now set to close, the No Coal No Gas campaign is reflecting on the power of fighting together.

    • Feature

    Smuggled protest videos offer a rare glimpse at resistance in occupied Tibet

    April 13, 2024

    Defying a media blackout and severe backlash, Tibetan monks, nuns and residents of a threatened mountain community are showing the world their resistance to a Chinese dam.

    • Feature

    Climate movement elders revive monkey wrench tactics to save an old forest

    April 5, 2024

    Drawing on a long legacy of forest defense in the Northwest, members of the direct action group Troublemakers halted a controversial timber sale in Washington.