5 Protest Tactics We Loved in 2018

Youth activism isn’t new. It’s been around as long as young people have been speaking truth to power. This year was no exception, as 2018 was a banner year for people — especially young people — raising their voices and being heard. From massive school walkouts to somber die-ins to some high-profile arrests, activists as young as seven made people listen to what they had to say with a variety of protest tactics.

There’s a lot of different ways to demonstrate. Understanding a wide variety of methods can be useful to figure out which one is the best for your message. Here are some of our favorite ways to protest that made waves in 2018.

Marching

In 2017, the Women’s March saw people taking to the streets in historic numbers, according to Vox. After the second-annual edition in January, Vox reported that attendance still numbered in the millions. But it was not the only major march that saw more than a million people show up this year — the March for Our Lives on March 24 also saw people turning out in droves in response to the horrific Marjory Stoneman Douglas school shooting in Parkland, Florida. Other marches took place the same day all across the country.

Led by students including Emma González, Jaclyn Corin, Sarah Chadwick, and David Hogg, the survivors of the Parkland shooting found a way to act after the tragedy they experienced. The entire country took note as high school students seized control of their own narrative and made gun control and firearm reforms an issue everybody — especially politicians — were talking about. Later in the year, they even joined existing marches like the Chicago Peace March.

Marchers also hit the pavement in Washington to protest climate change and in Texas to protest the Trump administration’s family-separation immigration policy. Each time people take to the streets, it’s a show of force. Marching with the people who support the same cause as you is a great way to foster unity and occupy space together.

Getting Arrested

Confronting power can be intimidating — especially when the cops show up. But some folks get arrested for their principles and, in the process, get the chance to take a stand for what they believe in. That’s what happened outside of Paul Ryan’s office this year, when four student protesters — Rachel Zeidenberg, Eva Sofia Esposito, Naomi Caplan, and Jordan Joseph — were arrested for protesting gun control on April 18.

“I was really scared, but I knew whatever happened, it would all work out. I was feeling like this [protest] could actually turn into something powerful. That this could create change,” Rachel, 16, told Teen Vogue after her arrest that day. She also had advice for what to do when you’re getting arrested: “Know your rights, make sure you don’t resist. If you’re getting arrested, resisting can make it worse. Remain peaceful.”

“We will put [ourselves] out there to get our point across,” said Eva Sofia, 15. “I plan to continue voicing my opinion in the years to come.”

While Ryan’s offices can be hotspots for protest arrests, the outgoing Speaker of the House isn’t the only authority figure whose policies had people taking a stand against in 2018. School dress codes, tech companies working with ICE, the Trump administration’s family-separation policies, and the Brett Kavanaugh hearings all saw protesters getting rounded up by police.

Protest arrests can be a badge of honor for some activists, but ending up in police custody can involve risks, especially for people of color, disabled people, LGBTQ people, or others. If getting arrested seems like a possibility at a protest, everyone participating should know their rights ahead of time.

Banner drops

Protests are about attracting attention, and some tactics are all about spectacle. While some stories might start with a curtain lifting, there’s real drama in a banner drop. Just look at what happened at Game 5 of the 2018 World Series in Los Angeles, where the TransLatin@ Coalition unfurled a massive transgender pride flag reading “TRANS PEOPLE DESERVE TO LIVE.” Coming just a week after the Trump administration’s controversial memo on gender that The New York Times wrote could define transgender out of existence, the timely protest capitalized on a massive crowd, a lot of cameras, and a stadium upper deck perfect for airing out a message.

“I was kind of exploding because of the adrenaline. You don’t know what’s going to happen with the police and security and all of that,” TransLatin@ Coalition president Bamby Salcedo told INTO afterward. “I hope that this action will motivate members of the trans community, our allies and our comrades to really activate and to really understand that we have power,” she added. “We can demonstrate our power anywhere and everywhere.”

When there’s a unified message to deliver, a banner drop is a potent way to do it, as was demonstrated time and again in 2018. On July 4, an “ABOLISH I.C.E.” banner made headlines after a drop at the Statue of Liberty (leading to an arrest). Other banner drops took place to show support for striking prisoners, resisting Trump, addressing climate change, moving away from fossil fuels, calling out racism as an American tradition, acknowledging violence against black LGBTQ people, and even a city-wide rent freeze in Vancouver,

Die-ins

The causes activists are passionate about are often life and death for those affected. An effective way to get that point across is a die-in, which is when activists occupy a space and lie down to simulate dead bodies. It was used repeatedly this year in gun violence activism, as young activists remembered the Pulse nightclub shooting and pressured Congress for action on reform (they even stormed the Capitol building after that one).

“No matter what the cause, this year was different and for the first time in a long time that different was good,” activist Adam Werner wrote for Teen Vogue about a die-in on the Pulse anniversary. “The air was stung by a tangible sense of hope, movement and future.”

"It was a surreal experience to be able to sit in the middle of city hall and disrupt daily activity to let our voices be heard. I have taken part in many protests and walkouts, but I've never been a part of a die-in or sit-in,” 17-year-old Destiny Harris told Teen Vogue after participating in a die-in at Chicago city hall over a proposed $95 million cop academy.

Walkouts

Like a strike, a walkout is an intentional disruption or stoppage of normal business, whether it’s at a school, a workplace, or anywhere else. In 2018, some major walkouts took place to confront gun violence. On March 14 (a month after the Parkland shooting) and again on April 20 (the anniversary of the Columbine school shooting), students across the country walked out of school to protest gun violence. Both times, the country had no choice but to take notice as images of young people surging out of their schools hit the news.

Lane Murdock, the 16-year-old who organized the April walkouts, said in an interview that it grew out of an online petition that “just kept on building and building” through virtual word of mouth. In the end, hundreds of thousands walked out that day.

"You are never too little to make a difference," seven-year-old Havana Chapman-Edwards told Teen Vogue after she was the only student at her school to join the April walkout. "I know that just because I am only seven doesn't mean that I can't help other people every day. My advice to other kids is that you don't have to be a grownup or be famous to change the world. Sometimes you just have to choose kindness to change the world."

Gun violence isn’t the only issue people walked out for this year. McDonald’s and Google employees staged walkouts this year to address sexual harassment in the workplace. And in the midst of the national trauma that was the Brett Kavanaugh hearings, people held #BelieveSurvivors walkouts to show support for Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.

“We are surrounded by the power of teenagers,” 17-year-old Em Odesser wrote in an op-ed for Teen Vogue after the March 14 walkouts. “We know our worth, our power, our strength. Teenage activists do not need babysitters. We are change makers and do not need our hands held — we are expected to lead the world in a few years, and should be treated as such.”

Get the Teen Vogue Take. Sign up for the Teen Vogue weekly email.

Want more from Teen Vogue? Check this out: How to Preserve Your Right to Protest