If protest is to achieve anything, it should offer both a means and an end in itself. That is to say, the act should serve the location and situation in hand and, ideally, should energise those participating to further actions. Ordeal is not hugely conducive to spirited resistance.
If this all sounds either obvious or prescriptive, the point is only made because of the fundamental role media responses play in determining the success or failure of any act. So much of the time,…