The Media is the Message: Countercultural Political Protest

John Lennon and Yoko Ono met in 1966, married in 1969 and decided to treat their honeymoon in Amsterdam as a ‘Bed-in’ for peace event. Inviting hundreds of reports into their room, where John and Yoko spoke of non-violent ways of protesting wards and promoting peace. That same year they started ‘Acorns for Peace’ where they mailed one acorn each to 96 world leaders asking them to plant it for world peace. Later that year they held another ‘Bed-in’ for peace in Montreal.

John and Yoko’s objective was to use a calm, productive way to handle protest, promoting non-violence without violence. While it may be much harder to be a non-violent protester, I believe that in the end they will be the ones that are heard. However in situations like the G20 Summit, the violent protesters who were torching cop cars and vandalizing storefronts were over powering those that were peacefully protesting. It is very disappointing to know that after the G20 people would refer to ALL the protesters as dangerous crazy people who should all be arrested if they were not already. When in fact, yes there were violent protesters, but there also were peaceful, non-violent protesters who received very little attention, as they were over shadowed. Those that were violent and arrested may have got the media attention but realistically no one wants to hear what they are saying when they are extremely violent and vandalizing everything in sight. But those people take all the attention away from those non-violent protesters.

It is a difficult situation to be non-violent and without exposure, but if you stick by your beliefs, just like John and Yoko, the exposure will come and your message will get out there. It is highly ironic to protest non-violence WITH violence. So don’t! Obviously it helps to be John Lennon and Yoko Ono, but it was the simple fact that they did not resort to violence, they did not spend money (except on the hotel room), they did not do anything totally crazy. They simply sang songs and spoke about their thoughts and beliefs of promoting world peace.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono Bed in for Peace

Protesters at the G20 Summit in Toronto