Why is physical presence important to a protest movement?

An anarchist protests for "Revolution" high atop the 1stBank sign in front of the bank’s offices in Denver, Colorado.

Why is physical presence important to a protest movement?

Because, for all its immediacy and interconnectedness, social media, the internet, the realm of ideas… is a dark and distant place. No moving pictures for the camera, no faces and voices that call out to us from the television glass, no human touch to move the writers’ heart to write words that move our own.

This place where ideas live is still too impenetrable by the nightly news, still too far removed from the lives of those who could most benefit from them, still too new to have wholly won our trust, and so it remains in a corner, easily ignored, easily forgotten.

But you can’t forget the man yelling out with his voice of freedom here on the streets where you walk. His voice rings in your ears. His words take up residence somewhere in that mass of thoughts you think each day. You can glorify him or vilify him, and you can even try to ignore him: but he is undeniably there, and his presence disturbs your peace.