I’m a great believer in the value of protest, of voicing your opinion even if others find that ‘offensive’. I even believe that in some circumstances there is a morally legitimate justification for Ghandian non-violent direct action. But I also believe that protest has limits to it when it comes to morality. There’s lots of things that I believe that those protesting for a cause should and could do but there’s also stuff that people should not do, either because it’s wrong in and of itself or it is counterproductive.

I’ve been around hundreds of protests over the years, some which were protests by the Left, some by the Right and centre Right and some which defied any political characterisation at all. I’ve also worked as what I would euphemistically describe as a ‘public disorder photographer’ covering demonstrations in the hope that they’d kick off and I’d get some decent images that I could sell to the newspapers. Therefore I’ve seen all sorts of protests both as a participant and as a relatively neutral observer.

Because of my experience I’ve come to a number of conclusions as to what is acceptable and what is not acceptable. What I believe is acceptable is the following. Peaceful assembly of those who wish to demonstrate for or against a cause. Peaceful counter-demonstration of those opposed to whatever group is initially protesting. Writing to one’s MP or councillor or other elected individual about what is on your mind, hopefully writing politely but if an angry screed is required then so be it. Writing to public and private bodies to express matters of concern or to highlight problems or to advise different courses of action that these bodies should take. Demonstrating peacefully outside local and national government offices or the offices of companies, charities, quangos or other such entities. Public mockery, whether done in person or in print is also in my view an acceptable tactic where it is justifiable to use it this is because sometimes an important message can be better conveyed with mockery than by being too po faced.

Now to what I don’t believe is acceptable, which is a much shorter list. Violence or the threat of violence is to me not just unacceptable morally but a sure fire way of losing support for your cause. It plays very badly with the general public. I also do not believe that impeding uninvolved members of the public from going about their business, such as is the tactic of Extinction Rebellion and Insulate Britain, is acceptable either. You don’t win converts to any cause by for example blocking people from getting to work or worse blocking the passage of an Ambulance trying to get a sick patient to a hospital. I also don’t believe in targeting children or schools although writing to a head about a concern is acceptable but this red line does not apply to Universities as those within them are plainly adults. I certainly do not believe that there is anything to be gained from demonstrating outside people’s homes as the home should be sacred to us no matter who we are and there’s no excuse for such protests no matter what the type of cause is being espoused.

As someone who has vast experience of demonstrations I’ve been horrified at some of the stuff that the tin foil hat anti vax types and members of Tommy Robinson’s supporters have been getting up to by demonstrating outside people’s homes. To me it’s really not on. There is bugger all positive to be gained by anti vax or ‘freeman on the land’ nutters delivering iffy ‘legal notices’ to journalists or anti grooming campaigners screaming ‘paedophile’ through people’s letterboxes. By all means picket a newspaper or broadcaster and hand out leaflets but visiting people at home in my view crosses the line that divides genuine protest from genuine harassment.

Now I’ve done, for the Press, doorstepping work but this was both controlled and monitored by my guv’nors in order that no liberties were taken and that nothing illegal went on and that the doorstepping was justified by the story. For us it was off the cards completely to crash a funeral in order to get pictures for a major story but fraudsters and politicians who were cheating on their wives were for us justifiably fair game. On a doorstep job, we knocked, we asked a question or two, noted down a quote, maybe took a photo and then we left. We didn’t hang around screaming through the letterbox or frightening people by delivering threatening bullshit legal documents. There was always someone above me, usually my Picture Editor or a Picture Desk staffer, who authorised me to go on the doorstep job and who would carry the legal and ethical can if I overstepped the mark, which I don’t think I ever did. There is a world of difference between being a legit journalist trying to put a story together and being a member of a mob out for self-aggrandisement or to deliver more clicks for grifters. I despise mobs, I’ve read up on and experienced enough of them to know that they are rarely ever just and that King Mob makes for a very bad leader. King Mob also leads his followers into some pretty bleak and dark places.

Protest is in my view a very good thing for a society. It’s both a way for British subjects to voice their views, even if some find such views unpalatable and is also a safety valve because a society that does not permit peaceful protest might find the pressure building up until there may come a point where non-peaceful protest becomes unstoppable. I believe that it was John F Kennedy the former US President who said that those who make peaceful change impossible make violent change inevitable. I don’t want to see violent change, I’ve met and hung around with enough members of the Revolutionary Left when I was younger to know that this is not the way to go and such individuals are not the sort of people who should be gifted any sort of power or authority. The sort of people who I met back then who were aligned to the Communists or the Socialist Workers Party or the Maoists or the Workers Revolutionary Party, were the very same people who I came to slowly believe that I would not and could not trust to govern anything which had power over others.

Protest is both necessary and important, just as freedom of speech is. But just as even free speech fundamentalists such as myself believe that it is unacceptable to shout ‘fire’ in a crowded theatre when there is no fire, or credibly incite immediate violence, so also do those who take part in demonstrations or other protests need to know that there are red lines that should not be crossed.