The protest as we know it is a kind of zombie tactic. The Red Scare and Cold War destruction of the Left created a knowledge gap, and activists who emerged afterward could only recreate the appearance of organizing without the content. We've been marching and losing ever since. In many other countries they still use the word "demonstration," not "protest" because a march or rally is supposed to *demonstrate* that the people are organized and willing to take action (typically strike, but also riot or take up arms) to get what they want.