Right to Formal protest

Ever since my change in focus from what I do to what I do not consider to be fundamental human rights, I have found that there are several things that could be considered rights but are not fundamental. The latest example relates to protesting.


Many forms of protesting could be viewed as fundamental rights. For example, if you refuse to buy products from a company that you view as corrupt, nobody should be able to stop you. You should be able to publicly discuss your reasoning.

The problems with protesting is that the concept is actually quite broad. Some consist of a single person while others involve large groups. Actions can range from refusing to show support to violent attacks on those who have a differing viewpoint.

When I talk about fundamental human rights, I am talking primarily about what the government should not be able to take from you. I feel that most people will agree that there do need to be at least some limitations in regards to the types of protesting that are allowed, especially when protests harm the rights of others.

Where do we draw the line? That really is a matter of debate. There should certainly be grounds to break up a protest if rights of innocent bystanders are being attacked. How about protests set up by organizations known to incite violence? How about pushing controversial issues that can fuel tensions? While organized protests certainly have their uses, I would say that there is too much disagreement and uncertainty in regards to how far protesting can go. For this reason, I would say that formal protesting falls short of qualifying as a fundamental human right.