When Ghandi walked to the sea and started to make salt it was a defiant gesture that hit the British where it hurt. If it continued it would have caused problems and a loss of profit for the establishment. Most protests these days involve waving placards, singing music and shouting slogans. Banners are unfurled. The police monitor. There may be mild scuffles but no real harm is made and no real change is affected. The protests and inaction are carried out by a class of eco-warriors, well-meaning alternatively minded people. Their hearts are in the right place but again no real change is affected. The body of disinterested people who you would need to partake look on and feel that that’s not really for me. They don’t really represent who I am so I will forego. Even if they were to partake, as in the war protest against the invasion of Iraq, still no effect occurred. To make real change you have to hit the right people where it hurts. Ensure that the action that is taken is targeted at the right group. At the right cause. And you have the right achievable change that you have in mind ready when the interest occurs. The Conservatives implemented a bedroom tax on millions of people. On a point-by-point basis you could argue that a bedroom tax makes sense. If there are spare rooms and you want people to move out so that the space can be used by others, then raise a tax, and people will move. But, and here is where the conservatives fail. They implement the policy with complete disregard for those who are marginalized or disabled, and there is no ability for the individual to respond effectively if needed. Normally a response is met by a cold voice on the other end of the phone who just has a list to tick. They do not know how to use discernment because they are in the wrong job. Hence people in dire circumstances are driven to despair and end up committing suicide. You could say that indirectly The Conservatives are responsible for those deaths, as they were for death of hundreds of disabled people when they inhumanely implemented further changes with no consultation. This is where direct action comes in. If you know a body of individuals who are about to commit an action or pass a policy that may indirectly cause the death of a few, or hundreds of people, then you have the right to protect society from those changes. And visible direct action aimed at those people without the intention of harming others is fair game.