Protests are effective at establishing support for progressive reforms and at restraining governments from taking unpopular actions, even if the protesters don't achieve all their goals as quickly as they would like.
See: Why protest if it doesn't make a difference?
Protests do work
This is surprising, given that we constantly see examples where protest has made a difference. We have, already in 2024, seen blockades and protests by French farmers prompt the government to offer concessions. Likewise, in India, the renewed farmers movement marching towards Delhi has already prompted an offer from the government of improved prices for crops.
Mass street protests over a child sex abuse scandal in Budapest recently led Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, to introduce legislation to address the scandal. Late last year, mass protests and street blockades in Panama led to the government closing one of the world’s largest copper mines.
Academic research also shows that protest can be influential. Workers’ protest and strike action was crucial in prompting Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal as part of the creation of the US welfare state. And disruptive protests have also slowed down the adoption of the austerity measures which have eroded welfare states across the high-income democracies for the past 40 years.
Colonialism was met with ongoing resistance and protest in almost every instance, including Gandhi’s campaign of non-violent civil disobedience, as well as more militant campaigns. This grew throughout the 20th century, until maintaining occupation ultimately proved unmanageable for the colonial powers.
They're referencing what the second protester (Vaniya Agrawal) mentioned in her email:
The Microsoft Global Human Rights Statement has a "Foundational principles" section that says:
Microsoft is clearly declining to fulfill its commitment as it is written in its statement.