Depends who's protesting and what's the support for the protests among general population. The problem with most of the protests you see is that the people that do the protesting are the same people that oppose the government. So yeah, no government is going to react to protests done by people that don't vote for it, no matter how big. If the actual people that got the government elected protest or support the protest then they listen. Of course most of the time people know what they are voting and the government is doing exactly what it promised so they will not protest.

Depends. A protest that happens for a grand total of a single day will do jack shit. A protest that lasts several days usually tends to get some results. If the end result is a piece of shit, an organized front will start protesting again.

The thing about protests is that they have, more than bring attention to something, is annoy and/or threaten the powerful. If you ever see a protest where the police is protecting the people, that shit is most definitely defending oppression (happened a lot in Brazil in the last 10 or so years). You know how strikes are almost always shown as utterly villainous, something done by "freeloaders" who "don't want to work", by corporate media? That's because it's annoying the powerful, the protest is working and the powerful are fighting back behind the scenes.

Protests that "don't bother anyone" are bound to be forgotten like a tiktok video. That's a real problem, because sometimes a lot of innocent bystanders also get annoyed, like in the case of strikes. A strike of bus drivers will fuck up a LOT of workers, and possibly hurt them much more than any powerful figure, so it's super easy to turn public opinion go against them.

That's the problem of society, the majority of people don't have power, so the only way they can be heard is by joining up for a common purpose. Powerful people can make one or two calls to fight back against a mass of protesters.

They do alot more then bitching about something on social media and expecting that to change anything...

Better than staying inside and not doing shit. It shows community activism.

They help your rich opposition to identify you so they can quietly filter you into poverty or bring you an accident.

Nope.

The world is fucked.

Only thing that could possibly turn the tides would be a massive return to the guillotine.

No

Sometimes they do, sometimes (most times probably) they don't. However they don't work 100% of the time if attempts are never made.

It depends if you live in a fascist regime or a democratic one.

Yes

That's a great question. What I would say is the wheels of justice turn painfully slowly.

I am sure Antony Blinken is well aware of domestic concerns over the wellbeing of Gazans, the unfortunate reality is any big decision against or at Israel will come with negative consequences.

The path of least resistance might be allowing the Israeli's to squeeze out their own leader democratically. Is that the best way? Well, probably? Not always?

A pacifist may look to the Vietnam War, Libya or Iran and say action was injustice, an activist might look at the Rwandan Genocide and say pacifism was injustice. Diplomacy has to do it's thing.

In our small town - just a few thousand people, in an extremely red area of an extremely red state: there is a lady that stands on a corner of the main street though town (1 of 10 intersections). She wears her mask with a Gaza flag pattern and holds a Gaza flag with a small poster board that says like "Free Gaza" or something.

I support her right to protest, but I'm not sure that it's doing anything or what her goal even is. No idea what her protest is designed to do other than virtue signal.

On the other hand I spend time in February making sure my kids and friends/family on social media see images of civil rights protests - brave people attending school or sitting at a lunch counter.

I think protests can work and can change things, but context and strategy matter a lot.

It depends on the amount of violence and monetary damage.

The only thing the state understands is violence, money and power. We can do nothing to threaten their power or violence, but we can threaten their money through general strikes. Bring capitalism to its knees and they too will bend.

i'm pretty sure you could crowdsource an assassination and get more results,.

Protests can be highly effective if you follow the proper procedures, set a time and place that is well publicized, apply for the proper permits, coordinate with local authorities, stay within the allotted boundaries making sure not to overcrowd the area, do not disrupt traffic or commerce, do not intimidate the peacekeeping agents placed there to protect you, and please do not damage the provided velvet ropes or barricades

with or without guns?

Protests are very good at causing civil unrest, damaging public property, making other peoples days worse, and swaying their view further away from your cause

If any of those are your goal, they can be quite effective