Can't people like get together and...counter lobby?
Like I said before, industries pay people to make lobbying their
full-time job. I can't make activism my full-time job. Can you? We can put together our own organizations where we donate money to support full-time lobbyists, but plenty such organizations already exist. They just can't match the power of corporate lobbyists, who are far less scrupulous and have far more resources at their disposal.
I think a lot more can be said by standing in front of a tank than attacking it.
I don't necessarily disagree, but you might want to find a better example. The Tiananmen Square incident may have produced a powerful image for the rest of the world, but it didn't do much in China. Supposedly, most people younger than their mid-20's in China aren't even aware that it happened, because
any recognition of the event is forbidden.
If you're going to give your life for a cause, you have to do it on your own terms. The government wouldn't choose to roll a tank over you, if it didn't think it could control the aftermath. Compare to
this flaming individual, who chose and retained complete control over the terms of his own sacrifice, and made a huge impact.
I'm not encouraging anyone to go out and immolate themselves. I'm just saying that these things are always about setting the stage. You have to take control of the situation in some way. You can't just stand in the path of victimization, and expect it to make a statement. Violence would be a more effective choice than badly strategized martyrdom.