Rubin missed a clear opportunity there. He goes "You should be able to protest" with protesters in his midst. What he should have said, and I hold this to be evidently true, is to mention that protest in of itself doesn't do anything. They will ignore you as much as you are ignoring them. Protest is, and should be, used by the 'powerless' to gain a seat at the negotiations table.

Rubin clearly gave these protesters a seat at the negotiations table by passing them a mic, and they all chose to sit down, not listening to a single thing he said. They lost -- proving their protests are nothing but a dog and pony show purely designed to disrupt and not actually have any impact.