Over time, we’ve allowed the public boundary between peaceful protest, civil disobedience, criminal coercion and terrorism to become increasingly blurred. Peaceful protest communicates ideas without committing offences against others. Criminal coercion employs unlawful conduct to impose operational, financial or psychological costs on others in pursuit of political change. This also explains why civil disobedience shouldn’t be confused with criminal coercion. Democracies damage themselves when they conflate peaceful protest with extremism, rely unnecessarily on extraordinary powers or respond disproportionately to lawful demonstrations.