Word or phrase for "it won't change anything, but we'll protest anyways"
There exists a phrase or device, somewhat akin to the parables of Paul Bunyan or John Henry, when your efforts at protest are futile against a struggle, but you are compelled to struggle against it anyways -- usually because it's a seemingly noble cause.
Would anyone have a suggestion as to how to phrase this device? Or is there a widely known idiom for it? I'd suppose the single word "futile" might accurately describe this situation, but that's not what I'm looking for.
Solution 1:
The term Sisyphean comes to mind:
(of a task) such that it can never be completed.
This alludes to Sysiphus, who was punished by the Greek gods by being forced to constantly roll a boulder up a hill, just to watch it roll back down.
More colorfully, "pissing into the wind" might also apply, depending on your audience:
to be trying to do something when there is no hope of succeeding
Hopefully you can imagine what this one is referencing.
Solution 2:
"Fighting a lost cause" is a common term that expresses a continuing struggle against a foregone conclusion.
lost cause
- a cause that has been defeated or whose defeat is inevitable.
[Dictionary.com]
Solution 3:
I think tilt at windmills may fit the context you are describing :
- Engage in conflict with an imagined opponent, pursue a vain goal, as in Trying to reform campaign financing in this legislature is tilting at windmills. This metaphoric expression alludes to the hero of Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote
(The American Heritage Idioms Dictionary)