Your friend needs to look at Syria, Yemen, and especially Iran.

Peaceful protests only work in systems where the government needs to pay attention to public opinion, either at home or abroad.

We've known for decades now that America doesn't give a rat's ass what people in other countries think of us... and our political system hasn't looked all too concerned with what the voters actually want in quite some time, either...

Unless the Occupiers get political, I don't think the protests will accomplish much.