relaying words from a handmade sign I saw at the last one: “Don’t Underestimate The Power Of Just Showing Up.”
“Millions to protest trump”
What the fuck does that mean? Im definitely not on board with some vague bullshit like that.
We dont know what these people actually want…
Are you saying you don’t know what “Protest Trump” means?
Monday to Friday people… not on weekends
Be careful. Im fearful of a false flag type operation where something violent happens and is immediately blamed on the left, when in realityitll be far right thugs. Leave your phones at home and don’t give these thugs a reason to place blame on us for violence
i keep saying; do not let fear hold you back! the gop will do the things you fear no matter what, if nothing happens, they will invent a cause. might as well go down swinging
People want to make an impact they should do it on fucking Black Friday. You need to hit capitalism where it hurts.
Do that too, but protesting gives folks the opportunity to connect with local resistance organizations and make a real, ongoing impact.
See you out there
You need to translate this to political power at the city and state levels. Sweep out the meek Democrats and legislate the resistance: force local police to not cooperate, ban masks, make it easy to acquit people resisting, pass personal liberty laws, etc. Then ratfuck the feds any chance you get. Get your municipalities to do roadworks at the access points to ICE buildings, cut off their water and electricity for maintenance, slow them the fuck down. Put up an actual resistance. Come on yanks, you can do it!
Thank you for encouragement rather than disdain. I mean it.
We sit around and bitch about the corporations caving to the alt-Reich, about Congress people just giving in to Trump, about ICE not having a conscience to do the things they do.
Yet as long as we only sit and bitch, as long as we’re not fighting back in some way, we are also complicit in what our country’s government does.
If you honk your horn to warn people ICE is around, you are protecting them. If you protest the regime, others will see that there’s are others standing up and this is not inevitable. If you call your Congress people, you are telling them what the will of the people is, and that people are watching their actions. You don’t have to do everything, but you should be doing something.
How can you expect corporations to care or Congress people to have a spine, if you won’t even pick up a phone? Courage, and consciences, are contagious.
I’ve been at the other no kings protests and been emailing my senators and reps in NC almost every week for the last 4 months. They keep responding only with the Faux News false information but if they won’t give in they I most certainly will not either. Ensure every week they and their staff have to face what they’re doing.
Protest at their homes, and keep doing it day in and day out til they cave. they’ll start listening
they ain’t just handing out the keys without a fight, that’s for sure.
I participated in the first. I wish a single person cared or a single thing changed.
Did you join your local resistance organizations who were recruiting at the protest, so you could continue the fight?
I signed up with a person there to get text alerts about the next meet up. Never got a text.
hit them in the money, they will notice you then.
How?
there are a few proven options, but anything that impedes their property from working or the economy from spinning. the best part is our work makes it happen. socialists, communists and anarchists did a lot of it in the past and it works. it is important to read theory on how it is done.
closing important highways, impeding workers from getting to work will grind their profits to a halt. greta-style shutdowns of mining and oil operations. huge organized boycotts work in select circumstances. striking and refusing to work and spin the economy. providing but refusing to collect payment for essential services. building systems to reduce our reliance on theirs. among many other creative ways.
be aware though that they will make it violent if they need to to make you stop. you will have to be prepared to defend yourselves from escalating political, rhetorical, economic and of course physical violence.
also be aware some of the political, rhetorical and even economic violence can look like they are trying to help us. they are NOT. this is another reason why theory is important.
Protesting and marches are no longer an effective tool. Times change, tactics need to catch up.
Protesting and marches are no longer an effective tool.
Especially not single day protests a few months apart.
Thank you! We have to do it continuously! No one is willing to suffer now to have something better in the future. They would rather just boil in a pot like a lobster
As the other comment says, it is an effective tool. However, you’ve been told that protest creates change on its own, which it has never done. Our media and education fills us with stories of, for example, the civil rights and that protests worked.
However, that was backed with direct action. There were people stopping businesses from functioning, breaking laws, and some targeted violence. Without this it’s likely nothing would have changed.
We’re told the “right way” to protest is peacefully. However, that’s only the starting point. You get people to peaceful protests and then you organize them into groups who are willing to commit to more action. A lot of people won’t be willing to go that far, and they’re still useful in these peaceful protests, but these are a way to identify people who may want to take the next step.
If they haven’t taken the next step so far, they aren’t going to take it
That is stupid and absolutely not true at all. You’re nieve. Most people won’t take that next step until they have to. It means risking everything you’ve worked for, knowing that not doing so is risking something worse. Every person will have a different point, and that point hasn’t come for many.
nieve
You can’t even spell naive, don’t accuse people of being it.
You got me good. English is a fucking menace of a language and I used the wrong spelling of two words that sound the same. That definitely disproves my point. It’s not like you needed to make an argument to say that when you can just correct someone’s spelling, because surely that proves your intellect and makes you correct, without reason.
Just because you say something, doesn’t make it true. We disagree. Goodbye.
We still have to build the base. If we want to talk about a nationwide work stoppage but we can’t even get 1% of people to a protest, then it won’t be effective.
It would be an effective protest if people did not stop protesting. People are just wasting their Saturday. What is effective is a strike. But, a strike doesn’t just end periodically. The strike continues until we get what we want. And yes, there are lots of risks
With respect, you don’t seem to understand how strikes happen. Strikes can only occur with organization and planning… People need to eat, they need to be assured that if they strike, everyone else will too, etc. And one way to kickstart that organization is to get folks together at a big protest to recruit them to the strike organizing cause.
With respect, I understand how a strike works. I understand that if you want something done you have to commit. What we are seeing now is completely unprecedented in US history. None of those people in power give a shit and none of those people will ever budge. It does not matter how much protesting you do it will not happen. The only thing that will happen is to completely shut down the country as citizens. Yes, food, rent, that is going to be a big issue. And if people are not willing to do that then we need to just accept our new fascist regime and figure out how to survive
My point is that protesting and organizing—you know, getting out into the real world and connecting with real people—is how you get to a shutdown of the system. Strikes don’t get organized on social media.
I mean, we need a nationwide action plan, and that doesn’t happen locally.
They really is just nothing we can do as citizens at this point. Get out if you can, or buy a gun.
Protesting and marches are still an incredibly effective tool. I think what you’re rightly pointing out is that communicative protests are not having many concrete effects in their own right, but that’s already a known factor.
Communicative protests bring people together, they give people a sense of hope, and they strengthen existing community organizers and groups by allowing people to be recruited into local efforts that do produce concrete actions.
For example, I went to the recent Workers Over Billionaires rally near me. I knew damn well that it wasn’t going to physically do anything to stop Trump, to harm billionaires, or reduce the power of the administration in its own right.
But y’know what I did see happening there? Hundreds of people signing up with a local group that helps immigrants safely make it to, and stay in, local public schools, and hundreds more getting advice on how to unionize their workplace, along with many people getting socialism-related literature, signing up to canvass for a local progressive candidate, and being given tons of stickers and pamphlets that will likely help promote a ton of other local progressive groups that all in their own way either concretely harm the administration’s efforts, or help people in the community with all sorts of socioeconomic problems.
And at the end of the day, I, along with many others, felt much less despair. And if you want a strong movement, you want people that have hope, and not hopelessness.
Sure, there’s a ton of very liberal people there wearing their “if the 3.5% rise up, dictators FALL” shirts thinking that communicative protests like that one will magically depose Trump if more than 3.5% of the population participates, but in the end, these protests have time and time again massively increased participation and funding going to groups that strengthen working class people’s power, and harm the administration’s efforts to harm all sorts of people, and that’s better than nothing.
You’re not going to get a 60 year old wine mom to go and break the windows of an ICE building, but you can get her to donate money to organizations that consistently file legal challenges, or encourage some friends to vote for a candidate that could eventually put much stronger legislative protections in place.
If you feel much less despair, you are fooling yourself. Belief that we are on the precipice of things getting better is a delusion. All of those politicians want you happily walking the street keeping yourselves busy. Thinking you’re doing something to help. Anything to keep the pitchforks in the barn while they bleed you dry.
Belief that we are on the precipice of things getting better is a delusion.
Did I say that?
Hope is not optimism. There is a significant distinction if you care to look up their definitions. It gives me more confidence that resistance is still possible, and gives others the courage to both do and desire the same, but it certainly does not make me pre-emptively expect the best outcome to simply happen as a result.
I do not believe that we are on the precipice of things getting better, make no mistake.
But simply being angry and hopeless does not produce change. And believe me, there is nothing more soul crushing than finally realizing the reason you’ve felt the way you have your whole life is because you’re nonbinary, after you’ve already surrounded yourself with tons of trans friends, then see an administration call them all terrorists, revoke their medical care they need to survive, and signal to neo-nazis and far-right thugs that they will do nothing to stop politically motivated violence against you and the people you love, while friends and people you work with are being threatened with violent black-bagging and deportation.
I do not “happily walk in the street”, I angrily organize with people in my community to get as many people as fucking possible dedicated to making ICE agents uncomfortable any time they appear, to get candidates in power with a goddamn spine, to stop the people I meet from ending their lives over this administration’s actions, and to give people who are minimally politically active a reason to start doing more.
We’ve already had people in my community transition from these hyper-liberal No Kings style protests into simply walking to ICE buildings and protesting there until late into the night, because they realize that people have their back. Blocking exits for deportation vans and making these thugs feel unsafe is something they would not have done otherwise.
I’ve already lost someone to suicide because of this administration’s actions. I’ve helped comfort many others. Even a communicative protest that had ZERO community organizing, charity involvement, or other forms of collective action like we’ve seen over and over again with these rallies would do good in my community, because it shows so many fucking people that there are people that will stand with them no matter how hard this world gets.
Any action matters. Anything to give people more hope is worth it. Anything that organizes people and gets them to take more concrete actions down the line is worth it.
I won’t lose another friend.
Thoughts and prayers…
Does the term “self-defeating” mean anything to you?
Yes but it’s not applicable in this case.
it never really was, for most situations. definetly not against open fascism.
I mean… were there other people present at the protest?
Probably at least one single person cares. Maybe a few married people too.
Hard to have a protest by yourself.
I don’t mean the people at the protest. Im fairly certain you know what I mean.
Fuck No Kings. It’s a Democrat controlled, pro-Israel, pro-cop, and anti-trans group. They’re trying to absorb activist energy by pretending to be an activist org, and redirecting people to the Dems. They’ve also called the cops on leftists that show up to protests.
Reddit admins have been removing leftist mods, and installing Democrat operatives, who then turn it into a No Kings advert. See r/ChaoticGood
Uhh citation needed. Nobody I know working on No Kings locally is pro-Democrat, pro-Israel, pro-cop, or anti-trans. I also don’t know of any leftists who had the cops called on them at a No Kings protest.
generally protest organizers of any sort (like macy’s, easter, pride ) work with the gov and police- if the protest is to be legal. not that it has to be or needs to be legal (like dyke march.)
Hahaha. Good one. Cracking me up dude.
A citation means “A source that says the thing that you were claiming” not just “A news article”.
I’m not about to share with you the results of the latest dog show…
It’s literally an article with the No Kings organizers bragging about working with the cops.
That is only one of the four groups you boldly declared. And “working with” the police doesn’t mean supporting them. Support for police would be things like giving them extra firepower, granting them warrants, paying into their pension fund.
You’re still zero for four.
LoL. So now it doesn’t count if they sic the cops on leftists at the rallies, since they’re not contributing to their pension? Wild.
Sorry, where does that say pro-Democrat, pro-Israel, pro-cop, or anti-trans? Working with cops to further the shared goal of non-violence for this event doesn’t mean one supports the system of policing. That’s like saying by voting, you support the system of first-past-the-post.
You could try doing even the slightest bit of work to see who’s actually organizing this, and what they stand for.
Have you considered that you are of the mark here and being a little of a conspiracist.
By just accurately stating what the org has been doing?
Do you have proof?
Just statements from the activists and groups the No Kings/50501 organizers have been going after. But if you’d like to find out for yourself, wear a keffiyeh or wave a trans flag at the next No Kings protest.
Make sure you have bail and someone to get you out. The organizers are having the cops detain leftists. And do not put your name on their attendee list. Don’t help them compile a list of anti-fascist citizens. The No Kings/50501 org leaders have been openly coordinating with law enforcement. Which shouldn’t be surprising, since the org leaders are all former congressional staffers.
Some of my friends were at the last one, covered in trans flags. Nobody had an issue with them. They were handing them out to other people as well.
Which city/chapter? Seems like some of the local chapters aren’t enforcing the national org’s guidance on it.
I’m not seeing anything about trans people in that article. Or Israel. Or in fact the Democratic Party being in control. Yes, they said they were willing to work with police to make sure the event stays peaceful, but that was all.
The No Kings stuff is organized by Democrat congressional staffers. Yes, it’s not mentioned in the article. You might have to investigate for yourself.
If you don’t believe me, show up waving a trans or Palestine flag. See how it’s been going for those who’ve tried at their other rallies. Or try signing up people for DSA or PSL. They’ll sic the cops on you.
Yes, it’s not mentioned in the article. You might have to investigate for yourself.
You made the claim.
If you don’t believe me, show up waving a trans or Palestine flag. See how it’s been going for those who’ve tried at their other rallies.
You made the claim.
Is the link not working for anyone else?
Fixed.
No one believes that it was the democrats who took over chaotic good.
Well then weird that after the takeover they immediately changed all of the images to No Kings, a Democrat org.
I agree, that is quite weird.
It’s almost like someone nefarious co-opted the No Kings protest topic to trick people.
But would someone really just go on the internet and lie like that?
Trick people into what? Now it’s conspiratorial to say the people promoting an event are affiliated with it?
I don’t understand. Where was this energy when it came to voting? I understand Kamala wasn’t exciting but cmon.
You dont understand jack shit!
Well Trump is doing exactly what he said he was going to do. We even had a trial run. Now everyone is surprised Pikachu all of a sudden.
I understand Kamala wasn’t exciting
If you think this is why people stayed home, you understand nothing. Or you understand perfectly well and never want the party to ever move to the left at all.
The party will never move left because people don’t show up to vote in primaries. Then they barely show up in generals. And if Dems ever win, the house only barely gets slim a super majority. So no meaningful legislation gets passed. So then the Dems base gets disillusioned and they barely show up to vote in the next election and the cycle continues.
Then people on Lemmy come to complain that the party isn’t “left enough” << you are here now
Yer not dumb, but you are led by those pulling your nose rings.
You know what… Yer right: let’s sit on Lemmy and bitch endlessly
The party will never move left because people don’t show up to vote in primaries.
The primaries we didn’t have last year. The primaries that the party successfully argued in court that it doesn’t have to run fairly. The primaries in which the party protects centrist incumbents like coathanger cuellar from all challenges, but won’t do shit to protect progressive incumbents like Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman, since their primary opponents were bought by AIPAC.
Stop gloating that the primaries are run for the benefit of your wing of the party.
And if Dems ever win, the house only barely gets slim a super majority. So no meaningful legislation gets passed.
Stop making excuses.
If Biden had died rather than just being old, noone would’ve questioned it
the fact that biden was running at all with everyone knowing he was unfit is disguising. he wasn’t faring any better the Harris. AND the democrats are currently dog pilling progressive candidates for lower positions right now! what are you guys talking about!
But he didn’t. She wasn’t the incumbent, no matter what her supporters say.
I’m sorry. Either you
a) start your own party and put in the work
b) put in the work and reform the democratic party. Mamdani is doing it. Bernie is doing it. AOC is doing it.
c) Go on Lemmy and complain endlessly about the status quo and dream about some distant utopia in the future.
I know what I see on Lemmy day in and out soooooo…
I’m sorry.
You’re not. You get everything you want out of the democratic party without having to lift a finger. Especially the genocide support.
I see we’re back at option ©. Keep at it, man. Some day things will change for you. Cheers.
Condescension after gloating isn’t any better.
I don’t have the means for a or b and like I said, you get everything you want from democrats without doing anything.
You must be so disappointed now that there’s a ceasefire. Don’t worry, it won’t last. netanyahu’s good faith exists in equal abundance to your own.
She was boring. This is exciting. People don’t vote because of their thoughts, they vote because of their feelings.
She was boring.
Government should be boring.
In the presence of fascism, government should in no way shape or form be boring. Now you see why she lost. In the presence of fascism, progressive and opposition politics wins, not neoliberal racist shit.
If your governmental opposition to fascism is boring, you will lose time and time again.
But she’s brown AND a woman.
And a neoliberal genocidal racist.
Wow. Such brave.
