- cross-posted to:
- usa@midwest.social
- cross-posted to:
- usa@midwest.social
leaders with the most prominent Trump-resistance group organizing “No Kings” answered that complaint Saturday when Indivisible’s Ezra Levin took to the stage in Minneapolis and announced that a nationwide general strike is planned for May 1, modeled after a successful local action that shut down much of that region in January
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The Trump administration doesn’t care. They know they are unpopular but if you steal enough power, it doesn’t matter.
That’s the problem with these protests.
No authoritarian government cares to listens to protestors. Yet they all fear them. The point isn’t to make the government comply but to show everyone how many people are on your side. The more people show up the easier it is to motivate people to resist.
will you strike on May 1?
Now that is doing something and yes. But will every union join? We need enough people to do so. No work, no shopping.
Making a real change takes a number of things, including realizing that there are enough other people that feel the same way.
These protests will not directly lead to change, but they will help move us in the right direction. They are a necessary part.
I dunno, with the AI surveillance state “improving” the kill chain in US wars (you all can bomb school children super effectively now, since AI tells you to! Can’t hold AI accountable!), and the arrest chain of “terrorist” protestors, I imagine that the cell phone location data from these protests could lead directly to certain changes in the USA. Certain changes that will help to populate all those new concentration camps with cheap prisoner labour to replace all the immigrants on the farms etc.
That’s why a strike is needed. He doesn’t care about people walking around with signs but a stike will hurt their bank accounts.
What proponents don’t get:
Turning out in the streets with no action doesn’t actually “do” anything. Yes, it gives participants warm fuzzies, but that’s about it.
I really hope organizers used the opportunity to do something productive. Register people to vote, collect volunteers for the upcoming primaries and the general election in the fall, push the red states to reject Republican ideology and candidates that are actively injuring all of us.
8,000,000 / the current US population estimate of 342,400,000 is 2.34% of the US out protesting on Saturday. That’s fantastic, but it’s not enough to move the needle.
Where does it need to be?
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190513-it-only-takes-35-of-people-to-change-the-world
Just short of 12 million. We are getting there.
No Kings June, 2025 - 5 million
No Kings October, 2025 - 7 million
No Kings March, 2026 - 8 millionOn this track, the next one will be close to 10 million. Proponents will argue they are over, detractors will say they missed the target, but 10 million more or less.
We are at least 2-3 more protests of this size away from hitting the 3.5% thresh-hold, but it is do-able before the 2028 elections.
The one I went to had a food drive and a voter registration booth.
Also protest do something incredibly important that people don’t seem to understand.
They bring people together. People who have ideas.
People who are maybe a bit more impatient, violent, and reckless than the masses.
They motivate those individuals to take more aggressive action.
Protests make such individuals feel like they have the support of the people (and they do).
Like burning down Tesla dealerships.
Like trying to burn down concentration camps.
Because if you study any history, you know that the oppressors NEVER give up their power because someone asks or even demands.
It will have to be taken. At great personal cost to those taking it.
Such people will be inspired to action from the display of protests. They will feel validated in their illegal (almost certainly) actions. And feel like it’s worth the risk.
This is very important.
That’s very different to the one where I am. Here every leftist org shoves anyone wanting violence out and does their best to make sure everyone knows they’re not a part of the movement and should be shunned. They all want to just be peaceful and believe nonviolence is the only way to get anything done.
Well. See the protest movements have to make sure that the public sees them as non violent. Especially when it’s still early. And especially to keep trump from using the military against them.
Remember what happened with BLM? low public support even though it was a very valid movement.
Now firstly, I’m pretty sure a lot of those rioters were opportunists because their targets were just stores with high end goods and not legitimate targets of oppression.
But it didn’t matter. The stereotype of blacks being violent was validated by these people even if they were the minority. And it very much hurt the support of the movement.
You have to warm people up to violence and vandalism. And you have to make sure it looks legitimate. Like with Luigi.
Have a few who start. Slow. Then more people will join in.
also as a slightly off this point but still on topic.
I was watching this 2 part pbs documentary about suffragettes.
Basically the historians said that they needed an extreme group and a moderate group.
Because the moderate group looked extreme without a comparison.
When the extreme suffragettes started with their more aggressive tactics like burning down buildings and houses and such, the moderates and their demands seemed very reasonable.
Unfortunately one of the other ways that suffragettes were extreme was that one half of them also wanted black Americans to be able to vote. The other did not.
Now this is definitely a shitty part of history in the U.S.
But if we consider the strategy of this division of extreme and moderate civil rights group and how effective it was, we could apply it to modern day to get compromises that actually are much better than if only the moderates were being considered.
For instance.
Iets say I want it easier for immigrants to become U.S citizens or get work visas. (I do).
But I can instead argue that u.s citizenship should be given to anyone who lives here for 1 year or longer.
The compromise might be that I get almost near what I actually want.
Anyway I’m getting off topic. But yeah.
That’s fantastic they were doing a food drive and voter registration! Let’s hope they organize “turn out the vote” events leading up to the elections.
Hopefully someone is helping people get the necessary documents for voting eligibility, too.
Like the other comment says, the “protests don’t do anything” argument looks like it makes sense, but it really doesn’t. Sure, it alone doesn’t do anything, but it doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It’s a stepping stone. It leads to further organization and action. It’s an easy, relatively risk free, way to get people involved, and it’s easier to get them to go further after that first step is taken.
That’s the thing, without further organization and action the net result was “Well that was fun!”
I doubt that there’s any protest without further organization and action. Just meeting new people is further organization.
Yes. No fucking shit.
But the alternative to the protests is telling everyone “fuck it, we give up, go home.”
You want change, then the protests are one of the things helping us get to that point.
People shitting all over the protests and trying to discourage them only helps the fucking fascists.
“Well that was fun” is also an okay feeing to have coming away from the protest. It means it’s more likely for that person to show up again next time.
The 3.5% would still actually have to do something. General strike to end the war in Iran would put additional pressure on the administration and since its position is already very week it could actually make a difference. Getting a win like that would do much more than this vague marching against Trump.
Could you imagine the difference enlisting 10 million people to run a one day registration drive would make?
You wouldn’t even necessarily need to travel far. Groups of 10-15 door to door and 10 million people could basically knock practically every door in a day.
I’ll shout this from the rooftops indefinitely: American elections aren’t about preference, by and large, they are about turnout. There’s very little we individuals can do when the party selects (repeatedly) unpopular candidates. But increasing registration would materially impact turnout.
Save the doomer BS. It’s not for hyper online people like yourself. You’re a minority in this.
I live in protest central, I know a useless protest when I see it.
Here’s the #1 problem with No Kings:
Trump doesn’t CARE. You can’t shame the shameless. The only thing that will cause him to take notice is if something impacts him PERSONALLY.
Get 8 million people in DC and shut it down for a month? That would have an impact.
A million people trapping him inside Mar-A-Lago? That would have an impact.
As it stands now? Every protest in a blue city or a blue state? Dismissed with a subtle jerking off motion, or in Trump’s case? Not so subtle. Nothing about him is subtle. LOL.
BUT - BUT - if No Kings moves to impact the upcoming Senate races to a point where people up-set the apple cart in the same way they are going to do the House? That is going to NEUTER him and he knows it.
The big thing is, this can’t be a “throw the bastards out” movement, it needs to be about how, specifically, Republican candidates, policy, and ideology are all toxic to us, as a country and as individual people. They went from “the party holding us back” to “the party actively harming us.”
Sybau
… right
You just can’t accept facts when it’s infront of your face and slapped you.
Maybe if those protests did not only happen half a year apart…
6 months to organize. A lot of people have to work on Saturdays.
It will be interesting to see if the general strike on 5/1 has any impact, that’s on a Friday.
Have you learned how the Iron Curtain finally fell? A substantial part of the GDR was protesting. Every f-ing Monday. And they did not have Fakebook or Twatter to “organize”. They just showed up.
Americans protest when it is convenient. They think if they do it once or twice, it is effective. Doing it consistently is just ‘too much’ for them.
Yeah, and No Kings is not that. Not in numbers or dedication.
Is it a real protest if there aren’t burned out cop cars?
Yes.
Protests and riots are not the same
Remember. Property damage isn’t violence!!
It’s probably the only way to make the protests be something politicians HAVE to deal with. They can ignore the minor inconvenience of people congregating. They can’t ignore having to replace cars, repair building, and have their budget fucked up.
Protests need to be disruptive. Like the garbage collectors strike in paris(?).
It’s can’t just be those who are already agreeing with you, thats why the no kings are kind of a circle jerk. Your protesting to whom? Who do you want to hear you? How can we disrupt the day to day lives of our representatives and federal government?
I mean shit. Just chalk messages on the sidewalk outside Stephen millers house caused him to run away to a military base
You haven’t met the Fr*nch.
It’s a sanitized social gathering funded by the Democratic party and a bunch of equally lame affiliates. I’ve been to these. They’re meant for boomers to sing We Shall Overcome together and not much else.
will you strike on May 1?
I would, but I’m retired. I won’t buy anything that day, though.
My huge takeaway from No Kings protests is - Republicans and Trump aren’t really shaking in their boots. So what, you go out with your friends for a weekend spending all that time going ‘rabble, rabble, rabble’. You know, good for you, I guess.
My question is, will these same people and more, be there by time of both the mid-term and general elections? That’s the real question. If you guys can get out and protest, certainly, you can get out and vote too.
It’s not a real secret that the No Kings protests is directly rebelling at Trump. We’ve seen similar protests before when George W Bush was in office, so this is nothing new to me.
You know what I keep daydreaming about? I keep daydreaming of an America, where if Americans want things done, they’d hold all elected officials to their word. If millions of americans didn’t like what who they voted for did, they’d massively flood e-mails, letters, phone-calls and maybe occasional visits to directly tell that elected official ‘hey, you’re fucking up the country I’m working hard to help sustain and pay taxes into, because of your crooked bullshit’. If it is done enough times, maybe just maybe, that elected official will have a wake up call and decide to honor their position to be of the service of the people, not who is handing them loads of money.
But, you know, that’s too much effort for everyone who’s gonna partake in this protest. In fact, I find it funny that people even worry about whether they gotta work on the day of the protest.
My friend, in a real revolution and in a country that actively fucks you in every way you can, why worry about work? You go to work, to help sustain and uphold a country that’s actively fucking you over and that little job of yours isn’t cutting it for your expenses. But, you keep on worrying and find yourself back in line after the protest.
I doubt I’ll even see your asses in the voting center anyways.
massively flood e-mails, letters, phone-calls and maybe occasional visits
So you think protests do nothing, but those things would?
Real Revolution
Those only happen under more extreme circumstances. If people are actually worrying about their next meal, you can get a revolution from below. If there are huge numbers of military veterans, who are suddenly dismissed or unemployed after a war you get a chance as well. If the regime disintegrates internally because of ineptitude and failures, you have a chance it won’t fight back. If people are well organized in ways that can be leveraged, you have a chance as well.
A super individualist society divided into a million identities, lots of them primarily associated with buying stuff, have a hard time to coalesce, unite, and focus.
The American economy and political system still works far too well to be ripe for a „real revolution“.
No Kings has a bit of a lack of focus.
Protests are important because they show a large number of people are willing to stand up. We wouldn’t’ve gotten the protests if there weren’t enough people online encouraging them. And we won’t see further progress until more organization happens and something more dire happens.
But it’s all a part of the process. It’s all necessary.
Ok, so 8 million people went out and publicly proclaimed their hatred of trump. Now what? WTF did that accomplish? Sorry to be negative but these protests are nothing more than a symbolic gesture, they don’t actually accomplish shit. Its not like trump or any member of his cabinet is going to suddenly go “OMG they don’t like me, better resign”
Fortunately, there’s a website called nokings.org and if you were to peruse that “What’s Next” section at https://www.nokings.org/whats-next it will answer some of your questions.
Honestly, you don’t really sound sorry to be negative, and in fact, it’s almost impossible to differentiate your comment from the ones being made by Trump supporters. If you sound just like them and are saying the exact same things, then you’re really no different.
These events are currently in the build-up phase. People have to become familiar and comfortable with protesting. Protests can be scary. It takes a lot of bravery to get past that first step and show up to a massive protest in a city. It takes a lot of bravery to get past that first step and show up to a tiny protest in a small MAGA dominated town. But once people do that, it means they’re more likely to come to the next and bring a friend. And then the next and bring more friends. For there to be a chance of resisting, there needs to be enough people participating. These things, in the USA, just don’t happen by random chance.
Similarly, the people organizing and planning these events – local people who started with little or no experience planning for this type of thing. They have to learn how to do this. That takes time, practice, repetition. They aren’t paid experts who will get everything perfect on the first go.
Why bother? Because to actually pull this country back from the brink, it may very well require rapid response protests, on-going sustained protests. It will definitely require active civilian participation in politics and elections. The groups running these events are getting people signed up to help campaign for local, progressive leaders, to become poll watchers, and so on at record numbers – especially in these rural areas that have, for decades, been overwhelmingly conservative places. If Trump decides to invalidate the November election because he doesn’t like the outcome, who’s got a better chance at resisting and stopping that attack on democracy? Unorganized people who’ve never protested before and local organizations with no ability to mobile people OR an engaged populace of people who know what to do and what to expect and how to make that happen? The outcome isn’t guaranteed either way, but I like the odds of that latter group much better.
Wouldn’t it work better if it happened more than like twice a year on a weekend?
It’s happening more than twice a year. Another good reason to go visit that website I posted above! It’s called NOKINGS.ORG, you can view it in pretty much all the browsers I’ve tested. Lots of great information there for those curious and with questions like these!
But to make it even easier – There are 2 more No Kings events in the works leading up to November this year.
As for week day No Kings – Completely possible for future events, but for now that would never achieve the goal of larger and larger protests leading up to November. No matter what, there will be fewer people on a week day protest.
However, the May 1st event coming up – look at your calendar. That’s a FRIDAY.
Oh yeah the don’t buy anything day on a day where people have other things to do besides shopping. When I worked retail people didn’t really shop during the week. You want to really hit them, hold multiple protests during the early to mid day hours of weekdays and do the no buying stuff on a Sunday, the busiest shopping day of the week (speaking from personal experience). Then don’t stop once it rolls over to Monday.
Sounds like a great idea. How many people (raw number or percentage-wise) do you estimate will need to participate in those protests? How do you plan to get them engaged and activated to join your protests? How soon can you get those people out there on the street during the week? I’m all in, where can I sign up?
From doing work with my local PSL group that outwardly hates the Dems and calls them out regularly for being pieces of shit, we do this stuff near weekly. However I don’t agree with how many of them turn away anarchists and I tend to be the only one helping them do their violence. The anarchists around here tend to not have anywhere to go for help, so them breaking shit is what I see as the added help we need. Here’s just an example of one done during the week.
I did take a look at your site, but I didn’t see any real answers to most of my questions in terms of numbers and plans. Sorry. Did I miss those?
So you stayed home and scrolled online and did less than nothing. Good job.
They serve to build networks between the participants and skills for organizing and mobilizing.
Organizing for what? Skills to do what?
I’m pretty involved in be anything on the left in my city. Maybe 50 people “signed up” to be in various groups I’m in. 10s of thousands walked around on a nice weathered day.
will you strike on May 1?
This is some hardcore cope lol.
Literally nothing happened. It is as if it is all performative bullshit. Typical amerikkkan propaganda.
Fascists adore such ignorance.
Again, you don’t go from nothing straight to revolution. What you do get is people finding out that others agree (all that discussion on the internet that’s useless), then you get people out on the streets seeing others also standing up (useless, makes no change!). What’s next is more organization - active goals that can be accomplished. And what’s probably needed is something going shitty enough that gets even more people out on the street demanding change - like shortages of food would do it.
The protests make progress toward change. People who are ignorant of that only help the fascists keep everyone down. So I hope you enjoy helping the fascists win.
The protest is fine i guess, but just calling it no kings is weak as fuck. How about fuck you you criminal orange pedo fuck go die in a ditch?
will you strike on May 1?
