Made some simple last minute signs with a friend for the "No Kings" protest :)
Made some simple last minute signs with a friend for the "No Kings" protest :)
Had a really good time, I'm really glad we made signs :)
I'm not awake during the day generally so I'm kinda thinking now, maybe a way I can contribute is making signs for people to pass out or give away as a way I can contribute
There were people out handing out cookies and donuts which was pretty cool too :)
Sorry to be a party pooper but I’m from a country that went through multiple stages of this already. I say this because I care.
Peaceful protest don’t do much. For them to work your opponent would need to have conscience or to be able to feel shame (your opponent is not Trump voters btw). Trump will inevitably be voted out because he’s just incompetent at running a country. You should be planning for what happens next (competent autocrat like Orban) and what you are doing now is just showing politicians of every side that they can consolidate power by doing those desperate marches. In a couple of years it will be a picnic for the most hardcore, being called whenever whenever a party leader needs to reconfirm their leadership position. Once that ends giving people a kick they’ll vote for actual bad guys because underlying issues that led people to vote for Trump (which is not that they hate gays or immigrants, that’s just a byproduct) won’t change because of marching.
Studies show protests do make a difference, eg. https://www.asanet.org/for-press/press-releases/do-protests-matter-new-study-examines-how-protests-bring-about-change/
Yeah, up to a certain point in time when autocrats realised that they don’t have to do shit and wait them out.
I don't disagree with most of your analysis but to be clear, lots of the protests aren't peaceful as the national guard and riot squads show up, and protests that are peaceful aren't pointless, they just aren't the whole solution.
To me they're a way of increasing public pressure on the opposition party to get its act together, because ultimately it will either take politicians who can build and implement effective strategies to head off the decent into authoritarianism, or it will take violent revolution should that fail.
Thats not a fun path. Doing something that shows publy outcry has value with respect going that first path. And broadly I think it's much more counter productive to look at ways people are trying to get more involved and participate in the solution and tell them that it's pointless without suggestions as to what would be more productive (unless their strategy is actively harmful to the cause) because hope is a necessity if we're going to avoid full blown authoritarianism.
One of our very explicit "loss conditions" is if we don't care enough and just let it happen. People getting involved in the ways they can is, if nothing else, a valuable source of hope that makes it easier to keep up the long fight its going to take to even have any chance at avoiding where we're headed
I’m not sure how one leads to the other. Are you going to vote for a third party? No, because you think it’s a lost vote. You have no leverage and Democrats will just adopt whatever is popular with people and that’s a taste for easy solutions and revenge. I think marching is feeding helplessness because ultimately you’ll see it doesn’t do anything and by the time you realise you’re wasting energy it’s already too late. Speaking from experience of a country that doesn’t even have a two-party system but the guard rails of this process are impressively precise in outcomes.
I’m at the step where I break law frequently for safety of my surrounding but turns out nobody else wants change using bricks and bottles as long as they have 9-5 and TV in the afternoon.