2w ago

The No Kings protests offer hope - and peril As millions gather on Saturday, Trump looks for a pretext to invoke the Insurrection Act

www.salon.com

No Kings protests offer hope — and peril

Many have observed that Trump . . . is looking to create a pretext for a much harsher crackdown. This makes Saturday’s No Kings protests even more consequential. In the event of any violence, whether from protesters or agent provocateurs, the president will doubtless seize on it to expand his power.

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These articles really sound like they are written by people who want to suck on the toes of fascists.
They are already invading American cities and disappearing innocent people.
Could they use the protests as a reason to kick off more horror? Sure.
Are they going to kick off more horrors regardless of this protest? Absolutely.
Staying home and toeing the nazi line isn’t going to stop them from seizing more and more power, so why not get out there and let your fellow man know that you stand with them against tyranny?
- "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
- Yeah. This administration has made it clear they will never do the right thing and will violate any agreement. There's zero reason to negotiate with them.
  It's whybthe Dems CANNOT back off on the shutdown. Trump's threatening to fire a bunch of federalnworkers he doesn't like if the Dems don't play ball, but he's been doing thay anyway for 10 months. There's nothing he can threatening he isn't going to do anyway, so there's no reason to compromise.
- Yeah, it’s the same thing as all those articles that came out when that Joker movie did about how there was always the chance that people seeing the movie would be moved to random a acts of violence, and oh wouldn’t that be terrible, and maybe people shouldn’t watch the movie because what if that happened…
  Honestly it’s laughable how transparent they were being in trying to encourage violence in order for them to have a real reason to ban the movie.
Instead of these public protests where government can take an opportunity to just go after people in a very public display of power ... the country should just employ a general strike in as many places and areas as possible.
The government and the corporations won't care about how many protests you hold .... it even works to their benefit because it allows them an excuse to escalate violent reaction to everything.
Hit them where it hurts them the most ... money, economics and finance. If you shut down the system in as many places as possible to force them to lose money, it will be the only way that they'll ever listen.
Otherwise, hold as many protests as you want and they'll beat you into submission and it gives them an easy excuse for them to do so.
- Right. what's going on is so far beyond this. People need to start thinking about the mob or organized crime. After all that's who the enemy is. Nothing is changing via traditional indoctrinated politics. American are mass marketed into paths and premade lifestyles to keep them submissive.
  America is just a tool in this situation. the American political and pop entertainment streams of politics news and other media are just tools. Humanity is fucked... The majority of people still live under all that stuff... Even the subcultures they think are subcultures are mass produced for them to believe they are living individuality. It's marketing and psychological manipulation to gain and guide mass population. That's not the same old shit people should be protesting to go back to... This is all so far beyond left and right and America and politics. The coup of America is small step in global control. America is a tool for them end outcome.
  I don't want to see people protesting for the old america we knew in the past. We need people LIVING for the new life we know is right.
- OK, but can we do that on a weekend? And the new season of that Netflix show airs soon, so can we hurry it up?
  
  Absolutely the mentality of the majority unfortunately. And the rest don’t believe in any type of civil disobedience unless their fearless leader, the t-Rex handed orange man, incites it.
- A general strike is not something you can setup on a whim. That's not at all how it works.
Since a bunch of dubious comments here are arguing for a general strike instead of tomorrow’s protest, I’m addressing them all together.
While theory generally supports the idea that general strikes, executed successfully, are the greatest explicit power, the huge caveat is that their effectiveness is directly proportional to organized participation among the rank and file. This leads directly to a few historically important corollaries:
0. A premature general strike is worse than no general strike.
Unlike protest events the general strike has no end date. It tests the reliability of mutual support networks and reserves of collective trust. When a general strike fails, the next attempt is twice as difficult.
1. Public protests express implicit power.
They are a threat, demonstrating to those in power the magnitude of what is to come.
2. Public protests increase participation.
They express a promise to current and future participants that they have comrades who will show up, stand beside them, hold the line, and expect the same in return.
3. Public protests increase organization.
Onsite and post-event recruitment is not only the primary means of increasing participation, it remains the most organic and hard-to-digitally-replicate method of expanding organizational efforts on account of network effects.
4. Public protests are grounded.
They represent a ground truth condition that anyone can see for themselves. There are numerous effective strategies for obscuring, sandbagging, or sabotaging public campaigns conducted exclusively on digital networks and platforms, but it is next to impossible to conceal public displays of flesh-and-blood human beings collecting en masse.
5. Public protests invite public demonstrations of authoritarian violence.
Note that I don’t mean incite an increase of violence, but that the violence which would be used regardless, must instead be executed in the cold light of day, out in the open, likely on camera. The recent photo of the pastor, mid-prayer, being shot in the face by laughing federal ICE troops would not exist if no one showed up that day.
- Thank you. I really get sick of the number of Lemmy users who think we can just nose dive into a general strike and immediately solve all our problems. That isn't going to work, and it's obvious why if you've studied even a little about how past general strikes have worked.
  
  People that dismiss protests have never been to one. They have no idea the power of unity.
There's gonna be bloodshed
- It's the only path forward unfortunately.
  
  From the cancer's perspective, it is unfortunate when it gets excised. From the patient's perspective, it can be unfortunate to go through the treatment. But, it is better for the patient in the long term.
  
  Modern warfare also has an equal part that's psychological. Stop buying and consuming their politics and media. Regain honest humanity and toxin from all their toxic bullshit.
- Better in public on national news than in private in the detention centers and gulags and overseas concentration camps.
- No there isn’t. There’s gonna be a lot of absolutely nothing going on or happening after.
- Or they’re just going to keep letting them have their pointless parades and nothing will change except the public will feel they’ve “done” something until a few months when they have another parade again…
  
  So what are you doing? Yeah, exactly, thanks.
Doubt this is mush-for-brains's origional idea. Probably Miller whispering in his ear.
#NOKINGS 10/18/25 - Find your local protest: https://www.nokings.org/#map
Invoke whatever you want you fat, sloppy bitch
Do your worst, and the joke's on you... You already are doing your worst
There were some obvious agent provacateurs out there today in San Diego. We stayed peaceful though
- Would you care to share what awful fucking tactics they were using
  
  One guy was running along side the protest lines with a Trump Flag and a flak/stab jacket trying to start shit. One was a live streamer, that was just interviewing people, but thanks to his MAGA hat and having seen him at previous press conferences, I knew what he was trying to do. The last guy was just wandering from group to group saying that we needed to start attacking the unlawful cops. He wasn't wearing anything obvious, but since there were literally no cops anywhere in sight.
  They might as well have been carrying "I'm a plant," signs.
Our protest went great.
Hope of what?
A peaceful protest isn't going to do shit. No protest, no matter how big and how widespread is going to make fascists not be fascists.
Anything that isn't direct action is just an excuse so people can say they "did something" then go back to doing absolutely nothing whike Trump and his cronies do whatever they want to The US and those people can say "well I went to protest, so it's not my fault, I did something"
Sure, don't protest because he'll do fascism even harder. A slow walk into theocratic fascism is surely much better. This is the kind of "vote blue no matter who" who landed you in this shit in the first place.
- Is this meant to be a top level comment? I don't think the article OP is saying that? Definitely some commenters in here saying that tho

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