TIL No Kings Protests were the 3rd Largest in US History
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All the other benefits of a non-violent protest aside, there's also immense value is reminding people that they're not as singular in their viewpoint as they feel.
For a lot of people, it's been very easy to feel like everyone else must be in board with this.
I'm not sure what you're looking for to codify the implicit threat. A couple million people calling you a king at an event called "no kings day" in a country whose founding narrative is "violently rebel against kings" seems pretty implicit to me.
Also, I just realized that there's a red coat/red hat parallel I haven't seen leveraged yet that has a lot of potential.
there's also immense value is reminding people that they're not as singular in their viewpoint as they feel.
This destroys the narrative of the protested party. They cannot convincingly talk about 'a few misguided people disagreeing' when you see so many others who feel like you. Even if nothing would be achieved by the protest, this is an immensely powerful confirmation of an individuals beliefs. 100% agree.
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I see so many videos with people saying "I support you" and none saying "I'm going to take action." Everyone is dawdling, nobody is doing anything
5 million people are doing something, your comment is shitting on their effort.
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I'm sorry, but every significant change in the world started with violence.
Intense violent changes are more suited for writing stories about than gradual non-violent changes. I'm not saying gradual non-violent changes is what US needs right now, but your statement is false and I think you should stop instigating violence in this thread.
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Then why is the government so completely dominated by the right if most politically active people are on what Americans call the left?
The electorial college and gerrymandering
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This isn't the first large nationwide protest of his second term and it won't be the last. For instance, the Hands Off ones in April were number 6 on that list. They're getting larger and there is already planning for the next nationwide ones. Or more broadly, here's the cumulative number of protests including smaller ones too
wrote last edited by [email protected]Without huge media buy in, a billion people is just a number they throw out. I don’t see any change from the number one protest on the list. I don’t think protests are working, even as i still go to them.
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And didn’t accomplish shit, by design. These types of protests are intended to channel frustration of the masses into feeling like they’ve done something, when really they’ve accomplished nothing.
That was more than enough people to overthrow the parasitic ruling class. Just do it already.
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And didn’t accomplish shit, by design. These types of protests are intended to channel frustration of the masses into feeling like they’ve done something, when really they’ve accomplished nothing.
That was more than enough people to overthrow the parasitic ruling class. Just do it already.
Please, if you feel like you've got the charisma and plan to rally us to, come on over and do so. Otherwise you're doing no better.
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You guys think that merely walking around in your own time holding up a board and shouting a bit, all focused on the mango puppet instead of the puppet masters, is going to change anything given that there is no single Historical event in the US ever of the lower classes rebelling against and deposit the upper classes (even the Revolution was literally the American plebs led by the American upper class fighting against the English plebs controlled by the English upper class)?!
The murder of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare had more impact, if only temporary because it wasn't followed by more similar murders.
Even millions of people marching and shouting a bit (and so polite that they do it in their own time) will cause no fear for the elites because that's in no way a warning that the heads of the elites will soon start getting separated from their shoulders if nothing changes.
You need at the very least a General Strike and/or targetting the economic and propaganda interests of the elites (trashing the TV studios of certain channels or certain newspapers would send a powerful message).
I mean, just notice the impact on police violence of the greatest demonstrations in the US - the George Floyd protests: nothing or even worse than nothing as the pigs have never been this violent.
Come over and lead the revolution then, if you think you've got what it takes. Otherwise, you're also doing nothing of note.
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I mean, yeah- they all did an excellent job of reinforcing the fascists’ understanding of how little a threat the US “left” is.
So do something about it, or you're just as much a part of the sheep.
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Please, if you feel like you've got the charisma and plan to rally us to, come on over and do so. Otherwise you're doing no better.
Doing no better than what? What was accomplished? What’s the bar we’re measuring against?
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That's great news. The other 9 of the 10 biggest protests were were extremely successful at affecting change.
Since we made such massive progress on all the others, this is clearly a harbinger of social and political progress.
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Not that poster, but judging by what the largest protests in the US ever - the George Floyd protests - achieved when it comes to police violence in the US (it's the same or worse now), in the present age in the US merelly coming out and walking for a bit in your own time while holding a board up doesn't seem to achieve anything.
Think of it from the point of view of the Political and Money "elites" in the US: they get zero direct negative impact from the riff-raff in their own time doing a big march against the elite's puppet mango emperor, and there is no single Historical instance in the US were the lower classes rebelled against the upper classes and properly fucked them up, so the masses marching isn't even a warning of increasing risk for them - they control the entire political system in the US and make sure whomever is in a position to get elected for a position of political power is always in their pocket, and do not fear the desinfranchised population because they never ever moved against them.
The murder of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare by a single person seems to have achieved more in terms of scaring the powerful than even the millions that came out demonstrating against the police killing of George Floyd.
(I bet that in a place like France, still today the masses coming out even if doing nothing but marching and holding some boards, are cause for concern amongst the "elites")
I actually saw something quite similar in the UK when I lived there: the powerful just didn't care because even large numbers of people doing some polite marching did not damage the interest of the elites and because they had no reason to be concerned with their personal safety because the plebes had never actually rebelled against the upper classes.
That said this situation in the US is even less concerning for the elites because the crowds are so firmly focused in the puppet and disregarding the puppet masters, that even very indirectly there is zero risk for the true powers.
Maybe as some other poster suggested, a general strike would be more effective.
Protests aren't about the Political and Money "elites" as you put it because they don't care no matter what.
You think they'd give a shit if what is happening in LA is happening everywhere? They're like cockroaches that will skitter into hiding until it's safe to come out and monopolize on the ruin.
Protests are about galvanizing support and building unity among the populace. The US has been so divided for so long and that division has been manipulated and grown to benefits those "elites".
I do think a general strike may be effective but it's unrealistic. A nationwide general strike would require massive financial and material support. Where will that come from?
They work on a smaller, union scale because they're supported by the union and outside supporters that are not on strike. They work in other countries that have the social programs in place to support the people which is something the US does not have.
I keep seeing this repeated comparison to France but let's look at that. France is a country a little smaller than the state of Texas with an adult population only slightly more than the total population of California.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's a little easier to coordinate a general strike in a country with 1/6 the population of the US spread across an area 1/15 the size of the US.
Protests in the US are getting bigger and more widespread but it's like a slow wave, it takes time to build.
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Do you think that the needle has moved in a positive direction since these protests? Even if it feels like only a few millimetres?
Starting from the bottom of this list:
5. There's more women in the workforce than ever before https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/75-006-x/2022001/article/00009-eng.htm
4. We've seen a drop in poverty since 2017 (but it's climbing back up!) https://www160.statcan.gc.ca/prosperity-prosperite/poverty-pauvrete-eng.htm
3. As a direct response to Trump, Canada elected a Centre-Left Prime Minister in Marl Carney's Liberals when the election was decidedly going to be a Rightwing landslide with the Poilievre's Conservatives.
2. Green, renewable energy has never been more popular.- There have been significant reforms since the George Floyd protests. Some cops have seen prison time, or lost their jobs entirely.
That's not to say our job is done and everything is a utopia now - we still have a lot of work to do. However, we do need to acknowledge when things have moved in a good direction or we'll be overwhelmed by the bad and lose hope.
You've gotta see some of the good through all the shitty headlines that want to make you click and feel bad.
Reminds me of this:
And then i'm told I should be happy the "needle is moving in a positive direction."
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By exactly using the MAGA the technique of, after ranting about blaming everybody else but yourself about all maner of problems, "asking" for others to provide solutions only to criticize them when given them, you've just proved what I suspected, so thanks for that.
Whatever is the way to solve the US problems, it's the very opposite of that "criticized everything and everybody" shit that you, EXACTLY LIKE THE FAR-RIGHT POPULISTS are doing - that shit is literaly "how to divide people and make them believe there is no option other than compliance" out of the Authoritarian Playbook
Being a fucking rock, literally, does more towards solving the situation in the US than what you are doing.
Whether because you're a sock-puppet or because you're the ultimate useful idiot, you are part of the problem, not of the solution.
And you're doing... what, exactly?
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Doing no better than what? What was accomplished? What’s the bar we’re measuring against?
Than the people you criticized. They got off their asses and touched grass for a few hours, met other likeminded individuals, networked, got to know allies in their communities. What are you doing, Comrade? Other than rereading the Communist Manifesto for the zillionth time? Where's your praxis?
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America is still a democracy,
Not much longer if americans dont fight harder.
I would argue that it already isn't. we kinda waited a bit too long, that's why the protests happened.
Truth will be in the form of how they respond to the protests. If we end up with military occupation or martial law, we're already not a democracy.
that said, tomato, tomaaato, same fix.
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And didn’t accomplish shit, by design. These types of protests are intended to channel frustration of the masses into feeling like they’ve done something, when really they’ve accomplished nothing.
That was more than enough people to overthrow the parasitic ruling class. Just do it already.
It was a moral victory. It showed us jow strong and numerous we are and we needed that.
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Match the energy during election day ballot yeah?? Thanks
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Than the people you criticized. They got off their asses and touched grass for a few hours, met other likeminded individuals, networked, got to know allies in their communities. What are you doing, Comrade? Other than rereading the Communist Manifesto for the zillionth time? Where's your praxis?
wrote last edited by [email protected]That’s what I wanted to confirm. If that’s the bar we’re setting for accomplishments, my group’s blowing them out of the water.
Funny attempt though. I’m not sure how you expected the argument to go your way, when your own standards for accomplishment set a bar so low that almost every single person minimally involved in any activism is doing loads more than this bare minimum measure.
Considering the “no kings” folks were sponsored by the Walton family and purposely enforced a stance of silence on the Gaza genocide, this doesn’t even meet the threshold for bare minimum on human decency.
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there's also immense value is reminding people that they're not as singular in their viewpoint as they feel.
This destroys the narrative of the protested party. They cannot convincingly talk about 'a few misguided people disagreeing' when you see so many others who feel like you. Even if nothing would be achieved by the protest, this is an immensely powerful confirmation of an individuals beliefs. 100% agree.
wrote last edited by [email protected]They don't have "a" narrative that can be refuted. Any narrative that they present is facile and can be changed in mid sentence. Addressing the things they say is a waste of effort, even as counter-propaganda. It costs them orders of magnitude less to spread bullshit than it costs you to spread the antidote. This is just another way that they get you.
I don't mean to devalue organizing and peaceful protest, but the benefits are what it does to us, not what it does to them.