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New data shows No Kings was one of the largest days of protest in US history
(wagingnonviolence.org)
this post was submitted on 12 Aug 2025
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And awesome to see how effective it was, glad we got the regimen to rethink its policies... Oh wait they doubled down.
What are you trying to accomplish here?
Everyone else: next one is September 1st.
https://www.fiftyfifty.one/
I think he’s correct in stating this administration won’t care if we protest or how large it is. What we hope happens is that the protests get more momentum amongst the politically inert. That momentum could build us up to a general strike which would have more influence once the capitalists bottom line gets impacted. Maybe. IDK. This all sucks.
I've been to all the 50501 protests in my area as a show of support, but I'm not trying to accomplish anything. I'm just of the opinion that protests without action accomplish nothing. I am all into exercises, some real civil disobedience.
This is the problem. Co-conspirators don't grow on trees, and protests are for networking because online chatter is too obvious. If you're going to protests, but not trying to accomplish anything by doing it, you're doing it wrong.
Our great grandparents armed themselves and took over the factory floors. We need some of that energy.
Mr Trump thanks you for your support.
Very welcome where do I collect my medal of freedom
That's why there needs to be a clear line that people know exists between performative protest and concrete protest.
For anyone confused:
Performative protests, like the No Kings protests, serve to:
Concrete protests actually delay or stop the bad thing in question (e.g. blocking exits to ICE facilities)
A lot of people are hoping No Kings and similar protests will stop Trump. They won't. Of course they won't. But you can bet there's a lot more people donating to charities that either legally fight the administration's actions, or disrupt fascist policies on the ground, and a lot of people end up breaking off from these more liberal protests to later go to more concrete ones.
They're not worthless, but nothing beats direct, concrete action.
https://beautifultrouble.org/toolbox/tool/dont-expect-a-concrete-outcome-from-a-symbolic-action
This is a very good way to explain it. We need both kinds, both are important.
Performative protests are INCREASING my hopelessness and despair.
“WOW, biggest protest in the history of the U.S.? And did fuck all? Welp, if that can’t do it, nothing can. We’re fucked.”
Maybe it's just me, but seeing regular ass people who were previously entirely disinterested in politics start marching in the street, actively educating themselves about the political landscape, and even seeing some break off into actual blockades of ICE facilities gives me a lot more hope than seeing people do nothing in the first place.
You have to remember, the average person mostly just cares about their family and personal financial circumstances, doesn't take risks, and just reposts platitudes on facebook from time to time.
This is an improvement from the status quo, and any progress toward a better direction is good. I guarantee you, you will see many more people engaging in concrete actions as time goes on, because these sorts of protests help spur people into further action. Hell, we've already seen that happening.
These protests are gateways to concrete actions, not something that replaces them.
So double down right back at them. What are you doing to stop what's happening? How else should we disrupt the regime's efforts? What do you recommend? Or do you think shitting on people's efforts is helpful somehow and will lead to a good outcome?
My mom was a huge speeder. She almost never went below 10 over the limit. Any time someone told her something along the lines of "The sign says 60, and you're going 80." she'd respond along the lines of "Well, good thing signs can't stop me then, huh?"
She'd always slow down if she thought she saw a cop, though.
I always think about that when people talk about protests as if they're the final step and not just the warning before a revolt. If you want self-centered people, like the ones running our government, to listen to your signs, you need them to fear what comes afterward if they don't.
Interesting analogy, and a great point. I think it's a lot like poker. They place their bets, we place our bets. They raise the stakes, we raise the stakes. Eventually one of us is either going to fold or we're both going to end up going all in, and then we'll finally end up seeing what our hands end up being once that happens. Are any of us prepared to fold on this? I'm not. Are they prepared to fold? I don't know. Are they bluffing or are they holding all the right cards? I don't know. If it comes to that, I guess we'll find out.
That's a great analogy as well, though with the stakes as high as they are, I don't think either side is likely to fold. I think we'll have to show our hands and see who wins. I'd love to hear that the government caved in to our demands and everything is fine, but if that doesn't happen we need to understand that our work isn't done until we get what we need, regardless of whether or not they decide to give it to us willingly.
I don't think their hand is really that strong, as much as they've been trying to convince people it is. Their media is powerful, the image they project is powerful. They have convinced us to fear of a massively powerful military-backed surveillance state, as we should, but is that really something they can achieve? Only with a lot more apathy and cowing to authority than they're actually going to get, I think. Americans (and even the military is made up of Americans) are an unruly bunch at the best of times, and the powers that be might think they have enough money and enough security in place to protect them as their popular support dwindles and the MAGA wave they rode to power begins to realize that these authoritarians are not giving them back "muh freedumbs" like they promised but are in fact taking more of them away. As the famous quote goes, "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." The regime has been ignoring and laughing at protests like 50501 and No Kings. They will have to fight eventually. Would the current regime survive more LA riots? Vietnam war protests? Another million man march? Probably. That's obviously what they're preparing for, as they should. But how far are they actually going to be able to go? And how far will the resistance go? I agree, we'll see once the cards are all on the table. But I think there's still plenty of room for hope that the actual future isn't going to be as bleak as it may seem right now.