askchapo

Protests are a tool for mobilizing people and demonstrating solidarity. Showing vulnerable people that they aren't alone. They have to be followed up with community meetings and other actions that channel that energy into ongoing productive work. The US is significantly lacking in follow up here because I guess people don't know what organize means?

Join a community defense group, join a socialist political party, get to work learning your local radical history and building on it. You can't simply win, you have to learn how to engage in a workers struggle in the first place.

I was at a protest/demonstration the other day. There were not too many signs, a couple chants, people from PSL were there, speakers talked about the urgent need to organize and confront racist state terror, and afterwards many people were meeting up and planning future discussions in the next couple days. It was a different atmosphere than previous protests, more camo apparel than normal and average looking people talking like "We need to stop the nazis now. No one else will save us." I agree with you, from what I've seen people seem to be entering a different stage, even a sort of lib friend of mine who has never really protested or been active in that way has been saying he's getting a gun.

People are at that point. It takes time and money to arm and train.