More than 3,100 anti-authoritarian protests are scheduled across the US and at least 15 other countries on Saturday. All these events will take place under a single banner: No Kings.
Formally launched in June to fight back against Trump administration policies, the No Kings movement has grown with astonishing speed – its second and most recent mass protest in October drew an estimated 7 million participants. Organizers expect Saturday’s events to be the biggest protest in American history.
But the movement is also leaderless, broad in cause and hasn’t advanced any policy demands. Some social movements experts recognize No Kings’ momentum but question if it needs clearer goals.
“There’s not any one way to get people into a movement. You want to have as many doors open as possible because you have to reach people wherever they are,” said Hahrie Han, a political scientist at Johns Hopkins University and the co-author of Prisms of the People: Power & Organizing in Twenty-First-Century America. “The bigger challenge is, once they’re there, how do you keep them there, and then how do you channel that engagement in collective ways?”
But organizers say they are aware of such critiques and that these choices are all by design.
“The name No Kings is, in and of itself, a demand. It is a direct repudiation of this administration, of this regime, of its unconstitutional, illegal, immoral and frankly profane actions,” said Hunter Dunn, an organizer with the 50501 movement, one of the groups behind No Kings. “It’s a declaration of intent that we are going to return power back to the people.”
The only thing that’s going to get their attention is a general strike. As long as Frank Freeway is more worried about getting fired than he is about what kind of society we’re going to live in, that’s not going to happen.
Oh look. The same attack they used against Occupy Wall Street.
Exactly. They’re just frustrated because it’s too loose for them to make a good target out of.
How about “try this entire administration for treason?”
I’d like to see every governor that still respects the constitution to activate their State Defense Force.
Send a crystal clear message that true patriots are ready to defend the constitution against all threats, foreign and domestic.
It should be hosted in the same place trump held his rally before the capital was stormed. At the conclusion of the protest everyone should walk to the capital building for “selfies”.
… they need better arms and supplies.
Power respects power.
Sorry, didn’t make the rules, but that is how history actually works.
Yep, there are exceptions, within a spectrum.
But generally speaking, being loud and annoyed is not enough, not against a State that is rapidly turning its instruments of devastation inward.
Having a giant group therapy session is great and all… but if it doesn’t actually lead to any … material changes… its just a group therapy session.
Maybe if they would do this at way shorter intervals? June 25, October 25, March 26 - with such large gaps, you won’t grab long-term attention.
No Kings
Seems like a pretty clear goal to me.
No billionaires or AIPAC is better
Go to the protests: you’ll see them all.
There’s room for everyone.
That’s a problem, no? OWS failed because it had no clear goal and was just a catch-all for general dissatisfaction. And OWS was a sustained protest, not a four-hour long jaunt before everyone goes home.
No. It is a deliberate choice; the article itself is about why. The sub-lede of the above article, emphasis mine:
Anti-authoritarian rallies standing up to Trump have broad objectives and no leaders. Organizers say that is by design
What you are looking at is the dead center of propagandist’s difficulty to categorize and discredit/smear/twist a tightly defined goal, while issuing a broad enough invitation to all: No Kings.
That’s specific enough for me, and it was specific enough for millions more the last time, and I expect it to be specific enough for even millions more than that tomorrow. Personally, I think it’s genius and I would not have it any other way.
But if the anti-authoritarian thought “No Kings” is not enough for you in itself, or you believe that is somehow non-specific in the face of encroaching authoritarianism and a rapidly coalescing fascist government, maybe you should rethink your own strategy.
Yes. What is there actual goal other than telling the world they don’t like trump?
What action do they want to come from this? What are they threatening to do if they don’t get the action they want?
Without clearly stating what those 2 things are, this protest is basically pointless and just serving to let slacktivists pretend they actually did something useful.
How much clearer can it be?
The folks I know who are taking more tangible action are not posting about it online, and there’s more of them as time passes. Don’t be passive, talk to people irl, and be smart about your choices and actions. We all have different roles and different levels of risk tolerance.
For everybody who says that the no kings protests are useless: they’re not. They provide a space for people to meet those in person to start taking tangible action.
The protests aren’t the action, they’re an act of organization, which is how you get action.
Exactly, they are an important tool in normalizing a resistant mindset. They get headlines, and it shows others who might be on the fence that the movement is growing. It gives people hope, unifies them.
So even without a cause, we all know what we’re protesting. Normalize the resistance, make it ordinary, make it default.’ We’ve been listening to their bullshit long enough, I just want to some time to shout myself,.
Then I come home motivated and get to work.
These protests are an important part of the process. At least one commenter in this thread mentioned that seeing people out there encouraged them to participate more.
And discussions online are also an important part of the process. The discussions online are what led to the protests being organized.
These protests need to lead to discussions of concrete goals - what they should actively accomplish, otherwise they will fizzle out like the Wall Street protests in years past.
And people should see the groundswell of support and run for local office, run for regional office, for state, for national office. Get the experience and take over the government at all levels. Take our country back from fascism.
So all of it is important. Do what you can at every level. Fight against misinformation and fascist propaganda. Get out on the street if you’re able. Run for office if you’re able. Support those running for office. Participate in discussions about concrete goals.
All of it matters.
Probably the best thing about these events, for me, is that I’ve learned that there are hundreds of like-minded people in my rural area and that I’m not alone in this. Living in this area, it feels like I’m surrounded by nothing by MAGA conservatives and there’s no room for dissenting opinions. But it’s simply not true. They’re just the ones who’ve been loudest all these years, but that’s changing.
Sitting in front of a screen and complaining about what’s going on while also disparaging those trying to do something about it – 100% ineffective, 100% counter productive.
When hundreds of people are showing up in public across thousands of small towns around the country, that’s people learning they aren’t alone. That’s people making new friends. That’s people actually getting involved and organizing. And that’s not to mention, this is happening in all the major cities as well.
In a way, the demands of the movement are on ourselves, the people attending these events. It comes down to making ourselves responsible for learning how to organize, engaging in political speech, and to normalize exercising our constitutional rights. This is all new to large numbers of people attending these events, so it’s a learning experience for a lot of us.
And besides, I think of it this way…
Let’s say November rolls around and the president decides to interfere with the elections or he tries to invalidate the elections. What’s got a better chance of successfully resisting? A scared and disorganized population that’s never organized and/or attended a protest and isn’t prepared for what that entails? Or a populace that’s done this a few times already in recent history, that’s built up support, knows how to organize, knows who to contact, and one who is actively engaged? In this life, there are no guarantees, but if I had to put my money on one of those two, I’m choosing the the latter.
Exactly. Doomers need to take a back seat while the grown ups are demonstrating.
People saying saying things like “we need tangible action” are just veiled attempts to damage the movement.
Large-scale nationwide protests are tangible action, for reasons other commenters have already mentioned. Sure, maybe they won’t solve all our problems overnight. Nothing will. But they build and sustain the momentum that we need if we’re ever going to overcome this. Without that, we have nothing.
💯 and a couple tips:
-
You can talk to other people at protests. It’s okay to ask political questions, but also just simple stuff like what brought you out here? What are you most upset about? Not everyone is there for the same reason and it is fascinating to listen to answers and you might make connections that will be valuable when shit goes down.
-
Say you’re in a liberal city. Are your local leaders going to the protest? Ask them! What could be more beneficial than having people with actual political power on your side in attendance?
Some of the best parts is meeting new people and talking. Im sorta ambivalent about political figures. Would prefer if they would just show up in the crowd and march without announcing their prescence.
Yeah I don’t expect or often want a leader to give a stump speech or the like. Just take the time and show face like everyone else there.
yeah the pomp and circumstance in general annoys me. I will say the last one did have some good speakers from grassroots groups. Its like lets skip all the “celebraties” and hear from folk actually doing things on the ground. Our govenor is a good speaker though so sorta like his speech. I remember something being said at the last one and I said “phrasing” and someone close by laughed.
-
We need tangible action.
Theory:
Assembly shows solidarity, and helps to cement a political outlook shared by others. It reminds those in power that we are here and oppose them. Gathering for a mass protest builds the reflex - making it easier to gather en mass in situations when real opposition can make the biggest difference
Practice:
Hey, knock off all that fascism or we WILL take another lap…
How’s that compare to shit posting on lemmy and doing nothing else?
All forms of opposition should be encouraged, regardless of impact or effectiveness.
Push them all forward systemically. These efforts can potentiate each other, building political pressure and a growing desire for social change.
Speaking for the protests in my area, organizers used them as a way to get people to sign up for local community action groups.
When ICE was deployed in our town a few weeks later, those email and phone lists triggered trainings, neighborhood watch signups, and a bunch of other shit.
My guess is that the good no kings events will be used in a similar way this week. Once people are gathered, organizers will use the opportunity to sign people up for more tactical stuff. ICE watching, election watching, door knocking, etc.
I mean these are good places to meet people who agree on taking tangible action.
It’s pretty fucking clear to me: Trump acts like a king and ignores the Constitution. That must be stopped at all costs.
I think what this article is failing to state clearly is that none of the government is working therefore No Kings can’t achieve its goal of reining in Trump. That doesn’t mean we stop protesting. That means we start thinking about the next step: “Stop. Or else”.
He’s more a dickless-tator.
