It’s not exactly optimism. It’s that I know for sure that giving up won’t work.
And I was replying to the post just above mine by @Chronos; which seemed to me to imply that there’s nothing to do but give up.
I was thinking this over the weekend as well, that it’s time for another tactic to kick in, this one (big friendly street protests) isn’t going to make any kind of impact a fourth time.
Don’t ask me what, I’m not good at thinking of new things.
The next planned event by Indivisible is a General Strike on May 1.
PITTSBURGH, PA. - On Saturday, No Kings protests are expected to draw participants in over 3,000 cities and towns across the United States and overseas.
After No Kings, Indivisible, one of the lead organizers of the “No Kings” protest, is pivoting to building support for the May Day Strong walkouts and actions. They intend to use their massive email lists and organizers for May Day Strong. The May Day Strong coalition is calling for “No Work, No School, No Shopping” on May 1st.
“Coming off the heels of the massive energy from the No Kings mobilizations, people are ready to take action and keep fighting for a democracy of, by, and for the people,” says Indivisible Co-Founder Leah Greenberg, whose organization started the No Kings protest. “On May 1, Indivisibles will be joining people across the country with a clear message: we demand a government that invests in our communities, not one that enriches billionaires, fuels endless war, or deploys masked agents to intimidate our neighbors.”
…
Ninja’ed!
On my schedule!
Didn’t they try to have one of those before, because of ICE, on January 30? Was it considered a success?
As a teacher – and parent of a student – I don’t like this. At least, I don’t like including “school” in the list. I know we need to include and engage young folks, but no.
The idea is to inconvenience people (especially bosses, managers, CEOs, and – I guess – shoppers?), so they take notice? Maybe appropriate for specifically union-type goals (which I generally support), but to counter MAGA? I don’t get it. Schools/colleges, especially. Among other problems: 1. It inconveniences professors and other teachers – the least MAGA contingent in the whole country; 2. Attendance is already a problem, and this feeds into the MAGA idea that education is for losers.
Finally: May 1? Really? Communist associations are not what we need. Even socialism (which I’m okay with) isn’t the immediate goal here.
And my post, in turn, was an explanation of the sentiment expressed by @bobot , which @ThelmaLou had asked about, not necessarily my own personal views.
For my own part, I don’t think that protests are particularly effective (that 5% protesting figure that gets bandied about so much is an indicator, not a cause), but that other forms of action can still be effective. Top of that list is local-government action, followed by institutional policies.
Yeah. May Day was typically a big Communist celebration, a day off work though you were expected to show up in the square and applaud like crazy, lots of parades celebrating Communism and Socialism, and I can only imagine what the MAGAts, those True American Patriots™, will make of this.
Think twice, organizers. Maybe May 1 would not be a good day to promote your ideas.
May Day is Labor Day in the overwhelming majority of countries around the world (if I’m mathing right, it’s 82% of all countries, and most of the remainder are Middle Eastern countries that don’t celebrate Labor Day ever). Yes, MAGA will scream “commies”–but that’s what they scream all the goddamn time. No matter what we do they’ll scream “commies.” Maybe we don’t let them dictate our actions.
My union, North Carolina Assocation of Educators, had already declared May 1 a day of protest, and we’ll all be driving down to Raleigh to protest our state’s lack of a budget, meaning that our pay continues to shrink. I’m thrilled that others will join us.
My local TV stations all made posts on Facebook noting our march (10,000 strong). The comments were predominantly from MAGAts and were all on the same points:
No way it was that large. Fake.
Must have been bussed in from California.
Paid by George Soros (still???)
It worked! We don’t have a king! (hilarious)
“Is this king in the room with us?” (also hilarious)
All the participants were unemployed and/or seniors.
Even the Catholic Church is in on the action: May 1 is recognized as the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker.
It’s not a Soviet-style communism thing: It’s a what-communism-purported-to-be thing. The primary association is protecting the rights of workers. If the Right wants to claim that looking out for the interests of workers is communist and evil, well, let them say that out loud.
The way my workflow is organized, nobody will even notice if I work on a specific day or not.
A general strike might be an effective tool for gigantic revolutionary movements, that can to some degree enforce the strike by blocking streets and even threatening retaliation against those who ignore it. I don’t think it’s an effective tool here and now, mostly because of the small number of people who are willing to inconvenience themselves to make a weak political point.
Like I said above, I don’t have an alternative to suggest for big, glamorous actions. What Democrats need is the same level of local and state organizational fervor that Republicans have.
Most of my work is done on the farm, and chances are nobody will notice whether I’m working; which, depending on the weather, I’ll probably have to. But what I can do is to avoid doing errands, scheduling appointments, ordering anything online, etc. on that day. If there’s a local demonstration, I may be able to get to it.
That’s kind of circular reasoning. It’s only a weak political point if few people do it. If a lot of people (of course it won’t be everybody) do it, it’ll be a damn strong one.
ETA:
Which is what Indivisible has spent the past year working to build; though not only with the Democrats.
I sure do like Indivisible and look forward to more from them.
Find your local group and join them.
So I didn’t want to mention this since I was hired to be an advocate, but now that it’s over I’ll report that there was an arrest at a No King’s rally in Florida.
The situation was precipitated by a guy who routinely harasses local politicians; he’s so MAGA that most Republicans are RINOs to him. In response to his agitation (which he usually puts up on YouTube), Brian Stewart blared his megaphone siren (it’s a tactic to make his videos unusable). In response, the “victim” poured a drink on Stewart’s megaphone, and Stewart responded by using it to hit him in the head.
Stewart was then arrested.
Here’s video
And today it was dismissed.
The elected prosector (in Florida, that’s called a State Attorney, but in most places it’s a District Attorney) for the entire circuit (consisting of 5 counties) personally took the case. That’s rare; usually it’s an Assistant (even if it’s a senior supervisor).
I’d like to tell you that I went all Matlock on him, but we had one conversation, and he proved to me that even in this screwed up country there are still decent elected officials.
Today he dismissed the charges. This is what he wrote
Made my Friday.
Nice!
An outbreak of reasonableness? In the context of a criminal legal action? In Florida?
I must be dreaming.