I long time ago I wrote a piece (I’ll link to it here in orange) on the relationship between liberal bloggers (and the online communities they create) and the people who demonstrate in protest marches. At the time, I was a little annoyed that some of my blogging friends were so dismissive of folks who act out their political dissent in person. I was reminded of that piece when I was reading Nicole Narea’s article in the The New Republic.
She’s concerned that the protestors currently descending on Washington DC to protest Trump’s inauguration are lacking any unified message beyond anti-Trumpism. I don’t see this as a problem. What they agree on is that they don’t want this new president. Let them give us a thousand different reasons why.
Protests in this country have never had a unified message, but we still call the marches against Jim Crow “Civil Rights Protests” and the marches during Vietnam “anti-war protests.” There were overriding themes and they stuck.
Protests tend not to accomplish anything right away unless they’re so menacing that the king wants to flee the palace. What happens more commonly is that they act as a great social networking event. Friendships and connections are made. People get organized. People get energy. We can do some of this with blogs and apps, but there’s nothing like people meeting likeminded people in the flesh.
So, the real story of the Pussyhat Revolution tomorrow won’t be in what gets broadcast on television. It will be what happens on the ground, on the subways, in the hotel lobbies and bars, as people come together to mourn and to share their fears, and to find their resolve.
Let a million messages bloom.
Plus, protests clearly irritate our Tweeter-in-Chief, which is also its own reward. Incredibly, the only thing that gets the immediate attention of the imbecile is public criticism, preferably by celebrities on social media, haha.
Most 10 year olds have greater emotional maturity than our Trumper…
This is super positive and 100% correct. It has been our experience as activists in Pasadena, CA and will be again here in Portland, OR where we currently are.
Nobody can take the experiences or the community built or the successes we had from us. Protests are one vehicle among many which we can use to advance social justice and peace.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/39995061@N00/albums/72157633240757922
Our blood-red, Republican dominated county is filling up two bus loads of motivated people and heading to DC. I would expect them to come back more energized and inspired to continue to openly protest what will likely be the most destructive and corrupt administration in modern American history.
I look forward to hearing about new alliances, friendships and strategies that will carry forward over the next four years.
Whenever there’s protests from the left, we’re always adjured that we’re doing it totally wrong and/or that our “message” sucks or similar. Typically, leftwing protests get little coverage in the M$M, and when they do, it’s generally slanted to make it look bad in some way. Also the numbers of the protesters are usually downplayed.
When there are rightwing protests, they’re typically universally lauded by the M$M and the numbers in attendance are given a boost. Plus their “message” is always clear, unequivocable and really really good.
Twas ever thus, and ever shall be.
March on PussyHats!
This is not a critique to be rejected out of hand.
I remember the pre-Iraq war protests… a lot of extraneous stuff went into, and along with them.
“No enemies to the left” is a grand slogan, not a bulletproof communications strategy.
No one was more obnoxious then Act Up. I hated them.
Hard not to say they didn’t fundamentally change the debate though.
They effectively helped to save lives.
What was it about them that you hated?
Even if media coverage is low, Trump will be tweeting about them and spreading the news further. But I would imagine that facebook will be deluged with photos by folks participating.
On my phone texts in the last two weeks from:
– The Sanders guy who walked me through precinct captain training in Iowa
– The group that met at a bar in Des Moines to trade war stories before the caucuses and that traded excited numbers on caucus night
– The amazing woman I sat next to at the Convention in Philly during Obama’s speech.
– The professor I sat next to during Clinton’s acceptance speech
– The Sanders couple from New York I met in Philly on the floor. And their friends. All of whom really really don’t like Mario Cuomo.
– Various people I have met through legal protection through the years
Oh. And my wife. I met her in New Hampshire (we were working on opposing campaigns).
This is why the Sanders campaign was always going to matter. We found each other. Most are going to the women’s protest.
Ahh – who don’t like Andrew…
If this is how you get yourself fired up, fire yourself up. Raw enthusiasm and anger is far better than quiet worry. No one wants to vote for bedwetters.
Yes, BooMan, indeed.
Protests are a focused or as scatter-caused as what is drawing the protest.
There have been protests at most recent inaugrals. Some of you might remember some of them, but they are generally on the parade route.
What is envisioned this year is a protest that seeks to create more news than the inaugural against a President-elect (until noon tomorrow) who can lead the news media around.
That means that the organizers had to network with as widespread and diverse a coalition for this event as possible. Not everyone who is coming was part of the planning. Not everyone is on the same page. The hope for this event is: (1) a huge crowd shows up to protest; (2) the protest is marked by its size and the quality of its direct action; (3) the fissures in the coalition are not made public until sometimes afterward. (Remember the controversy over John Lewis’s original speech at the March on Washington.) After 50 years no one cares because of the speech he did give.)
The March on Washington was broadcast because we were in a different era that had not become jaded about protesting. And there was a White House that was vulnerable from both sides of the racial divide. This one will be livestreamed unless there is blocking of cell phones.
But BooMan is correct, the value of these large events over time will be in building a more unified opposition movement and politics from the functional and geographical networks and friendships made at this rally. A very small unrepresentative sample of a greater 63 million majority.
Anti-Trumpism is the message. He has not mandate to do a lot of the things his juggernaut has been setting up. He will not be normalized as a routine President deserving of the dignity of the office. He has not yet understood that he must earn the dignity of the office by acting dignified and the popular trust by acting trustworthy.
I remember the Tea Party building a national media presence with a rally of, what was it, 7000 people in tri-corner hats and Gadsden flags with their Congressional collaborators. That was enough for the corrupt media to declare Barack Obama’s administration wink-wink “of uncertain birth”.
What will be more significant for the future are the state capitol and major city rallies day after tomorrow.
How menacing would protests have to be to make Trump want to flee the White House?
Isn’t he going to spend most of his time hiding out in Trump Tower in NYC?
When we were in London in 2009, the tour guide made a point of showing us which stores were “good” and which were “bad”, based on whether she and her fellow marchers in the anti-war protests in 2003 had been able to use the store bathrooms or not.
It shows how deeply meaningful and memorable these marches are.
The problem with protests in urban areas is that they punish the wrong people. Go to a rural county that voted 70% for trump and… protest there.
Agreed. You may make a lifelong friend or two along the way