I was followed home by two unmarked SUVs today and was so scared that I didn’t even go into my dinner shift, I have resorted to writing numbers on my arm in case I am collected like the guys at Target who were both US citizens too… we are living in Nazi America now! Something has to change and this has to stop!!! I even have a safe word with my friends because I am so scared to go to work everyday!! No one should feel like that!
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Good! Keep them going, come back every week, build momentum. This is the first step, don't stop now. Motivate people by showing that you are here and you won't let them get away with it. Gather into specific spots like you did for Occupy, block roads, unionize and organize yourselves.
Peaceful protest and forceful resistance are wings on the same bird. We need both.
I like to say that peaceful protest is an opening offer, and it only means something if there's a path to escalation when it's rejected.
Americans will never learn this non-violent shit does nothing. They don't care about your signs, your chants, dressing up like a frog, none of that is a threat to their existence. Until they feel threatened nothing will change. And that 3.5% non-violent protest bs is to keep everyone passive.
There are a fair number of activities that fall under the umbrella of "non-violent protest" that involve a good bit more than just holding signs and writing letters.
You can deny them food, water, sleep, or comfort, you can follow them and record their activities, you can sabotage their vehicles (since they use rentals, it's only destruction of private property, not government property) anything at all that can disrupt their activities and make life more difficult for them, short of assaulting them, is non-violent protest.
What do you propose? Go out and shoot a few ICE agents? They far outnumber and outgun those who are willing currently to protest violently. The opposition shooters would be crushed swiftly, and give the administration pretense to increase ICE funding/presence and push harder for military presence. Not to mention, it'd give them perfect ammo for their bullshit cannon about how "the left" are all violent lunatics (Good was a "domestic terrorist" according to them - can you imagine the "official" narrative if she actually had done something aggressive?!)
Half the voting population is still drinking the FOX news koolaid and think all the people getting detained/deported/murdered by ICE are actually murderers and rapists. Nonviolent protest raises awareness. No opposition will accomplish its goals if no one even knows there is a problem.
The only awareness these protests is raising is how ineffective they are. The only ones concerned about narrative are the ones that think it's working. How long has Portland been protesting and what has been accomplished? Anyone directly challenging the system is gonna be labeled violent so they may as well live up to the label
Non-violent action works if big enough because people will actually start to act if they see that enough other people are fed up and willing to move their asses.
One march every month isn't sufficient though, they have to ramp up the movement, they have to claim public spaces and make themselves unavoidable.
Even if you count on violence to work. Apart from two people with nothing to lose, noone will move their asses to enact said violence if they feel alone. Knowing that 50 millions others are mobilized and not letting go behind them, on the other hand...
Non-violence won Civil Rights, and it ended the draft, and ultimately the Vietnam War.
There is a place in the process for non-violent protest, but violence always sits on the shelf, in plain sight of everyone, just in case it's needed. It is best used as a threat, in case diplomacy fails. We still have a few legal steps to take before we deploy the Violence option.
The crazy thing is, they WANT violence, because they think they will prevail, and subdue us once and for all, but that's just their virtuosic incompetence talking. I don't care how many soldiers they have, they are outnumbered 1000 to 1 by patriots who have been raised on national fables of revolution and resistance to kings and kaisers and fuhrers and tyranny.
In addition, they have kicked out all their competent military leadership, and are left with those who are either cowards, traitors, or...sleeper agents who are remaining in power, biding their time until their are ordered to do something heinous, and then they will turn their troops against the administration. If that's the case, certainly the "retired"officers are in touch with those Sleepers, and making plans.
Do we really think all those retired military leaders, agency leaders, lawyers, etc. are all just slinking away from their jobs quietly? That's what MAGA thinks, that they've been humiliated and are too weak and embarrassed to ever show their faces again, but I have a hard time believing that. I doubt they are just sipping scotch and screaming at the TV. There are surely opposition plans to take this country back if it goes full Nazi, with round ups of citizens and dissidents, and concentration camps. These people didn't spend their careers carefully climbing the military later, protecting America and Freedom the entire way, only to have a frat-boy putzes like Trump and Hegseth destroy it all.
You don't understand what violence is, isn't not just destruction of property, there is economic violence, which is what led to the civil rights bills, there is psychological violence which led to the end of the draft. There is neglect which would deny access to food and shelter. And of course collective violence.
If you look at their finding for 3.5% they say it is not a guarantee and seems to be working less and less. As regimes learn from others failing and technology improves.
Oh yes the "you need to literally forfeit your life attempting to start an armed revolution or you might as well do nothing" comment.
Well go ahead you first
Until this guy gets the revolution started everyone else keep up the protests and civil disobedience
What civil disobedience? Protesting is not that.
As I advise all that want to shit on the actions of those doing something, be the change you want to see
Frankly I can't think of any movement or resitance in history that didn't involve either a protest or violence at some point.
You refuse to accept that protesting builds movements to the point where they can create large action. Certainly was part of the civil rights movement.
I definently support the people actually going to and organizing protesters a whole lot more than someone bitching online that this isn't enough. Go ahead be the change you want to see
The civil rights movement was successful because of the economic violence of the Montgomery bus boycott which went on for over a year. If they tried today's method of a few hours on a random Saturday they would still be protesting.
The tactics of the civil rights movement worked THEN. They will not work NOW.
General strikes and Civil disobedience won't work now?
Kinda running out of options that don't involve guns bud.
You just cannot accept that this country is done
Oh gotcha you're just not even wanting to try anything at all. Thanks for clearing that up.
You're both right, but seems like you're both just trying to prove the other wrong. Keep protesting, keep showing up, but imagine how much more effective it would be if those protesters were armed. Openly armed. You don't even need to bring ammo, just make it clear that the left - that most Americans can fight too.
We're probably not voting our way out of this, we'll just vote it back into the shadows. ICE has been around for decades, surveillance state for decades, broken police system for centuries (?), liberal/neoliberal economy for decades, our government more and more a plutocracy for decades which has held the monopoly on violence.
Solutions via option A or B would be great, but the threat of option C must be on the table. If you're holding a gun and I'm holding a sign, then we aren't negotiating on equal footing.
General strikes and Civil disobedience won't work now?
Are they happening now? Or is everyone having another "We Don't Like Trump Convention" for a weekend before they clean everything up nicely and go home in time to be at work on Monday?
Are you doing anything other than judging others online? You are welcome to organize something.
But in context of the conversation they said that the methods used during the civil rights movement wouldn't work now. Those methods were general strike and civil disobedience. Hence why I was asking why the commentator thought they wouldn't work today
Are you doing anything other than judging others online? You are welcome to organize something.
Fucking Americans. "Why isn't somebody else doing this for us?"
You say this as mass protest is currently forcing change in Iran. Mass protests directly led to multiple regime changes around the world in just the last 6 months.
The only ones who don't want you to protest are those in power. Hence why places with less well enshrined rights to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly keep passing laws to try to ban effective methods of protest
You say this as mass protest is currently forcing change in Iran.
And how many people died in those protests? You need to be ready to defend yourselves and until Americans are willing to do anything with the slightest risk to it nothing will change.
So...you're saying that protest which has worked and is currently to effect change in other countries, and which has worked previously in the United States, can't possibly work right now in the United States as we enter an election year?
Enjoy licking those boots!
What is the argument that you're trying to make? First it's "protest isn't effective" then it's "protest doesn't work anymore" then it's "protest doesn't work anymore in the US" and now it seems to be "but protest can be slightly dangerous sometimes?" Your arguments are disingenuous at best.
If protest wasn't effective the governments being protested wouldn't be attempting to make the protests illegal nor killing protestors and civilians.
I’m saying different tactics work in different places against different governments.
This is self-evident. Different forms of protest can be more or less effective in different contexts. But protest in general has been effective the world over for many centuries
Having protests banned isn’t a sign of it being effective.
If protest was ineffective the government wouldn't be trying to ban it, they'd be saying "oh there was a protest? I didn't notice!" instead of passing legislation to stop them
What is the goal/point of No Kings and 5051?
Rejection of the manufactured consent that Republicans have been trying to pass a guise of. Protest creates unity for those protesting, encourages further action and increased political awareness and participation. It breaks media narratives. A protest with hundreds of events spread across 50 states with 7 million participants shows a strong rejection of the actions of the federal government and completely breaks all talk of the Republicans having a "clear mandate from the voters" like they were trying to claim at the beginning of 2025. These are not tangible effects but they are extremely important when the federal government not only fails to represent its population but turns its guns upon its own people
Absolutely not. And so they are ineffective. The answer is not more of the same.
So what are you doing then? At least we're out here protesting and not taking it lying down. Change doesn't happen overnight and it takes work.
Nothing can happen until the November election.
No Kings needs to organize and flip every red seat they can. It seems likely the House will flip. It's POSSIBLE (but unlikely) the Senate will flip.
November is too long of a wait
You're not going to vote your way out of fascism. They'll just refuse to seat any Democrat that gets elected. They did that for a month already and faced zero consequences for doing so.
Nothing can happen until the November election.
If you do nothing until November they will spend that time making sure nothing happens in November: https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/house-passes-gops-sweeping-anti-voting-bill/
That's just the way elections work. There's no process for changing things midstream and the Democrats are not in power.
Once the election flips the House and possibly the Senate, then we can move forward.
The #1 thing people need to do before November is organize. Get people registered, get people to vote. Make it clear that the Republican party is intellectually, fiscally, and morally bankrupt.
Not sure what makes you think No Kings and 5051 are dead, they're still going and will only get stronger as we get closer to election season.
There will be a next election because elections are run at the state and local levels, the feds can't stop it even if they wanted to.
Organizing 7 million people to protest on the same day was a huge feat.
To put that in perspective, the margin between Trump and Harris was only 2 million.
Getting people organized is the first step, getting them to actually vote is the second. That's where we're at in 2026.
If they succeed in motivating people to vote out the Republicans, that's all it takes.
Organizing and voting is the action.
A revolution is a pipe dream, it's not happening.
I've been alive through this before...
1969-1976
1981-1992
2001-2008
2017-2020
2025-2028
There have only been a few Democratic breaks:
1977-1980
1993-2000
2008-2016
2021-2024
It will likely flip back in 2028, but we have to flip the House back in 2026, ideally the House and Senate but that's unlikely.
It will likely flip back in 2028, but we have to flip the House back in 2026, ideally the House and Senate but that's unlikely.
JFC, that's the solution? Wait 10 months and hopefully flip house but probably not the Senate?
Then everything returns to the stagnant status quo that resulted in this situation in the first place. Dems continue to be toothless, Republicans continue to prevent anything from happening, continue to face zero consequences, and are further emboldened to go even further next time because why the fuck not? Either they succeeded in the fascist takeover or nothing happens and they just try again.
That's the best you can hope for?
That's the only recourse short of a revolution or a civil war which would be 1000x more destructive.
If going back to doing nothing and kicking the can down the road is the only way to avoid a civil war then I have bad news for you: you're not avoiding anything, you're just trying to delay it for another 4 years while things continue to get worse and more people get killed.
"More people" = < 20 vs a civil war with tens to hundreds of thousands dead? 🤔
The last civil war we had killed 600,000 to 700,000 and that's without modern weapons.
The last civil war we had killed 600,000 to 700,000 and that's without modern weapons.
I agree, as time goes on a Civil war gets more destructive.
Therefore, delaying a civil war by 4-8 years will result in more destruction than if citizens stand up for themselves now. Either way, according to your arguments the civil war will happen eventually.
Citizens ARE standing up for themselves now, that's what the protests and elections are for. 😉
Protests are only taking action if they are disruptive. Standing in a corner with signs while people go about their day is as effective as sharing memes on Lemmy.
Wait for Elections is waiting 10 months, not taking action now.
Disruptive protests only turn off your intended audience. You THINK you're disrupting the powers that be, you aren't, they take no notice of you and you turn away the people who would ordinarily be on your side.
still, you first.
Oh it will accomplish something everyone who attends gets put on a list, you will be rounded up eventually. Unless we arm ourselves America is over. Fuck it's already done.
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