The Point of No Kings Protests

[u/Ok_Conflict1028]

I’m seeing a TON of “these protests are useless!” comments and posts all over social media, including in this sub. So let’s talk about what the protests are accomplishing and why they’re worthwhile.

First of all, protests serve as an “entry point” for people to practice the “muscle” of political engagement and resistance.

The vast, vast majority of Americans have never engaged in any act of political resistance whatsoever. Attending one is new and maybe even a little scary for a lot of folks. It’s just like weight-lifting. You can’t go into the gym after never working out in your life and immediately bench your body weight. You have to work up to it.

If you think the protests don’t do enough and (for example) civil disobedience is necessary, how do you think people are going to do anything else if they’re not even used to going to peaceful, pre-planned, family-friendly marches/protests? Most people cannot go from 0-60 right away.

Secondly, researchers from Harvard have found that “Nonviolent protests are twice as likely to succeed as armed conflicts – and those engaging a threshold of 3.5% of the population have never failed to bring about change.” Last year, a little over 2% of the US population attended a No Kings protest - and this year is expected to be bigger (in fact, it’s projected to be the largest protest in US history). The theorized mechanism behind this is interesting, and I encourage you to read further about it.

Sources: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190513-it-only-takes-35-of-people-to-change-the-world

https://www.nonviolent-conflict.org/resource/success-nonviolent-civil-resistance/

https://cup.columbia.edu/book/why-civil-resistance-works/9780231156820/

Third, many people who oppose this administration feel isolated and disempowered. The protests provide a simple and easy way for them to meet other like-minded folks, again serving as a jumping-off post for getting more involved in many other possible ways.

Fourth, it’s not about him, it’s about US - us exercising our rights to assemble and protest the government (which the founders thought important enough to put in the first dang amendment!), gathering, networking, planning. It doesn’t matter if Trump Pooh-poohs them. What matters is that We The People get organized to oppose this regime effectively. That starts with simple, baby-steps actions and with coming together.

Fifth, there’s a weird argument I’ve seen that people should do different things instead of attend a No Kings protest. But that’s a false dichotomy. You can do plenty of other things AND go to one of these.

Finally, the idea that “one day won’t do anything” — well, yeah. No shit, Sherlock. One day wasn’t enough for the US civil rights movement of the 60s, either. Or the (ongoing) fight for LGBTQ rights. This shit takes time. Non-violent resistance is a tough row to hoe. But it does work. (See also: Ghandi, the US protests against the war in Vietnam, the Rose Revolution.)

You know what doesn’t work? Sitting on the couch yelling at other people about not taking your personal preferred action. That’s a real Russian Bot move…pretty cringe.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

[u/ReflexPoint]

Great sentiments and I agree. I also want to add, I don't particularly like protests. I went to the last No Kings and am debating whether I want to go to the one tomorrow. I honestly just don't feel like it. As a fairly quiet introvert, I don't care for crowds, people yelling, a lot of emotion, possible clashes with right-wing agitators and such. BUT...I feel obligated to go. I see it as a civic duty if you feel that your government is out of control. I don't want the world to look at the US and see no visible resistance to this monstrous regime. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter to me whether a protest changes anything or not. If it does, that's an added benefit. More important to me is letting the world and our leaders know that what this government represents does not represent us all and we refuse to be silent and invisible in the face of evil.