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.”
do they need clearer goals?
They need more persistence and more frequency.
1day protests every 4 or 5 months isn’t putting pressure on anyone.
Peaceful protests do not put pressure on anyone. They don’t achieve anything except showing public support for a cause.
Unless protests turn into more direct forms of action such as blockades or riots, nothing will happen.
Have half the country not work for the next 3 months.
You’ll see change.
Tbh I think they really only slowed down because it was the absolute dead of winter.
If the weather is enough to stop protests, the country is more cooked than I thought.
These protests are a place for organizing and networking.
But what’s really being danced around is “Why are there not politicians converting this movement into effective policy?”
And we all know that the power brokers and leaders of the political parties are being paid to ignore them and keep it a leaderless and rudderless movement. We saw the exsct same thing with Occupy Wall Street and thst resulted in lobbyists codifying their bribery into law.
Also a great place for AI drones to harvest endless information
Where do you see this happening? Or are you just fear mongering?
Stingrays have been around for ages, I have to imagine there are more sophisticated versions. We know ICE is using apps developed by Palantir. Usually “fear mongering” only applies to unreasonable fears.
If I were going to one of these, I’d leave my phone at home, or keep it in a Faraday bag.
Stingrays are way more real than “ai drones collecting information”. I don’t like the fear mongering when there are actual issues at protests. The only way to keep yourself safe is to know the real issues at play.
Also, leaving your phone at home is a tangible defense to the problem, I agree with you completely. Burner phones are also an option.
Uh oh, Citizen, prepare for our pleasant Thought Reprocessing Ray™ at some random point during the day!
I don’t see ICE arresting anyone around me. Stop fear mongering.
I asked you to show me an example? I’ve seen examples of ICE being pieces of shit.
Millions show up, “but could it be perfect?” Fuck off guardian.
If legacy media treated the Trump administration’s ridiculously unconstitutional antics with the same skepticism as they express about protesters, perhaps he wouldn’t have been elected to a second term.
A hugely important aspect is to put your money where your mouth is. Vote with your wallet - this administration cares about you more as a consumer than as a citizen.
Be mindful of where you spend your dollars. Shop with local businesses that deserve your money. Single day boycotts of giants like Amazon and Walmart aren’t helpful if you’re just going to show up tomorrow and buy from them anyway. Find alternatives and really consider who will be benefitting from every dollar you have to spend.
Pay in cash. Use local swap or buy nothing groups. Try lending libraries and second hand stores. Give homemade gifts and baked goods instead of store bought presents. Go without. We have been conditioned to live our lives laden down with so much stuff, and truly so many occasional use items don’t need to be owned by every individual household.
“No Kings” - Sounds like a clear goal to me. Excuse me now while I get ready 🇺🇸
Turn “No Kings” into a general strike. Ask the French, they are the experts.
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.
💯 and a couple tips:
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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.
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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.
Yeah, these are my supposedly the most political people around and yet few feel a compilation to join a flagship gathering of people from their party. There were a couple electeds at the last one that I only found out about after the fact. But only a couple in a very blue area.
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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.
Living in this area, it feels like I’m surrounded by nothing by MAGA conservatives and there’s no room for dissenting opinions.
They aren’t afraid of showing who they are, because they believe (incorrectly) that they are in the majority.
They aren’t afraid of showing who they are, because they believe (incorrectly) that they are in the majority.
Just had a conversation with someone at the airport who was talking to the people around him about the state of things and how we need to be better as a society, have to push back and overcome the worst of us screaming their way to the top.
I thanked him for saying things that needed saying in public and out loud for all to hear. I old him if we all can keep it up we’ll drive these chuds back to the rocks they were hiding under.
I think “Trump bad” is a legit reason
I agree. I think Miller and his dweeb crew have “flooded the zone” - done so much outrageous and horrible shit as quickly as possible - so effectively that protesting over specific issues just doesn’t work right now. It’s not that little Donnie has done one or more specific bad things that we want him to change policies on. Little Donnie is going out of his way to do as many bad things as possible, and by the time we organize a protest about bad thing number 67, he’s already moved on to bad things number 69, 88, and 108. “Go back to Epstein Island and put the adults back in charge” is the only rational message for a mass protest right now.
Any goal would be productive.
Edit: There aren’t any demands being made so they don’t feel the pressure enough. I know it’s about getting together to get the discourse started but meanwhile Trump has started a war without warrant or approval, and that’s just the most recent thing he’s done. He’s planning on messing with the election/voter roll next. Some opposition is needed.
It’s good to protest but if everything returns to normal Monday morning, then thsy don’t have to change anything.
The morning after the protest in Minnesota ICE shot Alex Pretti. Justice for them should be demanded.
Oh look. The same attack they used against Occupy Wall Street. Expect it to be repeated until its accepted wisdom.
Exactly. They’re just frustrated because it’s too loose for them to make a good target out of.
Can you be more precise please. What attack is the same?
The “what are they even protesting?” attack that is repeated no matter how many times you’re told.
They want protestors to have too many demands so they fail just like the Occupy Wallstreet protests. “No Kings” is a good demand.
Reminder that Democrats gave Trump his funding bill and stopped the most effective government shutdown.
Clearer goals? Its pretty straightforward
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.
They achieve about as much, but your face won’t be put on a database for shitposting
Yes… the internet is much more anonymous /s
I mean these are good places to meet people who agree on taking tangible action.
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.
The protests are good ways of meeting like-minded people in your community to form connections, spreading awareness of local mutual aid groups so more can join, or form ICE resistance groups who can join an encrypted chat to coordinate, alert neighbors, and talk strategy. It also is a good place for unions or union members to encourage others to unionize their workplaces, which can also ultimately work toward a national general strike: our most tangible and powerful collective action.
The country would be brought to its knees if suddenly deprived of profit and labor, allowing us to directly demand real changes (Ending the war in Iran, stopping the genocide of Gaza, and Abolishing ICE should be towards the top of the list).
The General Strike was extremely effective in Chile in 2019, and had they not fallen for the trick of liberal reform, they would’ve had a successful revolution on their hands with virtually no bloodshed.
There are some concrete steps all of us can take toward enacting that hard-core general strike to make it more viable and bearable for us all. (the titles below expand if you click them).
Learn First Aid! ⛑️
Violence is being used against those who resist and it will only continue. It extremely important to have the skills to be able to keep yourself and others alive if they get hurt.
Tacticool Girlfriend provides a great introduction to building a personal first aid kit, called an IFAK, which can deal with things like bullet wounds and other serious bleeding wounds. I also want to emphasize her recommendation of only buying medical gear from reputable sources (not Amazon!), such as North American Rescue to avoid fakes that could cost you your life.
But you’ll need to learn how to use that equipment, too. The best resource for that is to take a local Stop The Bleed class, which are pretty widely available in most places. They may cost a small fee, but can also sometimes be free. Alternatively, if you cannot access a local class, this video by PrepMedic will give you a solid understanding of how to use Tourniquets and Gauze for wound packing.
Injuries are less harmful if they are tended to early. Learning first aid can help conserve resources when healthcare becomes unaffordable. Having several medics in case of harm by police is an extremely powerful morale booster during a protest that may become a police riot. When you become comfortable with the basics of first aid, riot medicine is the next suggested step.
Establish or join local Mutual Aid networks ✊
If you haven’t already, get to know your neighbors. Mutual aid is a willingness to support and grow your community. This can include informal networks through friends, tenant/renter organizations, solidarity groups, and industrial unions.
These are groups using direct action to solve each other’s problems. Building strong communities makes it difficult for fascism to take root. The actions of the government are going to hit every community hard, and the ones who build trust in each other and work together are most likely to survive. We’ve been building a list of resources in !inperson@slrpnk.net to help you on your way. Also check out this handy guide to find existing groups in your area.
This isn’t only for your own community protection. Your ability to organize today will change the political landscape tomorrow. When revolution occurs, the social organizations that show the greatest resilience through the regime are the ones typically calling the shots when the dust settles. When it comes to elections, get out the vote drives are useless if most of the voters are fascists. At some point, you have to do grassroots political education if you don’t want fascist candidates winning elections. Mutual aid networks are excellent forums not only for teaching each other good political ideas, but demonstrating them in practice.
There’s also some projects you can do that help build community (and can be fun in themselves!), for more info, go here, and scroll down to the “Fun Projects to Build Community) section”
Join a Union to help prepare for a General Strike! 💪
If you aren’t in a union (or even if you are, it’s worth dual-carding), consider joining the IWW to unionize your workplace (bonus: you’ll get higher wages, better benefits, and more time off if you succeed!) to make a general strike possible.
Once you are in a union you and your coworkers will need to pressure your leadership to prepare for a general strike, as well as pressure them to organize with other unions to enact a general strike. This is especially true if you are in a more traditional union that isn’t the IWW. Your local shop may need to organize directly with other unions if your union leaders are too cowardly to do so.
Most unions have a strike fund that can supplement your income during a general strike to make it more financially bearable (you should also save as much money as you can reasonably do, so it can also be used to keep yourself afloat during a strike). A General Strike is officially planned by the UAW for May 1st 2028, but it was planned before Trump was elected, and by then will be too late, so prepare now for one that may start sooner.
You can contact the IWW with the link below:
And for our international friends, you should join one as well, as fascism is gaining momentum globally. If your country isn’t listed below, just contact the IWW directly in the link above, and they’ll help you set up a new local branch.
Adopt Security Culture and Digital Camouflage 🛡️
Sometimes benign seeming efforts can turn into unexpected personal data collecting traps. Like an obscure website for exchanging contact info with other students turning into a global ad-tech surveillance network (Facebook), or innocent seeming online personality tests being use to harvest character profiles. Even Etsy, Reddit, Tinder, and Duolingo are feeding information to US Government Agencies like ICE.
Security culture is commonly used to describe the general awareness of such potential traps and how it can affect groups or entire communities. This goes beyond mere individual privacy efforts, as without joint efforts these often fail to work.
Especially in activist circles, security culture is paramount. For opsec reasons not everyone in the group might be aware of what clandestine efforts others are involved in, but with a general security culture many potential data leaks can be avoided.
Movements are made by the volume of their participants, and the easier and less dangerous it is to participate, the more people will get involved. As more people get involved, individual involvement becomes even less dangerous, creating a virtuous cycle.
We’ll start it off with some General Advice:
- Mentally wall off personal uniquely identifying info from your online presence, actively build a habit of opsec so that withholding information is your default mental state
- Be careful about who you meet online
- Use different, unrelated usernames, passwords & emails for every account. And try not to connect to those accounts with your real IP address (use Tor or a VPN)
- Be mindful that anything done online leaves a trail
- agents provocateurs may seek to find patsies willing to perform an ill-advised illegal activity in order to legitimize police repression. If someone is trying to pressure you, especially if you don’t have a long and proven history with them, be extremely wary.
For a full guide on what encrypted communications platforms to use, and how to stay off the radar, read the Digital Camouflage section within the Monthly Meta post here (you’ll need to scroll down. I’d add it here, but it won’t fit in this comment).
I’d also highly recommend Full Spectrum Resistance to anyone who wants further info on how to resist (audiobook version here).
