this post was submitted on 09 Sep 2025
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Saturday, Oct. 18th - No Kings 2- Unveils a Big New Trump Protest, and the Stakes Couldn't Be Higher
(www.rollingstone.com)
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Peaceful protests are the way we got nearly all the liberties they are taking from us. Yawning is the way we're losing them.
Examples?
Most people dont realize almost every peaceful protest that got us where we are today was also backed up by lots of violence.
There's a lot that cannot be quantified directly from bringing visibility to an issue. I'm not arguing against other tactics just that peaceful protests are not useless. The Trump administration wants a violent reaction to jumpstart everything on their list through martial law.
Sure, but then what? Visibility has already been brought, so tactics whose selling point is bringing visibility have clearly outlived their usefulness.
As opposed to what, exactly? To be clear the stuff Gandhi or MLK were doing would be enough of an excuse for Trump to impose martial law if done today. Effective resistance will beget violent repression by virtue of its effectiveness.
Not just visibility. The confidence that comes from solidarity. From infusing the passion of others in yourself. Watching the courage of the ones before is the kind of thing that inspired the leaders we have today. Not even just the passive ones.
To your second comment, how can a campaign to clean up so-called "violence in cities" continue to produce effective propaganda without the clips of violence or looting or property damage? Do you think the National Guard picking up trash in DC for nothing better to do or guardspeople sleeping on floors is effective?
The thing is, if there were outlets to report the people fighting back, throwing bricks against unprovoked police attacks, there would be a lot more to gain from violence. Unfortunately, there's virtually no outlet at this point that wouldn't write the narrative from Trump's lips in the case of violence against military/police regardless if it was warranted.
Sure. Still, then what?
In no particular order: use image from past protests, overblow isolated incidents, lie without evidence and use false flag operations.
Not that I'm convinced (in the worst cade scenario, social media is always available), but let's accept this narrative for a second. Then what? What do you believe should be done about it? What's your victory plan?
MLK March on Washington - civil rights legislation
Montgomery bus boycott - desegregation
Women's suffrage - equal rights to political participation
Delano Grape boycott - ending many exploits and abused of farm workers and new unions
Singing Revolution - helped lead some Baltic states out of USSR
Salt March - helped lead to Indian independence from Britain
Let's go through this one by one.
What about the rest of the civil rights movement? The struggle for civil rights involved dozens if not hundreds of groups both peaceful and violent, and all of them contributed to the eventual success/"success" of the movement. Also I should note that desegregation was gained via a court case, not (just) protest. For one prominent instance of violence in the civil rights movement, see: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_assassination_riots
Women's suffrage in America was for the most part peaceful, but it was also not something the elites had any reason to oppose. This is an apples to oranges comparison. In Britain, where the elites were more intent on resisting women's suffrage, things got pretty gnarly.
Ths Delano Grape Strike (not boycott) is not relevant due to the government not being involved one way or the other. Also note that the reason the strike remained mostly peaceful was because the (very much violent) labor rights movement had given them the right to not be shot by private militias. The violence necessary for the strike to succeed had simply been outsourced to the past.
Weren't we talking about American liberties here?
See above, but also the Indian independence movement was kickstarted by a violent uprising.
So "most" was incorrect on my part. Litigation and legislation play big parts. I'm not ignoring that physically fighting back has played its part. My point was to not to throw peaceful protests under the bus.
The Delano Grape Strike is perfectly relevant. Who cares if it's against a brutal government or a brutal corporation?
I'm not; I'm throwing peaceful parades under the bus. Effective peaceful protests need to disrupt authoritarianism and directly challenge the regime's authority. I won't deny the effectiveness of tactics such as those used by Gandhi or MLK, but I see none of that happening in America.
One is able to use near-unfettered violence to achieve its aims while the other can't; that's a big difference. Also you can boycott one but not the other (unless you're willing to back up your boycott using violence, due to the prior point).
Yes. And it’s the way we lost them again. The same tired tactics don’t work. We cannot just do the same thing we always did and expect it to work out fine. Look around Not a single protest has done anything to change anything or even suggest the changing of anything in the last six months. And if it , the Supreme Court shot it down.
Every single thing we get back we are going to lose again the moment the Supreme Court gets Hold of it
You're not wrong but that's all that most people can(will) do. 10 million is an enormous outpouring.
The game has changed since the large media outlets are on the take hiding our efforts. That doesn't mean we can't change tactics too but it's not like the peaceful protesters of the past didn't have the cards stacked against them too. If you have the courage and wits to lead in more effective ways of fighting I support you.