Don’t get me wrong, it’s great seven million people hit the streets to show their concern that the USA is becoming fascist. But let’s be realistic: nobody in the GOP or in the presidential office gives a shit; they are just sitting it out, knowing full well: on Monday it’s back to work for the common Joe. We’ve seen similar big protests in London against brexit and in Germany against the far right: politicians don’t care, the effect was very limited. What do they care about? Mainly to get re-elected, so activate voters. Or actions that pull in the press: throwing rotten eggs at politicians, the Brits have had some success with that. Example France or Netherlands: a couple of trucks with horse manure emptied on the White House lawn or blocking the senate entrance with tractors. For the USA, the Boston tea party comes to mind; now thát was a No Kings protest.

  • Lembot_0004@discuss.online
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    4 days ago

    All revolutions start with protests. You can’t just start hanging politicians without previous protests. Protests help in assessing how many people are actually ready to do anything. It is the first step you can’t omit. The formula is simple: Protests -> Police deal with them with stupid cruelty -> revolution.

    • 🍉 Albert 🍉@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      the problem is that the US public will likely won’t to anything besides public protests which are treated as block parties.

      a single nationwide general strike will get rid of fascism.

      but they can’t because it’s “illegal”.

      • al_Kaholic@lemmynsfw.com
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        4 days ago

        If those block parties keep on going how long do you think before the country would grind to a halt? You could call it a general block party if you want.

        • chosensilence@pawb.social
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          4 days ago

          and how would they keep going, you gonna pay our bills? we have to stop and go to work and the fascists know that. they don’t have to worry, they just gotta wait us out.

            • chosensilence@pawb.social
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              3 days ago

              i agree, comrade. but i have to argue from the perspective of the common worker. they are paralyzed by fear of losing everything without a support system.

              we need to pool resources and make sure to take care of each other while we strike.

      • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
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        4 days ago

        a single nationwide general strike will get rid of fascism.

        You’re right.

        I wish we could get the majority of Americans to just shut their wallets for two weeks, maybe only buy local, but they never will.

            • 🍉 Albert 🍉@lemmy.world
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              3 days ago

              they are not even close.

              A boycott is not buying stuff, a few people boycotting wont change anything. and the only risk to the person doing it is that they might be slightly inconvenienced.

              A strike is different, you just refuse to work, putting yourself at risk of unemployment. if it is only one person, that means getting fired and blacklisted. you need everyone for a strike. it is high risk, must be done with all your peers, and it really fucking hurts the people you need to listen to you.

  • Rimu@piefed.social
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    4 days ago

    nobody in the GOP or in the presidential office gives a shit

    The protests are not only aimed at them. They’re an opportunity for us to see in person how many others there are like us, to feel our power and to get people who normally sit on the couch taking their first political actions.

    It’s a process of movement building.

  • DomeGuy@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    If the GOP didn’t give a shit, they would simply ignore the rallies. Not spend several weeks futilely trying to brand them as “hate America” rallies or posting diarrhea-bomber AI slop.

  • unmagical@lemmy.ml
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    4 days ago

    What do they care about? Mainly to get re-elected, so activate voters.

    50501 protests are filled with activated voters.

      • unmagical@lemmy.ml
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        4 days ago

        I don’t, nor am I optimistic. But there probably will still be elections, and I do think it’s worth engaging with them nonetheless.

        I was mostly pointing out that the demographic that tends to participate in 50501’s events is more inclined to be “voters” than “anti-electoralism” anarchists.

  • Paragone@piefed.social
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    3 days ago

    The fact that you’ve got sooo many downvotes proves that what you’re saying is intolerable to many…

    I think you’re fundamentally right, that the left is assuming that the right obeys group-pressure the same way that the left does and that is a bogus assumption.

    Social-assertion can’t derail the complete-national-highjacking that’s being carried out in the US.

    But the left can’t understand that: it’s unthinkable.

    As I’ve said before, elsewhere, effective pressure, would be using private-investigators to build evidence of authority-criminality, then hiring lawyers to prosecute ( because establishment NEVER allows accountability against itself: it’ll NEVER prosecute its own crimes ) the crimes that cases can be built solidly for.

    Not mass-social-assertion.

    Getting convictions would be the kind of pressure that would have had a chance at changing the outcome of this.

    Trump’s rule will result in destroyed Americas by the early 2030’s.

    So long as NOBODY ever gets to be important like him, then that’s his “high-score”, it’s “how he won”.

    There are 3 categories of game:

    • Postive-Sum game: win-win alliances
    • Zero-Sum game: competitive-narcissism
    • Negative-Sum game: competitive-nihilism.

    All the people who’re presuming that only the Zero-Sum game motivates everyone, are half of the problem: they’re incompetent at understanding the motivations of other players in our world’s game!

    As “John Braddock” stated, in the book “A Spy’s Guide to Strategy”, IF someone’s playing a negative-sum game, & destroying you AND them is the intent, AND you are presuming some other-category of motivation in them, THEN you’re incompetent in understanding or dealing-with them.

    You don’t understand their strategy, therefore you are incompetent in understanding your-own strategy’s actual options.

    Trump’s playing mixed zero-sum & negative-sum game: so long as nobody significant lives after him, then he won. The greater the destruction, the higher his score.

    The left can’t understand that, & therefore they keep playing by rules that are figments-of-their-own-imagination, and NOT actual.

    Which, of course, obliterates more & more & more of the remaining-opportunity, until it’s all gone, & mass-butchery’s being enforced.

    Status-quo doesn’t protect us from what they’re doing: it will fail, in a tipping-point, soon.

    _ /\ _

  • WallsToTheBalls@lemmynsfw.com
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    4 days ago

    Hmmm… maybe. Maybe not.

    This wave of protests is unique, because it’s drawing out thousands and thousands of people who have never been to protests before. It’s putting those people in touch with local organizations and organizers that are trying to push back- and that’s the most important first step

    Right now we are all in algorithmic silos designed to keep people separated and isolated. If you break through that and get people to show up, consistently, and maintain the momentum you can build an actual movement.

    In addition to that, it shows people they aren’t alone. It shows them there are people trying to push for change.

    It’s a hell of a lot better than bitching on the internet and doing nothing else.

  • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    Normally, I agree. It’s hard to look at the last 20 years and conclude that protesting accomplishes anything meaningful.

    In this case they do serve a purpose, which is to create widespread irrefutable evidence that sending the military to occupy US cities not only illegal, but wholly unnecessary.

    • chosensilence@pawb.social
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      4 days ago

      it isn’t cynicism it’s reality. we need to do more than protest. i hope we are all aware of that.

      • supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz
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        4 days ago

        What makes it cynical is when and how you are bringing up this point.

        I can’t remember the last time I met liberal protestors who showed up to a No Kings style rally with the vibe of “We did it! We can stop fighting now! Gosh that sure was easy to win wasn’t it?”. Pretty much everybody understands this is a long multi-layered battle at this point if they aren’t MAGA. There are many ways to fight and NOTHING about yesterdays No Kings protest sold the idea that those other methods aren’t necessary, you are the one projecting that aspect onto it.

        Like… who are you even aiming this at?

        • chosensilence@pawb.social
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          3 days ago

          i made one comment. i’m not the original commenter. nothing i said implied i thought those things. i simply want as many people as we can to realize it.

          we need to address the pessimism and not shut it down. it is valid. there is a tremendous amount of work to be done and some of it is very dirty. coordination is a barrier.