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.”
Fuck yes
I’ve said this before nokings 1, and nokings 2
If it’s just going to be protest parades, then don’t even bother, you’re wasting your time.
Let me be very clear: nokings 1 & 2 changed. nothing.
If you want to change things, protest for weeks, protest in from of the Whitehouse and don’t leave until the Cheeto is gone
“Letting the perfect get in the way of the good.”
Most people can’t stop working and/or travel to DC for endless protests, but they can go out on a Saturday afternoon.
If that’s the least someone can do, don’t tell them not to.
I live in a fairly rural area and I see about weekly if not maybe every 2 weeks (maybe im not passing through at right times every week) protests against ice / no kings. I’m not trying to say protests are useless, but it hasn’t made a difference YET. I do think the more people see how unhappy Americans are with the administration that helps reflect on how our country is perceived by others, as most Americans are unhappy with what’s going on. I do think it’s very important if your going to protest to go vote. No 8 don’t mean presidential and mid term, I mean all your local elections too. Most people don’t realize how much local changes actually can effect you more than federal ones, and if u get all the right people in local office I think that will “trickle up” and spread through higher offices. Vote at the booth, vote with your wallet, and don’t stop making noise when things need to be heard! Even if no policy change comes from a protest at least awareness was raised, and it’s better than sitting down and taking it. (This is being typed from my porcelain throne while I skip out on protests because I have a huge backlog of chores around the house so don’t listen to this hypocrite)
Protests are also useful to network and build organizations and skills.
Don’t listen to naysayers like this idiot