See, this is the big thing. When people protest in Paris, it's huge because, it's Paris. When people protest in Raleigh, NC, it's not even a blip. We're too big. Too comfortable. I'd love if the European answers were America's answers, but it's too easy to ignore the things you don't care about. Maybe the answer is to break up, break the union. Make the problems more local. I dunno.
Thatâs not it though. See, yeah, sure, itâs one thing to only protest in Raleigh, but itâs a completely different thing of people also keep protesting in other places. Youâre not too big. Thatâs a ridiculous statement in this context. Youâre simply not turning out enough anywhere.
When people protest in Marseille, Lille, Lyon, Frankfurt, Munich, Potsdam, Bremen, Hamburg, Halle, or Hanover itâs news, because they donât only protest in one of those places, but in all the places that are in the country.
Itâs not â10,000 people took to the streets in Bremen in protestâ, but itâs âlast week, 700,000 took to the streets in multiple German/French/Belgian/Italian/Polish etc. cities. They were protesting xyzâŚâ
Your size has nothing to do with it. Itâs good that folks protest in Raleigh. Itâs even better if itâs all over NC. Itâs even better when itâs across multiple states. If folks in Raleigh, Chicago, Seattle, NYC, Boston, Bismarck, New Braunfels, Houston, Phoenix etc⌠protest, itâs suddenly news. Youâve got to step up your game with that. And you donât need to concern yourself with the other cities. Focus on your own city. If youâre in Raleigh, hold protests once or twice a week. A big one on Saturday and a smaller one during the week with those who can come. Make posters, bring friends and family and tell each of them to also bring five people and so on. Itâs really not that hard. And just keep doing that. Show it on social media. Be active about it. Invite people to join randomly.
But do it.
The reason why nobody gives a shit about a protest in Raleigh right now is because the country can afford to ignore stuff that happens in just Raleigh. Keep doing that, and invite other cities to join in. But that doesnât happen if you donât do it. You canât wait for activists to protest for you. They wonât. Youâve got to do it yourself.
I understand your frustration and I agree that more should be done, but in my opinion there are 3 factors preventing mass protests. the main one of these is that americans are stuck in a loop of flat denial because the federal system means that what happens in washington rarely directly impacts people. anything that happens at the federal level can be mitigated by opposing state level infrastructure pretty easily so states who have much more left favoring governments can prevent their people from being harmed through litigation and legal disobedience. this prevents the majority of the likely protesters from feeling the pain immediately
2, people who dont pay attention to whats going on around them (1/3 of the country + also most of trumps base) will not be forced to break out of their conditioned trance until they see stuff that personally impacts them. they are fools without empathy who only interpret things through their own experiences or that or their family members
finally the democrats are not fighting. a lot of people say this is a mistake, but they're not fighting because 1. the sentiment after the election took the wind out of the party and its base's sails. we became disillusioned with our countrymen who betrayed us despite all of our warnings and all our fighting 2. a large percentage of the base and party as a whole is content with the country burning under terrible policies because we have told them 100s of times what would happen and they still didnt listen 3. the democrats have very little power as a minority goverment 4. they have no idea how to reach people who would willingly vote trump in. i hear a lot of complaints about dems not doing enough, but that fundamental question still remains: "how do you get through to someone so engrossed in propaganda that they will deny reality so much that you can barely even hold a conversation?" it is legitimately that bad
to put it succinctly, the protests are hopefully coming. when this destroys our economy and people start to feel it a few months from now, trump voters and anti political bystanders are in for a rude awakening. the democrats are just now getting out of the pity party and the republicans are about to pass insanely unpopular legislation to fund trumps gifts to the wealthy
our government does not work like european governments. there are many moving pieces which keep americans from being actively engaged in politics because the federal system has paralyzed our government and rendered it unable to respond to the wills of the people. if people want to bury their heads in the sand, our system stupidly allows it. they arent protesting because their lives are largely the same as 6 months ago. its exactly why we still have school shootings if some people die or get deported its so far away average voters simply do not care
finally i'd like to point out (as an example of what im talking about) that the most recent mass protests in 2020 against police injustice were largely successful. while leftists didnt get as far as they hoped, police reform has been adopted all around the country. why? because george floyd's death viscerally affected anyone watching it. even the most insane trump cultists could not deny the sheer brutality of watching a man die in the street like an animal at the hands of the police
i hope this provides a reasonable explanation of whats happening in our country. it sounds idiotic to even explain this like it was a valid excuse which it is not. this is just the way it works under the current system which is an embarrasment on the whole
The protests are so small that international news arenât showing it either. How come protests in fucking Russia, where domestic news donât report on them either, make international news and American protests donât? The answer is rather simple: American protests so far are a joke. And thatâs not a criticism of those who attend the protests so far. On the contrary, thatâs fucking fantastic. But it is a criticism of the millions who say they oppose this but donât protest.
German news are pretty good at covering relevant protests around the world. Protests in Iran, Russia, Turkey and Serbia make the news, those in the US donât. BLM did by the way, this isnât because itâs America. Itâs simply because so far the protests are irrelevant. You need to crank it up by multiple factors.
To be fair we are now being threatened with transportation to El Salvador of all places... Go figure the colonialism fetish would quietly bring that back. But disappointed, one always wanted to see the Australian zoo...
Yeah, so, when there was talk about deporting German citizens by the far-right in Germany over a million Germans took to the streets for weeks.
Just saying, whatâs he going to do, deport five million American citizens? Youâre only vulnerable when you donât stand together. But right now there are like 100,000 people who actually go out and protest and still 350,000,000 who arenât. And thatâs gotta change. Pronto.
Trying to get anyone out is a huge task, many are scared but even more are just going along. I live in a maga enclave, anyone who tries to speak out of pretty quickly
That's true, it's also like momentum... The emotions, hatred, etc just is more this time around. I like to think it's the peak of a wave that will ebb. But it's just so many to fight through after years and years of fighting already. I can see why people are disoriented, getting everything you've believed about your people and country is a hard pill to swallow. The never ending barrage of what the fuck, the insane spread of people buying into the cruelty. And we are only a few months into it... Pace yourself. I can barely muster a damned group for a bipartisan animal welfare project...
Not enough Americans are protesting it, otherwise Trump couldnât keep arresting those that are. The fact that Americans protesting and getting arrested for protesting doesnât spark massive outrage and even bigger protests is baffling.
You actively become involved and try to find out who organised the last protest. Help organise the next one. Youâve noticed thereâs an issue advertising the protest? Great. Advertise it yourself. Set up social media accounts for that purpose and advertise. Put up posters, hand out flyers⌠someone has to do it. If you wonât, nobody will.
As for the police breaking up the protestsâŚyou should try suing. Your freedom of assembly is protected under the first amendment. You have a constitutional right to assemble and voice your opinion. If your protest is broken up like that, sue the state. I have little faith in the American justice system, but I have enough faith to tell you that thereâs at least a solid chance that you win your suit. Take it to SCOTUS if necessary. This is a fundamental enough question to force them to actually talk about it. Let them state outright that opposition is illegal if thatâs what they wish to do, but force them to actually do it.
The goal is to make shit uncomfortable for them by whatever means necessary. This is your way of doing that. Be uncomfortable.
By taking to the streets, not doing your jobs, organising socially to make sure people can afford to protest and possibly lose their jobs (aka pool your money) and bringing the country grinding to a halt. The only way those in power will listen is if it costs them, and the only way itâll cost them is if you stop earning them money.
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u/crisspanda12 14d ago
Europe united against trump