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I was actually a big organizer in my community last year and had to step away because my wife and I were getting doxxed from MAGA idiots, but I agree with the first comment.
At least in my city, no planning other then planning the next protest is all they do. People ask to help and really they just want to help very little so they feel useful. Which usually is “I can buy more poster boards next time for others” and “I’ll help set up the sign up sheets for next protest.”
I tried organizing strikes but people wouldn’t show up if it wasn’t convenient for them. Most people want it to go back to how it was, few want it to completely change. I’m going to partake in the national strike, but fuck the No Kings protest. It’s become a festival for those wanting to not be unconvinced with real civil disobedience.
Note that the person criticising the original is also not active in organising a general strike. It is permissable to hold opinions without being obliged to act on them.
Yes. But the moment you release your opinion out on the wild, we’re allowed to ridicule you for them.
Of course you can. I’m just saying that the criticism is stupid in this case. I mean, I think that fusion power would be a good thing, but fuck me for not working 24 hours a day on a PhD in nuclear physics.
But that’s more like having people talk about how we should do nuclear and renewable power, and you coming along complaining people should be working on developing fusion power instead because fission power just won’t do anything
Not it isn’t.
Arguing that fission power won’t do anything is objectively incorrect.
Arguing that a general strike would be more effective than weekend rallies alone is objectively correct.
Your analogy is not analagous.
Beyond that, arguing against doing something is not the same as arguing for doing something else, in addition to /or/ instead of the original something.
Arguing that fission power won’t do anything is objectively incorrect.
That’s an opinion, regardless of whether it’s true or not. The analogy is analogous because I’m taking the same actions and statements, applying them to analogous topics in a different field. Dismissing that because you believe your beliefs to be objective fact is just dishonest.
… Fission power works.
It generates energy.
This is objectively true.
That is not nothing.
If you were being hyperbolic, well then your analogy is not analagous because one end of it is hyperbolic.
Saying marches change nothing is hyperbolic as well.
That is true, however this is not about the acting, it’s about hypocrisy in the traditional sense. OC is essentially saying “we have the same goal and I set an easier plan and I’m currently following it, while you are criticizing my plan, making up a way harder one, saying I should follow that one while not following either mine or your plan at all.”
It’s like when you are working in a supermarket, restocking the shelves and your coworker is just sitting on a chair watching you, and after a while he says “this is useless, you should rather do some cashier work, people are waiting” while eating candy.
Yeah sure he might be technically right, but this is extremely out of line.
Why should I listen to you? You’re not actively involved in organizing a general strike either.
You’ve opened this Pandora’s Box my friend there’s no closing it again now. It’s not being actively involved in organizing a general strike all the way down.
Yeah if you’re not actively involved in organizing a general strike you don’t get my vote. And since there are not any candidates meeting that criteria, I’m staying home on Election Day.
Don’t believe me? There’s 10 of millions of US citizens who will be doing the same thing!
Checkmate /s
Yea I’m really bad at organizing but I damn well know it has to be done by someone with the skill to do it.
I disagree about it being permissable. If anything it makes you a hypocrite and undermines the appearance of intelligence and empathy, alike. The complaint is also misguided and simply wrong. Saying nothing will change is absurd. Things are already changing. These rallies raise awareness for everyone. You can’t have a general strike until you get everyone to agree to it.
Could be a person not living in the USA, Max.
Us foreigners also have opinions on what’s happening in the US, because it affects us too, but we have no way to affect change in the US, other than our boycotts.
IDK Russia did a good job swaying the US public opinion and spreading propaganda.
I was gonna say I bet a lot of the accounts complaining about these protests are Russian bots
you guys simply cannot take criticism can you
American exceptionalism. They are the best country ever! Therefore, the way they are doing things is the best way it could possibly done, nothing could possibly be done differently, and anyone saying anything to the contrary must be foreign agents trying to undermine the best country ever!
Remember, if your organization is big enough to organize a general strike, the feds are there and watching. Watch your back
recall that the FBI infiltrated the civil rights movement and more even before we had a police state empowered by the Patriot Act surveillance and AI data collection.
I have zero proof, but I suspect that they are actively disrupting all attempts at organization. This is based on the history of CIA and FBI; we never know what they are doing currently, we only know a tiny bit of what they have done in the past.
Maybe I’m paranoid.
Paranoid has proven to be downright reasonable
What was that one phrase again? Something like “there are two kinds of conspiracy theories: antisemitic woo and declassified CIA documents”
Evidence is there that they are doing that, at the very least the consistent effort to not only divide but also demoralize through deliberate propaganda. It’s why you see so many people on Reddit, Lemmy, or any other social media being downright pessimistic about what protests can accomplish or build into. They’ve already lost to the propaganda, so what’s going on now immediately gets written off by them as futile. They are exactly where these orgs want them to be: at home, isolated, writing dumb little comments on the internet that only serve to pull the crabs back down into the bucket. That kind of stuff is infectious to others and makes people opt to view organizing as ineffectual.
No you’re not paranoid. However, the point of surveillance is not to repress, but to make us afraid to act (panopticon and stuff). Not everything could be done through organization; but not system shift could be done without. A strong solidarity network is something that could people to act by other mean, help them to get inform on industries by people being exploited by those industries. And of course building international solidarity.
Depending of your country or your affinities, you could even join an union under a pseudonyme
One of the organizers of Standing Rock was framed and turned in by their partner of like 3± years, iirc. The fbi offered them ~$2000 and so they planted a gun in their partners belongings before a camp raid.
Remember kids, anyone can become a tool of the state if put in the right position
- People every time a post about protests is made: “This will accomplish nothing.”
- Those same people when asked what they’re personally doing since they talk like they know what will and won’t work: “Also nothing.”
- (Bonus points for the ones who say violent uprisings are needed, but are not violently rising up themselves. Double bonus for “well I don’t live in the US.”)
Protests aren’t the solution on their own, they’re a step in the process of people getting to the point of doing something about the situation they’ve found themselves in. You can’t fix a problem if you don’t first acknowledge and accept that it’s a problem. Stop crapping on people for protesting. Instead, encourage them to use that energy to take things further. And if you know so much about what will actually work and are going out of your way to tell people what they’re doing isn’t going to work, maybe you should be doing the thing you claim will work so you can lead by example instead of armchair directing.
A term I’ve been using is ‘activation’. people who are in the early stages of activation attend protests - more often attendance is more activation. This eventually evolves into active participation in support networks, vigilante counteraction, or legal resistance like journalism and similar activities.
Protest attendance is the start of most individuals’ activation, and we can’t knock that starting place if we want greater numbers participating in the counteraction apparatus going forward.
Yeh the other step is actual violence. Not condoning or promoting it.
Just saying that has to be the next follow up if they’re not listening to he protests.
The No Kings Marches are just a prelude. Imagine all those millions of people participation in the upcoming general strike . Then imagine those millions turning to violence. Imagine them armed.
Just a suggestion, but becoming armed before becoming violent might be a better order of progression.
LOL what country do you think this is? “Becoming armed”? Bro this is America.
except the ones who have traditionally fought against the right to bear arms is the same people protesting. they need to be armed, and they need to protest with their arms, same reason a government will parade with their weapons
Bro this is America
yes, and my point still stands
You didn’t get the reference. I don’t think you picked up what I was putting down.
oh, the music video. that’s a whole ball of critique against the american system, and gun culture. but it still is what it is
Lol, good point, but I was speaking more in a general sense, not just this country.
That might be the more logical progression, but logic rarely comes into play in these things.
In fact, being armed before it’s time for violence is often a bad thing.
But when it is time, anything at hand can be a weapon.
Paris housewives once marched on Versailles and decapitated several guards with kitchen knives after they opened fire on the crowd.
You can make nearly anything into a weapon or a musical instrument. Remember that, and you’ll always be safe, and entertained.
A primary exception is the marshmallow. Pretty much useless for either.
Someone’s never forced 20 marshmallows down someone’s throat and it shows
You don’t know me.
you know, the americans are always going on about their 2A rights, but i don’t see them overthrowing tyranny when it’s present.
The first comment / response or whatever that I read in there does a better job of expressing my opinion on this than I ever could.
“It’s building the muscle. You have to get someone to show up one day before you can get them to show up often, or every day, or for the long haul.”
Really the same goes for so many of the organizations running the events. They’re local orgs, local people with different levels of experience (mostly very little) with organizing at this scale. It takes practice and time to get good at these things. It takes time to find volunteers and train them.
Contrary to what some of the comments implied, most of these events aren’t planned/operated by paid professionals, not that paying for professional help is inherently a bad thing anyway. There’s top-level guidance and coordination, that kind of stuff generally requires dedicated teams (aka paid employees) due to the time and skill requirements for those roles. But on the local level, it’s volunteers all around. And the real planning, the hard work, is virtually all done locally by those volunteers.
i don’t agree at all. the reason is that the people who go to these will argue that they are making a difference and fight against what comes next.
these are not even having the police interfere so you know no one cares at all. school children have a walk out criticizing israel? police show up with chemical weapons and shoots people point blank with less the lethal rounds. go to a no kings and police is directing traffic.
no these protests are a distraction to make people think that nothing more has to be done, and they did their part.
and then on tv the largest mass protest in history is a foot note to trumps birthday party. so no.
Your wallet is your strongest voice in the eyes of this administration. Think carefully about where you spend your hard earned money.
A single day of avoiding Walmart and Amazon is not meaningful if you give them your money tomorrow. Find local businesses that deserve your money and spend your money with them instead.
Buy less and buy better quality items that last longer. Reduce consumerism and give homemade gifts or experiences instead of more junk nobody needs. Use lending libraries, swap groups, and other methods to reduce your contribution to the economy, which is frankly the only thing the American government really is interested in.
And hats off to the person who successfully organizes a general strike. I’m cheering you on from Canada.
I remember how fast Jimmy Kimmel was back in the air once people starting attacking the bottom line. The biggest thing a capitalist society and its oligarchs fear is the threat to its money.
This is a pretty valid thing to say in the US.
Too many people think that just protesting is enough for any change they want to be effected. We don’t get taught about things like labor struggles.
I’m not going to be first in line to start doing something that actually fucking matters, but you bet your ass I’ll be third.
protests and direct action present an opportunity for everyone to go at once. it’s just up to you guys to take it.
Oh yeah, lets argue amongst ourselves. That always works.
This person could be French. They know how to bring the state to heel, and they share their experiences for those clearly in need of learning Americans. But they have to leave organizing to the people who are actually involved.
I don’t know why people have this illusion surrounding French people when they’re actively electing fascists and calling antifa a violent group of terrorists, while having their government give a minute of silence for the death of an actual nazi (like, actually posting on twitter that he loves Hitler -kind of nazi)
French people know nothing, they stopped understanding protests and revolts after Napoleon started shooting civilians with cannons and have been licking the boots of dictators since then. It’s no wonder that a bunch of them collaborated with the nazis back in ww2, and it’s no wonder they’re collaborating with the new nazis now.
I agree people (Americans?) are idealizing the french in this regard. But you’re yourself misinformed.
Napoleon did shoot royalists with cannons in 1795, when he wasn’t yet in power. It didn’t stop the 1830 or 1848 revolutions happening, nor the 1871 commune. More recently the 1968 protests were accompanied by a general strike which did scare the hell of many people.
What we need is a pragmatic and informed assessments of events so that we can decide what might work and what won’t. National stereotypes and prejudices should be discarded.
French people get taught in schools that (pseudo-) dictators like Louis XIV, Napoleon and De Gaulle, are the best kind of leaders and that France would be nothing without them. The president of France himself implied very strongly that he believes France needs a dictator, and he got reelected after that.
Clearly, protests that happened after the French revolution were not enough to do any meaningful change in the long run, as proven by the state of France now. Most people see protests as a nuisance, violent protests as terrorism, and antifascism as a hate crime. This antidemocratic wave got heavily promoted by Napoleon and De Gaulle, and the fact that these two are seen as heroes in France shows the perception that French people have.
There’s a reason why protests like the recent ones against Macron basically did nothing, despite being amongst the biggest protests of the past decades: most of the population is hostile to protests and revolts, and supports the idea of a fascist government
You clearly don’t understand anything about French politics, and these overgeneralizations you’re making don’t prove otherwise.
The French government is currently divided three ways, with no coalition able to achieve a governing majority. They’ve been in a stalemate since their last election. That’s why they’re not able to get anything done, for better or for worse.
Attempting to characterize the entire French government and the entire French people as one thing is extremely ignorant. There’s plenty of dissent in France, and plenty of discontent.
Every country glazes its own image in schools. That doesn’t mean everyone in the country falls for the brainwashing.
Also, De Gaulle led the French resistance, helped the Allies kick the Nazis out of France, and led France during the period of denazification after the war. What part of that makes him a dictator, in your eyes?
What are you even talking about?
Macron has been doing whatever he wanted for the past years. He’s changed completely the political norm of France, brought the vision if the left from a normal party, to the evil antisemitic violent terrorist party, while normalising the far right so much that now most right-wing parties all blend together and say the same fascist crap.
France has, since Macron, been “dropping out of democracy”, according to the international federation for human rights. That’s not just a little stalemate here.
The fucking government gave a *minute of silence for a nazi terrorist that died after attacking people, while being watched by cops who saw them initiate the attack and intentionally did nothing. What more do you want? You’re waiting for them to do like in the US and have the government do nazi salutes?
De Gaulle ran away from the war to hide, took advantage of the french resistance, sabotaged resistance operations led by the communist resistance because he hated communists, loved colonies, and changed the whole government system to make it give more power to the president. He ignored the population, lied to them without giving a shit, encouraged violence in algeria, and the only actual good thing that he did (preventing the US and UK from stealing and invading France) was out of pride, and doesn’t compensate for anything else. But history is indeed written by the winners.
The French people brought down three monarchies after Napoleon fired those cannons.
Yes, and that didn’t revive democracy. Or prevent king macron
Sure, we’ll all voluntarily surrender our paychecks, and starve. I’m sure MAGA will show empathy, and totally change their attitude, and won’t just point and laugh at us as we starve, and scabs do our jobs for us.
I’d rather shut down the MAGA government for an extended period, deny them THEIR money, and hurt THEM. So the airports are out of control, who care? Almost everybody inconvenienced in an airport is upper middle class at the least. Most of them have money, and disproportionately vote MAGA.
So I’m sorry about the workers who get screwed, but I’m extremely happy to see people with money whining about missing their time on the slopes, or that big merger meeting that will unemploy thousands, or that AI training that will unemploy thousands, etc. Fuck them, make them wait for hours, as they ponder how voting MAGA has improved their lives.
If striking for 1 day means starving, then you got one more good reason for a general strike.
Best regards from Europe
LOL, are you serious? A one day strike in America wouldn’t change a single thing. Everybody would just get docked a day’s pay. Or fired.
Europeans have no choice but to strike, but in America, we can literally shut down the government for as long as we can force our elected representatives to comply.
Why should we hurt ourselves, when we can hurt them?
And when do you plan to “hurt them”?
“No king protests” are covered by the media here today… A government shutdown isn’t.
The only government shutdowns I remember from the USA are the ones where a million people got no payments for a few weeks (and didn’t starve?). Most of them were probably not ultra rich.
Who cares what gets covered in the European media? Of course they are going to cover No Kings, its a big story, and it resembles the kinds of protests they have in Europe. It’s relatable, and European news is no different from American news - they just want eyeballs.
But in America, No Kings gets one mention on the evening news, and that’s it. But a Government Shutdown is the FIRST story on EVERY American newscast, EVERY day, morning, noon, and night. THAT’S what gets attention in America, and America is where we are fighting the battle.
How do you figure that MAGA is going to respond positively to a self-inflicted wound? You are GREATLY underestimating how Sociopathic MAGA is as a fundamental characteristic. They will only respond when THEY feel the pain.
Who cares what gets covered in the European media?
I’m just telling you, because ->I<- am from Europe and because ->I<- have not heard about any government shutdown plans, only about the “No king” stuff… I can only tell you about what I observe. I don’t watch American media. I thought, that was obvious.
You are GREATLY underestimating how Sociopathic MAGA is as a fundamental characteristic. They will only respond when THEY feel the pain.
We have far right AfD here… One of them was recorded saying that it’s good good that our country is doing bad in the short run, so they can take power in the long run. We are all living through the idiotic revolution and it’s unfortunately an international thing.
Exactly my point. You are telling us to do something, because your media isn’t telling you that we ARE doing something, it’s just something that Europeans have no experience with. So your media shows it from your perspective, and you think we’re doing nothing.
I’m trying to explain to you, and the many, many other Europeans calling us stupid for not having a General Strike without understanding that 1) It won’t work in America, and 2) We are already doing something that is unique to America, and is a past proven winner in getting the government to respond.
many other Europeans calling us stupid
I’m not calling you stupid btw. I’m calling those stupid who vote against their interests without realizing it.
something that Europeans have no experience with
I think, the the newspapers in Europa are capable to understand basic US politics without having to experience that MAGA shitshow themselves and without having the same laws.
Anyways… Good luck stopping the orange manic, however you do it!
But… who watches the news really. Not the worker who is working multiple jobs to pay the bills. And really, how does the gov shutdown hurt them. They have ensured that the things they most care about aren’t affected. Like air force one isn’t affected. All the upper level government officials are on private or government owned jets and by passing normal security. After this shut down, they will probably add tsa to the always gets paid anyway list.
I haven’t figured out if a general strike would really bother them either. After it was done, they could probably have layoffs “because of the economic impact of the strike” and get rid of people they felt were organizers. Plus people who are old or cost too much and all that. And of course a general strike would be nearly impossible to make happen. There are of course laws against union leadership backing such a thing. So they have taken the most likely organizers out of the process.
Seems a no win scenario.
But… who watches the news really
One of the dumbest statements ever. TV media runs news programs every morning, noon, and night. Entire stations are devoted to it, as are many websites, radio stations, publications, books, etc. clearly, a LOT of people are following the news. If that’s your opening premise, you’ve already lost the debate.
You should probably check you facts before spewing how dumb a statement is. https://www.thecurrent.com/tv-networks-historic-ratings-drops-nielsen-big-data-panel-vab-reports
People get thier news from facebook, x, instagram, reddit… TV media is dieing. The big players will survive a while longer. But mainly because old people aren’t ready for the internet. And the same old people are gullible.
When you’re willing to start hurting them, let us know- I don’t see any sign that any Americans are willing to do what is necessary.
I was thinking about the airport stuff. Even that isn’t what it may seem. For the upper middle class it is an inconvenience. But those below that who either fly for work, or to see family when they can afford it, it is much more than an inconvenience. So even that hits the “worker” harder.
C’mon, it doesn’t hit the average worker NEARLY as much as those with money, that’s just common sense. It widely disproportionately hurts the middle rich. The truly wealthy have their own planes. It’s the UPPER MANAGEMENT Class that gets hit, the bosses and C-Suite Sociopaths. Fuck them, let them stand in line at the airport while the rest of us relax at home. We’ll either drive, or contact the other relatives by Facetime. That’s what we all usually do, anyway.
This isn’t the year for a visit. Don’t like missing your grandchildren, Grandma? Maybe you should stop voting MAGA.
I meant more like to any specific individual. Not the group as a whole. The upper middle class person is just inconvinced. Someone of lesser means may not make it to see a dieing relative or what not.
Of course there will be the inconvenienced regular person, but airport inconvenience will hit higher income people to a far more disproportionate rate than the average person.
With any problem, even the best case scenario solution isn’t going to please everybody, and that’s too bad. The best way to handle that is to anticipate it, and be ready with a plan for those who are inconvenienced by the new solution. The worst thing to do is to abandon a good solution that helps the vast majority, because a few have an issue with it.
I’m just saying the impact of inconvenience to 1000 people is about the same as the bigger impact people with less means feel of 100 people. So the total numbers can be skewed and still impact the rich less. I am not saying that is happening, just that it isn’t cut and dry.
Just pointing out, a general strike is not only self-inflicted. Per day it would cost the government far more than what a government shutdown does. We’re talking about a factor of 70.
A government shutdown costs are an estimated 500 millions a day.
If we only shave of half of the daily GDP due to a general strike, we are talking about 38 billion.
You are right in saying it would hurt you as well, but a general strike is a lot more effective.
Edit: Btw, Americans daily shopping contributes only about a third of daily gdp.
That number is ridiculous on the face of it. Perhaps the POTENTIAL is there, but the reality is that when people don’t shop for a day, they just buy what they need the day before or after, so that number isn’t real.
As for workplace impact, there’s a bit, but just like shopping, whatever work needs to be done will be done after or before, and if you don’t, you’ll be fired. American workers have literally no job security protections. After a one day general strike, many Americans would find that they are the victims of a permanent Employer Strike. That’s something that European workers simply don’t understand. You won’t get fired for a strike, but we DEFINITELY will. Many, many employers will fire EVERY worker who doesn’t show up on strike day.
And this isn’t all about the MONEY anyway, that’s a particularly Capitalistic perspective. The current shutdown, which isn’t even a full shutdown, is making them crazy, all day, every day. They are constantly asked about it by journalists, it is on every single news broadcast, and it clearly focuses the entire nation, and more importantly, the MAGA Government, on the problem. This shutdown isn’t about money, it’s about morality, and MAGA has a very difficult time defending themselves on the morality front.
We can agree to disagree. Just pointing out the facts.
You are not agreeing to disagree.
You are calling them a liar.
I wouldn’t say they’re calling me a liar, and they’re not even wrong, it’s just that the employment environment in Europe that makes General Strikes successful is far different than in America. They generally can’t be fired for any reason at all. Unions are common, and powerful, even in lower level jobs like retail, and even the governments are worker friendly.
That’s the exact opposite where any worker can be fired literally on a whim. Your boss hates your socks that day? After 20 years of loyal work, you’re fired, get out. Seriously, that’s totally legal.
OTOH, Europeans don’t have a mechanism where they can literally shut down the government they hate. We do, and it works every time (if our elected representives have have a backbone).
What works over there, doesn’t work here, and vice-versa. Criticizing Americans for not doing a General Strike is just as dumb as criticizing Europeans for not doing a Government Shutdown. We’re going to use the tools that work in our specific Political-Economic Environments. Doesn’t that make sense?
Thanks. At the end of the day I’m on your side and want the same thing, which is not having fascists at the helm of the United States. If that goal is achieved in a different way than I (or Europeans) would have done, that’s okey.
Good luck and fortitude in your fight for democracy.
Thanks, we’ll be okay eventually. We were raised on fables about Revolution against the most powerful military in the world. We don’t tolerate tyranny in America. MAGA will never win. When it finally blows, it’s gonna blow BIG.
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I’m not. Just disagreeing with their take. Calm down.
Calm down? We’re gunna circle back around to that.
But in what world is half of a percent of 500m a day equal to 38 billion? So not only are you incorrect in your turn of phrases, but you also don’t understand math.
And I was calm, just pointing out that the phrase you used was incorrect. You so casually dropping that phrase is pretty fucking misogynistic, it really reads like a guy talking down to a woman. You should really work on that about yourself.
Edit: you down voting this means it affected you in some way. I hope you reflect on that fact.
A government shutdown costs are an estimated 500 millions a day.
If we only shave of half of the daily GDP due to a general strike, we are talking about 38 billion.
You misread. Those numbers are not connected. Daily gdp of the United States is roughly 77 billion. Half of that is 38 billion.
we’ve seen no kings 1 & 2 change diddly squat, so obviously we’ll do the same thing a third time with the high hopes that nothing will change too!
Guy that is attending the useless no kings protest
You want actual change? Look at Europe on how to protest. I’m sorry for you Americans, but you got yourself in this, you gotta dig yourself out. Trump will NOT care about the o kings protest, and it’ll fade from the news within two days tops. It. Is. Not. Enough.
Protest 24/7 for months on end until the fucker is gone
Have strikes everywhere, indeed, because that it the only way you’ll get his attention and get this administration to understand that it’s over
It’s very easy to say but you need to understand there are no labor protections in the US. Any protest during work hours result in termination.
Then get fired, all of you.
A company can’t fire all their employees, just go all protest
They only have to fire a few and the rest will fall in line quickly. This is why retail workers don’t have unions.
Everyone is stuck in the consumer/labor loop. One missed check is all it takes to send you to the poverty hole. Even more challenging if you have kids.
I support general strike. But I understand why people aren’t ready to do it yet. Until starving is less scary than the alternative, it’s going to be hard for them to risk that.
also known as striking.
Yes, let’s look at Europe.
The USA is comparable to all of the EU in size, much larger than France, UK, Germany, etc. combined.
Has all of the EU ever been able to organize? France is smaller than California, one US state out of 50.
I’m sorry for you Europeans, but why do you keep supporting and enabling the USA? You continue to finance the very war machine that oppresses you (and us). Stop buying US products and stop using the US Dollar for international trade.
Go on strike yourselves and boycott, you are the experts eh? But you won’t bother, you will continue to provide our government with billions while saying “pity that”… and then complain when the USAs boot is on your neck.
Re people from the USA… MLK and peace only did so much. We need less peaceful MLK protest and more Black Panthers-style protesting. Peaceful protests are worthless alone
Has all of the EU ever been able to organize? France is smaller than California, one US state out of 50.
No, but you can’t compare the EU to the US that way. We’re not EU citizens in our minds. We’re French, Germans, Polish etc. There’s very few cases where we have such a need to protest together. We don’t view ourselves as the EU people (most of us at least). And yes there were protests here today too.
And yeah the French basically invented protesting. Hardly a day goes by that some union isn’t on strike there :) They invented the yellow vests too.
Go on strike yourselves and boycott, you are the experts eh?
If you’re talking about the French then yes I would consider them the experts for sure 🤭
Stop buying US products and stop using the US Dollar for international trade.
This is in fact exactly what is happening here. It’s a slow start but big ships need time to turn. Once they’re turned however the momentum is great. There’s lots of websites with recommendations for EU alternatives, and lots of people and businesses are making plans. It’s a growing movement.
Stop buying US products (and using US services, I presume)
That’s… why I’m here (on Lemmy instead of Reddit), using Tutanota instead of Gmail, Vivaldi instead of Edge/Chrome, Linux instead of Windows…
But I understand your sentiment, and acknowledge I am not doing as much as I could.
A better point might be that we might have better labor organizations and protections in place that we at least partially take for granted, that need to be built, fought for, or their lack compensated for before Europe-style movements are viable.
And what better place to meet people near you who might be interested in organising and willing to put at least some time into it than the local Fuck This Government convention?
It’s not even about how you protest, it’s about what you use protests for. You can have the best protest ever, longest strike imaginable, whatever. If you don’t have the organisation to have coherent changes and then act upon them, nothing matters. No kings, huh? What if by a stroke of magic, Trump gets scared of your rally and tries to appease the public or whatever. What’s the terms? No kings. Well, he’s not a king, he’s the president. Problem solved, continue as you were.
