No Kings 2 is being organized by a big tent of grassroots and advocacy organizations. One of the most prominent players is Indivisible, the activist group that sprang to life in the early days of the first Trump administration, and which now counts 2,500 distributed, local chapters nationwide.
Rolling Stone spoke to Indivisible co-founder Ezra Levin last week, in advance of No Kings 2 unveiling today. The protest is planned for Oct. 18 — in the aftermath of an unpredictable showdown over government funding that could lead to a partial government shutdown by the end of the month.
I expect No Kings 2 to be the largest protest of the year. We had 5 to 6 million people across 2,169 communities turn out for No Kings 1. It was wildly successful. People who might have been on the sidelines for No Kings 1 probably had some FOMO. And the good news is: We’re doing it again. We’re going to pull out even more people.
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?