Well, that's just not true.
The most famous protest in US history was peaceful and effective.
I just don't think these tiny protests with people waving snarky signs are doing much at the moment.
Activism and protesting need to be strategic and organized. If you can only convince 20 people to stand outside a Tesla dealership, that probably won't do much.
If you get 250,000, that is another story.
Smaller peaceful protests can work if you do them right. Like say, filling the lobby of Trump Tower.
I think activism requires action from many vectors. Sometimes that does require civil disobedience. Vandalizing Teslas seems to be scaring people into selling them or just not buying them.
And the boycotts in Europe are plunging the stock. If Elon loses the company, that would be huge. Apparently he used his Tesla stock as collateral to buy Twitter.
But the Left's biggest issue right now is lack of organization. We are so splintered. We are riddled with infighting. And it doesn't help that Democratic leadership is... uninspiring.
I really hope we can get our shit together soon. I think AOC and Bernie and Tim Walz doing town halls in red districts is a good start. The Republican leadership has directed reps to avoid speaking to the people.
Numbers work. I think they work better than anything. Authorities are scared of numbers which helps with the peaceful part. And if shit goes down, the authorities end up looking bad. When police arrested 60,000 people during Gandhi's Salt March, it was a real bad look. Because it was just a bunch of people walking and making their own salt.
I think activism needs to make our leaders fear the populace. But we also have to win hearts and minds. And sometimes those goals can be conflicting or we forget about one over the other.
There were ~90,000,000 people that did not vote in the presidential election. If we could reach them and win the House back, that could really limit the damage.
So we need to not just fuck shit up.
We need to win hearts and minds. Make some motherfucking salt.
If it were me in charge, I'd start organizing mass acts of compassion.
Set up food drives in places where egg prices are highest. Give out some free eggs.
Set up a job fair in places that have mass government job losses. Find small local businesses that are hiring. Have clothing donations for job interviews and people to help write resumes.
Set up free mobile health clinics in deep red places that are about to lose Medicaid. Free check ups for kids and veterans and anyone else. And some vaccines to piss off RFK Jr.
If we organize and help the people who Trump is hurting, we can win those hearts and minds.
Don't give up on peaceful action as a tool. If done right, it can be more powerful than anything else.
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