Why sustained protest is needed to build towards later wider mass action

[Bernardo de La Paz]

This video has an excellent explanation. Mass action started in April and must be sustained and built so that when a general strike is organized it will work and the resistance will be so large and so general that it will overwhelm.

Studies have shown that all it takes is 3.5% committed and active part of the population participating in non-violent resistance.

That is good trouble. My heart goes out to those who are prepared to resist.

to member ihaveaquestion: https://www.democraticunderground.com/132271913

[usonian]

1. K&R

We can encourage people in the right places to do the right thing when "asked" to do the wrong thing.

That's very important and powerful, in my opinion.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

2. This is true. My husband and my sister and I have been to a few protests so far.

It was heartening to see that people were willing to come out and join in. However, each time we were frustrated that the groups were not much larger. We need to take a lesson from Europeans who get out in huge numbers.

I'll bet only a small percentage of DUers will attend a protest today or this evening. A post encouraging participation should be at the top of the DU's greatest right now. I don't think there's one anywhere in the greatest list. I know not everyone can get out for various reasons, but I'm sure many more could if they realize how important it is to get out there with like-minded people opposing the destruction of our democracy. I have been off DU due to another death in the family that is taking a lot attention.

I'll never understand how so little response was seen in the streets right after the ludicrous Immunity Decision was handed down by the Extreme Court of the United States. We live out in the boondocks, but if we'd been in a city, we'd've gone out hoping to find like-minded people making their displeasure known. Even if we'd heard of anything taking place, we'd have driven there to join in.

We even got a message from a friend who is a Dem who warned us that it was a bad idea to protest because it might piss off The Felon in Chief. We pointed him to Timothy Snyder's advice about how to prevent a fascist takeover. Rule One: Do not obey in advance. You don't refrain from protesting because later the Dear Leader might outlaw protests.


We also, of course, need to keep up a steady stream of calls, letters, or emails to our Congresscritters. If enough people let our outrage be known, it can make a difference.

https://resist.bot/ makes it easy to send emails to our Federal reps on all the issues.

5calls.org offers a list of current issues with summaries and even a script if you're nervous about what to say

https://www.fiftyfifty.one/ protest organizers. Be aware, however, that the site has issues. Their protest search is faulty. It often doesn't turn up marches in a particular area that I know are happening. Try searching in different ways for instance use the map instead of their search engine.

Indivisible groups.

Etc.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

3. Yes, sustained pressure. Mounting pressure. In multiple ways. We need to get to 3.5% of US population

About 10 million people protesting every couple of weeks.