Tom
Mother BonesLooking forward to seeing everyone's #NoKings photos and placards
I am so tired of hearing "It does nothing" YES IT DOES. It's not the be-all end-all but it's ONE of the things that gets more and more people involved. AND it influences elected officials. Social attitudes are a big part of what has to change.
The momentum fed IN PART by these demonstrations has led to an absolute avalanche of flipped Republican officials in special elections across the country even in very red areas.
The increased visibility of opposition (especially dramatically in rural areas) has kept a lot of queer American kids and youths alive for another month, week, or day.
These events HAVE led to a GREAT DEAL of grassroots organizing & local caregiving.
Rebecca Solnit:
"You can be thrilled by the things that are happening and horrified by the things that should be happening but aren’t. Everything we can save is worth saving. Everything we can do is worth doing. We’ve already lost a lot, but we don’t have to lose everything."
"Changing the world is more like caregiving than like war. Too many people still expect it to look like war."
Dr. Lisa Corrigan, social movement scholar 🧵 11:08 AM · Mar 28, 2026:
"These protests are important b/c:
...as sustained image events, they offer evidence of continued disapproval of the direction the country is going and disavowal of the country's leadership.
...provides political pressure for the country to change directions on ICE, war with Iran, tariffs, SAVE Act, public health, public education, public corruption
1/4
...provides political cover for a) GOP electeds to take oppositional stances within their party and b) corporations to oppose the administration.
...Successful movements are sustained across time and consistent messaging, while building community connections.
...Recurring protests provide access points for normies to increase their threshold for public risk while also focusing country's attention to SIZE and SCOPE of resistance to policies
2/4
...GOP electeds are declining to run for re-election because protests are successfully SHIFTING PUBLIC OPINION AWAY FROM the GOP in undeniable ways.
...protests help steel the public for fights ahead when the admin attempts another coup (even via executive orders) to prevent total washout in Nov
...Sustained protests also offer UNDENIABLE EVIDENCE of public's disgust for the admin, echoed in international protests against US imperialism also fascist & corrupt right wing in other countries
3/4
...We know the protests are working as we watch DHS officials crack under pressure of enforcing unpopular & unethical immigration roundups of minors.
...Minimizing the impact of consistent episodic community-centered protests only serves interests of ruling elite and undermines efforts to build political pressure esp. on elected Dems
SUCCESSFUL CHANGE REQUIRES BOTH POLITICAL PRESSURE & COVER. WHICH CAN ONLY BE DONE AT THE SCALE OF MASS PROTESTS.
4/4
#Via Adam Gurri
@adamgurri
8:58 PM · Mar 28, 2026
"Maxing crowd numbers also imposes constraints. 3.5% of the population willing to turn out is not gonna be the exact kind of socialist you are aiming for the exact policy menu you’re going for. It being vague, scheduled, and easy, is a plus when the goal is getting as close to that 3.5% as you can
Also: every time some fraction of those who turn out become further involved beyond it."
#Via Puff the Magic Hater
@MsKellyMHayes
6:59 PM · Mar 28, 2026
"I’m just not here for any demobilizing or disorganizing talk right now. If you have alternate paths and plans, issue those invitations. We need them. But demobilizing and disorganizing won’t make us stronger or better.
And like it or not, in this incredibly fascist moment, this imagery does matter."
#Via ceej / ceej.online
6:56 PM · Mar 28, 2026
"I hate when people join my mass popular movement. I hate when they add to the mass and the popularity. goes against the whole spirit of the thing."
1. No Kings 3.0 (Mar 2026) 8-9 million
2. No Kings 2.0 (Oct 2025) 6-7 million
3. No Kings (June 2025) 5 million
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_protests_and_demonstrations_in_the_United_States_by_size
#Via Kevin M. Kruse
@KevinMKruse
6:33 PM · Mar 28, 2026
"If the estimates were right, there were about 9 million people at No Kings rallies today.
That would mean this protest was THIRTY TIMES AS LARGE AS THE TEA PARTY PROTEST which we were told, over and over again, was a massively important sign that US politics had shifted dramatically to the right."
NilaJonesIt doesn't count though, when people on the left protest. We aren't fully human
Timo@_L1vY_ I noticed that the 'it doesn't matter' line is the current billionaire attack on the protests. What alarms me is how many people on the left picked that up too. It raises my suspicions, let's say. Protesting clearly matters.
@timo21 I know people are discouraged and also fed up with incrementalism. But progress is progress and it builds on itself.
@_L1vY_ It was the same as with candidate Harris, the left talking points mirrored the billionaire talking points. What do they call that, the horseshoe effect.
@timo21 There's just a difference between criticizing the enabling passivity of centrism, and criticizing every actual step people are making towards progress. (But I mostly hear the phrase "horseshoe effect" from right-wingers undermining left-wingers)
@_L1vY_ OK. Regardless, what I heard today is left-wingers that have audiences bashing the protests. I know they don't represent everyone, but they have big platforms. That negativity is not appreciated. How are we supposedto have a coherent opposition with that going on. (It's actually a circle, not a horshoe, but when left wingers use the exact same words as billionaire reps, whats a person to think?)
Grassroots Joe
Tattie
Raven Onthill@ravenonthill Yes, Iran (regime)is bad. But as others have said before me, I badly want regime change here, but I sure as hell don't want the US to be bombed to get Trump out! 😩
Nini@[email protected] The thing I want most out of these protests is sustained organised protests, doing them once every few months is good but it needs a movement that lasts longer than an afternoon to become more than fodder for an AI video of the guy you're protesting dropping shit bombs on you.
I guess it's a good thing that there are many thousands of local grassroots groups who were intimately engaged in organizing the protests and have been doing the work of organizing our neighborhoods and communities for many months, some of us for years, and we will continue to do so moving forward.
These protests are excellent recruiting opportunities for us and we are absolutely growing our groups in the wake of every one of them.
The next round of protests in PA is April 4th.
queer as in fuck your borders@_L1vY_ I think about the rural areas particularly, I'd rather see a crowd of 30 in a town of 1000 than 30,000 people in a city. I grew up in a small town, my parents still feel alone in their small town, the MAGA types are so obnoxious, it's easy to feel like it's just you. And it's really really important to know that it's not just you.
@bright_helpings Yes, the shift in visibility has been especially marked in small towns and rural areas. Crucially important.
Nobody ناچیز नास्ति (he/him)@_L1vY_
The nattering nabobs of negativity (some might accuse yours truthfully of being one), look at the totally captured status of both parties by Capital and all its manifestations (Zionism, Trump, Epstein, Genocides in Palestine and African nations, attacks on Venezuela and Iran, the sustained attacks on Libya, Syria etc, all the imperialism, neoimperialism, neofascism that we see) and despair. But yes, protests matter, because each such act peels a layer of the onion. The more layers contd
The nattering nabobs of negativity (some might accuse yours truthfully of being one), look at the totally captured status of both parties by Capital and all its manifestations (Zionism, Trump, Epstein, Genocides in Palestine and African nations, attacks on Venezuela and Iran, the sustained attacks on Libya, Syria etc, all the imperialism, neoimperialism, neofascism that we see) and despair. But yes, protests matter, because each such act peels a layer of the onion. The more layers contd
@_L1vY_ continuing
The more layers of the onion that you peel, the better.
The more layers of the onion that you peel, the better.
@tadbithuman Yes. I'm not much of an optimist either, but I can and will take the W when we get one!
Ms. Que Banh@_L1vY_ It takes multiple spokes to build the wheels of collective resistance. Each spoke strengthens the wheel & together, the wheel rolls towards changes for the people by the people ✌️✊️
Cookiefiend@_L1vY_ I just read Dr. Stacey Patton's essay on why it's all just white-people feel-good performative bullshit. Deep, deep sigh.
@LPerry2 She's allowed to feel discouraged 🤷🏻♀️
Misuse Case@_L1vY_ @LPerry2 Not sure if decarceration activist Marianne Kaba would approve of me bringing her up in this context, but she said something to the effect that you can’t know which protest tactics will “work” or in what way, so you should try them all.
Personally I think some of the tactics from the 70s, especially from second wave feminism, are now mocked and derided so that people don’t dare to try things.
@MisuseCase I think anything women do is mocked.
@_L1vY_ She didn't sound discouraged. She just doesn't think protests do anything except make people feel good for a moment--because, she says, nothing changes after people go home.
I'm the one who found her comments discouraging.
I'm the one who found her comments discouraging.
@LPerry2 I've read it, I thought she sounded discouraged
Either way, she's wrong on multiple counts. Our local Indivisible group has routinely expanded our email list after each mass protest.
I was able to shout out to several hundred people about our group during our local protest to people who knew nothing about us prior to my doing that.
And also give a listen to this clip, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PRZqsWwdKYR1ujt9QXxl2zxdA57YyzFj/view?usp=drive_link, from this Charting The Way Forward podcast, https://chartingthewayforward.buzzsprout.com/2415376/episodes/18837216-the-hunger-for-action-feat-terrance-woodbury.
It explains why it *should* be White folk out front protesting.
Dark Phoenix 🇺🇦🇨🇦🇬🇱🇵🇦🇵🇸🏳️🌈@_L1vY_ my client asked me today if I really thought that protesting helps.
I replied "of course". They want us to feel small and useless and stay at home, and we are doing the opposite, and if it pisses off the orange cockwomble, all the better. I saw a lot of veterans and retired people today, two of the groups he thinks he has in his hand.
I replied "of course". They want us to feel small and useless and stay at home, and we are doing the opposite, and if it pisses off the orange cockwomble, all the better. I saw a lot of veterans and retired people today, two of the groups he thinks he has in his hand.
@Darkphoenix Yes. Every small thing a person can do will help them AND is part of the multi-faceted "all" that we need.
Pamela Barroway – Biz Editor@_L1vY_ THIS. I've had to mute several people elsewhere bc they will not stop naysaying.
@PamelaBarroway It's not table-flipping but it's PART of it 🤷🏻♀️
@_L1vY_ Absolutely. Not one but two of newsletters I subscribe to covered this yesterday -- Arielle Elm and Jay Kuo.
Pamela Barroway – Biz Editor (@[email protected])
If you, like me, have encountered people who say #protest rallies are a waste of time, share one of this very good article from Arielle Elm with them. #NoKings https://substack.com/@ariellaelm/note/c-234261291
InarticulateQuilter@_L1vY_ been favoriting and boosting every one that comes through my timeline. I love the funny ones, the serious ones, the artistic ones and the simple ones - we contain multitudes and it makes me so happy 🥹