Anyway, that’s it for me. It’s time to go home.
Thanks for going on this adventure with me; if I’m happy with what I shot and make an article out of it (which I think I will), then I’ll post it on Fedi.

Stay safe, fam! ❤️

Overall, the program changes seem well-thought out, though turnout overall was relatively lower than I expected. Ultimately, numbers are less important than spurring people to post-protest action. That’s what I’m curious about.

I’m glad I came to see the new format, and I’m noodling on ways I can measure whether it makes a difference and people stick with it.

So if you are reading this in the crowd, I would say that is where the value is.

Stay on the green, and talk to your neighbors. Make some friends, and learn how to fuck some shit up. ✊

This is where my “corporate pride” comparison comes from.

Walking down the main strip requires a certain amount of skepticism of attendee motivation, which I am not accustomed to needing to employ at a protest.

And to be clear, the actual attendees, who are rallied under their neighborhood signs, do appear to be doing that work to talk to each other, and make specific plans. That’s rad as hell.

Elsewhere there is a “general strike” group which literally just formed a couple of weeks ago.

That is an initiative I absolutely support. Pressed for details, however, they have no demands, no plan of action, no fundraising.

To be clear, we all have to start somewhere. I’m not shaming them for starting now. Just, illustrating that not all of these stalls have the same level of strength behind them.

I hope they’re talking to each other, but I’m not sure that’s the focus for them.

Sawant’s campaign is, if you’re willing to be EXTREMELY generous, at best tangential to the work that’s being done here.

Just a couple hundred feet from that exact spot, an attendee remarked to me, unprompted and without relation: “voting is great but we can’t vote our way out of this… voting is how we got here”.

I specifically remember Sawant as being one of the politicians to drop in as a speaker in Cal Anderson last year, only to change the topic to her campaign instead of immigration.

The main strip above the international fountain has… how do I say this politely…? Corporate pride vibes.

There are a lot of disparate organization booths. I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing, that’s how organizing works. You find common ground.

Not all of them are united in messaging though. The best example I can find is this booth advertising Sawant.

Sawant was one of the politicians who, in my opinion, crashed previous anti fascist protests. Maybe it was even no kings.