Protests organized by liberals will be one and done events that will culminate, at most, in asking you to give money to the feckless and complicit Democratic Party. Their effect may be something that feels like community or catharsis, that you are not alone and can accomplish things together, but it’s important to reflect on the fact that without organizing a longitudinal campaign that takes disruptive action, this is actually a false catharsis.
When you attend one of these events and seriously question what was accomplished and why there are no real next steps on offer, please consider looking to your local organizing groups, the socialists that have a program to plug into. US socialists are a small group and still learning how to have impact, but they punch above their weight because they focus on organizing and education against the structural forces responsible for oppression, consistently, and not just to use you or rich donors as a piggy bank, but to get the masses coordinated to take action.
This is the third nationwide protest part of 50501 movment. This is not a one time event.
3 official protests. What are they leading to? What are the primary and secondary objectives? What organizations are you lobbied to join? When will they become disruptive? By one and done I mean they have no real next steps, the protest itself is the step and then people go home with the false sense of having accomplished something. This is because the groups behind these things are not actual organizers, they don’t build organizations to build or wield power with mass action, education, growing new leaders, etc, i.e. the basics of organizing. It is visceral how unserious this is.
They also have other action like a nationwide economic boycott on Feb 28th alongside future ones.
Will they be tabling in front of stores selling those items? Is there a script? Training sessions? Have they used their network of local organizers to map out which stores would be the best to target? This isn’t a boycott targeted at another country, the people supposedly organizing and participating in the action live in the same place as the targets. Direct action is fully on the table but is presumably being intentionally avoided (or they are just incompetent), so they are sucking up the air in the room to make room for less effective actions.
Protests organized by liberals will be one and done events that will culminate, at most, in asking you to give money to the feckless and complicit Democratic Party. Their effect may be something that feels like community or catharsis, that you are not alone and can accomplish things together, but it’s important to reflect on the fact that without organizing a longitudinal campaign that takes disruptive action, this is actually a false catharsis.
When you attend one of these events and seriously question what was accomplished and why there are no real next steps on offer, please consider looking to your local organizing groups, the socialists that have a program to plug into. US socialists are a small group and still learning how to have impact, but they punch above their weight because they focus on organizing and education against the structural forces responsible for oppression, consistently, and not just to use you or rich donors as a piggy bank, but to get the masses coordinated to take action.
This is the third nationwide protest part of 50501 movment. This is not a one time event
They also have other action like a nationwide economic boycott on Feb 28th alongside future ones
3 official protests. What are they leading to? What are the primary and secondary objectives? What organizations are you lobbied to join? When will they become disruptive? By one and done I mean they have no real next steps, the protest itself is the step and then people go home with the false sense of having accomplished something. This is because the groups behind these things are not actual organizers, they don’t build organizations to build or wield power with mass action, education, growing new leaders, etc, i.e. the basics of organizing. It is visceral how unserious this is.
Will they be tabling in front of stores selling those items? Is there a script? Training sessions? Have they used their network of local organizers to map out which stores would be the best to target? This isn’t a boycott targeted at another country, the people supposedly organizing and participating in the action live in the same place as the targets. Direct action is fully on the table but is presumably being intentionally avoided (or they are just incompetent), so they are sucking up the air in the room to make room for less effective actions.