Many have observed that Trump . . . is looking to create a pretext for a much harsher crackdown. This makes Saturday’s No Kings protests even more consequential. In the event of any violence, whether from protesters or agent provocateurs, the president will doubtless seize on it to expand his power.
Since a bunch of dubious comments here are arguing for a general strike instead of tomorrow’s protest, I’m addressing them all together.
While theory generally supports the idea that general strikes, executed successfully, are the greatest explicit power, the huge caveat is that their effectiveness is directly proportional to organized participation among the rank and file. This leads directly to a few historically important corollaries:
0. A premature general strike is worse than no general strike.
Unlike protest events the general strike has no end date. It tests the reliability of mutual support networks and reserves of collective trust. When a general strike fails, the next attempt is twice as difficult.
1. Public protests express implicit power.
They are a threat, demonstrating to those in power the magnitude of what is to come.
2. Public protests increase participation.
They express a promise to current and future participants that they have comrades who will show up, stand beside them, hold the line, and expect the same in return.
3. Public protests increase organization.
Onsite and post-event recruitment is not only the primary means of increasing participation, it remains the most organic and hard-to-digitally-replicate method of expanding organizational efforts on account of network effects.
4. Public protests are grounded.
They represent a ground truth condition that anyone can see for themselves. There are numerous effective strategies for obscuring, sandbagging, or sabotaging public campaigns conducted exclusively on digital networks and platforms, but it is next to impossible to conceal public displays of flesh-and-blood human beings collecting en masse.
5. Public protests invite public demonstrations of authoritarian violence.
Note that I don’t mean incite an increase of violence, but that the violence which would be used regardless, must instead be executed in the cold light of day, out in the open, likely on camera. The recent photo of the pastor, mid-prayer, being shot in the face by laughing federal ICE troops would not exist if no one showed up that day.