we’ve seen no kings 1 & 2 change diddly squat, so obviously we’ll do the same thing a third time with the high hopes that nothing will change too!
Guy that is attending the useless no kings protest
You want actual change? Look at Europe on how to protest. I’m sorry for you Americans, but you got yourself in this, you gotta dig yourself out. Trump will NOT care about the o kings protest, and it’ll fade from the news within two days tops. It. Is. Not. Enough.
Protest 24/7 for months on end until the fucker is gone
Have strikes everywhere, indeed, because that it the only way you’ll get his attention and get this administration to understand that it’s over
They ain’t wrong though. And you arguing with them is no better than them arguing with you about this.
Just because the poster doesn’t take action, doesn’t mean they are wrong.
Narrator: they aren’t
Sure, we’ll all voluntarily surrender our paychecks, and starve. I’m sure MAGA will show empathy, and totally change their attitude, and won’t just point and laugh at us as we starve, and scabs do our jobs for us.
I’d rather shut down the MAGA government for an extended period, deny them THEIR money, and hurt THEM. So the airports are out of control, who care? Almost everybody inconvenienced in an airport is upper middle class at the least. Most of them have money, and disproportionately vote MAGA.
So I’m sorry about the workers who get screwed, but I’m extremely happy to see people with money whining about missing their time on the slopes, or that big merger meeting that will unemploy thousands, or that AI training that will unemploy thousands, etc. Fuck them, make them wait for hours, as they ponder how voting MAGA has improved their lives.
I was thinking about the airport stuff. Even that isn’t what it may seem. For the upper middle class it is an inconvenience. But those below that who either fly for work, or to see family when they can afford it, it is much more than an inconvenience. So even that hits the “worker” harder.
If striking for 1 day means starving, then you got one more good reason for a general strike.
Best regards from Europe
LOL, are you serious? A one day strike in America wouldn’t change a single thing. Everybody would just get docked a day’s pay. Or fired.
Europeans have no choice but to strike, but in America, we can literally shut down the government for as long as we can force our elected representatives to comply.
Why should we hurt ourselves, when we can hurt them?
And when do you plan to “hurt them”?
“No king protests” are covered by the media here today… A government shutdown isn’t.
The only government shutdowns I remember from the USA are the ones where a million people got no payments for a few weeks (and didn’t starve?). Most of them were probably not ultra rich.
Who cares what gets covered in the European media? Of course they are going to cover No Kings, its a big story, and it resembles the kinds of protests they have in Europe. It’s relatable, and European news is no different from American news - they just want eyeballs.
But in America, No Kings gets one mention on the evening news, and that’s it. But a Government Shutdown is the FIRST story on EVERY American newscast, EVERY day, morning, noon, and night. THAT’S what gets attention in America, and America is where we are fighting the battle.
How do you figure that MAGA is going to respond positively to a self-inflicted wound? You are GREATLY underestimating how Sociopathic MAGA is as a fundamental characteristic. They will only respond when THEY feel the pain.
But… who watches the news really. Not the worker who is working multiple jobs to pay the bills. And really, how does the gov shutdown hurt them. They have ensured that the things they most care about aren’t affected. Like air force one isn’t affected. All the upper level government officials are on private or government owned jets and by passing normal security. After this shut down, they will probably add tsa to the always gets paid anyway list.
I haven’t figured out if a general strike would really bother them either. After it was done, they could probably have layoffs “because of the economic impact of the strike” and get rid of people they felt were organizers. Plus people who are old or cost too much and all that. And of course a general strike would be nearly impossible to make happen. There are of course laws against union leadership backing such a thing. So they have taken the most likely organizers out of the process.
Seems a no win scenario.
The first comment / response or whatever that I read in there does a better job of expressing my opinion on this than I ever could.
“It’s building the muscle. You have to get someone to show up one day before you can get them to show up often, or every day, or for the long haul.”
Really the same goes for so many of the organizations running the events. They’re local orgs, local people with different levels of experience (mostly very little) with organizing at this scale. It takes practice and time to get good at these things. It takes time to find volunteers and train them.
Contrary to what some of the comments implied, most of these events aren’t planned/operated by paid professionals, not that paying for professional help is inherently a bad thing anyway. There’s top-level guidance and coordination, that kind of stuff generally requires dedicated teams (aka paid employees) due to the time and skill requirements for those roles. But on the local level, it’s volunteers all around. And the real planning, the hard work, is virtually all done locally by those volunteers.
Start building guillotines, please!
The No Kings Marches are just a prelude. Imagine all those millions of people participation in the upcoming general strike . Then imagine those millions turning to violence. Imagine them armed.
Just a suggestion, but becoming armed before becoming violent might be a better order of progression.
LOL what country do you think this is? “Becoming armed”? Bro this is America.
Lol, good point, but I was speaking more in a general sense, not just this country.
That might be the more logical progression, but logic rarely comes into play in these things.
In fact, being armed before it’s time for violence is often a bad thing.
But when it is time, anything at hand can be a weapon.
Paris housewives once marched on Versailles and decapitated several guards with kitchen knives after they opened fire on the crowd.
You can make nearly anything into a weapon or a musical instrument. Remember that, and you’ll always be safe, and entertained.
A primary exception is the marshmallow. Pretty much useless for either.
Someone’s never forced 20 marshmallows down someone’s throat and it shows
You don’t know me.
Oh yeah, lets argue amongst ourselves. That always works.
Being part of march is already more than what many people would do. Seen too many times after the whole CEO execution last year people saying shit like “oh won’t somebody step up and do something”, “somebody should really try and change the system”, or “I would totally support someone stepping up”.
Buddy, that someone better be you. If not, be quiet.
- Sincerely, a union representative of my workplace.
To be fair the people vote for leaders who are supposed to show them the way forward we don’t have that for the most part.
Honestly we have no good community leaders at all (for white leftists), they are bad at organizing, they are bad at messaging, they seem to always want to take over and grift money, it’s always get out and march (if you can… that’s ok if you can’t) meanwhile the other side organized an attempted fucking coup.
Like we need someone at Obamas level saying don’t pay federal taxes while they deny your rights and plunge us into war and march on DC/mara lago and here’s the address to the homes they stole from top military brass would be a shame to bother them.
And maybe a little “HEY THEY FUCKING SHOT YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS, VOTE FOR ME AND I’LL MAKE SURE THEY ALL GO TO FUCKING JAIL!” would be a nice fucking start or even a little acknowledgement the election was fucking stolen.
First thing you need to do is make America a representative democracy. Throw that first past the post bullshit in the trash.
Then maybe the electoral collage.
Then maybe gerrymandering illegal.
The way your system works is all sorts of fucked up. And it’s fine for us here in Europe if it didn’t effect us, but the tribalistic thinking of “left vs right” without any gradient or nuance is starting to effect us over here too.
The problem is that even doing that isn’t simple. Both parties are captured by and cater to capital’s interests. The Democratic Party and the Republican Party both have 0 interest in changing away from first past the post because first past the post gets them elected and in power. It’s incredibly difficult to get anyone elected that is outside of either of those two parties because they will do everything in their power to challenge it. We’ve seen this most recently in the 2024 elections when the Dems were challenging Green Party candidates’ rights to even be on the ballot by taking them to court to contest their signatures and other procedural challenges. The Greens don’t have the pocket book to handle lawsuits, so this can effectively kill any local and bottom up candidate initiatives. It takes time to contend with these structures, which is why we’re just now seeing gains being made by Democratic Socialists like Mamdani in NYC. His election required years of organizing on the DSA’s part to build a party structure in NYC. Sometimes their best route to office has been through the Democratic party itself, like Mamdani, which comes with its own issues as well.
A union rep. So you only protect certain people, and only if they pay? We need to get rid of that divisive union bullshit as well and level the playing field for all workers.
Okay, let’s make everyone unionized then. The other direction is bad, very fucking bad.
Haha ha hahaha ha.
No.
A rising tide lifts all boats. When negotiating pay raises, better parental leave, pensions, vacation days, overtime, the results don’t merely apply to union members. They apply to everyone.
To manage all the paperwork the union employs full-time office workers. Who pays their salaries?
If a company starts throwing some shit that needs to be taken to labour court, who pays for the lawyers?
What about when a strike is necessary? Where does the money on the warchest come from?
How can the union cover unemployment benefits when people get laid off?
You sound just like the Marx textbook I read back in the 70’s. Even the trite, popular phrases. It’s no laughing matter though. People are dying and suffering all over and all you can talk about is meaningless money of questionable value. A guy once shoveled my snow for me and didn’t charge me anything. He did it to feel a part of the community. How does that fit into your money calculations? It’s a human/ecological issue, not a fiscal one. You can look down and laugh at us from your protected collective perch however. Have fun!
You sound just like the Marx textbook…
Almost like that movement was a result of overbearing oligarchs literally working people to death.
Must be a funny coincidence.
How does that fit into your money calculations?
Doing someone a favour is all fine and dandy, but favours don’t pay for lawyers when you’re going up against a corporate entity.
How does shovelling snow for you neighbour fit into that?
You can look down and laugh at us from your protected collective perch however.
The only reason I’d look down on you is because you’re somehow, unironocally, using “collective power” as a bad thing.
As I said previously; a rising tide lifts all boats, and when I sit at the negotiating table I’m not merely demanding special perks for union members. I represent the needs of the entire work environment.
Anyone interested in the U.S. general strike this year: https://piefed.social/c/news/p/1928891/date-may-1-announced-for-national-strike-aimed-at-crippling-trump-no-work-no-school
This is a pretty valid thing to say in the US.
Too many people think that just protesting is enough for any change they want to be effected. We don’t get taught about things like labor struggles.
I want to see bloody filled rebellion with dead elites bodies being pissed on.
Yes please?
Well, get on it then, instead of erping in comment sections.
Could be a person not living in the USA, Max.
Us foreigners also have opinions on what’s happening in the US, because it affects us too, but we have no way to affect change in the US, other than our boycotts.
IDK Russia did a good job swaying the US public opinion and spreading propaganda.
I was gonna say I bet a lot of the accounts complaining about these protests are Russian bots
Note that the person criticising the original is also not active in organising a general strike. It is permissable to hold opinions without being obliged to act on them.
Yea I’m really bad at organizing but I damn well know it has to be done by someone with the skill to do it.
Why should I listen to you? You’re not actively involved in organizing a general strike either.
You’ve opened this Pandora’s Box my friend there’s no closing it again now. It’s not being actively involved in organizing a general strike all the way down.
Yeah if you’re not actively involved in organizing a general strike you don’t get my vote. And since there are not any candidates meeting that criteria, I’m staying home on Election Day.
Don’t believe me? There’s 10 of millions of US citizens who will be doing the same thing!
Checkmate /s
That is true, however this is not about the acting, it’s about hypocrisy in the traditional sense. OC is essentially saying “we have the same goal and I set an easier plan and I’m currently following it, while you are criticizing my plan, making up a way harder one, saying I should follow that one while not following either mine or your plan at all.”
It’s like when you are working in a supermarket, restocking the shelves and your coworker is just sitting on a chair watching you, and after a while he says “this is useless, you should rather do some cashier work, people are waiting” while eating candy.
Yeah sure he might be technically right, but this is extremely out of line.
Yes. But the moment you release your opinion out on the wild, we’re allowed to ridicule you for them.
Of course you can. I’m just saying that the criticism is stupid in this case. I mean, I think that fusion power would be a good thing, but fuck me for not working 24 hours a day on a PhD in nuclear physics.
But that’s more like having people talk about how we should do nuclear and renewable power, and you coming along complaining people should be working on developing fusion power instead because fission power just won’t do anything
Not it isn’t.
Arguing that fission power won’t do anything is objectively incorrect.
Arguing that a general strike would be more effective than weekend rallies alone is objectively correct.
Your analogy is not analagous.
Beyond that, arguing against doing something is not the same as arguing for doing something else, in addition to /or/ instead of the original something.
This person could be French. They know how to bring the state to heel, and they share their experiences for those clearly in need of learning Americans. But they have to leave organizing to the people who are actually involved.
I don’t know why people have this illusion surrounding French people when they’re actively electing fascists and calling antifa a violent group of terrorists, while having their government give a minute of silence for the death of an actual nazi (like, actually posting on twitter that he loves Hitler -kind of nazi)
French people know nothing, they stopped understanding protests and revolts after Napoleon started shooting civilians with cannons and have been licking the boots of dictators since then. It’s no wonder that a bunch of them collaborated with the nazis back in ww2, and it’s no wonder they’re collaborating with the new nazis now.
I agree people (Americans?) are idealizing the french in this regard. But you’re yourself misinformed.
Napoleon did shoot royalists with cannons in 1795, when he wasn’t yet in power. It didn’t stop the 1830 or 1848 revolutions happening, nor the 1871 commune. More recently the 1968 protests were accompanied by a general strike which did scare the hell of many people.
What we need is a pragmatic and informed assessments of events so that we can decide what might work and what won’t. National stereotypes and prejudices should be discarded.
French people get taught in schools that (pseudo-) dictators like Louis XIV, Napoleon and De Gaulle, are the best kind of leaders and that France would be nothing without them. The president of France himself implied very strongly that he believes France needs a dictator, and he got reelected after that.
Clearly, protests that happened after the French revolution were not enough to do any meaningful change in the long run, as proven by the state of France now. Most people see protests as a nuisance, violent protests as terrorism, and antifascism as a hate crime. This antidemocratic wave got heavily promoted by Napoleon and De Gaulle, and the fact that these two are seen as heroes in France shows the perception that French people have.
There’s a reason why protests like the recent ones against Macron basically did nothing, despite being amongst the biggest protests of the past decades: most of the population is hostile to protests and revolts, and supports the idea of a fascist government
You clearly don’t understand anything about French politics, and these overgeneralizations you’re making don’t prove otherwise.
The French government is currently divided three ways, with no coalition able to achieve a governing majority. They’ve been in a stalemate since their last election. That’s why they’re not able to get anything done, for better or for worse.
Attempting to characterize the entire French government and the entire French people as one thing is extremely ignorant. There’s plenty of dissent in France, and plenty of discontent.
Every country glazes its own image in schools. That doesn’t mean everyone in the country falls for the brainwashing.
Also, De Gaulle led the French resistance, helped the Allies kick the Nazis out of France, and led France during the period of denazification after the war. What part of that makes him a dictator, in your eyes?
What are you even talking about?
Macron has been doing whatever he wanted for the past years. He’s changed completely the political norm of France, brought the vision if the left from a normal party, to the evil antisemitic violent terrorist party, while normalising the far right so much that now most right-wing parties all blend together and say the same fascist crap.
France has, since Macron, been “dropping out of democracy”, according to the international federation for human rights. That’s not just a little stalemate here.
The fucking government gave a *minute of silence for a nazi terrorist that died after attacking people, while being watched by cops who saw them initiate the attack and intentionally did nothing. What more do you want? You’re waiting for them to do like in the US and have the government do nazi salutes?
De Gaulle ran away from the war to hide, took advantage of the french resistance, sabotaged resistance operations led by the communist resistance because he hated communists, loved colonies, and changed the whole government system to make it give more power to the president. He ignored the population, lied to them without giving a shit, encouraged violence in algeria, and the only actual good thing that he did (preventing the US and UK from stealing and invading France) was out of pride, and doesn’t compensate for anything else. But history is indeed written by the winners.
The French people brought down three monarchies after Napoleon fired those cannons.
