Protests don't work?

[00:00:00]Over the last 3 months, the video I have been sent more than any other is one that I want to share with you in just a second and then discuss because I think folks send it to me as if it were a critique of my position, but I actually feel like the professor that I'm about to show you is not disagreeing with me in any way. I think she makes incredibly important points and and and they're worth continuing to unpack and discuss.

[00:00:24]So, let's watch and then come back.

[00:00:26]>> There is zero evidence that demonstrations change either the public's opinion or government policy.

[00:00:33]Zero. Over the course of decades and decades and decades. Uh the closest thing that you might see is what happened with Black Lives Matter in the United States where there was a temporary shift in public opinion. It lasted about 2 years and it is back to the baseline. And in some ways even worse, what you really see is that basically white people in the United States are more in favor of the police and other people are a little bit less in favor of the police and the overall numbers are the same. I'm not saying don't protest, but I am saying they are not a mechanism for persuasion. Okay, the government doesn't change their policy because they already honestly mostly serving their donors.

[00:01:04]>> I think a lot of people who have sent me that video or tagged me in that video only watched the first part. They're the folks who think that No Kings doesn't do anything. They're the folks who think that Saturday demonstrations or rallies or marches are pointless. And as I have said from the beginning, we don't expect a 3-hour Saturday family-friendly protest, often permitted by the police, to stop the fascists. That's not the point of No Kings or other large protest. That has never been the point.

[00:01:35]They don't disrupt the system, so they're not going to bring about systemic change.

[00:01:39]>> Uh and they have their own reasons for their policies. The public's opinion does not change, at least for very long, but there are some people whose opinions are changed a lot and sometimes permanently, and those are the protesters. The protesters are changed for life. A category of sociology research on them. I know I'm addicted to sociology. And basically what it shows is that people that join uh protest movements, they become much more likely to go to graduate school, which is a terrible idea. They >> [laughter] >> They are much more likely to get Well, somewhat more likely to get divorced.

[00:02:07]They are somewhat more likely not to have children.

[00:02:09]They also change their political views in line with that movement, and that is a permanent change even when they leave the movement pretty much. On average, it's you know, their their their their views are changed. And that makes sense because what do they encounter in the social movement? They encounter actions and relationships.

[00:02:22]Um so, if >> Exactly. The point of Saturday protests or no kings or what have you is not to get the government to change. It's to get the people who participate to change. It's to change your heart and mind and to activate you, to help you understand that you have agency and you have power, to get you plugged in and involved. No Kings Day and other similar protests are recruiting events. They are the beginning or should be the beginning of somebody's activism and involvement in the resistance.

[00:02:54]>> protest from that sociological perspective, then it is very important and it is doing something. But what it's doing is recruitment, retention, and motivation.

[00:03:03]And that's what you guys are doing on the 13th, which is great.

[00:03:06]But also, it's what they're doing on the 13th, which is less great. I say this because I think it is a useful point when you go to think about the strategy for next week and also for all the other things that are to come. One of the reasons that anti-fascists try to break up, distract, and otherwise deflect far-right protests is not of course to you know, convince the other side. It is to stop them from recruiting.

[00:03:29]>> Yeah.

[00:03:29]>> And the other reason is to recruit people into your movement, which means in many ways the number one thing that you could get right next week or any other time you do an action like that is to make your movement as appealing as possible to the people in the middle and the possible allies, to get their information and to follow up with them.

[00:03:46]Don't lose them. They're so precious.

[00:03:48]Keep them. A lot of movements in the last couple of decades have really um struggled with this because we live in an internet age where people might find you on the internet, visit the protest for 10 minutes, and leave. No, no, no. Get their information and make them your friend and check in on them and bring them to the next thing. I mean, this is obvious in a way, but this is what the data shows is weak right now and that we really need to build on.

[00:04:08]>> I appreciate this so much because she's absolutely right. A big part of the reason that we try and break up right-wing protests is because they are recruiting events for fascism. They are recruiting events for the alt-right. And we should view our events as recruit They're onboarding. It's not just getting somebody to come on Saturday.

[00:04:25]It's having a sign-up sheet and then folding them into your group, inviting them not just to be like, "Hey, get involved and like take on these tasks."

[00:04:32]But like, "Hey, come have dinner with us. We're going to do a potluck. We're going to do a craft afternoon. We're going to go hang out in the park." What What's going on in your You want to come join us and we'll do a mutual aid event together. It's about building relationships.

[00:04:45]Protests like No Kings are an entry point. They are not meant to be the beginning and and they're not meant to be the conclusion of somebody's activism. They're meant to be the first baby step. Inviting folks to a low-ask, low-participation event that feels safe.

[00:05:00]That's how you help them build their skills and their confidence. I have seen so many folks at No Kings Day protest who feel like for the first time that they have hope, that they are surrounded by other people who care as much as they do. They feel a sense of community and connection. They feel empowerment. They understand that they have agency for the first time.

[00:05:20]They are about building hope. They're about building people's expectations, building people's own belief in themselves to participate in the processes that will not only topple the fascists, but to move on and to build greater and better things. Build a United States that has justice, that has freedom. Like, once people understand that they are important and they are needed and that they are part of that process of change, that their little measure of power, their little contribution matters in real significant, impactful ways.

[00:05:51]They're They're going to continue to show up. People need to be encouraged.

[00:05:55]People need to be We're in a system.

[00:05:57]We're in a system, you guys, that tells people you can't do anything. You're small and the government is big. You're just some tiny little person and these are mega corporations. These are foreign governments. These are billionaires that you're trying to go up against. You're nobody. You don't You don't have any power. You can't enact change. Change has never been made by ordinary people.

[00:06:17]That's the lesson that we're taught and it's just like a bunch of absolute horse We have to help people unlearn that false narrative that they've been taught and help people realize their power. Events like No Kings Day are all about that. They're all about that, but they're not They're not in and of themselves enough. So, I know it was like a big talking point for particular kinds of online leftists who, unlike the leftists that we organize with in real life, who are at these events, who are encouraging people and building those connections and doing the organizing, online leftists were like, "No Kings Day events are just like They're nothing, right? They're just like rallies. They They don't do anything." It's that people didn't understand the purpose of those events.

[00:06:58]Those events were never meant to disrupt the system at all. They were never meant to get the government to lay down. They had a different purpose. We have a multiplicity of events with different goals in mind and all of those events are really important. I've seen people asking over the last several weeks, "When's the next No Kings Day? Why didn't we have one on 4th of July?"

[00:07:19]There were marches on the 4th of July.

[00:07:21]But, when is the next No Kings Day?

[00:07:23]Well, what we actually need are structured tests for bigger events, right? We need to start building out for things that look far more disruptive than a Saturday permitted protest. We need millions of people in the streets, absolutely. We need that show of force, that show of opposition to all of the pillars of support, all of the corporations, etc., to all of the elected officials. But, we need more longer, sustained, disruptive actions, I think. And we're going to have to get ready for those in earnest. I am very, very concerned that people are underestimating the amount of disruption that we will have to create to prevent the Republicans from subverting the midterms.

[00:08:05]And so, I want to try and talk about that over the next coming weeks. And yeah, not months, next coming days and weeks about the kinds of events that we need to leverage, about the kind of organizing that we need to do. But, please understand, having recruitment events is more important than ever. Having people realize that they have agency and power and that we need them to get on board, that is more important than ever because it is the big tent. It is the mass movement of the people, the mass disruption of the people that will stop this. So, thank you to everybody who sent that to me or tagged me in that video, whether or not you were doing so because you didn't like the fact that I talk up New Kings and other Saturday family-friendly protests, or whether you were doing that because you were like, "This lady is absolutely right." She is absolutely right. She's absolutely right. We need to bring more folks on board. We need to build those connections. We need to fold them into the movement. I got to get them plugged in and leveled up and have everybody in this together. We're all in this together, y'all. It is us working together that will get us out of this mess. Yeah, definitely have more more thoughts on this I will be sharing in the coming days.

[00:09:08]Thanks for watching. Please don't forget to click like and subscribe and I'll be back really soon.