nokings
Me and mine (in his Mike Eruzione hockey jersey) stopped by the library while we were at the #NoKings protest just to get our picture taken among the stacks. I have Rebecca Smith Aldrich to thank for the text on mine.
There are a million ways to display resistance and just because your resistance isn't the showy resistance that looks good in a post doesn't make it any less valuable. There is so much great vital work happening behind the scenes right now that most people will never see or appreciate.
There are both short-term and long-term forms of resistance and the short-term gets the attention but the long term builds a foundation from which to grow. Resist in a way that is sustainable for you where you can make a difference.
#NoKings
Folks, there's an interesting change in the tenor of the media coverage for yesterday's #NoKings. It's no longer "sure, there are lots of people, but will it matter?" Now it's "Wow, look at all the people. Something important is happening."
Let's take a little tour.
First, CNN's article at https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/19/us/protestors-voices-no-kings-trump highlights that nearly 7 million people showed up -- 2 million more than the protests in June. They highlighted "largely peaceful".
1/
Watching footage from Portland — protestors in frog suits, unicorns, dancing, humor in the face of absurd claims.
It reminds me that resistance doesn’t always roil and riot — sometimes it laughs, shines a light, and refuses to be afraid.
We need more of that.
#ResistanceIsCreative #StandUpNow #Portland #NoKings #CommunityPower
In one week, people all over the United States will join together to say: In America we don’t do wannabe dictators or Kings.
No Thrones.
No Crowns.
No Kings.
One week to go.
#NoKings Day Rally #Gainesville #Florida
I estimate at least one thousand attended. Peaceful. Good music and speakers. 😊👍💕✊
https://mdpaths.com/rrr/commentary/no_kings_2_trump_protest/index.html
RE: https://mastodon.social/@tusk81/115401822396959130
One retiree said he chose to wave an American flag instead of a sign “because people who carry the flag do not hate America and as you can see there are a lot of flags.”
WE ARE TAKING BACK THE FLAG 🇺🇸
Just signed up for my local Visibility Brigade No Kings Day rally. How are you spending your Saturday?
#USPol #PresidentForSale #Resist #Indivisible #VisibilityBrigade #ICE #Immigration #Fascism #NoKings
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall... think of it, always.”
-Mahatama Gandhi
#NoKings
The high point of the Austin no-kings march was the small group chanting
What do we want?
Science!
When do we want it?
After peer review!
This holiday season, please model for your relatives that you dont tolerate kings of any kind at your table
If that will make the king of that house mad, good say it louder then leave while everyone else watches, if you stay thats you loudly sitting at a table with people who support kings ✌️
Its either #nokings or "yes kings", theres no "maybe kings"
Grandmas, Grandpas, and Grandkids welcome.
This is a non violent protest.
https://buff.ly/fFjTpsa
#NoKings #NoKings2
If you participate in #NoKings protests, please be very aware of anyone trying to incite violence. Don't let them twist the narrative on legal, peaceful protests.There are some good websites on how to protest safely, so please look them up. Stay informed and stay safe.
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:zetunk75tdvsmkjqkel65dcl/post/3m2x25kin2c2f
#NoKings is coming up next weekend. Get your protest sign ready with a little help from Fedi's own @docpop
https://spectra.video/w/7ffb2b02-9588-449b-b8f4-e9618f799d85
It's a know your enemy sort of thing to say, no, #Trump is not a king. He's a stupid brand. And recent events just highlight that as he slapped his name on the #Gaza agreement.
I keep thinking of the Trump brand of wine.
Trump didn't make that wine. I doubt he knows how wine is even made at all. He's notorious for not drinking, so how would he even know if the wine is good or bad? He doesn't know anything about it, he just slapped his brand on it.
To counter Trump it's foolish to approach him as a king. In fact that might might make things worse because it brings more attention to his brand.
The #nokings stuff is foolish because it misses what's going on here. And it will serve to actually embolden and strengthen Trump.
Know your enemy. He's not a king, he's not that smart, he's just a brand hopping from issue to issue the same way he hops from crappy wine to crappy steaks.
You don't build a ballroom on a house you're planning to leave in 3 years.
More of this, please.
Also, for those of you who have been asking what the point of the #NoKings protests is: among many other things, this is. It's no coincidence that this letter was published two days after seven million people got off their asses to protest against Trump. More Republicans are going to start turning against Trump because they see that the country is not on his side. Changing the narrative is incredibly important.
#politics #USPol
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/my-last-day-as-an-accomplice-of-the-republican-party-miles-bruner
Some leftists have criticized #NoKingsDay2 as useless. Though it was the largest protest in US history, it didn't change anything. I would go further to say that protests like these generally won't change anything. Dictators aren't forced to step down by 2% of the population coming out for one day. If they're forced to step down by protests, those protests are sustained. They are every single day. They are accompanied by general strikes.
We've been watching that happen all over the world. Portland in 2020 gave us a taste of that in the US. The George Floyd Rebellion was the type of resistance that actually brings down dictators like Trump. Occasional protests, no matter how large, can simply be ignored. That is precisely the reason the US developed a militarized police force in the first place. You need more, more than the largest protests in US history, more than Occupy, more than the resistance of the 60's and 70's, more than, and different from, anything we've seen in our lives.
And yet... Each protest has grown, and grown bolder. Some have grown more persistent. If you think of protest as the path to achieve change, you will lose. It is not. But it is a path to escalate. Some people, some otherwise comfortable white folks, came out for their first time. Some people got pepper sprayed for the first time. Some people questioned authority, stood up for the first time, and have had an experience that will radicalize them for the rest of their lives.
Protest is not useful in and of itself. It is training. It's making connections. Authoritarian regimes rely on the illusion of compliance, so visual resistance does actually undermine their power.
Liberals like to teach that non-violence is all about staying peaceful no matter what, that there's some way that morality simply overwhelms an enemy. I remember reading Langston Hughes' A Dream Deferred in high school. I said it was a threat. My teacher said, "you're wrong, he was a pacifist." Pacifism is a threat. If you can spit at me, beat me, shoot me, and I will not move, if I have the strength to absorb violence without flinching, without even rising to violence, what will happen when you push me too far?
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
For peaceful resistance to work, there must be ambiguity. It must not be clear if or when the resistance will stop being peaceful. Peaceful resistance with no possibility of escalation is just cowardice.
My critique then is not so harsh as some other anarchists. If you think that protest alone will work, you're probably going to lose. If you are prepared to escalate, if you are prepared to absorb violence without flinching, then it could be possible for protest alone to topple the dictator. The cracks are already beginning to show.
And then what?
The problems that lead to the George Floyd uprising were never resolved. The problems that lead to Occupy where never resolve. The DAPL was built, protesters were maimed, it leaked multiple times (exactly as predicted). Segregation never went away, it only changed forms. The fact that immigrants have different courts and different rights means that anyone can be arbitrarily kidnaped and renditioned to an arbitrary country. We never did anything about the torture black site. FFS, people can still be stripped of their voting rights and slavery is still legal in the US. The people who control both parties in the US are killing our children and grand children with oil wars and climate change.
Toppling the dictator does nothing to resolve all of the problems that existed before him.
No, #NoKingsDay was absolutely not useless. #NoKings and related protests are extremely useful but they aren't sufficient. But, I think we still need to challenge the movement on two points:
How do you escalate after you're ignored or brutalized?
What do you demand after you win?
In Ann Arbor, Michigan, there was a massive turnout for the No Kings protest and march. A crush of peaceful protestors. Photos attached..
The #NoKings crowd in Fort Worth was probably twice as big as the Hand's Off protest from April. I'd say several thousand. I have no good shots of the crowd in the park or all the honking cars. But it was a festive and peaceful event.
Huge turnout for #NoKings in our little state of #Connecticut, #USA
