From emancipation to women’s suffrage, civil rights and BLM, mass movement has shaped the arc of US history
Trump’s first and second terms have been marked by huge protests, from the 2017 Women’s March to the protests for racial justice after George Floyd’s murder, to this year’s No Kings demonstrations. But how effective is this type of collective action?
According to historians and political scientists who study protest: very.
From emancipation to women’s suffrage, from civil rights to Black Lives Matter, mass movement has shaped the arc of American history. Protest has led to the passage of legislation that gave women the right to vote, banned segregation and legalized same-sex marriage. It has also sparked cultural shifts in how Americans perceive things like bodily autonomy, economic inequality and racial bias.
Depends on the integrity of the election system. With the current gangsters in charge, that’s subject to question.
There are also other strategies that are as efficient, probably even more so: one is to expand the attack surface. It’s exponentially easier to defend a few dozen potential targets than thousands. This should happen in parallel with voting and peaceful demonstrations. I won’t elaborate further on this platform.