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- cross-posted to:
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We the people are speaking out at every capital in every state, today, now!
A growing movement opposing President Donald Trump’s early actions is organizing protests across all 50 states on Wednesday.
What to Know:
The movement uses the hashtags #buildtheresistance and #50501 (50 protests, 50 states, one day).
Many demonstrations are planned at state capitols, while others will take place in major cities.
Flyers circulating online denounce Project 2025 and call for action against fascism and deportations.
Organizers, like Kelsey Brianne in Michigan, are mobilizing communities with grassroots efforts.
Protests have already begun, with thousands marching against deportation policies in Los Angeles on Sunday.
The movement has a website at 50501movement.carrd.co and is active on Instagram, Reddit, Bluesky, Discord and Signal.
I mean my news gave it a fair shot, but ultimately it was just about 50 people waving signs in the middle of a city where 50 people are not even a noticable increase of people usually on that street. I’d say my news was even being generous, by zooming in to try to make the “crowd” fill the screen, but there just wasn’t enough to go on.
We have to face facts that this was a pretty poorly planned event. Someone thinks of going for it on January 25th and expects to organize a national protest in all 50 states with boots on the ground with less than two weeks total in the middle of a school/work day?
If this were, say, the first of a routine series of protests, ok, then over iterations it might have a chance to grow. If it was to be some overwhelming event, well you’ll need more actual planning to get there. As a disorganized blast of thought for a one and done… it was not a good idea.
I think in general the American protest movement is really behind on ideas for what to do when the government doesn’t want to listen. I’ve been to tons of “stand around and wave signs until change happens” protests, for BLM, migrants, LGBT people, healthcare, strike support, the only time the protest ever made any impact was when the march was in support of a strike.
Blocking up streets with protest works when it’s being done to amplify the impact of a work stoppage, but just waving signs around on their own doesn’t do anything, especially when the people you’re protesting don’t particularly want to placate the protestors.
And like, I get that “build a nationwide labor movement that can go on a general strike” as a step one for a protest is an impossible tall order, but we gotta face facts that just having a lot of people come out and wave signs around alone doesn’t do anything, especially when the target of the protest really doesn’t care that it’s being protested.