https://www.npr.org/2026/10/17/nx-s1-6004887/no-kings-voting-trump
Just going to leave that.
The key context to the USA’s relative passitivity with protesting is that we can easily lose our jobs for one of several reasons (none good) if we go protest AND that almost certainly will mean we will also lose our healthcare insurance.
The average person cannot weather an extra expense of only a few hundred dollars, has no savings, and borrowing money in that position usually leads to a debt trap where you’re continually punished for being in a temporary bad spot.
And that’s before we consider what cops and ICE are like here. They’ll just straight up murder us without consequences.
I get that the world is frustrated with us, but I also get that the world fails to grasp how much more desperate things have to get here in order to overcome the hurdles put in front of us.
Surely if people do nothing that situation will get better, right?
1789 was a year famous for its health insurance and job stability.
Ah yes, measuring against standards from 200 years ago. Classic way to do things. Literally.
I suppose one could also measure against current standards in France, Spain, Albania and Serbia.
It doesn’t make any sense to say that people should first have to be comfortable and secure before they can protest. If Americans had the standard of living of a prosperous country, they wouldn’t need to protest.
Sure but your comment was a reply that was about the ALMOST 1800s.
Also, I already commented a link about the No Kings protests earlier in this post.
Sure but your comment was a reply that was about the ALMOST 1800s.
So? People had to take shits in 1789, doesn’t mean they can just stop going now even though that was a long time ago.
Also, I already commented a link about the No Kings protests earlier in this post.
So which is it? Americans don’t protest significantly because they don’t have health care covered for protesting, or they do, and the No Kings protests are an example?
It’s obviously neither of these. Americans don’t protest against the government much because a) things simply haven’t gotten bad enough and b) Americans are indoctrinated into believing the US is the richest country in the world and simply don’t know how far the US economy has fallen behind the most prosperous countries in the world.
K.
Why is cooperation and mutual aid so invisible to americans
Define mutual aid. My local group has been recently focused on bolstering the local food bank, since we found out the state funding was getting stuck in the urban area and not making it to the (largely immigrant) communities of people who cant afford to live in the city.
The local food bank is entirely volunteer driven, they only have a facebook page, and no way to accept donations online. It directs people to mail a check, but most people just venmo the urban food bank and assume the money will come our way eventually.
Due to lack of funding, they don’t even have refrigeration, and thus can’t accept fresh produce donations from the local farms or community gardens.
Here in a few weeks, we’re planning a big donation drive and awareness campaign about the lopsided funding structure, and county council has been invited to hear us talk about implementing a more decentralized food distribution system.
Opinions on the fediverse seem to think this is just more ineffective shitlib harm reduction nonsense, and we shouldn’t be wasting our time on it. I want to know why they don’t want us delivering food boxes to neighbors targeted by ICE.
I’m not saying that your plan is bad or wrong but it’s not necessarily mutual aid.
What you are describing is one way aid, unless I am jumping to conclusions about the people who are organizing it. The problem with one way aid or charity is that it doesn’t build parallel systems to protect people when the state takes away things they depend on. This is why it’s not an effective support for direct action. If the people supplying the aid get scared or they lose their privilege, the aid stops.
I’m going to use strike support as an example. Striking workers may get strike pay, but it’s not enough to live off. They depend on the support of friends, family and other workers who are not on strike to meet their needs so that they can continue to strike until a fair(er?) deal is made. The idea is that when these people are back at work they can support another group who is striking.
In a more general example, I am a gardener. I can take my time to teach others how to garden. I can share my seeds and my produce. Maybe my neighbor can put aside his raked leaves for me to mulch my beds with? It might be easier to think of mutual aid as an informal economy where the goal is to distribute resources and knowledge for the purpose of making sure people are taken care of vs profiting. IRL my neighbor has offered his front lawn for more growing space, but I haven’t been able to take him up on it because poor health has stopped me from using all the land I have already. He can’t spare the time or labour to help rn but I know our produce delights him so I’m not going withholding it because I’m not getting anything in exchange.
Seettu is another example although it’s not a static thing and different applications may be closer or further from mutual aid than others.
I hope this helps.
Good luck with your food drive.
It might be easier to think of mutual aid as an informal economy where the goal is to distribute resources and knowledge for the purpose of making sure people are taken care of vs profiting.
How is that not what I’m describing though? We want to break away from the formal system, that has failed us, and set up a parallel system of localized support.
I fail to see how bidding on a pot of money is more closely aligned with mutual aid than helping your neighbors distribute produce from the community garden.
How is that not what I’m describing though? We want to break away from the formal system, that has failed us, and set up a parallel system of localized support.
Again, maybe I am not understanding the details.
Are the people who are providing the food/funding/organization realistically likely to depend on this system in the future? I think it’s more important that they understand that they are building a system they will also rely on vs any “there but for the grace of god I go” type thought.
If so, then it’s mutual aid. If instead the parallel system depends on people with no connection to the need, it’s charity.
I fail to see how bidding on a pot of mone
I knew that wasn’t the best article but I didn’t want to depend on my own second hand experience to describe it because I am not Tamil.
The bid example didn’t include uses like the author describes in the beginning:
He depended on Seettu to meet emergency needs: when his wife and children arrived after he sponsored them, he used the money from Seettu to fund their settlement expenses.
It’s pooling money to be dispersed for the good of the community in the manner the community decides. It’s not perfect of course.
I’m getting too wordy here I think but the key idea is that in order for it to be mutual aid, all involved must be building a system they themselves rely on. That removes the power of the state to cut it off by threatening the most privileged.
Are the people who are providing the food/funding/organization realistically likely to depend on this system in the future?
Yes? Who else would care enough?
Maybe I’m wrong but I thought charity was commonly used for tax benefits? Also shame. People donate to avoid looking to closely at themselves. And some people just realise they have more than they need.
I participate in charity, I don’t think it’s the worst thing although I understand the criticisms. If the choices are stretch myself further beyond my current capacity or auto donations to a rent bank I’m going to pick the donations.
I haven’t seen the criticisms you received so I can’t guess at what their issue was. Perhaps they were just starting shit.
Community engagement has been slowly and deliberately eroded by both government and corporate interests.
Social Media is especially insidious. They want to drive everyone online into a space they can control and monitor.
We all live 25 miles away from our closest neighbor and we are incredibly stupid also
I’ve tried with local people I know and can vet that aren’t MAGAts. No one was interested. We have an insane level of individualistic thinking in this country.
Do you think other countries subsidise protesting? Yes your healthcare makes you all less free. Isn’t that worth protesting more? While I may be committing a false dichotomy it sounds like the choice is effective (economic) slavery or protesting.
That is not the choice we face. Disruptive protesting gets you killed in this country unless you’re “protesting” for fascism.
I do think other countries risk less when they protest, yes.
Ah yes, the Arab spring was famous for being low risk. Nobody died or risked their lives at all.
Jesus, this does not help the stereotype of Americans being ignorant as fuck about the world.
That’s a strawman argument. The Arabs were united enough to succeed.
Jesus, this does not help the stereotype of the angry internet commenter upon whom nuance and understanding are lost.
Look. You use whatever excuses you need to cope with the situation. But at the end of the day, you better get used to living under a dictatorship because thats where you’ll be.
Man, how astute and useful. Do you think this won you the argument?
The fact is you all want to see one thing: for all those guns Americans own to be turned on each other. If you think that you’re advocating for anything else - or if you think there will be any other outcome - I don’t know what to tell you.
It’s real fucking easy to wag your finger and say, “Just do X!” as though we’d never thought of that!
Get a clue and understand that you don’t understand.
“Do what I tell you to do, or you’re just making excuses! There couldn’t possibly be other real factors that affect peoples’ lives that I haven’t considered!”
Cool strawman. May I borrow it for halloween?
I’m sorry but comparing protesting in Europe to protesting in the Arab spring is nothing but auto-fellation.
He said other countries. Not Europe. Dont be obtuse. If he meant Europe he should have said that or he has no consideration for how vast the world is or how dangerous it is for people elsewhere. Either way, its an ignorant statement.
Must be convenient to lose all knowledge of what the entire thread is about to debate-lawyer.
Youre being deliberately obtuse. I know it. You know it.
I said other countries above, but obviously there are different levels. Western Europe isn’t at that stage yet (but you could argue the current situation in Europe doesn’t warrant such extreme protests yet and they would if it was warranted). But some of the protests in, for example, Georgia (the country) over the last few years, are probably on that level and with good reason. And they should be respected—which you are not doing with those types of comments
Could be relevant if anyone had been talking about Georgia or it was in the meme. The only non-Western European country in there is Serbia, and it’s not Eastern European, it’s Southeastern European along with Greece et al.
Deleted my previous comment about 3 min after posting, wrote too quickly and missed point. Take 2.
Mate, this doesn’t show just Western Europe + Serbia. Albania is there too. I’m sorry that this memetic content does not satisfy certain implicit criteria you seem to have about generalising to the certain regions of Europe—ie those which have been protesting more than the last few weeks. And given all that, I have no idea what your point is. Protests that have had significant impact on people’s daily lives through protesting are not just during the Arabic spring but there are modern examples in Europe. If you agree with that, then what’s the discussion about?
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If you get shot in the face with a beanbag round you don’t discover you are un-insured now half way through hospital intake
No sacrifice no change.
You first. It’s real fucking easy to tell others to just go die because you’re frustrated.
It’s even easier to only care about any of this when it starts effecting you.
That’s a nice assumption you’ve got there, but you know fuck all about what I’ve been doing for the last ten years.
Enjoy your distance from the problem and the arrogance of assuming you’d do better.
How sad to be putting in effort and have nothing to show for it beyond a chip on your shoulder. Holding a sign at your legally allowed “protest” for 10 years must be exhausting!
Go fuck yourself. Sitting on the sidelines sneering at other is most certainly tedious and exhausting.
What would you do, tough guy? You wanna come and defeat all the baddies single-handedly?
You sir, are a fucking piece of shit. Cheers!
Your words have no effect on me. Familiar isn’t it?
Violent fascist nations are violent, more at eleven!
I mean sure, ignore the protests from earlier this year where millions turned out across the nation, but sure…
The anti-US psy-op has been very effective here
America is doing a very effective anti-US psy-op by being fucking terrible.
haant changed shit…so…who cares?
Sorry to comment twice. But are you actually real? Like a human with breath and a beating heart? You don’t fundamentally understand that difference here? These people are fighting, the “demonstrations” in America have had zero bite, and any real fight in them has been squashed by their own people. You HAVE to see that.
L the fuck M A O
And did what? They didn’t disrupt anything. Parades on weekends are good for raising awareness, I’m not going to say they are useless. But they are fundamentally different from the other examples given.
Gotten shot and killed by lowest-bidder wannabe cops, who faced zero consequences. And our wannabe dictator said there would be no consequences for killing protesters. The reality is living conditions aren’t bad enough yet for most people to be willing to risk that.
So as it turns out, violence and fear tactics do work…
I’ve often been surprised at how living in America is perceived by the world. I’ve met a lot of people from all over the world, and while some have actually spent enough time here to understand the good and the bad. The rest who have not seem to believe in the shiny veneer that we export in our movies and television.
We are absolute wage slaves here. We are one missed paycheck from homelessness. But sure, blame the slaves for not overthrowing their owners.
I dont understand the logic though so please help me here. I have lived in the US and do have a good idea of how shitty things are (or were even back then). Things will not improve by inaction and are objectively getting worse. So yes, you risk a lot by acting but if you dont your life will continue to get worse and you’ll end up homeless anyway. Or worse.
No one is coming to save you. You live in the most powerful country in the world. Nobody is going to come in and liberate you. Your only option is to save yourself.
Nobody is claiming it will be easy, simple, or clean. But what other option is left? This is why the rest of us are baffled. Especially since the US has built up the reputation of having a rebellious spirit. Where is that spirit now?
No one is coming to save you.
Yeah, because they’re all too busy enacting fascism in their own country to do anything about the growing US threat except lick boots. Save us? Lmao you better be thinking about saving yourself once the consequences start rolling in.
Seriously. The global ultra rich are all working from the same basic playbook. It’s just happening here first due to the extreme concentration of wealth.
We are thinking about that. In fact, as per OPs post, many are acting on it.
No, I meant this part:
do anything about the growing US threat
“No one is coming to save you” is such a petty, disgusting thing to say when the people you’re looking down on are being turned into the cogs of a machine that has the entire world in its sights. The world needs to save itself from us.
Strategically, the best option other nations have to solve the American Problem is to prepare to weather the storm and let the country collapse by itself.
Historically what’s going on now with the US is a pretty straightforward “fall of the Empire” scenario (the biggest Empires invariably fall from internal problems as the generations that created the Empire are replaced by generations which know nothing more than wealth extraction) and interfering with that is a great way to be targetted as a scapegoat by the falling empire’s elites and suffer the side-effects of that empire’s death throes.
Looking from the outside, even if Trump is stopped, the problem will at best be delayed since the other party of the Power Duopoly that controls America is also deeply corrupt and done their part in the decay of that country for the last couple of decades (by weakening unions, deregulating Finance, unconditionally saving big companies, having Financial and Economic policies which reward Rentierism above Work, and so on) - Trump is not the malaise that’s killing America, he’s a symptom of that malaise and removing him will not solve the problem, will not stop another one like him to take over in the future and will not alter the trendof decay, only the speed of it.
As for the idea that Fascism is taking over in other countries, well, the rest is well behind the US in it and it’s exactly the point of the OP that people in other countries are already starting to push against it, well before it gets to the level seen in the US of jackboots (for the US that would be ICE) going around arbitrarilly arresting and even killing people.
I can make this simple: would you be the first to step in front of the firing squad when you have no idea if others will join you in rushing it?
We are not a united people here.
I know that. No one is saying you as an individual need to do this right now. We are saying you need to organize. I think this is a cultural misunderstanding.
When I say ‘you’ I am not referring to an individual. Im referring to you as a people. Maybe that misunderstanding is evidence of the hyper individualism your country has subtly snuck into your lives that prevents you (again a collective you) from doing so.
What did you think I meant by, “we are not a united people”?
You can’t organize peace with people who idealize a fascist society
This might be it, because you do pay change for the better with blood, the history is filled with it. The army is brought in, it goes overboard and they open fire on protesters, in every country everywhere throughout history, before people realise what’s happening.
Good luck Americans, this seems to be your turn.
Indeed you are correct.
AMD in 1954 Che Guevara actually came up with a speech that explained everything you need to know about the current americans’ ‘rebellious spirit’ https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-H5m_BeJoQA&pp=ygUkd2h5IGFtZXJpY2FucyBkbyBub3RoaW5nIGJhZGVtcGFuYWRh0gcJCTAMAYcqIYzv.
(Im going to add that Im baffled that Many people think that wearing a fucking costume is rebellious enough to substantiate any aubstantial positive changes… WTF?!)
I want you to say this same line to a Haitian person in 1804. Or to a Cuban person in 1959. Or to a Russian person in 1918
The amercans indeed are not the healthiest or best paid of all wage slaves om planet Earth today…but their access to spec ops knowledge and to weapons would put most of the world to shame. Heck the average american could put a Hatian person in 1804 or a Cuban pwrson in 1959 to shame with the access to shit they have…and yet…these americans never want to anything about their slavery. 😂🤣
I guess this must be what the americans want seeing as how they never want to substantiate any substantial changes to improve their lives and the lives of others who their mercenaries are currently blowing up as I type this 🤷🏿♂️
You are wage slaves who have a higher standard of living than the other wage slaves that are exploited in order to enable the availability of cheap consumer goods which keep the people docile.
This is about the English (and written in 1882) but now also applies to the USA:
Engels wrote: “You ask me what the English workers think about colonial policy. Well, exactly the same as they think about politics in general. There is no workers’ party here, there are only Conservatives and Liberal-Radicals, and the workers gaily share the feast of England’s monopoly of the world market and the colonies.”
This is an expert from Lenin: Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism which I think should be read prior to Settlers if only to disarm the reader from defensiveness. Sakai didn’t invent the idea of the bourgeoisie proletariat, he was building on the ideas of others.
I’d rather have less buying power to buy useless shit I don’t need than to be one paycheck away from homelessness
I think that’s a pretty universal opinion.
The Chinese aren’t protesting either. For similar reasons too.
I’m not sure the connection? (Genuine)
They’re some of that forced slave labor making the goods that the Americans are wage slaves to consume.
Protests are not the only option, but when asked why Americans are not making meaningful resistance the argument always boils down to: We have protests! Or We can’t protest!
Perhaps the most cursory look at why these actions are successful in different countries is worth a gander. It’s not that France couldn’t crush every protest with their military.
The difference is the US 100% will and won’t even apologize for it. Then the
stateoligarch run media will say they were “Terrorists”. Hell, the black lives matters protests in Oregon they spent weeks showing the “devastation” the protesters caused, it was like one square block and they had police dressing like protesters instigating the violence so they could disappear people.News are circling around the 3% (some are allegedly undercover cops, some are from fascist groups, and more ofc.) that break things, so yeah France is doing the same thing. No talk about why, only about that poor person that got their window smashed. 24/7.
Did you read the second part of my comment.
Yea, unless I miss interpreted you were saying yes France could crush protests, my point is that they most likely won’t, where in the US they will, and people know they will. see Kent State.
My comment was that protests are not the only option and if you look at why the protests in the other countries are effective, it might give you a little hint about non protest actions that would be useful.
Mainstream media are doing exactly the same in France and they all belong to, oh wait, some right wing billionaire.
It’s almost like someone somewhere is showing the user manual to the others.
Edit: It’s even worse than that. They are saying all the bad guys are extreme leftist from LFI (the most successful left party), gouvernement is somewhat implying the same and some officials even said they should remove this party from power and the upcoming presidential election. They are trying to make the opposition illegal and pave the way for the Fascist. It’s a fucking shit show, of course we need to riot and burn the system, that’s the only thing they are afraid of.
yeah they didn’t set fire to anything and cause a right wing backlash that help pro putin and islamist oligarchs internationally
standard lemming sigh
I think theyre already aware. They just wont do anything of substance to stop it.
If you go your whole life hearing it’s your god given right to have all the privilege and comfort you have (which is still a pittance in comparison to the rich but more than the people exploited to provide cheap goods) it’s hard to risk them.
are motherfuckers in the us still not aware of trump???
Lol
But a genuine comment because people think I’m a big meanie:
It’s helpful to know that folks aren’t alone and also helpful for orgs who are already doing things to improve the material conditions of their community to get some publicity and maybe some new helping hands.
Maybe then america will realize they have power, and the revolution might not be exactly the same as their last one
it’s also helpful to fight against tyranny though
I mean this in the least antagonist way possible: I don’t think anything I said excludes fighting tyranny.
then… go fight tyranny then?
I think you might be misunderstanding my comments or maybe I’m misunderstanding yours because I am very lost.
I added the “protests aren’t totally useless” thing as a way to combat defensiveness after I replied to the top level comment comparing recent US protests (such as No Kings) to the protests shown in the meme. It’s absurd to compare the two, and not because of the violence that occurs at them. The reason the type of action shown in the image can be impactful is because there have specific goals and targets in contrast to what amount to an awareness campaign or parade.
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I’m so tired of this idea that these sparse, scheduled, legal events are considered protests.
which sparse ones are you referencing? It seems like you are wondering why CNBC isn’t showing you all the local protests even in conservative towns?
I genuinely do not understand this level of delusion…
Look, these protests are ineffective. Period. They’re nothing more than photo ops for social media. I don’t care if they’re happening everyday and the news isn’t reporting, they are not doing anything to alleviate any of the issues this country is facing.
Yeah obviously they haven’t successfully overthrown Trump yet. What is delusional about me telling you the revolution will not be televised?
“I know that reference!!”
Gotta retweet it now 😌
/s
I’m tired of the idea that looting stores and burning public buildings is an effective way to protest.
Most protests in Europe are also legal events. You ask for permit to march through a city. Only in some places rioters started destroying things. So far peaceful protests in Spain forced government to pass housing laws requested by people and call snap elections while all riots in France achieved is curfew.
Spain has a left wing government (the last time I looked at least) they play by the rules it seems (people ask, government provide as it can).
In France the right have sold out the country to the rich, more or less stole the prime ministers seat (after the snap elections it should have gone to the left, surprise surprise it didn’t) , they couldn’t care less about housing prices and so on.
So when you say france only obtained a curfew you show that you don’t understand those two countries political landscapes.
The fight goes on ✊🏼
So when you say france only obtained a curfew you show that you don’t understand those two countries political landscapes.
What else did they gain? After the riots support Le Pen grew. You really think this is good for the left and our fight?
It’s just the beginning.
French gvt just offered a rework on university selections which is one of the students demands, and more space in unis for more students, which is also something demanded.
So what’s your deal, lay back on the floor and do nothing?
Yes, they will gradually change university selection. Elections are in May, Macron is basically saying “the next person will do something about it, trust me”.
What they should have done? I would say same thing as in Serbia: organize, mobilize, build support for people they want to see leading the country and get them elected. Burning schools and public buildings achieves nothing.
It’s sad that people no longer understand the difference between working towards some goal and violent lashing out. Hopefully lemmy is just an echo chamber fetishizing violence and most people are smarter than that. Hopefully we will see more countries follow Spanish example than the French one.
Oh so you’re one of those people. You think you are 100% right, and absolutely nothing will change your mind.
No need to discuss further, because you are just changing your tube to any new information that contradicts what you said before. For example if I say we already do mobilise, build support to elect Glucksman, you will only spew some other bs.
No need to respond.
if you think that spain has a left wing government then you need help.
spain’s government is capitalistic. There will NEVER be left wing capitalism cause its actually impossible.
Left wingedness places humans at the centre and gives each individual human greater abilitiy to say and do what they each individually want with their lives. Left wingedness makes more leaders , and it even turns the workers into leaders. This is why left winged exrremism is called ANARCHY, cause then there are no leaders. Right wingednesses centres the rich and their materials. It makes less leaders. And last time I checked Spain has only one president . This is why right winged extremism is called AUTOCRACY, one leader.
Heck , even wikipedia itself calls you out. on your idiocracy . DOnt even believe anything I just typed - go to wikipedia right now and type in left wing politics and right wing politics and then show me how anything I just typed is wrong… I can wait 🍿🤭
Dude you live in Dreamland.
We other people actually try to change things by, you know, actually doing something.
No need to vomit wordsalads at me 😁😂🤣
…ok… and what exactly do you other people do? …
Lol stop bothering me 😂🤣😂😁
Please show this meme to the people of Minnesota, Rene Goode’s family, Alex Pretti’s family, that kid who lost his eye, and the people who are following ICE around daily to prevent them from kidnapping people.
Doing a protest like the ones in France right now, two weeks before our midterms, would be very stupid and probably boost Trump and the GOP.
Now, when they try to steal the election and nothing gets done you can complain, but I don’t think that’s gonna happen.
Im bookmarking this comment until after the midterms.
Lol because you resisted so hard in 2024. It’s not easy to overthrow your government, but stop pretending the threshold for doing so wasn’t crossed
Not sure what you’re getting at here. Trump won in 2024. Just like Joe Biden won in 2020. Except when Trump won there wasn’t a mob smearing shit on the Capitol walls because they didn’t like the outcome.
I don’t buy any conspiracy theory that Elon changed votes in 2024 or whatever bullshit people are using to cope with the fact that Americans are fucking stupid and Biden was a colossal fuckup.
No they can’t complain, there’ll just be another wall of excuses and when they aren’t accepted, personal attacks, unless you’re Canadian then you’ll get your arse kissed because the threat is real from them.
Please show this meme to the people of Minnesota, Rene Goode’s family, Alex Pretti’s family, that kid who lost his eye, and the people who are following ICE around daily to prevent them from kidnapping people.
This meme isn’t about them and it’s incredible that this is your argument.
This meme is about how Americans are lazy and aren’t doing anything or haven’t done anything to resist or outright overthrow their fascist government. So yeah I’d say those people are relevant.
Are those individuals the ones who are lazy and didn’t do anything, or are you using them as a shield?
I’m saying this meme ignores their sacrifices becuase it lumps all Americans into the fat lazy group when they are the clear exceptions. And again, people are still out there doing the work.
I don’t use them as a shield. They’re motivation for me to do better.
US is what, 320 million people? And you point one protest and two people killed and use that as an excuse? More kids are being shot at schools daily, it doesn’t stop them from going to school.
defensiveness is a trap
So is generalization.
Much like your stupidity
Is the image from OP generalizing entire countries?
Maybe both you and OP are bad actors who are looking to drive division and infighting amongst people over what is clearly a global problem.
Or maybe you’re just a smug asshole and part of the problem? But hey, why not knock down and demean others to make yourself feel big and righteous, behave no better than the emboldened fascist fucks.
How would americans like to receive criticism
Gently while being told theyre all really good boys/girls.
I see. So when I tell someone if they aren’t doing the thing in the meme the meme isn’t about them I will also add “and that’s why you are such a good person”.
Deal, but only if we get a chapter on why shame and revenge are poison and how lessons from prison abolitionists can help them be even gooder people.
I know this is a shit post, but I wanna say just trying to reach DC through the maze of motorways, roads, and such puts a damper on directly protesting there easily without organized bus services. The logistics of trying to rebel without just sending armoured vehicles in crashing through everything is pretty gnarly.
I think we’d be better off taking to the streets to governor residences and state reps. Going to the capitol in an organized fashion for intentions portrayed here is just a logistical nightmare.
You guys need to chill on the hate. A good amount of hate is fine but y’all becoming redditors.
It’s starting to look like Europeans can’t tell where the front door is or the backdoor is. It’s like these protests are supposed to result in yes daddy and yield results. Sorry, you’re reading history books to tackle modern day issues.
I seek the down votes. They let me know you read my unpopular opinion. Also I do enjoy traveling to Europe.
On average, how long does it take a European to travel to their capital city, either driving or public transit? How long does it take an American to reach DC?
Are European capitals generally the center of population?
“Damn, I would resist the tyranical government, but not if it takes me more than couple of hours to get there. My hands are tied, I could never get to the government building in time.” But then again, you guys didn’t vote that one time because you didn’t know how to buy stamps and googling it was the whole thing, so I get it.
couple of hours to get there
Wow, people are always so quick to point out how bad Americans are at world geography then say stupid shit like this. Get a map
Oh, that’s unfair. Americans aren’t just bad at geography, they’re also shit at reading comprehension, but thanks for the demonstration.
I asked a European friend to take a look. Nope, you’re still the idiot. Get a map and try your “couple of hours” from anywhere outside of DC and report back
That’s just precious. You’re unable to comprehend a single sentence, and you’re doubling down on that.
More ‘we cant do anything because xyz’ arguments. There are protests outside of Paris. Here in Canada, an infintely sparser population, the railroads were shut down over the pipeline in 2020. We literally saw store shelves here on the east coast get emptier because the trains werent running.
Are Americans lacking any and all imagination that all they can think of doing is non-disruptive protests?
Dont get me wrong, Im sure there is creative action happening down there but my god all the comments are full of excuses.
Questions are excuses nowadays. Good to know. 👍🏻
Oh please. We know what the implication is. Dont play dumb. Dont be a coward and own your argument.
Can I offer some advice? Take your foot off the cunt pedal.
You know Im right. Why are you being a coward about this?
My fascist hell hole is better than your fascist hell hole. Hey, let’s go bomb some more brown people together.
Ill bomb your hello hole. ;)
Americans are trained through 12 years of public education to become docile if or when they protest.
The only characters of the Civil Rights movement that are mentioned in public school are MLK and Rosa Parks.
Practically no mention of Malcom. Everything I learned of the Black Panthers through my public school career, was from watching Forest Gump. BLA? Fannie Lou Hamer? The Deacons for Defense & Justice? Never heard of 'em.
Obviously pacifism is the way to get your message across, right?
Except it fell on deaf ears until black men and women started showing up armed.
(And that, boys and girls, was the start of the gun control movement).
Fuck…I only know the story of The Hurricane because of Bob Dylan.
Thanks to the NRA and Ronald Reagan for essentially leading the charge. Save for some gun laws, most are racist intentions to keep marginalized communities weak and unarmed for easier subjugation.
also black people in general are heavily stereotyped, so people would be indoctrinated not to trust AA figures in history. they think the fantasized version of ghandi was the method of resistance, his own family was anything but peaceful to get thier way at least until the late 70s in India.
Maximum travel time to the Capitol for each country by the lesser of car or train:
Albania 4.5 – 5.5 hours (by car)
Serbia 4 – 4.5 hours (by car)
Spain ~3.5 – 4.5 hours (via AVE high-speed rail)
France ~4.5 – 6.5 hours (via TGV high-speed rail)
United States 43 – 46 hours (by car, excludes Alaska and Hawaii)
Trying to organize in the capitol is a nightmare. I think we’re better off pressuring governors and state officials more than trying to focus on the national level.
If we don’t cause discomfort for the federal representatives, I’m afraid they will just call it a local problem much as they’ve done with the No Kings protests up to this point
I see it as two folds, get the local governments to deny and defy Trump then take it to the capitol. It’d be harder to ignore if states are supporting this. But the images show riots and I don’t think it’d be easy to get the numbers in DC to really snarl things up without prior organization. Trump was only able to do it because the Democrats are pathetically weak.
You’re not wrong, but I think you might overestimate the number of states where anything like this could actually happen. It would be spun as a “leftist rebellion” and they’d send in the militia fuckers with glee IMO
They’d do it with any rioting or similar in DC. We’re in a position people are being killed by the regime and will continue to be, and I think we should have a few states backing up counter movements in some way. The 2021 insurrection was able to get away with it because the regime was still in control at that point to let it happen.
It’s relatively easy to go after each of 20 independent 1 million person protests one at a time. It’s comparatively difficult to deal with 20 million people in the capitol
Yep, one of my favorite comparisons is that Germany is about the same size as Montana
Even people inside the US have a poor concept of just how big it is.
Like, only India, Russia, and to a lesser degree China compare to the US in terms of livable land area. After that is Brazil at less than half.
I honestly don’t think it’s a coincidence that the four countries with the largest liveable area have a serious authoritarian leadership problem right now.
This criticism would hit so much harder if, say, the people of France would do something about the hard right, but, oh look, Marine Le Pen can run for president again? Sounds familiar.
Also, these protests are likely to contribute to her getting elected.
Good. Let’s hope that France doesn’t fall for her shit like US did with Trump.
Societal unrest usuall does not bode well for the incumbent party.
It’s not people that could decide that unfortunately
Sounds familiar.
Oh, prance around with some signs on a Saturday when they’re off work. So effective! /s
And this happened in the US too, except 5 million people, not thousands.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Kings_protests
We here in the EU love to shit on Americans because they are stupid. We are just as fucking stupid or even stupider because we are repeating the exact same mistakes less than 2 years after America broadcasted theirs.
Here in the EU, literally exactly the same thing is happening. Corporate sponsored fascism. It is all in our Parliament and Comission at around 26% representation (chat control, fascist policies, even gaming holidays with racist tricks like “must be an overwhelming majority against to NOT pass, while everyone is on holiday”).
Italy is controlled by a fascist party, luckily the Dutch fascists just lost control because they did such a spectacularly bad job, Germany and Belgium fascists are reaching almost a quarter general support, Austria has fascists winning a plurality, Croatia, Czechia, Slovakia, all have fascists in the controlling governments.
France’s fascist party with Le Pen literally has more support in France that America’s MAGA fascists.
France is the only one doing anything as far as actual protests, and they are getting shit on by every country’s media the exact same, even the 90% identical talking points as how American media shit on BLM and No Kings protests.
What should they do about Le Pen? Protests the courts that overturned the ruling that restricted her from running for 5 years or simply not vote for her?
We’re told to “do something” about our President constantly. Do that.
Do what? She’s not president?
“Something.” Whatever it is we’re supposed to do, do it, so she doesn’t get elected.
Okay, so now I see the issue.
Americans have no idea how political systems in other countries work. If they did, I don’t think they would be so fanatical about defending their own.
Funny, though, I’m just repeating back word-for-word what other countries tell us Americans.
Yes, but if you understood the office of President in France and the office Le Pen currently holds you’d realize how bizarre of a choice this comparison is.
I agree with your sentiment but knock it the fuck off. Those protesting in France and those protesting and fighting back how they can in the US are n the same team.
As are many people here and around the world. Let’s acknowledge and uplift each other when we’re all striving for the same goal. You can still call out people who are building themselves up by denigrating others but don’t do it by behaving the same way.
Yes, that is my point, too. Notice how the excuses start to fly when I apply the same (warranted) criticisms to other countries that so many non-Americans lob at the U.S. It doesn’t feel good, and doesn’t help anything, does it? Everybody should knock it off, and work together instead of basking in self-righteousness.
Notice how the excuses start to fly when I apply the same (warranted) criticisms to other countries that so many non-Americans lob at the U.S.
You mean when you engage in whataboutism?
Yes, that is my point, too.
Really shitty way to make it by feeding right back into it. Notice I didn’t have to do that to make the point?
It doesn’t feel good,
I’m not from France. I just saw an American acting like an ass and decided, as an American as well, to call it out.
and doesn’t help anything, does it?
Nope, yet you fucking did it anyway?
Everybody should knock it off, and work together instead of basking in self-righteousness.
How did you not drown in the irony typing this out?
It didn’t take long for you turn into an ass, though, did it?
“I saw an American acting like an ass, and as an American decided to act like an ass too”
Sorry you decided you feel like you had to act like an ass too. Seems to be a real problem with Americans these days.
You should pick better role models.
I hear you but its hard when so many Americans are so resistant to any criticism in the first place. Its very hard to build solidarity with people who dont want to see what they might be doing wrong.
Ditto.
It’s not like ice was literally killing protesters execution style in Minneapolis or anything. This post is dumb
The White House doesn’t look like that anymore. It is a construction site. That’s what you get when you elect a real estate manager twice.
Shame shame USA
No way our white house currently looks that nice. 1/3 of it is a deconstruction pit, the roses are a concrete slab, and did they ever actually fix the grass after turning the front lawn into a mud pit for trash coin?
yea like that is the problem! Thanks for informing us.
A current image.
Im just gonna post this here : https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rpicpifk15U&pp=ygUWdGhlIG1hdHlyIHdpbGwgbm90IGRpZQ%3D%3D
To anyone who knows why I posted it and knows ‘The Truth’? I commend you 🫂 🫡
To anyone who iis too young or naïve to understand? Hopefully youll understand one day…
