this post was submitted on 20 May 2025
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Peaceful protests actually work better, but requires actual action not just sitting at home and upvoting shit.
Poland was able to overthrow authoritarian regime via peaceful protests, general strikes. Yes, at moments they turned violent, but it is because the government escalated it.
We don't want this administration to use protest's violence to be used to consolidate their power, instead we want the violence caused by the government to encourage more people to join protests. It is more of us than them, we actually have more power and it is a matter of everyone realizing this.
I encourage everyone to take Resistance Lab training: https://www.pramilaforcongress.com/the-resistance-lab
Maybe it's just the difference between countries and media landscapes but that's not what's meant by "peaceful protest" in the US. The government escalates, blames the protestors (often false claims of rioting), and the media runs with the narrative. In an American context your describing mass violent riots.
"Peaceful" protest means you haven't elicited a response from law enforcement beyond standing on the side of a road babysitting the crowd.
yeah that sounds like an education failure. a peaceful protest is like when India won its independence, where protestors stood their ground even as police were beating them to death.
Of course! The narrative taught in school about the US civil rights movement or the Indian independence movement is that the empires were having tea and crumpets then because enough people asked very politely and walked courteously near the nexus of power they got their rights/independance. Oh and also because one person sat somewhere on a bus, or a few people did a hunger sit /not a strike/.
We're taught from childhood that you can make change by inconveniencing no one. It only makes sense that the narrative would survive where it's left unchallenged.
Peaceful protest includes property damage fyi. Shit still needs to be disruptive to be effective, a lot of people forget that
The left needs a much stronger tone in the narrative. When the military shot strikers (and innocent bystanders) here in Sweden, the left pushed hard. The Ådalen murders is an infamous event in our history, and spurred our worker's rights movement.
In the U.S. it happens all the time and the general view from the outside is that people are by and large apathetic because nothing is being done politically about it. There was some push-back during Covid but few people talk about it anymore.
The admin will arrest innocent citizens and declare martial law no matter what we do.
Fight back
So what violence are you planning?
It is much harder to get a buy in from general population that arrests and natural law was necessary if the protests are peaceful.
Escalation caused by the government motivates more people to join the protest. While of protest was violent from the start more people will be against it and will avoid being part of it.
Another example, Ukrainian orange revolution and Euromaidan. It was started by students (BTW this is why trump attacks students) and as the government started being violent, made other Ukrainians join.
"People are afraid of opposing the police state because the police state oppresses them" is not an endorsement of peaceful protest.