February 1 Blog: Nationwide Protests, Ezra Klein & Heather Cox Richardson

Dear Friends:

I always find it very helpful to put what is happening into a bigger picture that helps explain why….and what might come next.

If you are similar, I highly recommend this Ezra Klein podcast with Henry Farrell discussing “weaponized interdependence” and the speech of Canadian Prime Minister Carney at Davos. They talk about the post WWII world order where countries were economically

dependent on the US. For decades it made the world richer and allowed the US to influence the world economy to its benefit. Trump has “weaponized” that relationship so that now other countries are realizing that the benefits of dependence are not worth the risk and cost. And the US is losing its influence on the world that has so benefited everyone, especially the US. It is an old story of powerful empires' hubris and decay. That quote of Thucydides that Vance and Miller like so much about the strong doing what they want and the weak suffering what they must is not so much a description of how the world works, but more a discussion of the hubris and cruelty that led to the downfall of the Athenian empire. 

As I’m sure some of my readers do, I tune into the weekly “What’s the Plan” Indivisible Zoom call held by Ezra Levin and Leah. This Thursday they had Erica Cheniweth on and I’ll share several key points from the discussion. 

1. In Minnesota we are seeing mass and diverse resistance. Everyone is engaged. Some in visible protests, others in mutual aid helping their neighbors. 

2. The Regime’s violent repression and lying are backfiring. That is really important and leading to defections from the Regime and changing how Congress votes.

3. It is crucial we maintain resistance and discipline in the face of repression despite, or even because of, the abuse.

4. Do not underestimate the power of large protests to affect public opinion and win elections.  It’s not everything, but an important strategy.

5. How people feel is so much more important than how they think which is why Art plays an important role in resistance movements. Bruce Springsteen’s new song “The Streets of Minneapolis” is a good example of this. It makes me tear up and feel more resolve. I’m sure I am not alone.

I really liked one of Erica's discussions of why peaceful resistance is so important. First, as is often pointed out and I think all my readers know, peaceful resistance is much more likely to succeed against a dictator. But second, the way we struggle now determines the kind of country we will have after the struggle is over.

Maybe we can avoid a complete downfall. I continue to be inspired and hopeful seeing the peaceful resistance of ordinary Americans, particularly now in Minneapolis. More and more communities are organizing to provide support for Minneapolis, as well as their own immigrant neighbors. It’s not always seen, but that important resistance continues to grow. What Heather Cox Richardson calls “social proof” of resistance continues and gives others courage. People poured out around the nation in large and small protests of Alex Pretti’s execution by ICE.

On 3 hours’ notice we had about 30 people on our bridge last Sunday in freezing temperatures and our experience was repeated by Visibility Brigades across the country. Some with many more people and much colder temperatures. Visibility Brigades started with one overpass in New Jersey about a year ago. There are now over 370 of us. Recently many of us have noticed that younger people are coming to join us as the horror of the Regime becomes clear to more and more people. I’ve read of TikTok posts about cats, golf and skiing saying that they cannot ignore politics and what is going on any more. The Resistance continues to grow.

This past weekend, we witnessed a 2-day national protest. There were hundreds of anti–ICE protests across the country and I was pleased to see that “No work, No school, No shopping, Stop Funding ICE” this past Friday was led by students at the University of Minnesota. They called for their peers at other educational institutions across the country to join them. On Saturday, 50501 called for an “ICE Out of Everywhere National Day of Action.” On both days, organizers called for justice for the people detained by ICE and those killed at the hands of ICE or while in ICE custody.

The prize we are fighting for is our democracy and national soul, but exactly how that will look, no one knows. We have to get that prize first. I know we all fear election interference will keep us from that prize. That fear is justified. Although we do not see a lot of the work, I believe many people are gaming out possible scenarios now and getting ready for Trump to try to steal this next election. I have no inside information, but I trust Indivisible when they say it is happening. That is, at the moment, out of most of our hands. What is in our hands now is our first job to save those elections: get lots of good candidates and help them win big in lots of places. Then, likely, we will need to be protesting in massive ways to make sure the actual election results determine the outcome. We’re practicing that now with regular smaller protests and the massive No Kings protests.

The next protest is No Kings III on March 28. Put that on your calendar and start planning now what you’d like to do. We need to make it the biggest one yet. We’ll be promoting the date on our bridge. On March 28 we plan to schedule our time on the bridge so people can do both that and join events downtown if they would like.

Meanwhile, to increase our understanding and keep up our hope, Heather Cox Richardson will be speaking on “The State of Democracy” at the Washington National Cathedral on Wednesday, February 11^th at 7:00 pm. You can attend in person or online: https://cathedral.org/calendar/an-evening-with-historian-heather-cox-richardson/?dm_i=7XGV,33E3,37WQBR,FKLS,1,0,0,0

Yours in peaceful resistance,

Libby

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