In this season of ruin, I think from time to time of Shelley’s brilliantly savage sonnet “England in 1819” (see below), written in white-hot anger against his country’s corrupt elite in the aftermath of the so-called Peterloo Massacre of protestors in Manchester.
wow, thank you for being the first I’ve seen to say "No Kings" sounds silly. I live in France, just outside Paris, and while I support any anti-Trump sentiment, I thought the No Kings moniker wasn’t quite a good fit for the movement.
The movement, as you point out, that has less organization and leadership than in movements from the past.
We seem to be a rudderless ship that floats when the wind is right but settle back on shore to carry on.
I was equally disappointed with the demographic at the rally on the Green in New Haven. Yale borders the Green, and still I saw very few people under 25.
Two points, I think "No Kings" IS appropriate because Trump keeps going down a road of monarchical theatre to complement his fascist authoritarianism. Building a triumphal arch to oneself? Putting one's visage on coinage? I mean what more reason to shout "No Kings" does one need?
As to the evanescence of the protests, I do think you are spot on--as you would as an expert in Revolutionary France! The "street" or grassroots and leaders of the dissident elite need to be in coordination at the right moments despite the inevitable tensions (not to say potential conflicts) between the two...To use an American example, think of Hancock, the "Sons of Liberty" and the Boston "mob" in the 1760s...
"We don’t just need protest. We need an effective opposition." I think the cultural tendency to want to participate in street protest is part of thr reason we dont have an effective opposition. A political opposition which wants to win a majority needs to offer a reasonable alternative and for many, the alternative to what appears to be a shambolic and unstable government is not an even more shambolic and less stable "protest" culture. I argued long and hard across 2024 that Joe Biden and then Kamala Harris missed a sure bet by not opposing chaotic protests as the problem against which they were running. Any Democratic leader who is serious about rebuilding the party's credibility would, I believe, begin by staking a distance from the unseriousness of simple slogans and reflexive opposition, let alone from many of the groups which seem to have been most visible (including pro IRGC and pro CCP entities).
Im curious if the reporting in this account corresponds to what you saw?
What this post really says is “you’d prefer another country, probably smaller with a parliamentary system and strong, politically coherent parties as well as an engaged citizenry of all ages.” So would I, but its irrelevant to criticizing the actual, 3,000 very successful “No Kings” demonstration held across a large, diverse country on March 28.
The underlying factor that allowed the “ good” demonstation you cite in your article, the March on Washington, in 1963, was a strong labor movement, primarily the UAW led by Walter Reuther. Most of the money and organizational infrastructure came from there. (I know because I rode to the March from Seattle on a bus paid for by the UAW through the University District YMCA.) The main planner, Bayard Rustin, chose speakers and demands intended to pressure the somewhat sympathetic Kennedy administration to help Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement, especially with voting rights in the South. Of course the March on Washington had clear, very well-defined demands intended to accomplish precise, feasible political goals as well as inspire the mass base of the civil rights and labor movements. As a remember it, even the signs held by the demonstrators were mass produced and distributed to them by the organizers.
Contrast that with the situation we are in today. The labor movement barely exists after 40 years of deindustrialization and neoliberalism. “No Kings” was planned by thousands of volunteer committees accross the country, with some centralized leadership from two small, underfunded national organizations, Move On and Indivisible. If the organizing committee in Walla Walla, Washington, where I live is typical the planners were mostly young women. For reasons that should be obvious, the “goal” of “No Kings” was certainly not to pressure the Trump administration to accomplish positive political and legislative objectives, as it was the case for the March on Washington. The very idea is ridiculous. But the millions of mostly handmade signs held the demonstators showed opposition to the war in Iran, arbitrary arrests and deportations, and Trump’s growing authoritarianism. The political “goal”, if you can call it that, and was to show the political price the Republicans will pay in 2026 and 2028 if they continue their present course.
As for leadership from the opposition party, I suspect Chuck Shumer or Hakeem Jeffries would have been booed if they’d attempted to speak at the demonstration you attended in New York. Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio Cortes did speak in Minneapolis. This reflects the fact that the Democratic Party is a loose center-left coalition, not a coherent political party like sometimes exist in Europe (though less now than in the past.)
As for the snobbish comments about the demonstrators being middle class and educated, this is more or less correct— but then that’s true of the hundreds of demonstrations I’ve participated for 60 years, probably with the sole exception of the March on Washington. It’s also true of the readership of Substacks and the sociology of political activism in general, particularly on the left. But there are signs this is changing, and we will see what happens in November 2026 and beyond.
"It is depressing to think that there are no writers in the United States today producing anything remotely comparable." This sentence assumes that you would be aware of such a writer.
wow, thank you for being the first I’ve seen to say "No Kings" sounds silly. I live in France, just outside Paris, and while I support any anti-Trump sentiment, I thought the No Kings moniker wasn’t quite a good fit for the movement.
The movement, as you point out, that has less organization and leadership than in movements from the past.
We seem to be a rudderless ship that floats when the wind is right but settle back on shore to carry on.
I love the phrase, “this season of ruin.” It has the ring of “Ecclesiastes,” perhaps my favorite Old Testament book.
A great clip on Bluesky shows a little old white lady answering your question about the demographics of the protest she was at: https://bsky.app/profile/cwebbonline.com/post/3miadanqn2s2n
I was equally disappointed with the demographic at the rally on the Green in New Haven. Yale borders the Green, and still I saw very few people under 25.
Two points, I think "No Kings" IS appropriate because Trump keeps going down a road of monarchical theatre to complement his fascist authoritarianism. Building a triumphal arch to oneself? Putting one's visage on coinage? I mean what more reason to shout "No Kings" does one need?
As to the evanescence of the protests, I do think you are spot on--as you would as an expert in Revolutionary France! The "street" or grassroots and leaders of the dissident elite need to be in coordination at the right moments despite the inevitable tensions (not to say potential conflicts) between the two...To use an American example, think of Hancock, the "Sons of Liberty" and the Boston "mob" in the 1760s...
"We don’t just need protest. We need an effective opposition." I think the cultural tendency to want to participate in street protest is part of thr reason we dont have an effective opposition. A political opposition which wants to win a majority needs to offer a reasonable alternative and for many, the alternative to what appears to be a shambolic and unstable government is not an even more shambolic and less stable "protest" culture. I argued long and hard across 2024 that Joe Biden and then Kamala Harris missed a sure bet by not opposing chaotic protests as the problem against which they were running. Any Democratic leader who is serious about rebuilding the party's credibility would, I believe, begin by staking a distance from the unseriousness of simple slogans and reflexive opposition, let alone from many of the groups which seem to have been most visible (including pro IRGC and pro CCP entities).
Im curious if the reporting in this account corresponds to what you saw?
https://jewishonliner.substack.com/p/pro-palestine-and-anti-america-voices-converged-at-no-kings-protests-nationwide
There were a few meshuginer. Outnumbered by the little old ladies.
What this post really says is “you’d prefer another country, probably smaller with a parliamentary system and strong, politically coherent parties as well as an engaged citizenry of all ages.” So would I, but its irrelevant to criticizing the actual, 3,000 very successful “No Kings” demonstration held across a large, diverse country on March 28.
The underlying factor that allowed the “ good” demonstation you cite in your article, the March on Washington, in 1963, was a strong labor movement, primarily the UAW led by Walter Reuther. Most of the money and organizational infrastructure came from there. (I know because I rode to the March from Seattle on a bus paid for by the UAW through the University District YMCA.) The main planner, Bayard Rustin, chose speakers and demands intended to pressure the somewhat sympathetic Kennedy administration to help Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement, especially with voting rights in the South. Of course the March on Washington had clear, very well-defined demands intended to accomplish precise, feasible political goals as well as inspire the mass base of the civil rights and labor movements. As a remember it, even the signs held by the demonstrators were mass produced and distributed to them by the organizers.
Contrast that with the situation we are in today. The labor movement barely exists after 40 years of deindustrialization and neoliberalism. “No Kings” was planned by thousands of volunteer committees accross the country, with some centralized leadership from two small, underfunded national organizations, Move On and Indivisible. If the organizing committee in Walla Walla, Washington, where I live is typical the planners were mostly young women. For reasons that should be obvious, the “goal” of “No Kings” was certainly not to pressure the Trump administration to accomplish positive political and legislative objectives, as it was the case for the March on Washington. The very idea is ridiculous. But the millions of mostly handmade signs held the demonstators showed opposition to the war in Iran, arbitrary arrests and deportations, and Trump’s growing authoritarianism. The political “goal”, if you can call it that, and was to show the political price the Republicans will pay in 2026 and 2028 if they continue their present course.
As for leadership from the opposition party, I suspect Chuck Shumer or Hakeem Jeffries would have been booed if they’d attempted to speak at the demonstration you attended in New York. Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio Cortes did speak in Minneapolis. This reflects the fact that the Democratic Party is a loose center-left coalition, not a coherent political party like sometimes exist in Europe (though less now than in the past.)
As for the snobbish comments about the demonstrators being middle class and educated, this is more or less correct— but then that’s true of the hundreds of demonstrations I’ve participated for 60 years, probably with the sole exception of the March on Washington. It’s also true of the readership of Substacks and the sociology of political activism in general, particularly on the left. But there are signs this is changing, and we will see what happens in November 2026 and beyond.
"It is depressing to think that there are no writers in the United States today producing anything remotely comparable." This sentence assumes that you would be aware of such a writer.
the protests serve a psychological function to muster spirit in experiencing, "we are many" to be followed up by actions such as March 30th, https://www.mobilize.us/50501missouri-1/c/national-day-of-lobbying-round-3/event/create/