What protests do. And what's next?
Resistance is a practice.
Encouragement, advice, and actions from last night’s Indivisible MHK meeting
Make democracy great again
We in Indivisible MHK are part of the national movement, Indivisible — founded by Ezra Levin and Leah Greenberg in 2017. Since Donald returned to the Presidency, the Indivisible movement has been growing — with new Indivisible groups appearing in different parts of America every day. Literally every day. Last week saw the addition of another 40 new Indivisible groups.
Indivisible is a small-d democratic organization. We are united by our shared belief in democracy. I say this because if you supported Trump and now regret that vote, we welcome you. If you typically vote for Republicans but recognize the threat that Trump poses to our republic, we welcome you. We in Indivisible are democrats with a small d. I also say this because the capital-D Democrats need to remember this, too. And so do people to the left of the capital-D Democrats.
To beat authoritarianism, we must find common ground with others who support democracy, irrespective of party or any of our other differences.
Because the goal here is making democracy great again — the goal is making America a democracy, instead of a land ruled by a mad orange king.
Celebrate Our Success!
Speaking of that, we should celebrate the success of No Kings Day. Here in Manhattan, we had 1600, which beats our first No Kings back in June, where we had 1200.
Indeed, nationwide, we had seven million people participate in No Kings pro-democracy rallies.
Hands Off! (April 2025): 3 million
No Kings (June 2025): 5 million
No Kings 2 (Oct 2025): 7 million
October 18 was the largest, single-day peaceful protest in American history. Period.
October 18 was the most geographically diverse protest in American history.
And a majority of Americans are on the pro-democracy side. Asked whether Trump “potentially dangerous dictator whose power should be limited before he destroys democracy” or “strong leader who should be given the power he needs to restore America’s greatness” Americans choose the “dictator” by a strong margin — 56%-41%. The margin between “dictator” and “strong leader” has nearly doubled since April of this year, when it was 52%-44%.
Destroying democracy is not popular. Destroying the East Wing of the White House is not popular — which is why the regime is trying to prevent people from taking pictures of it. Building a gaudy ballroom while raising our health insurance costs is not popular. Tax breaks for the wealthy while halting the SNAP program that so many of our neighbors rely upon — also not popular.
My friends, you are not alone. We are not alone. The numbers are on our side, the pro-democracy side — not their side.
And we should celebrate these facts. Autocracy is an ongoing onslaught, a depressing daily shitshow. So, we need to celebrate our successes. We need to remind ourselves that pro-democracy Americans are the majority of this country.
What’s next?
OK, I hear you saying. Yes, No Kings went well, but isn’t Mad King Donald still destroying the White House, sending his private army — ICE — to attack American cities and to kidnap people, and bringing a wrecking ball to US democracy? What the heck do protests do, anyway?
Here’s what protests do.
1: Protests challenge the authoritarian narrative. They expose the lies being peddled by the regime — we were expressing joy and love for America, and not “I hate America,” as professional liar and House Speaker Mike Johnson alleged. They show how widespread the resistance is.
2: Protests show us we’re not alone. They show others they’re not alone. As Hannah Arendt famously observed, totalitarian government “bases itself on loneliness, on the experience of not belonging to the world at all.” Autocrats want to polarize us, to divide us, because they want to isolate us. So, we have to become unpolarized, we have to come together in support of democracy. We are doing that this evening, and we did that on October 18th.
3: Protests are also building political muscle — getting us to that 3.5%. When 3.5% of a population actively engages in sustained non-violent opposition to a political regime, that 3.5% can topple the regime. This happened in 1986, when millions of Filipinos peacefully protested via the People Power movement. The Marcos regime fell on the fourth day of the mass protest. Scholar Erica Chenoweth looked at 323 mass movements that challenged repressive regimes, covering the years 1900 to 2006. They find that 3.5% of sustained non-violent opposition topples a regime.
On October 18th, we reached 2% nationwide. So, we’re on the way. We’re building that political muscle.
4: A protest is part of a practice of resistance. It’s not a single event. It’s one of many forms of civil resistance against the regime. The Montgomery Bus Boycott began in 1955. The Voting Rights Act was 1965. That’s 10 years of sit-ins, arrests, mobilizing, organizing, building alternative structures, refusing to comply. I do not know how long it will take to make America a democracy. Given the rate at which the regime is destroying the systems that we all depend upon, we could reach that 3.5 relatively quickly. Or it might take longer. I don’t know.
But there is a lot we can do together!
What we can do and are doing
NO KINGS / NEXT
Every week, the national Indivisible will post a weekly action at https://www.nokings.org/next
NO MORE ELECTION-RIGGING IN KANSAS
Here in Kansas, Eyes on Kansas is organizing a protest against redistricting on Friday, November 7, at the Capitol in Topeka. The Kansas Republican Party knows it cannot win another seat without cheating. And so, it is seeking to gerrymander Kansas’ 3rd Congressional district a second time in an effort to steal the seat currently held by Sharice Davids — the sole Democrat representing Kansas at the federal level.
VOTE BY NOVEMBER 4TH!
Here is who IMHK is endorsing. But let me be clear here: the most important thing is that you vote. We don’t need to agree on who to vote for.
IMHK feels that these candidates most closely align with our values —
City Commission: We encourage you to vote for two because a third dilutes the power of your votes.
USD 383 School Board
But again: These are only our recommendations. Follow your own conscience and your best judgment.
Your homework: Find at least 3 people and get them to the polls.
In an election with low turnout, this can make a big difference.
FEED THE PEOPLE
Thanks to the Epstein Shutdown, SNAP will run out of money on November 1st. Mean that members of our community will be hungry — unless we act.
➡️ Donate to the Flint Hills Bread Basket. (Katherine Schlageck has been leading a food drive for IMHK. You could also contact her.)
➡️ Volunteers are needed for Common Table. (There’s been an increase in people dining there.)
➡️ Sisters of Sound is collecting pet food, from October 29th through September 12th.
➡️ Contribute to Blessing Boxes. (List in image below. Amber Starling is leading this initiative.)
RENT AID
We passed the hat to help a member cover their rent.
CHECK ON YOUR NEIGHBORS
But please check on your neighbors! They may need help with rent or food, and may not be used to asking for help.
“DAILY” FREEDOM RALLIES CONTINUE
Here are the times and location for November.
4:00-5:30 pm, Weds., Thurs., Fri.
11:00-1:00 pm, Saturday
in Griffith Park
IMHK NEEDS YOU!
We passed out questionnaires asking:
What are you good at?
What are you interested in doing?
What organizations are you affiliated with?
Conclusion: Oriented Towards Hope, Driven by Love
Before you stroll off into the night, I want to leave you with two concluding thoughts.
First, I often think of what Vaclav Havel said, back when he was still a dissident fighting totalitarian Communism, long before he was Czech president, and when he could have no way of knowing that his movement would prevail. He said: “Hope… is an orientation of the spirit, an orientation of the heart.” He said, “Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously headed for success, but rather an ability to work for something because it is good.” Hope, Havel said, is “not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.”
So, I invite you to think of hope as an orientation of the spirit, to orient yourself towards possibility, towards what can be done — to work for something because it is good, because it simply makes sense. Doing what is right for its own sake.
Second, and this may surprise you, but I want to invite you, inasmuch as possible, to be driven by love rather than anger. To be clear, your anger at the regime is justified. Being angry at their cruelty and indifference makes sense — he’s ordering the Justice Department to pay him $230 million for past investigations of his crimes? While people go hungry and lose their health insurance? That makes me mad, too. We are going to feel anger. And we can and should express that anger — ideally not publicly on social media, not to an entire Signal chat, and definitely not to a counter-protester. But talking through your anger with a friend, with a therapist — please do that.
What I mean by “be driven by love rather than anger” is that, for your commitment to the struggle, in the long-term, love is more sustainable than anger. And love is healthier than anger. I learned this from the writer and activist Iyad el-Baghdadi. He said: “I speak a lot … about how your activism should be driven by love and not revenge. I speak about how revenge is toxic, and is a terrible long-term motivator. Not many people appreciate just how difficult it is, after paying a heavily personal price, to insist on being fueled by love and not revenge. To be pulled to the future by a beautiful vision, rather than pushed forth by your pain and your demons.”
So, as we head off into the evening, let us be driven by love and not by revenge. Let us work together with our neighbors, our friends, with people we have just met, with people we don’t yet know — with anyone of any party — to make America a democracy, and to build a truly beloved community where each of us has what we need to flourish.
Let us be led by love.
Thank you!
Next Meetings
Due to the holidays, we will not be holding our next IMHK meetings on the final Wednesdays of the month.
Instead:
Sunday, Nov. 16: 4:30-5:30.
Sunday, Dec. 14: 4:30-5:30.
And they will again be in the auditorium of the Manhattan Public Library.
Hope to see you there!