Have you ever asked yourself, “Why don’t any GenZ-ers come to these things?”
As a GenZer, I’ve noticed that many of my peers feel like these protests aren’t specific enough to accomplish anything. Our generation is tired of political statements that feel more performative than substantive.
This isn’t to disparage the incredible work we’ve been doing in 50501. You all rock, and I’m especially grateful to all the wonderful friends I’ve gotten to meet through this group.
But, we need to tweak our strategy to make our movement as effective as possible.
It’s common sense that making our demands more specific will lower the threshold for how many people a successful protest requires. “Impeaching Trump” might require 4% of the population, while “Stopping the SAVE act” might require 2%. What will keep this movement going is clear results and a clear direction. Victories in specific areas will inspire other specific, clearly defined victories. So, introducing a specific set of demands for our next protest only makes sense.
Admin might say: “But we don’t want to scare people off with unpopular issues.” We might be tempted to reply that it won’t matter how many people we have if we never define a goal clearly enough to reach it. And this is a valid objection. But a more constructive response might be: “then let’s find an issue everyone agrees on.”
I’ve linked a secure, anonymous poll where you can indicate the 1-3 issues you feel pose a greatest threat to our democracy. (I predict that almost everyone will choose the same one). This will give us the data we need to convince mods to tailor our next protest (and hopefully our future protests) to the same specific issue(s).
https://strawpoll.com/e7ZJaDBqKg3
(You are more than welcome to comment or DM me if you’d prefer for security reasons).
My personal take? We should be devoting all our marches to stopping Trump from deporting political dissidents to El Salvador.
- It sets a terrifying precedent for violating democratic norms, since it’s in denial of a direct Supreme Court order and constitutional protections. If we don’t remind him IMMEDIATELY that he has to respect our rights, then he’ll trample over them for the next four years.
- It’s a salient issue that’s relatively easy for the Trump administration to back out of. So, he actually do it if we shut down society enough (as opposed to fixing trade alliances that he’s permanently severed). Especially considering that tensions with El Salvador are rising (due to ES wanting assurances that people are actually guilty), the time is ripe.
- There are particularly horrific details that we can’t just sit by and watch. Four year old kids with cancer are being deported. People with tattoos for autism awareness are getting carted off. People who aren’t on lists but HAPPEN TO NOT BE WHITE are getting thrown in ICE vans. There’s so little oversight in this that eight women got thrown in the plane to the El Salvadoran men’s prison and had to be shoved off last minute.
- Deporting undesirables to camps is the closest we’ve come (so far) to a full-on fascist regime, and we have to hold the line here.
- This issue unites many other concerns on our list. Targeting judges, overthrowing birthright citizenship, and violating court orders are all bound up in Trump’s campaign against immigrants, students, and political dissidents
However, I want to read everyone else’s thoughts about the most important issues.
I believe in this community, and I’m confident that everybody wants the best for this movement and will work their ass off to make sure we succeed. Let’s keep up the great work as we approach the next march!!
