I’ve been publishing these diaries since December 12. They’ve helped a lot to clarify my own thinking about the actions I need to take, and I’ve heard that these diaries are useful for others, too. So they will continue, but I’m going to make a few changes starting today.
First, we need both protest and lobbying.
We need to normalize vocal, visible dissent at a local and national level — and we need to make sure that our representatives hear from us, often. The rationale for lobbying is clear: it’s fast, it’s easy and it’s effective. Anyone can do it, and there’s little risk.
But the Inauguration protest I attended, and the Women’s March the next day show how important it is to protest as well, even though that is more uncomfortable and carries more risk.
Our representatives are more likely to do what we need them to do if they know their policies have our visible, active support. They are less likely to go along with Trump’s agenda if they know it will bring out their constituents — and the media — to protests in front of their local offices.
We sent a message last Saturday, but that will subside if we didn’t speak the truth in this chant: “We are not going away.”
But that’s not the only reason why we must protest now.
We may need to protest later as our only option, and it will be much easier if we already know what to do, and if we’ve already encouraged others to join us.
When our events are peaceful, fun and empowering, we make them more comfortable for our friends to join, who are sitting on the sidelines in fear. Many of the marchers at the Women’s Marches had never done anything like this before, and to the organizers’ credit around the country, they all had an amazing experience they’ll never forget. They’ll want to do it again and again, and bring their friends.
These events will be easier to pull together if we are experienced - if we know what our community permit process is, if we have regular training in how to de-escalate encounters with police and the worst elements of Trump’s supporters, if we have effective strategies to identify and isolate provocateurs before they have a chance to be destructive.
Normalizing protests make them much harder to ban or supress
In my diary yesterday, I described the messages that Trump supporters are pushing to criminalize dissent. We cannot allow this to happen, and we cannot rely on institutions to protect our civil liberties if we are not using them.
Our communities are more likely to reject authoritarian messaging that seeks to suppress nonviolent dissent if they see it on a regular basis, and if it’s their friends, neighbors and family members holding the signs. The police are more likely to treat us well if we’ve earned their trust — and for white folks, leveraged our privilege to stand with those who make easier targets.
And if the worst things we fear come to pass, we’ll need an experienced army of women and men in the #PinkPussyHatBrigade who can respond quickly to attempts by Trump and his supporters to subvert the rule of law and the Constitution.
Sustainable Effort Require Routines
Many people here attended the Women’s March on Washington, or one of the many sister marches around the country and around the world. It was an amazing day, and that peak intensity is not sustainable for four years. As we make the transition into the Trump administration as activists, we need to establish sustainable structures for the long haul.
Many things work best if we do them every day, like brushing our teeth: calling our representatives, talking with friends, family, co-workers and neighbors, building up our social networks online and offline. They work especially well if we do them with a small group that will help hold us accountable for following through, and provide support when we need help.
In my professional work, I’m a big advocate for regular routines that help automate decision-making and help teams deal with the massive uncertainties inherent in start-ups, innovation teams and advanced R&D groups. The regularity provides stability when everything else is changing too fast to process. Trump’s has already shown that they will sow chaos to knock us off our step — regular routines make that much harder to do.
My future diaries will support you in creating your own routines.
We’ll reduce the number of actions from five to three, to make our effort more sustainable.
- We’ll make one phone call to a legislator per day. We’ll mix it up, though based on guidance from the Indivisible Team about the day’s priorities.
- We’ll reach out to one new person - in person - per day, using some conversation openers to help us find our people.
- We’ll do something every day that will educate us and build experiences that we can use to organize protests in our local community and connect with other groups that are doing the same thing.
My own actions on that last point are likely to focus more on supporting national coordination rather than local action, because I travel so much. But I’ll still make calls and reach out to people wherever I am.
We’ll use one day per week (Saturday) to reflect on where we are, what we’ve learned, and what we need to do next.
Finally, I’m going to ask you to help hold me accountable.
Every day, I’ll write down what I did since my last diary. I promise I’ll never ask you to do anything I’m not willing to do myself, and if something got in my way, I’ll be honest about the help I need.
What I’ve Done
Of course, I attended the protest at the Inauguration and the Womens March the next day.
On Sunday, I met with two other Kossacks to discuss where we intend to go next. We’re going to invite a few folks to join us on a call to discuss how to create a parallel structure like the Indivisible Teams for organizing local protests. If you want an invite, Kosmail me.
Yesterday, I replied to people who had emailed me about my Indivisible Team, I called Jaime Herrera Beutler about HR 7, a bill the Republicans want to pass this week that bans insurance coverage for abortions.
What I Will Do: Key Actions Today
- Call Senator Patty Murray about the nominations that are up for votes this week.
- Send out a Doodle poll to find a meeting time for the Indivisible Team I’ve started to form.
- Spend some time researching groups in the Portland / SW Wa area that organize actions that I may want to support when I’m in town to do it.
Key Messages Today:
- Donald Trump is trying to do to us what authoritarian leaders all over the world do when they take power: destroy the citizenry’s confidence in the truth and the media.
- Only unified opposition to everything Trump and Republicans try to do is going to be effective in stopping them.
- Democrats need to put out more policy statements like the Infrastructure proposal that show we want to build our country - not destroy it.
Resources to Bookmark:
Help Spread the Word!
Thank you for all the recommends, shares, callouts and tweets!
If you’re new to this, it’s the last in a series of diaries with action items specific to resisting Trump’s takeover of America. I’ve been publishing them Monday — Saturday on most days since Dec. 12.
- Bonus #1: Share this on Facebook, Twitter, etc to amplify the effects of our efforts.
- Bonus #2: If you are dedicated to this fight, please consider following the Kos Group “Sons and Daughters of Liberty.” I’ll post these Action Lists there, as well as other diaries that offer concrete opportunities to take action. That way, you’ll be able to read them even if they don’t make the Rec List. If you’d like to play a more active role, send me a Kosmail and I’ll add you to the group.
- Bonus #3: Sign up for Twitter and let us know you’re there. If you’re not on Twitter already, consider signing up with your DailyKos handle. My handle is @Kascade_Kat - share yours in the comments so that we can amplify each others’ messages.
- Bonus #4: Share your plans for Inauguration Day and the day after. If you’re going to the protest in DC and want to meet up with other Kossacks, post something in the comments thread. I’m going to DC and I’m bringing two people with me. Parallel marches are happening on other major cities.
Remember - history has its eyes on us this time.