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Alphane_Moon@lemmy.world 5 weeks agoThat’s by design. Friends across the pond talk about mass protest as a solution, but not only is the US akin to a bunch of countries loosely allied together (300M people), but we do not have the job/civil rights protections necessary such that everyone can protest safely. If you get injured during a protest (or worse), you have to pay a lot of money to get treatment. If you “say something the wealthy don’t like,” you can lose your job, get smeared all over social media, and be blacklisted from future employment. If you snicker at a public event or sit quietly on a campus, you could wind up in jail or in front of a judge who will be more than happy to take cops’ words for it that you are a public nuisance or were resisting. Our “right” to protest is functionally a guideline, in practice.
With all due respect (and apologies for the overly polemical statement), but freedom is a complex thing and it is scary and painful. What you’ve outlined (I believe you’re exaggerating a little bit) is modest stuff compared to what you experience in other countries for protesting.
I will speculate that if 60-70 million Americans start daily nationwide protest while partially undermining government authority (taking over parts of major urban areas) and showing the country they will not back down no matter what, the issues you outline will become less relevant. You will have people donating to protest camps, field hospital with doctors and medical personnel who are joining the protest. Camps and living quarters.
This is not a fantasy (I recognize how this might have sound if I was saying this while I was living in the US), this is real historical action taken by people from different continents of the world. Look at the global history of protest movement (particularly the successful ones).
The real problem is that unfortunately as things stand today, American society is fundamentally disconnected from an understand of freedom (beyond comical, childish polemics about freedom of shit and freedom of that, “I am free speech absolutist”).
You should reconsider those friendships, because they are the reason we are here at all. They are the problem, and befriending the American far right is just befriending fascists. If you care about the future of global society and democracy, you cannot also hold space for the far right.
I have more to lose from Trump than the vast majority Americans (I am Ukrainian). they are not fully aligned with Trump and they will come about. Beating fascism is also about converting people to your side and understanding their mode of thinking.
Attacker94@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
I think your speculation is right, but that is a huge if, for that many people, things will have to get noticeably far worse which unfortunately means that it will be a “First they came” situation where Americans will sit idly by while they watch others get shafted until it is their turn.
Alphane_Moon@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Agreed, the ramp-up is the hardest part on some level.
This might be due to the benefit of hindsight, but when the vector of protests seems to be accelerating, there is a genuine sense of energy in the air, like history being made in front your eyes (and with your participation).
I think there are also pragmatic reasons for this. Oligarchs and senior business community leader can start trying to hedge their bets or try to get an “edge” on the oligarchs who are firmly on the side of the regime. They want to get in early and not lose in the game of musical chairs so to speak.
Commoners too are influenced by the situation. People with marginal support for the regime start changing their views. No one wants to risk social ostracization and potential reputational damage.
People with moderate support for protesters can be influenced by severe actions from the regime and they become less open to compromise and supportive of direct action (in Ukraine this was the killing of protesters, that arguably radicalized much of the population, people now believed that Yanukovich must go).