(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



Passive Resistance [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-05-22

*Disclaimer: Read at your own risk, because I’m not wearing kid gloves, but boxing gloves”

Reading articles, social media and watching news venues of the United States of America, one could imagine that Americans are fired up, resisting with all their might the fascist takeover of their country. The outrage is real; the words are sharp and the backlash intense… everywhere but on the streets.

The streets are quiet; everyone is going about their daily lives as if nothing was going on. Of course, there’s talk at work and at home, but there’s no “take the streets” movement. Once a month, you have a “Civil and polite” protest drawing crowds of millions, but the directive is clear, do not disturb the peace, do not cause trouble, do not disrupt the lives of others. These protests in fact seem more festive like a festival atmosphere, rather than a fight for our lives moment. When asked about this rather new model of resistance, they will tell you that “we will overwhelm them with numbers”.

It is not as some believe that passive peaceful protests do not work, but when done they are done with continuity and momentum, they are not usually a month or so apart. And that is the part that this resistance movement seem to have lost, one builds momentum, they could have started one month apart, then two weeks, then one week… etc… but they are loosing momentum, for while in certain cities the second protest had more people overall the number of protesters diminished (slightly) from the first which drew over 5 million.

While the May Day protests were substantial, they were smaller in scale compared to the initial "Hands Off!" demonstrations on April 5, 2025. The April protests were the largest one-day, nationwide display of public resistance against the second administration of President Donald Trump, with demonstrations occurring in over 1,400 locations across all 50 U.S. states and drawing up to an estimated three to five million participants nationwide .

Walking about any of the famed cities, one would be hard pressed to say there was anything wrong in the US of A. Nothing seems out of place, except maybe for the flicker of fear that can be glimpsed behind almost every eye, even the ones that voted for this fascist takeover.

The mere suggestion that they might want to pick up speed, to protest every day or to shut the country down is met with incredulous looks and vociferous rebuttals. We can’t afford to lose our jobs! It’s up to elected Dems to save us! A reminder that said Dems do not have the numbers to affect anything either in the house or senate is met with incredulity and “they can do things!”.

One might think Americans are unaware of the grave danger they face, one would be wrong. They are aware, and they are scared. Not only of the road their country is on, but also, they fear losing their jobs and security, martial law and other retribution if they protest too much or too loudly.

And yet, every day there’s a new horror silently chipping away at their rights, eating through the only real effective resistance being put up by the courts of the country. Bit by bit their freedoms are being eroded, their economy is falling putting the very jobs they cling to in more danger each day. Pretty soon one imagines even the passive resistance they are putting up will be declared illegal.

The 2026 midterm elections they look to as their last saving grace, is looming far away and even they are beginning to wonder if by then it will not be too late. What shape will the country be in by then?

So, as the world watches and wonders; what’s it going to take to light the fire and ignite the passion of pasts protests, in the country called the beacon on the hill, the famed country of the United States of America, which has given the world so much hope and dreams to date…. Americans wait passively wondering who is going to lead them or who is going to save them.

#TheAmericanHaitianPoet #Woke #SocialPoetry

paypal.me/murielvieux to help

#ThePoet - Muriel Vieux – May 22nd, 2025, ©All rights reserved

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/5/22/2323843/-Passive-Resistance?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/