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Let's Stand for Love & Justice, not for Rage [1]
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Date: 2025-07-18
I just received a note from the 50501 Movement. It was accompanied by some video clips, clearly of recent protests in Chicago and perhaps other places. The note said:
“Our next national protest is Saturday, August 2nd, and our message is powerful: Rage Against the Regime. We’re fed up with the corruption, the cruelty, the erosion of rights. This is about showing up for each other, standing up for what’s right, and refusing to let fear or apathy win. However you show up at a protest, with a sign in your yard, or by sharing online, you’re part of something important. Let’s make August 2nd our biggest 50501 protest to date.”
I immediately wrote the good people at 50501 a response:
“Dear 50501,
I sincerely do not love "rage" as an organizing principle.
I'm old enough to remember "Days of Rage" in Chicago (and for some reason your video clip shows Chicago streets). That event brought violence into the streets, and Seriously Discredited the enormous movement against the American War in Viet Nam. It was used to justify repression against the anti-war movement and anyone who looked like a hippie, for several years.
I've been to a thousand protests in my life, but I'm not coming out for "rage."
I'd come out for love, for justice, for democracy, for fairness, solidarity, peace, equality, mutual support, kindness, compassion, science, libraries, common sense, or reason.
Could you please sit down and have a think about this?
Sincerely,
An old woman who’s been protesting in the streets since 1967.”
I believe deeply in the power of language and invocation. We must weigh our protests and political acts as acts of magic, of power, of prayer. Our words are signals that influence others, for good or ill. As I understand it, our job in this time is to be a beacon of light and hope. It’s to stand for making the world more beautiful, unified, free, and equal.
“Rage” is a natural human emotion, but it can easily be used to justify violence and hatred. We all feel rage sometimes, but I would never invoke rage, pray for rage, insist on rage, or stand in the street for rage.
I hope the organizers will re-think this message and consider the three-fold rule known to magical practitioners: that which you send into the world, returns to you three times over.
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