{"id":4020,"date":"2017-02-02T11:06:54","date_gmt":"2017-02-02T19:06:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=4020"},"modified":"2017-02-02T11:11:45","modified_gmt":"2017-02-02T19:11:45","slug":"protests-wont-stop-trump-need-movement-transforms-party-micah-white","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2017\/02\/02\/protests-wont-stop-trump-need-movement-transforms-party-micah-white\/","title":{"rendered":"“Protests won’t stop Trump. We need a movement that transforms into a party” by Micah White"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u2018The end of protest is not the absence of protest.\u2019 Photograph: Yana Paskova\/Getty Images<\/em><\/p>\n

The marches will remain ineffective as long as we aren\u2019t capable of moving from the streets to governing locally and nationally<\/strong><\/h3>\n

(TheGuardian.com)<\/p>\n

The astonishing triumph of Donald Trump can be traced to the bitter defeat of Occupy Wall Street, a pro-democracy movement that transcended left and right, sparking unrest in hundreds of cities and rural towns in 2011. Occupy\u2019s consensus-based encampments demanded that President Obama get money out of politics. Instead, we got mercilessly smashed by his progressive administration. Now the dark irony of history is bashing back.<\/p>\n

Trump \u2013 an uber-wealthy, partially self-financed candidate who promises to \u201cdrain the swamp\u201d \u2013 was elected president just one week before the fifth anniversary of Mayor Bloomberg\u2019s eviction of the Zuccotti Park encampment. President-elect Trump, a charismatic strongman with an autocratic temperament, is not what millions of Occupiers were dreaming of when we took to the streets against the monied corruption of our democracy.<\/p>\n

Now, as the nation experiences a disturbing rise of hate crimes<\/a> against the groups singled out by Trump during his campaign, protests descending into riots<\/a> are rocking our cities. These visceral protests will undoubtedly continue into 2017. Celebrated progressive Kshama Sawant, a socialist councilwoman in Seattle, has already called on people to disrupt Trump\u2019s inauguration<\/a> in January.<\/p>\n

At the same time, despite the excitement of seeing militants marching in the cities, leftist activist networks are buzzing with the painful realization that contemporary protest is broken. The dominant tactic of getting people into the streets, rallying behind a single demand and raising awareness about an injustice simply does not result in the desired social change.<\/p>\n

Nominally democratic governments tolerate protest because elected representatives no longer feel compelled to heed protest. The end of protest<\/a> is not the absence of protest. The end of protest is the proliferation of ineffective protests that are more like a ritualized performance of children than a mature, revolutionary challenge to the status quo.<\/p>\n