Yes, Protests Matter

Hands Off was in fact a blow against fascism.

Washington DC Hands Off protest. Image: SWinxy, CC

Yesterday was one of the biggest days of protest probably in US history. There were some 1300 “Hands Off” rallies against Trump and Musk in all 50 states; it’s hard to find solid estimates, but tens of thousands of people, and possibly hundreds of thousands, marched to defend social security, government programs, and democracy.

The protests were nonviolent and largely nonconfrontational; there seem to have been little in the way of arrests or clashes with police. This was by design; the protests were attempting to draw in as many people as possible, including families, children, the elderly, and people who had never participated in protests before. They were a show of solidarity, rather than an effort to take direct disruptive action.

Social media was mostly filled with people celebrating the show of resistance. Inevitably, though, there were some skeptics who argued that the party/picnic atmosphere meant that the demonstrations were not likely to sway politicians, and not likely to spur much in the way of change.

I think those criticisms are misguided. There’s a place for disruptive protest for sure; I’d love to see congress members physically block the entrance to government buildings to prevent DOGE assholes from entering. But there’s also a place for less dangerous, more broadly welcoming, and bigger demonstrations—especially in our current situation.

That situation is an incipient dictatorship. Trump and the GOP are attempting to quash dissent and subvert institutions—law firms, universities, federal agencies, newspapers—which might oppose fascist dominance. MAGA wants to close down all space for dissent; they want to foreclose alternatives. By doing so, they hope to make their voices the only voices and to terrorize all others into silence.

Trump is deliberately creating a collective action problem. Whoever raises their head, he wants to cut that head off. By doing so he hopes to keep others from looking up or speaking out.

This is where solidarity comes in. The state can target a few people, and maybe even a lot of people. But if resistance is sufficiently sweeping and prevalent, it becomes exponentially harder to target everyone. One person speaking up can be squished; a hundred can, maybe, too. But once you’ve got tens or hundreds of thousands of people in the streets, shutting everyone down becomes a logistical impossibility.

Dissent creates more space for dissent. That means it creates more space for protestors. But it also creates more space for politicians, for journalists—for all those stuck in a defensive crouch, terrified both that Trump will come for them and them alone, and that Trump’s election victory makes him the authentic voice of the people. Mass demonstrations show voters, and politicians too, that they are not alone. It puts Republicans on notice that there is an opposition, and that it is extensive and enraged.

Coupled with overwhelming electoral victories and Trump’s cratering polls, the protests help solidify the narrative that Trump, after less than three months, has used up his goodwill, and has become a liability and a pariah. That can stiffen the spines of Democrats and put the fear of God into Republicans. It can signal to universities and corporations that Trump is a loser, and that caving to him is likely to be a losing strategy too. It can remind Supreme Court judges that people are watching, and that Trump is not the sole true voice of our nation.

Broad, nonviolent, nonconfrontational protests aren’t likely to overthrow fascism on their own. But this kind of mobilization helps to build power and solidarity for a range of ongoing battles—in universities, in the courts, at the ballot box. Protest isn’t the whole fight; neither is voting, neither are lawsuits. But every little bit helps—and the massive protests yesterday were more than a little bit.