Could We Be Entering a ‘Movement Moment’ Against trump?
History tells us that, even as authoritarians deploy “shock and awe” campaigns to cause confusion and demobilization, they consistently underestimate the ability of movements to break out in opposition. And it has demonstrated that civil resistance — in the form of mass protest, strikes, boycotts and creative noncompliance — can have profound effects in turning public opinion against a regime and ultimately forcing autocrats from power.
...history is punctuated with moments in which mass protests unexpectedly fill the streets, draw large numbers of previously uninvolved people into movement activity, and quickly shift public perception of an issue, changing the bounds of what is politically possible.
“If politics is ‘the art of the possible,’ what are we to make of moments when human beings living in modern societies believe that ‘all is possible?’”
these periods of elevated activity can accomplish many things. In a democratic context, they can reframe popular reception of a cause, change the landscape of solutions that are considered feasible, compel politicians and bosses to accede to demands that they might otherwise have rejected out of hand, seed the formation of new groups and campaigns, and allow established organizations to reap the benefits of an inflow of new resources and participants. In more authoritarian settings, they have been instrumental in averting coups, halting undemocratic power grabs, stopping the stealing of elections, and even ousting illegitimate regimes.
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