Last week a dozen or so members of area union locals gathered for the November meeting of the Northwest Arkansas Labor Council. The discussion was about a 2025 we can barely predict, one led by a Republican ticket dedicated in public remarks to a melding of dictatorship and anarchy that appeals this month to 49.83 percent of American voters.
In a subdued consensus, we agreed there will come a need to act together to try to preserve our corner of what’s best in America. I felt all in, in the moment.
To set the mood, here is President-elect Donald J. Trump:
“Christians, get out and vote, just this time. You won’t have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what, it will be fixed, it will be fine, you won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians. I love you Christians. I’m a Christian. I love you, get out, you’ve got to get out and vote. In four years, you don’t have to vote again, we’ll have it fixed so good you’re not going to have to vote.” — July 26, 2024, “Trump Tells Christians They Won’t Have to Vote After This Election,” Reuters, July 28
Truth be told, though, I’m of four minds about protests.
- An original key element of U.S. democracy
- Demonstrations rarely successful, OK well maybe in the long view and only when tying in other strategies
- When big enough, critical mass achieved and it’s glorious
- Critical mass can include people whose views you abhor
I. ‘The right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances’ — the First Amendment
The antiwar movement as depicted in Time magazine and the Arkansas Gazette fascinated fourth-grader Ben. In 1967 or ’68, I asked my brother, older by 11 years, to get me a peace symbol medallion. Attending the University of Michigan, he found one in an Ann Arbor head shop. I must’ve worn it to school in Fort Smith every day.
My sixth-grade class had windows toward Greenwood Avenue. For the “Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam” on Oct. 15, 1969, Mrs. Goddard let me tape a cardboard protest sign on one of the Ballman Elementary windows, facing traffic.
II. You and Whose Army
The first protest I witnessed was in my sophomore year at Stanford. In May 1978, I watched over 300 people at a rally (PDF) demand the private California university divest in corporate holdings that supported South Africa’s then-apartheid government. In that moment standing on the edge of the crowd, I saw that we students and faculty were steps removed from direct impact. I felt the demonstration while earnest was useless except for a feeling of “at least we did something.” Indeed, the racist Pretoria government ended about 15 years later.
I’ve seen many similar protests in the decades since. Similarly, boycotts by the people (like the BDS movement and its ironic opposition as well as economic sanctions by opposing governments — is Ukraine free with Russia overwhelmed by trade barriers? — are no more effective.
III. ‘Critical Mass’ Is Awesome
When there are enough people, a political or cultural “critical mass” is reached. You don’t need a million people. The critical mass to stop outsourcing of custodial jobs on the University of Arkansas campus was about 50 marchers. We won this one. The custodians remain UA employees with all benefits.
Nearly eight years ago on the day after Trump’s first inauguration, Jan. 21, 2017, my wife and I joined hundreds in the local branch of the nationwide Women’s March. The strength in numbers was exhilarating. Overwhelmed, the new president retreated to his Florida lair and wasn’t heard from again.
IV. ‘With Malice Toward None, With Charity for All’ — Abraham Lincoln
We have to use the voices we have, with the tools we have, with the assurance that nonviolent civil resistance is not only humanely right but the most effective, according to scholar Erica Chenoweth in her writings, including Civil Resistance. A 12-minute video from 2013, “The Success of Nonviolent Civil Resistance,” is a good capsule. Earlier this month, she discussed new research showing some setbacks.
It’s not far-fetched to predict members of various local union chapters, spearheaded by the NWA Labor Council, might stand together against some policy or action of the 2025-2029 Republican White House.
Gosh yes, resistance should make us nervous! Putting ourselves out there has risks. Also, we might find ourselves linking arms, so to speak, with people whose views or whole selves make us uncomfortable or all-out seethe.
There’s more to opposition than marches, rallies, boycotts and sanctions that we can employ. A prof named Gene Sharp tallied up 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action.
Here at Thanksgiving especially, let’s recall that disagreements are usual in families, among office mates or any other group we’re in. We know this territory. Let’s expect to put aside differences for the common good.
© 2024 Ben S. Pollock Jr.
This column was first published, slightly shorter, in the November 2024 newsletter of UA-Fayetteville Education Association / Local 965.
