*Massachusetts clocked in with 167 events- second only to California!
*Nationwide there were 3300 rallies with 2/3 of them outside big cities.
*Most protests are reporting big increases, with Boston reporting 180,000
*The numbers are still coming in but Indivisible is saying between 8 and 9 million, which is 1 in 50 Americans.
*Protests were in all 50 states and all 7 continents.
Watch an Indivisible Montage and Bruce Springsteen performing below!
Local media wrote stories about events that occurred in Martha’s Vineyard, Arlington, Lexington, Malden, Melroseand Falmouth.
Indivisible Mass Coalition explains the significance of these numbers.
“But So What? Does a Single-Day Demonstration Accomplish Anything at All?
In case you were wondering about that, the brilliant Ash-Lee Henderson of the Highland Center, shared these insights:
1.A mobilization of millions of people makes the scale of opposition visible to everyone: to the participants, to the uncommitted middle, and to the opposition. It does what digital campaigns, legal briefs, or everyday tactics like phone-banking or door-knocking or any behind-the-scenes actions can’t do.
2. It transforms private discontent into public identity. Up until No Kings, “I am against discriminatory laws and practices,” “I am against the use of fossil fuels,” “I am against endless wars” were individual grievances; we said these things in our individual capacities, not as WE. No Kings demonstrations have shifted our individual values and private discontents into an opportunity to define WHO AND WHAT IS AMERICA? moving forward. They are our opportunity to redefine who gets to be included when we talk about “liberty and justice for all.” No Kings demonstrations have been overwhelmingly joyous because participants know that they are not just angry alone, and not just grieving alone. The demonstrations are the raw material for sustained organizing.
3. These massive one-day demonstrations throughout the country – and world! – shift the calculus for elites. Skeptics say, “We’re spending millions of dollars on these protests. Why aren’t we just giving the money to grass-roots-based organizations?” But when millions of people come together to say “No,” every institution from corporations, to military leadership, to swing district electeds, has to recalculate what compliance costs them.
Does a single-day protest replace organizing, or base-building, or lobbying? Does it replace advocacy or direct service or mutual aid or any of these things? Of course the answer to those questions is “no.” But the important question for us is: Can you build and sustain a non-cooperation campaign withouta mass demonstration phase? Historically, we can say no. You can’t skip it. It’s infrastructure. Mass protests are not just spectacle, not just just trying to prove something to skeptics. These protests are “an embodied invitation” to everyone to come be a part of something that is bigger than us.“
Miss Indivisible Massachusetts Coalition’s Statewide Call about next Steps?
Watch below!