Trump, of course, is upset because he is likely hiding something and this issue won't go away. He took to Twitter to acknowledge it as though it were a recurring issue when in fact it is just the same issue that it has always been. Then he talks about how there are a number of paid protesters incited by the media. So as he sat at Mar A Lago complaining about how he won fair and square and the election is over and there is nothing to see here, people were out protesting.
Why are WE upset, though? Is Trump going to release his tax returns? No time soon. Is Planned Parenthood any better off than it was the day before he was elected? No, in fact they are faring worse for federal support but better in private donations. The Keystone Pipeline is moving forward. Gorsuch presided over his first day on the Supreme Court today. We are facing military actions in Syria, Korea, and let's remember that we just dropped the Mother Of All Bombs in Afghanistan.
So what is happening? What is being done? Can we say that message is beginning to get watered down? Who are the Black Bloc and groups like them?
It is getting safe to say that the messages may be getting lost in all of the wannabe messengers. We are getting reports of events starting off pretty focused but then falling apart as speakers take the mic to talk about taxes at a Planned Parenthood rally or Black Live Matter at a environmental protest.
Then you have the Black Bloc vs. Black Lives Matter. The problem is that you have two different groups with decidedly different goals but they are welded together in the minds of outsiders watching because their structure is similar and tying them together can be convenient for those wanting to smear someone.
The Black Bloc is a group of anti fascists who wear all black and go to protests to, for lack of a better term, start trouble. They wear helmets and masks and show up prepared for "battle". As we saw in Berkeley this weekend, when the fighting starts, it is hard to tell which side is which. The Black Bloc is an open movement though. They do not have real uniforms or any kind of leadership structure; just a bunch of people doing stuff.
When we look at Black Lives Matter, we see they face the same problems. There are people who can say that they started it and claim an origin, but are unwilling to own any kind of structure for it. In fact, they openly eschew ownership. Without that ownership, any one person can do any thing in their name causing the entire group to take responsibility; just a bunch of people doing stuff.
For a protester, this is and should be a disturbing trend. The Occupy movement had noble beginnings but without any cohesive body or a spokesperson, it was quickly diluted and became a bunch of people sleeping on the street.
The other side is learning and the methodology has been very effective. Let's look at the #NODAPL movement. The Dakota Pipeline was something that was in the works for quite some time before the protests began and the Native Americans began to dig in. There were lawyers and engineers working on the best way to route this pipeline through that land long before the first temporary tents were set up. Time and consistency were their best weapons and they worked.
They saw a harsh winter coming and set a deadline. While people were marching in circles in the cold and snow, they had lawyers hard at work and engineers creating multiple designs. The uproar many were seeing on line was real but that is all it was...online. As we approached the deadline, people showed up to show support. Keystone knew it would not last though and at just the right time (the time when it would have been too cold for even their own people) they agreed to try to work it out. People left, those who wanted to stay were forced out. Days later, it was back on track for the build with protections being endorsed by President Trump.
So it seems we have reached an interesting space in the world. The waters are so muddy that we cannot see the bottom, or the top. The one thing that we can take from all of this is that everyone wants to speak. Many say that the reason that Donald Trump is our president is because so many people out there felt that their voice was not being heard. With his election comes a flood and all of those people who were not being heard, now won't shut up.
Have we reached the pinnacle of protest; the point at which running out into the streets with a sign does no good or worse, does more harm than good? I think that now we have to start thinking about what we are going to do with that voice. We are heading towards something but what do we do when we get there? The general idea seems to be to keep going; to always be campaigning and never solving the problem but making damn sure everyone knows there is a problem and whose fault it is.
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