Can Protesting Still Be a Tool for Change? Leah Greenberg on Indivisible's Strategy

Origins of Indivisible

• 💡 Indivisible was founded during the first Trump administration by former congressional staffers who learned from the Tea Party's organizing model.
• 🧠 The goal was to adapt the Tea Party's strategies, removing racism and bigotry, to create a how-to guide for citizen organizing against the incoming Trump administration.
• 🎯 Lessons were drawn from observing the Tea Party's grassroots infrastructure and their repurposing of Saul Alinsky's organizing theories.

Measuring Movement Success

• 📈 Long-term success for a movement is rooted in thriving local grassroots infrastructure and sustained community action.
• 🗣️ Indivisible aims to empower individuals who believe politics is too important to be left to politicians, emphasizing collective power.
• 🚀 The movement's goals evolve with the moment, initially focusing on building sustainable local infrastructure and deploying tactics to influence elected officials.

Lessons from Resistance 1.0

• ⚠️ A key reflection is that the goal of the resistance was not just to get Donald Trump out of office, but to achieve systemic reforms and accountability to prevent his return.
• ⚖️ There's a critique that the focus on legislative priorities like voting rights and stimulus packages may have overshadowed the need for meaningful consequences for those who attempted a coup, such as stronger prosecutions or a second impeachment.
• 🏛️ The speaker suggests that a failure to address January 6th created conditions for Trump's movement to regroup and reassert itself, highlighting the balance needed to pull a democracy out of democratic backsliding.

Organizing in the Current Climate

• 🛡️ Indivisible emphasizes intensive safety and deescalation training for protest organizers and attendees to handle various scenarios, including law enforcement and counterprotests.
• 🤝 The strategy involves building the biggest possible tent with broad frames, like "No Kings Day," to unite diverse groups around a common principle.
• 📢 The "No Kings Day" protests are framed as a response to authoritarian actions, aiming to disrupt the perception of inevitability and encourage courage in challenging autocratic breakthroughs.

The Role of Protest and Public Engagement

• 📣 The "No Kings Day" protests have seen a surge in RSVPs following threats of National Guard deployment, indicating a heightened sense of urgency.
• 🌍 Indivisible groups are actively involved in local immigrant rights organizing, highlighting a connection between national movements and specific community issues.
• 📉 A long-term challenge is breaking through cynicism by creating a democracy that delivers tangible benefits to people's lives, moving beyond abstract appeals.
• ✊ The core message is to disrupt the aura of inevitability created by potential authoritarians and to foster a pro-democracy coalition that can push back against their actions.