I just went down to our local lib demonstration. All I could really feel was depressed. All those people waving signs but I wonder how many are willing to do anything more than that? Shit most of them were pretty old, tbh. I approached some people I clocked as comrades but I was very awkward and we didn’t have a conversation.
I guess I don’t really have a question here. Just feel like everybody has identified (some of) the problems, but have totally misidentified the solutions. Will these protests ever accomplish anything? Can we radicalize the protestors without them having to get beaten by cops? Or is that what it will take?
Agreed! My org had folks go out and poll people about what they’re most concerned about, which was a great icebreaker for moving to what they’re doing about it.
I also found that having a scripted opener was helpful in making the approach less awkward (something like “Hi! I’m trying to get a sense of the main concerns folks have. What brings you out here today?”). It also helped my nerves to frame it as just collecting data, so each interaction wasn’t make-or-break.