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Raging against Trump? You need to move beyond Facebook groups

If you're worried about Trump, it's time to learn how to organize.

Protestors begin to march down the University Drive bridge during a protest of the 2016 presidential election results near the ASU Tempe campus on Friday, Nov. 11, 2016.
Protestors begin to march down the University Drive bridge during a protest of the 2016 presidential election results near the ASU Tempe campus on Friday, Nov. 11, 2016.

Trump’s election has spurred many students toward greater levels of activism. However, inexperience means that many of their efforts will go to waste – leading to burnout before the real dangers begin under an actual Trump administration.

On Nov. 9, many students woke up shell-shocked. Taking advantage of this rage, organizations with names like Mobilize rapidly launched, calling for their members to channel their feelings into action. Yet since then, many of these groups have gone dark, with members planning on showing up to inauguration day events but not maintaining momentum as policy actually began to materialize.

Worse, groups like Pantsuit Nation have been criticized for giving up on the activist causes they once rallied around in favor of becoming places for self-aggrandizing anecdotes.

If Trump’s presidency truly presents as grave a danger as many fear, these new groups need to learn from more mature organizations, whose years of experience provide ample expertise to inform activism.

In an interview with Pacific Standard this summer, Ralph Nader explained that the greatest challenge to contemporary organizing is the constant focus on group solidarity of voice and presence without financial backing and better organization.

The lack of fundraising, centralization and organized leadership of groups like Pantsuit Nation and Mobilize actively inhibit their ability to affect rapid change.

David France’s history of HIV/AIDS activism How to Survive a Plague provides a case study that focuses on the myriad committees of New York’s ACT UP. This history provides a template for Trump resistance — including the presence of in-person meetings and a focus on more structure than online groups permit.

It's not that protests aren't effective. It's that they need good planning and need to be paired with appropriate pressure on the government.

Emma Hobbs, a student organizer for a human rights organization who has spent time lobbying members of U.S. Congress in D.C., has seen the powerful impact of pairing of demonstrations alongside direct contact with legislators.

Beyond fundraising and contacting lawmakers, protests are the “really incredible part of lobbying, where it’s demonstrating a large amount of people power, which is why (they) can be really effective ways of telling members of congress that they need to pay attention to a specific issue,” she said. 

This can be done. Last Monday, Puente Human Rights Movement organized a protest that got many Democratic state legislators to sign on to a pledge for human rights simply by bringing in a large crowd. All three Legislative District 26 (Tempe, Mesa, Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community) legislators signed on, in part because of the outpouring of public support.


In short, resisting an extremist GOP agenda that includes removal of medical protections, likely inhumane treatment of migrants and an unstable foreign policy is going to be a long slog.

Groups seeking to protect human rights need to take a moment to learn lessons from those who have already fought if they expect to have an impact.


Reach the columnist at Benjamin.Steele@asu.edu or follow  @blsteele17 on Twitter.

Editor’s note: The opinions presented in this column are the author’s and do not imply any endorsement from The State Press or its editors.

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