Millions of people, in 1,400 cities and towns in red and blue districts across the United States, turned out this past weekend for the “Hands Off!” protests.
We just asked Astra Taylor and Liz Plank — both of them brilliant authors, activists, and organizers — what comes next?
Taylor and Plank (and the 2,100 viewers who joined us live) had plenty of ideas of where pro-democracy organizers need to put their energy going forward to build a movement with the power to change things. Among the things we talked about:
Does the market crash, which has upended the notion of men as protectors and providers, provide an opportunity to organize, especially among young men?
The protests, huge as they were, skewed older. Can the left learn from student movements of the past to reach out to younger people isolated by phones, and the pandemic, and real fears about crackdowns?
The regime’s actions are so alienating that the online right is on the back foot, struggling to message. Can the left finally learn from the guerrilla organizing that made Charlie Kirk and Ben Shapiro household names and start winning the online messaging battle?
The tariffs, the cuts to education, the attacks on the universities are all about creating insecurity — and an opportunity to talk people out of fear, into community, and into strategy.
We don’t just want to restore the broken system we had before — we need to come together and fight for something bigger and better than what we had before.
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A programming note: More Live conversations!
Join us today, Tuesday, April 8, at 11:00 a.m. Eastern, when we’ll talk to the author, documentarian, and political commentator Joy-Ann Reid. And on Thursday, April 10, at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, we’re speaking with the philosopher and author Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò. We hope to see you all there!
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