No Kings Now, and Then More
Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair
Yes, for us to diminish and then end escalating wars, for us to stop and then end onrushing Fascism, and for us to slow and then climate catastrophe and AI armageddon much less to move forward to finally win fundamental social and economic change, we will need more than massive and growing numbers.
We will need demands and coherence to diversify and deepen. We will need disobedience to grow.
We will need shared systemic vision. We will need shared creative strategy. We will need to become a movement of movements that does more than what it did last time each new time it acts. Absolutely.
And yes, for the people who see that need to be frustrated, depressed, or even furious that we the people are not there yet, is okay. You/we are right, we do need more. But for those who realize that we do need more to reject where we are at and to stay home, is—I don’t know how else to say it—either monumentally dumb or worn out resignation that calls itself superior wisdom.
Why do I say this? Suppose you say we need more than No Kings, more even then a No Kings that has moved forward, as it has, to add No War to the signs and chants.
Suppose you say we need some growing civil disobedience along with growing outreach, we need some strikes, some encampments, some sit downs, some sit ins, and some crowded jails. Suppose you say we need organizing beyond mobilizing. You say all that but then you don’t advance No Kings. You disparage it. You stay home.
You think to yourself, this is not yet where it needs to be. You conclude for yourself, that you will not be part of it. You want more, so you will do less.
You say, been there, done that. Not me. Not again. Well, I ask you, how is to not partake a step toward doing more?
Victories take time. Trump’s support is dissipating. War support is nowhere. The public is moving on every front our way. Many factors are causing that. No Kings is one of those factors.
But Trump keeps doing worse. Yes, we haven’t fully won. To fully win needs more. But to back off is a road to doing less, not to doing more.
Just ask yourself, if Saturday is bigger than last time, isn’t that positive? If Saturday is smaller than last time, isn’t that negative?
And yes, I suppose it being smaller might even yield some desperate militance, but it will be by fewer and fewer participants. That too is a road to nowhere.
We need to retain and enlarge numbers and to also grow and diversify anger and thereby grow a continued threat of more and more resistance. That is our need, yes. But the No Kings efforts have turned out millions. To deny that achievement is delusional or worse.
To proceed in a way that brings dissident numbers down to hundreds of thousands or, more likely, mere thousands, even if we thousands are all angrier and more militant and more disobedient, is a road to ruin. To deny that is delusional or worse.
To retain and grow numbers, to keep shifting the overall public leftward, and to add to that leftward shift components that are compatibly more militant and more disobedient while maintaining on-going growth is a road to Trump’s collapse, to war’s decline, to saving the planet and then on from there.
The radical’s task, the revolutionary’s task, is not to disparage millions turning out but to support millions turning out. It is to function in ways compatible with millions. It is to function in ways that broaden the strength, diversity, and focus of millions without driving their numbers down.
No Kings is historically good at mobilizing. Radicals and revolutionaries need to be historically good at compatibly organizing.
Support No Kings. And Beyond.
I’ve been surprised the past week to hear some people, not many but some, telling me that they or people they know aren’t planning to attend a No Kings action this Saturday. These are people who have progressive or liberal or radical ideas, who oppose what is happening under the Trump regime and who are activists of some sort.
For some people it’s because they don’t think the message of No Kings is as radical as they would like it to be. For others it’s because the coalition of groups organizing these actions isn’t as multi-racial, led by people of color, as they would like it to be. And for some it’s because the tactics being used are seen as too tame, not at the level that the urgency of our situation calls for, as in direct action that risks arrest.
There’s truth to all of these concerns, but to stay away from the Saturday actions because of them is a mistake. Right now, as has been true since Trump and the Republicans were elected into White House and Congressional power 17 months ago, the power of the people, people mobilized and visible in very big numbers all over the country—this is a crucial component of the resistance against these Trumpfascists.
What if all of these types of mobilizations had not taken place last year, 2025? History will absolutely record that the multiple days of local actions all over the country, beginning in early February, 2025 with 50 actions in 50 state capitols organized by 50501, organized primarily by young people, and continuing through to 7 million coming out on October 18 organized by No Kings, played a, if not the, major role in turning US politics around in a progressive direction on a mass scale.
The Trump regime is underwater in the polls, down by 15% or more, partly because of their policies and incompetence, but also because of our movement’s visible resistance all last year. This resistance took many forms, a lot of it in on-the-ground opposition to ICE, and it included these nationally coordinated days of action.
Our job in 2026 is to keep building upon those political victories to keep up the pressure on the Democrats to get them to put up stronger fights for the many things that matter as far as major issues. In the process we can and are building our own independent political organizations and candidacies for electoral office that put the needs of working people and our disrupted climate and environment absolutely first, before anything else.
No Kings Day this Saturday will help that process continue and grow. Not to take part in it, to consciously decide not to do so, is a mistake.
All out for resistance Saturday! And let’s just keep going afterwards.
Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of two books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, published in 2020 and 2021 and both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com.
FIND A NO KINGS EVENT NEAR YOU!
Masked secret police are terrorizing our communities. An illegal, catastrophic war is putting us in danger and driving up our costs of living. Attacks on our freedom of speech, our civil rights, and our freedom to vote are happening on a daily basis. Costs are pushing families to the brink. Trump is acting like a tyrant.
But this is America, and power belongs to the people – not to wannabe kings or their billionaire cronies. This Saturday, March 28th, we will show up together to demand, No Kings!
Please plan to join what promises to be the largest democracy, human rights, and peace demonstration in U.S. history. More than 3,000 events are planned.
FIND A NO KINGS EVENT NEAR YOU!
As President Trump escalates his attempts to control us, it is on us, the people, to show that we will fight to protect one another and our country. If he believes we will roll over and allow him to take our freedoms, he is mistaken.
We are coming together on March 28 across issues, ages, races, and religions, because we know we can overcome this repression when we unite.
No Kings! No Wars! No Nukes!
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