We don’t just need protests, we need a plan

Urjita Mainali, Contributing Writer 

I have been thinking about a protest I attended earlier this month at Monroe Park. 

I could hear the speakers’ chants as I walked towards the stand at the center. Joining the crowd, I could not help but notice that the audience was largely older white folks. Looking around, I was met with an array of different cardboard signs and flags.

Their slogans ranged widely — from advocating for anti-capitalist change to protecting women’s and workers’ rights. There was anti-racist rhetoric and demands that ICE leave the city streets. They called for abortion rights — for an end to the genocide in Gaza. There were even anti-pollution signs.

All are incredibly important issues relevant to the current political moment, often stemming from the same few systemic conditions. However, messaging leaped around the political compass and made the demonstration feel disorganized and confusing. 

It was a Labor Day protest held in honor of workers’ sacrifices, calling for expanded rights and condemning the workplace and societal conditions that demand such sacrifices. But I could not help but wonder what the demonstration looked like to passersbys.

The protest was organized by 50501 Virginia, an organization that is part of a national movement that has held numerous protests across all 50 states since President Donald Trump took office. 

Like many of the actions organized by 50501, it lacked a cohesive message. It is not the only one. Protests across the country have been equally unfocused. I recently transferred to VCU from D.C., where the People’s March and similar demonstrations have been a regular occurrence. 

While these demonstrations have built large coalitions and pulled them together, the momentum seems to stop there. These organizers have worked hard to create communities, but many events still lack clear goals or direct calls to action. 

When these protests end, people go home without a plan to come back the next day. Over the summer, the 50501 summoned over 10,000 people to march on the state Capitol in June, only to go radio silent for the rest of the summer.

In these kinds of demonstrations many attendees — notably older white people —  show up at the last minute to hold signs and chant, but rarely to organize. The demographic was noticeably absent from the protesting streets in between Trump’s presidential terms, despite the same struggles being ongoing and decades old. 

Now, it is younger people who are absent. From my experience, when young people feel there is no impact from certain organizing events, they will not show up. What motivates them is the prospect of changing circumstances for everyday people, and recent demonstrations have not provided a roadmap to that change. 

The Labor Day protest did arrive with one clear call to action, however — voting. Tents and volunteers were ready to help attendees register to vote this coming November. But voting alone does not change the status quo. We need more than just condemnations of Trump and his fascist actions, but also for the system that allowed him to take office. 

Coalitions need to use their momentum to platform direct action. Building mutual aid networks, bail funds and local support systems are all critical ways that we can begin to change the status quo. Most of the work happens when nobody is looking or making any noise. 

Our communities have come together to fight fascist power grabs and centuries of systemic oppression, but the real change happens when we imagine a world after the regime is over — let’s start building it now.