Please devote 90 minutes to this important training session to understand how authoritarianism works and view a plan to counter it together.
So many have asked, “What can I do?” Here’s the answer!
From the YouTube Channel:
“Join us for the first One Million Rising coordinating call and training! Get oriented to making meaning of this moment and the role you can play in coordinated strategic action. This 3-part training will equip you with a coordinated national strategy to organize locally, host community gatherings, and build a force bigger than fear. Sign up, show up, and take action together. Access your Community Resistance Gathering Host Toolkit here – it has everything you’ll need to host a gathering!” https://docs.google.com/document/d/18… Make sure you’re signed up for our last two sessions in the One Million Rising series – we’ll cover everything else you need to know then! https://www.mobilize.us/nokings/event… Take the pledge to host a community resistance gathering! https://www.nokings.org/rise
I spend a fair amount of time on social media and since the election, people have been asking, ‘what can we do?’ A lot of us acknowledge just how deeply we are into totalitarian rule and the undercurrents that flow on the socials often combine bewilderment with despair. In fact, if you aren’t feeling that from time to time, I’m wondering about you as a person.
To the extent that I can, I try to remind people to show up for the protests. Those non-violent protests where 3.5 percent of the population take to the streets ALWAYS leads to change.* But I always add— eventually. I recommend joining the ACLU and doing all their email campaigns. They make it easy, and they have had major wins. But what else???
Well, here’s the pitch— I want you to imagine a different world. One that takes courage. One where you put yourself on the line. One where you’re willing to stand out and stand up. Ready??
I’m asking you to fly the RESIST flag at your house. Why? Why will this make a difference?
Because we need to take the fight against fascism into every neighborhood in America. We need to empower all those sleepy individuals who up until now knew that what they were seeing was wrong but felt too alone or too scared to speak up. We must be that first wave to act to empower others. To do the next right thing. As we look out across America, the real patriots are the resistors, not the false flyers of American flags who hide behind a history that never existed. Can you also fly the American flag? Yes! But only if you pair it with the resistance flag or banner.
Imagine that world where all of us stand together. Imagine a world where we push back against totalitarian rule and all its trampling of American freedoms. You want to know what you can do today? Get your flag up! Become a role model for your community. Be the change.
Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.
“This is a nationwide mobilization to stop the most brazen power grab in modern history.,” according to the organizers. “Trump, Musk, and their billionaire cronies are orchestrating an all-out assault on our government, our economy, and our basic rights—enabled by Congress every step of the way.”
Things are moving fast and gaining momentum. A recent article in the Times Weekly, reported that 2,085 events protesting the Trump administration happened nationwide in Feb. 2025. More than 500 events were scheduled during the recent congressional recess that became notable for the Republicans who refused to meet their constituents and the lively interaction that resulted from those Congressmen and women who actually showed up.
April 5this a day of what organizers hope will be the biggest single day of protest since DJT took office. More than 1000 events are planned across the US and in multiple foreign countries. That’s what happens when you turn on your friends, become a bully, and threaten democracy worldwide. In Washington DC, Maryland congressman Jamie Raskin will headline the event along with multiple other speakers scheduled.
The crisis is here. Up close and personal, and it’s time to act. Fascism is on the march in the US. The last I saw, 14 countries had travel advisories out warning their citizens about traveling to the US. Social media is full of every-day-Americans warning citizens of other countries, “don’t come here, we’re not safe.” Not safe to travel, not safe to work, not safe to study abroad, not safe to do research. We are busy stripping human rights away, allowing the consolidation of power, building concentration camps, eliminating protective social systems, and gutting economies. And make no mistake about it, there is a level of cruelty that underlies all of this. When some Americans see photos of the El Salvadoran prison that the Trump administration has funded which looks remarkably like Holocaust pictures, they react with glee. Humanity and empathy have been surrendered at the feet of the anointed savior, DJT.
Another milestone passed this week. We have known since the election that people are leaving the country. Although it’s too early to assess the brain drain occurring as a result of those fleeing (and the effects of not receiving the necessary infusion of academic minds from other nations who normally would have come to the US), three professors from Yale jumped ship. One of them, Jason Stanley, is considered an expert on fascism (I’ll be talking about his book soon). If a leading expert on fascism thinks it’s getting too dangerous and is leaving the US for Canada, what does that say about the current state of the country?
Links are below to find an event near you. You should also consider joining a rapid respond team in your area to help protect immigrants, your neighbors, and yourself. They teach basic rights in the face of the continued assault by ICE. Once upon a time in America, immigration was an activity done without a paramilitary organization armed to the teeth, sidestepping the rule of law. Those days may be gone forever.
ellisnelson 