The ‘joyful and peaceful’ No Kings rallies

Republican leaders had said the protests on Saturday would be “hate America” rallies. But Heather Cox Richardson says as many as 8.2 million people turned out in a mood that was “joyful and peaceful.”

There were no arrests in connection with the large rallies in New York City and Washington, D.C., Fox News reports.

The No Kings website says there ended up being more than 2,700 events in all 50 states and in cities overseas, including London, Rome, Berlin, Paris, Madrid, Dublin.

Here are photos from The Associated Press.

Here are more, from Reuters.

Robert Reich is celebrating the “huge success” of the rallies: “Yesterday, millions of us affirmed the foundation of the common good.”

My thanks to the reader who alerted me to what’s my favorite poster: “Make America Kind Again.” Richardson is likely enjoying this one: “I’ll stop fighting when Heather Cox Richardson says we’re fine.”

At a 9,000-person pre-rally Zoom meeting to discuss peaceful protest and personal security, the American Civil Liberties Union’s first slide read: “Historic research shows that when at least 3.5 percent of the population actively participates in a non-violent movement, fundamental change usually occurs. In the United States, that translates to 11.9 million people.”

Here is an explainer of that research, from the BBC.

And here is a TED talk from one of the researchers, Harvard professor Erica Chenoweth.

Richardson says, “Scholar of social movements Lisa Corrigan noted that large, fun marches full of art and music expand connections and make people more willing to take risks against growing state power. They build larger communities by creating new images that bring together recognizable images from the past in new ways, helping more people see themselves in such an opposition. The community and good feelings those gatherings develop help carry opposition through hard moments.”

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