longer.blue

How close are WE to 3.5%? In 1986, millions of Filipinos took to the streets of Manila in peaceful protest and prayer in the People Power movement. The Marcos regime folded on the fourth day. In 2003, the people of Georgia ousted Eduard Shevardnadze through the bloodless Rose Revolution, in which protestors stormed the parliament building holding the flowers in their hands. While in 2019, the presidents of Sudan and Algeria both announced they would step aside after decades in office, thanks to peaceful campaigns of resistance. In each case, civil resistance by ordinary members of the public trumped the political elite to achieve radical change. There are, of course, many ethical reasons to use nonviolent strategies. But compelling research by Erica Chenoweth, a political scientist at Harvard University, confirms that civil disobedience is not only the moral choice; it is also the most powerful way of shaping world politics – by a long way. Looking at hundreds of campaigns over the last century, Chenoweth found that nonviolent campaigns are twice as likely to achieve their goals as violent campaigns. Although the exact dynamics will depend on many factors, she has shown it takes around 3.5% of the population to actively participate in the protests to ensure serious political change. “There weren’t any campaigns that had failed after they had achieved 3.5% participation during a peak event,” says Chenoweth – a phenomenon she has called the “3.5% rule”. Source-BBC ===================================================== The U.S. voting-age population is 262 million. 3.5% of that is 9.7 million. Let's round it to 10 million. If we had 5 million on April 5th, we need to double that amount on April 19th. How do we do that? Each one has to bring I or 2 new people with you or your group. Talk with your like-minded friends who didn't go last time. Find out what their main objection is to the current government. Do a little research on that topic, talk to them again, and explain why they need to be with you on April 19th. Yes, it might take a little research but think about the years of research putting Project 2025 together and how well it is destroying our democracy. We need to hit that 3.5% rule and get rid of this pestilence of Donald Trump. We can't wait until the mid-terms. There may not be any.