Yes, protesting does make a difference! Here's how
First you "get people out the door," then you "take that energy" to make real changes.
This Saturday, 2,000 protests will pop up all across America as part of another No Kings Day. Millions and millions of antifascist patriots who object to U.S. authoritarianism are expected to attend. And for anyone still on the fence — anyone who opposes a U.S. dictatorship but doesn’t see how protesting does any good — Mark and I spoke to activist Carlos Alvarez-Aranyos, who launched the first nationwide anti-king demonstration last February.
Based in Boulder, Colorado, Alvarez-Aranyos founded the activist group American Opposition (AO) in January. By February, he helped fuel the first two nationwide protests against Trump-style authoritarianism, along with the newly formed 50501 (“50 Protests, 50 States, 1 Movement) organization. At the time, Alvarez-Aranyos referred to these “National Day of Protest” events as “not my president day,” while 50501 hashtagged it as #nokings, a catchy name that stuck. “So that was the official, first No Kings,” Alvarez-Aranyos told us.
Since then, Alvarez-Aranyos has co-organized well over a dozen nationwide anti-Trump protests, including the anti-DOGE “Hands Off!” protest on April 5 (in partnership with 50501 and Indivisible), the “No Kings Day” mega-protest in June (led by 50501 and Indivisible), and the White House Protest, also in June (in partnership with Refuse Fascism).
But, while millions keep showing up at nationwide antifascist protests, they so far haven’t seemed to make much of a difference in the Trump regime’s resolve to consolidate power. Unidentified, masked ICE agents keep arresting immigrants along with Americans, protestors, and even journalists. The regime continues to strongarm companies, the media, and even individual comedians who don’t bend the knee. So, we asked Alvarez-Aranyos, “What is all this protesting for?”
And Alvarez-Aranyos explained to us that protesting goes way beyond making a lot of noise and bringing awareness to the public, when done strategically, as part of a larger, methodical, 3-phase plan. Here’s how it works:
Phase 1: National protests
National protests in and of themselves might not make a real difference, but as Phase 1 of a three-step process, nationwide demonstrations are crucial as a way for like-minded folks to connect, engage, build numbers, and strategize. In other words, this first step is all about lighting the fire.
“Our goal, Phase 1, was national protests,” Alvarez-Aranyos told us, explaining that before you take any action, you need “to get people out the door.”
“When the French protest, the entire country comes out, and they say, ‘We’re mad at X, and we want Y.’ And that is the right way to protest, in a sense, because then you’re making a demand,” he explained.
But, Alvarez-Aranyos points out, unlike in France, where protests come with clear demands, the United States lacks that tradition. “Culturally, we haven’t exercised this right since the civil rights movement,” he said. So the focus here is on building America’s “protest muscle” and preparing people for active participation, including practices like boycotting and striking to develop collective power.
Phase 1 for Alvarez-Aranyos began on February 5, with his (and 50501’s) first nationwide protest. By September, well over several million Americans were actively onboard, and American Opposition was ready to level up.
Phase 2: Direct action
Once people are mobilized and engaged, organizers can then “take this energy” and “put people where they need to be,” whether that’s inside congressional offices or as part of an organized campaign strategy, Alvarez-Aranyos explained. This is the stage where you take direct action to shake things up and make real changes.
For Alvarez-Aranyos, Phase 2 started with his “direct action launch” on September 2, when his organization joined up with resistance groups FLARE and Removal Coalition in Washington, DC. The three activist groups, along with 1,400 “Americans and protestors,” put pressure on every congressional lawmaker — Republican and Democrat — “demanding the impeachment and removal of Donald Trump.”
“Rep. Al Green came over in the morning, and we gave speeches at Union Station (see second video below). Then we marched arm in arm to the Capitol, and we went to every congressional office, in groups of 30,” Alvarez-Aranyos told us.
“I personally went to Marjorie Taylor Greene’s office, Joaquin Castro’s office, and Hakeem Jeffries’ office. And guess what? Within five hours of that visit, Hakeem Jeffries’ staff called me and asked me for a meeting,” he said, adding that the staff of other high-profile lawmakers also reached out to him. “That’s a tough meeting to get in D.C.! I mention that because it proved my theory of change, which is, if we get in their faces, the numbers [of protestors] don’t have to be that big.”
Besides confronting politicians face to face, Alvarez-Aranyos would also like to implement a strategic action plan that includes a campaign of 5,000 nationwide billboards that would involve a Trump scorecard “showing where he was on day one versus where he is now… just knock it into people’s heads slowly, through osmosis, that his failure is real.” And finally, Alvarez-Aranyos has plans to create an app where “you put in your ZIP code, and it guides you to the next direct action.”
Phase 3: Direct campaigning
This final phase focuses on direct campaigning to influence election outcomes and party leadership. American Opposition “can’t coordinate with candidates, because we’re a super PAC — there are laws preventing us from coordinating with parties or candidate committees,” Alvarez-Aranyos explained. “But we can still show up on their behalf. We can run ads on their behalf.”
AO plans to support a slate of Democratic candidates who would enact political change, replacing “ineffective Democrats” with “better leaders” who are “more representative of the people they’re meant to represent.”
“We’re not just recruiting candidates to be better public officials, we’re recruiting candidates to be defenders of democracy,” Alvarez-Aranyos said, adding that one of his goals is to “rebrand the [Democratic] party to make it more likable.” But more than that, he added, he would like to recruit leaders “who are strong, who know how to hire really good lawyers, who know how to hire really good staff, who know how to protest, who know how to put pressure on election officials…” and, perhaps most importantly, “who know how to show up.”
And as for influencing the Republican party? “I am no longer in the business of trying to convince Republicans. You don’t convince fascists. You defeat fascists.”
Check out Alvarez-Aranyos’ speech on February 17, 2025 near the U.S. Capitol building during his second National Day of Protest event, where he tells his crowd, “We will not submit to the same fascism our grandparents defeated”:
And Alvarez-Aranyos on September 2 at Union Station: