Are we better off than we were one year ago?

I have an uncomfortable relationship with protest marches. On the one hand, I believe democracy does better when people make themselves seen and heard. By meeting in the streets at big events, the  immiserated can show each other they are not isolated. They demonstrate their commitment by going outside together to disrupt daily routines. They confirm to themselves and to others that they and their urgent concerns matter. They can be a critical first step toward meaningful political action.

On the other hand, I don't think people are nearly as modest as they ought to be in general.  There's a kind of performative self-righteousness at work at these events, righteous as the cause itself may be. There's a line somewhere between necessary expression of grievance against power and look at us and how good.. how much better than so and so.. we are.  And it's not an easy line to keep track of.  Shit is fucked up. People ought to go out in the street and agitate against that. But they should also take care to do so as anonymously as is practical.  It's a tricky thing to reconcile. The fact that millions of people turned out is essential.  The fact that you, specifically, were there is actually kind of annoying.

So whenever I go out to see one of these, I'm both encouraged and appalled at the same time.  I try to get a sense of how many and what sorts of people are there. I want to hear what the speakers have to say. But as I'm counting heads, I can't help but wonder at each.  There's a difference between wanting to see people take action and the brazen self aggrandizement of those who have said, I will be a person who acts. Who do people think they are? Maybe it would be better if there were a way for people to attend these things anonymously. Ideally we could show up and be counted but somehow also be invisible.

I tried to skulk about last year's "J20NOLA" event  as invisibly as possible. A lot of people were there.



Probably something like 1000 to 1500 in Duncan Plaza.  Small beans compared to the next day's Women's March turnout but fantastic for a weekday afternoon, especially on a day with so much... um.. stuff going on.

The march represented a broad coalition of social justice organizations around New Orleans. Representatives of each spoke for a few minutes during the rally. 

More than 1,000 people marched from City Hall after a rally that galvanized more than 100 Louisiana grassroots organizations, including BreakOUT!, Stand With Dignity, Congress of Day Laborers, the NAACP, hospitality workers, faith leaders, environmental justice groups and several locally based civil rights groups. The event — coordinated with Take 'Em Down NOLA and New Orleans Workers Group — follows the groups' growing presence in citywide activism, from calls to remove Confederate monuments and "all symbols of white supremacy" to support for affordable housing, criminal justice reform, workers' rights and health care, and explicit warnings against fascism, demagoguery and racism throughout the 2016 election.

I remember thinking at the time that maintaining the momentum of that weekend would be a test for all of these groups. And it has been. But many of the people at last year's marches went on to win some victories in 2017.  Or, at least, they have spent the year fighting some good fights.

The hospitality workers have continued to organize winning the right to negotiate a union contract with the Hilton. Take 'Em Down celebrated a hard fought win in the campaign to take down four Confederate monuments. Congresso has acted to defend local residents threatened with deportation . And they along with other groups present on J20 have been working along with MaCCNO to push back against Mitch Landrieu's ABO surveillance scheme.  New Orleans has a local DSA chapter now. They managed to get Bill Cassidy's attention during the fight over Obamacare repeal.  Their members also repaired lots of brake lights and are getting involved in the fight for affordable housing among other things.

It would have been nice to see some of this capacity mature to a point where it could have been a factor in the recent municipal elections. The timing just wasn't right for that, though. Because of this, the incoming mayor and council are products of the same old out of touch political establishment that existed before the crisis time began. That's a shame. 

But doing the politics is about more than getting all worked up to vote against some terrible candidates every so often.  There will be time for that again eventually.  In the meantime, though, there will be plenty of other stuff to worry about as the past year has well demonstrated.  Some of that might even involve getting out and marching in the street again.  But that hardly seems appropriate during Mardi Gras so maybe we should hold off for a while.