I'd agree with you except for the Civil Rights protests/marches/sit-ins did work. Not to say that plenty of people weren't maimed or killed as a result, most if not all on the protestors' side - and speaking of getting killed, that'd include the massive Vietnam protests as well w/ Kent State being the main example - Don't think they actually worked though except maybe to end forced conscription/draft (which ultimately helped the warfare state).

But yeah, you're right. It's been ages since a stop-work labor demonstration (strike) worked on a scale any larger than maybe a single factory. We all saw what happened with the ATCs in the 80s when Ronny Raygun was in office. On that note, though, it's a tough call. That would really cripple everything if we couldn't get any planes into the air. But sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures, and they did try. Ghandi was just an example of a peaceful (mostly) protest that worked regardless reason, but I really only brought it up because I mentioned that books have been written about their tactics which were working even before the Brits got tired or ran out of ammo.

I like your analogy of prisoners vs. guards. That's this country's history. We're the inmates and they will use violence whenever necessary to keep us in our place. Same with your view on Substack. Most any "opposition" here is controlled, including Taibbi, Greenwald and the less liberal ones as well. But then, what exactly would "opposition" entail here? Like a pamphlet or newsletter from the early days of the American labor movement? Just asking...

I don't know that the USG would come out shooting if enough people came out and peacefully ground the country to a halt for weeks, but what do I know. And besides, as we have both acknowledged, half of the people in the crowd will be infiltrators and the Feds won't even need to take any drastic action because the draconian local and state police and sheriffs have shown us time and time again that they're more than happy to use force to inflict the will of the moneyed elite class onto us while most of the petit bourgeoise/PMC will quietly complain about it on Facebook while they continue to WFH in safety.

Do you really think there's no hope in massive (mostly) peaceful protests, though? My take is kind of the converse - nobody will ever be able to organize enough other people around any given cause to develop a critical mass. We live in a splintered, siloed and often at odds with one another society, which is exactly the way TPTB want it.