Completely agree. But I don’t want to give people the impression that if they need to have a phone for whatever reason that they can’t or shouldn’t attend a protest, especially one like this where the point is to get as many people in the street as possible rather than achieving any specifically defined goal.

Leaving the phone at home is definitely the safer option, but I want people to know that they can still attend if they have to have a phone on them.

While this is good advice, it’s not always very practical. OP indicated they are 17, meaning a minor. That may mean they need to be able to keep in contact with parents/guardians at home. I’ve also been to actions with groups of people where having contact is important for coordination.

If you need to bring a phone you can do so, but be mindful. Turn off any biometric features (fingerprint, face ID, etc). Police don’t need a warrant to access your phone if you have biometrics. They can just put your phone in front of your face or put your finger on it to unlock. But if you have a passcode they cannot force you to unlock your phone without a warrant (and you can always just pretend you don’t know the code).

I’d also suggest turning the phone off (or, at the very least, on airplane mode) except when you’re actively using it. And minimize when you need it. I typically turn my phone off before arriving and wait until I’m gone from the location to turn it back on.

If you need to bring a phone, don’t plan to do anything illegal. Large events like this will always have a significant segment of people who are not doing anything illegal at all. Stick with that group. Carry signs, chant, show your numbers, make contacts with other protesters in the crowd. But if/when you see people in black bloc, don’t join them.

I’d rather Bernie be Minority Leader…

I’ve been in the streets. Where are you?

I’ve been attending various demonstrations, protests, and actions for nearly 20 years now. Ever since my early 20s (I’m 38 now) I’ve made a point of attending at least one protest every month, in addition to other actions I take part in. Lately, that’s been closer to weekly than monthly. I cook for my local Food Not Bombs and sometimes help distribute (although my work schedule makes that difficult).

I vote, sure, but that’s 2 days a year, at most. That’s an incredibly small part of my political engagement.

Granted, but my top priority at the moment isn’t getting rid of the Democratic Party. It’s the fascism of the Republican Party. History shows us pretty clearly that a fascist movement has never been defeated without leftists and liberals finding common cause in opposition to the fascists. Every time fascists have lost in history, it’s been at the hands of a popular front of leftists and liberals working together. Literally every single time. And the inverse is also true. Literally every time fascists have taken power, it’s been by dividing leftists and liberals and getting us to fight against each other while they take and consolidate power.

It’s not about whether it’s the right time or not. The fact is that under the current political system it’s simply not possible. The system is designed to prevent it from happening. You can’t get rid of the Democratic Party until we get rid of the current political system first.

Also, if we’re wishing for things that won’t happen without overthrowing the political order, I’m much more interested in getting rid of the Republican Party. You know, the fascists who are actively black bagging people on the streets and sending them to a foreign Slavadoran labor camp where we supposedly can’t get them back from.

I never told anyone to get third party candidates elected. Whoever told you that was either maliciously giving you bad advice or is clueless as to how the American electoral political system works.

Feel free to steal/copy.

I feel like the phrase “Deny, Defund, Depose” could become a very powerful slogan if it takes off.

My sign is big block letters reading (words on the left in black, on the right in red)

DENY DOGE

DEFUND MUSK

DEPOSE TRUMP

If people start campaigning and supporting a third-party right now, there’s actually a shot to win some house seats and local elections next year.

No, there isn’t. We’re heading into a midterm where a lot of the typically disengaged public will be afraid and in strong opposition to the incumbent party. That’s going to draw a lot of people towards the Democrats, and there will be a strong “Blue no matter who” push to convince people to vote strategically. The Democratic establishment will be fighting even harder against any third parties they might see as spoilers than they will be against the GOP.

You’re right that the upcoming midterms present a great opportunity, but it’s not in a third party. It’s in a primary push. Rather than talking about a 3rd party that has almost no chance at materializing and even less chance at winning, all our effort should be put towards convincing people they need to show up in the primaries and vote for the most anti-establishment, most left-wing Democratic primary candidates they can.

That’s where the real opportunity lies. Primaries get such an incredibly small voter turnout that a relative handful of voters can swing primaries. Then, once a real leftist progressive wins the primary, the whole force of anti-fascist electoral politics will be behind them in the general. It’ll be easy to paint any Republican as a fascist, which will make it easy to frame any Democrat as a rational choice, regardless how far left they may be. When that progressive is the ONLY alternative to GOP fascists on the ballot, they’ll have a much easier time of winning.

Get people who don’t normally vote and who hate Democratic leadership/establishment to vote in the primaries. Run progressives in the primaries. Take over the party. That’s the only way this could work.

That’s not what I’m saying at all. I’m saying play the game to win. Don’t start with a losing strategy.

I appreciate and agree with the sentiment, but I think a call to form an entirely new political party demonstrates a naivety with regards to how the American political system works. It’s just not going to happen. A third party will NEVER displace one of the two major parties without massive changes to the electoral system that would likely require a Constitutional Amendment.

Our system and political culture is just not structured to allow for 3rd parties. What’s more, the 2 major parties have ingrained themselves into the system so much that they have MASSIVE institutional advantages over a 3rd party.

This will never be a successful effort. I think a better goal would be to co-opt and take over the Democratic Party, booting out all the Vichy collaborationists like Schumer, Jefferies, Newsom, Adams, Pelosi, etc, and remaking the party.

With a new 3rd party, best case scenario is it has 0 impact. If it does get any votes, it’ll just divide the anti-fascist vote with the Democrats (and any other 3rd parties) making it even more difficult to win.