“Power to the People” was one of the most political songs recorded by John Lennon in 1971. The song was often heard at protests against then-President Richard Nixon, whose administration was cracking down on protesters against the Vietnam War.
Lennon’s song will probably be heard again today Saturday in the expected to be held in 2,500 cities in the US – but also in Canada – with the central slogan “No Kings” (“No Kings”) and in which it is estimated that millions of citizens will participate. The idea behind the slogan is the refusal of Americans to accept the president’s “monarchical” system of power.
Those who will take part in the protests criticize Trump for trying to circumvent justice, ignore institutions and undermine democracy. The dismantling of public services in the US, the abolition of many social programs, massive operations against immigrants are some of the causes that bring Americans to the streets.
In the “No Kings” movement – whose slogan on its website is “No thrones, no crowns, no kings” – organizations such as Indivisible, which was created in 2016, when Trump was first elected president of the USA, and which aims to defend democracy, as well as American Federation of Public Employees (AFGE). Both organizations stated to TIME that the prolonged “shutdown” (suspension of the operation of the American government) requires even more massive participation of citizens in the protests. “The government shutdown is another authoritarian show of force by this government,” AFGE said, calling on its 820,000 members to join the marches.
The 50501 Movement
An important role in the organization of the protests is played by the “Movement 50501” – an abbreviation that means “50 states, 50 protests, 1 movement”. On June 14, the day of the 79thof on Trump’s birthday and on the day of a large military parade in Washington in honor of the US armed forces, the “50501 Movement” organized the first mass protest with the slogan “No Kings”. More than five million Americans then flooded small and large cities in the US – Philadelphia, Seattle, Austin and Los Angeles, but not Washington, where there was no protest march due to the military parade -, denouncing the dangerous expansion of President Trump’s powers.
Those demonstrations, which sent a message of “resistance to Trump’s authoritarianism, his pro-billionaire policies and the militarization of cities,” became the largest anti-government protest since Trump returned to the White House for his second term as president.
Organizers of today’s protests stress that they expect millions of citizens to raise their voices again to remind the world that America has no kings; and that power belongs to the people. They insist that today’s demonstrations will also be peaceful. The main gathering will take place outside the Capitol in Washington, with speeches by Democratic Senator Chris Murphy and representatives of organizations such as American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the human rights organization Human Rights Campaign.
However, it remains unclear whether the National Guard, which has been deployed, on Trump’s order, to Washington “to deal with crime” will be present.. According to estimates, participation in today’s protests is expected to be greater than that of the June rallies.
In the run-up to the protests, some Republican lawmakers called them anti-American, arguing that they were responsible for prolonging the government shutdown. The Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, said the protests would be filled with “Democrats who support Hamas and also members of the Antifa movement.”
Among those who have publicly expressed their support for today’s protests is award-winning actor Robert De Niro, known for his harsh criticism of Trump, who called on Americans to take to the streets again.
