frostfire
02-05-2017, 09:23
Can the protests (not the riot) gain momentum with each upsetting Trump policy and executive order?
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/02/north-carolina-went-red-in-2016-but-can-it-be-a-model-for-democrats-214736
...But as Democrats across the country consider how to respond to President Donald Trump, some progressive leaders, from grassroots organizers to the head of the pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC Priorities USA, are looking to North Carolina, of all states, as a model.
That’s largely thanks to the work of Reverend William Barber II, a pastor in Goldsboro who has run North Carolina’s NAACP chapter since 2005. Barber’s “Moral Monday” protest movement has by now gained national attention, but with the defeat of McCrory, the movement can finally point to an electoral success. And it has continued to gain momentum: In December, after a week of protests in response to the Republican power grab, in which approximately 20 protestors were arrested in acts of civil disobedience, commentators across the media sphere were discussing whether Republicans in Raleigh had lost their minds.
McCrory’s loss, along with the continuing success of the Moral Monday movement, offers some tantalizing questions for Democrats as they figure out how to channel and sustain the anti-Trump energy that has brought millions of people out to protest the new president and his policies. Did a grassroots progressive movement actually manage to unseat a Republican governor? And, if so, does it provide a replicable model for progressives nationwide as they regroup? It does seem like Moral Mondays played at least some role in ousting McCrory. But North Carolina’s politics are distinctive, and the Moral Monday movement, which prides itself on being principled not political, may be difficult to reproduce in other states. Nonetheless, Barber and his group are continuing a pivot toward a more national role, and Democrats are watching.
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/02/north-carolina-went-red-in-2016-but-can-it-be-a-model-for-democrats-214736
...But as Democrats across the country consider how to respond to President Donald Trump, some progressive leaders, from grassroots organizers to the head of the pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC Priorities USA, are looking to North Carolina, of all states, as a model.
That’s largely thanks to the work of Reverend William Barber II, a pastor in Goldsboro who has run North Carolina’s NAACP chapter since 2005. Barber’s “Moral Monday” protest movement has by now gained national attention, but with the defeat of McCrory, the movement can finally point to an electoral success. And it has continued to gain momentum: In December, after a week of protests in response to the Republican power grab, in which approximately 20 protestors were arrested in acts of civil disobedience, commentators across the media sphere were discussing whether Republicans in Raleigh had lost their minds.
McCrory’s loss, along with the continuing success of the Moral Monday movement, offers some tantalizing questions for Democrats as they figure out how to channel and sustain the anti-Trump energy that has brought millions of people out to protest the new president and his policies. Did a grassroots progressive movement actually manage to unseat a Republican governor? And, if so, does it provide a replicable model for progressives nationwide as they regroup? It does seem like Moral Mondays played at least some role in ousting McCrory. But North Carolina’s politics are distinctive, and the Moral Monday movement, which prides itself on being principled not political, may be difficult to reproduce in other states. Nonetheless, Barber and his group are continuing a pivot toward a more national role, and Democrats are watching.