Indivisible Founders on the Impact of Nationwide 'Hands Off' Protests

Following nationwide “Hands Off!” protests this weekend that saw 1,300 rallies take place across all fifty states, the District of Columbia, and around the world, Indivisible, a lead organizer of the mobilization, released the following reflections:

Indivisible’s co-executive director Leah Greenberg shared the following statement:

“When we look back on the fight against the American fascist movement, people will talk about this as an inflection point. This was the first mass public demonstration of resistance to this administration, and it demonstrated the eye-popping strength and reach. The goal of these mobilizations was to bust through the myth that opposition was impossible or irrelevant in this new era. Thousands of people, like the Indivisible leaders around the country, have already been organizing this year, and this weekend, thousands more got organized too. Millionsof people made new connections, started new group chats, found new friends, signed up for new mailing lists, and asked ‘what’s next?’”

Indivisible’s co-executive director Ezra Levin shared the following statement:

“Fascists want people to fear them. Fear is contagious and they want it to spread. But courage is contagious too. The only solution to creeping authoritarianism is organized, courageous people power. And we saw an historic level of it across every state and many countries on Saturday.

Elon Musk is clinging to this galaxy-brained idea that the millions of people who rallied this weekend were paid protesters. This isn’t some ‘opp.’ This is literally what democracy looks like. Indivisible and our partners across the ecosystem provided the infrastructure and support to make this possible, from online maps to de-escalation trainings. But it’s ordinary people who put those 1,300 events on the map, and turned them into a history-making day of action. Musk and Trump may be trying to intimidate us, but it’s not coming from a place of strength. It’s coming from a place of weakness, because they know their agenda is unpopular and unsustainable.

“We hope our Democratic leaders were watching, too. For too long, Democrats like Chuck Schumer have denied we’re in a crisis and have embraced the James Carville ‘roll over and play dead” strategy.’ Those days should be over. The people are demanding Democrats find their spines, stand up straight, and fight back. Smart Democratic electeds will read the room, adapt, and lead. Cory Booker said that he heard from his own constituents that they want to see him fight back. We need more Bookers and fewer Schumers. And the people, their constituents, are demanding it”

“Indivisible has been organizing for the better part of a decade, and we’re not stopping. The fight just continues. The next congressional recess is on April 11th. Musk and Trump are up against forces they cannot intimidate into submission.”