📌 NOTE FOR NEW READERS: This is an independent Newsletter covering 50501, No Kings, and the pro democracy & civic action ecosystem. Subscribe to never miss a post.
One year ago this week, we began publishing regularly. There’s now over 250 posts in our archive and today we measure this community’s year against what scholars know about nonviolent movement work and how to succeed. Together, we have done so much and continue to do it the way research says it should be done.
The Woman with the Mimeograph
In December of 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery Alabama. That night, Jo Ann Robinson (an English professor) along with a few associates, copied tens of thousands of leaflets calling for a day of boycott of the city’s buses. That 1 day boycott turned into 381 days and during that time, Robinson wrote the weekly newsletter of the Montgomery Improvement Association.
We remember the boycott for walking but it also ran through consistent communication channels such as a newsletter. People needed to know what happened and what was coming.
Research Says:
Political scientist Gene Sharp published and shared a catalog of 198 methods of nonviolent action and sorted them into 3 groups:
1) Protest & persuasion (marches, letters, songs, and symbols)
2) Noncooperation (boycotts, strikes, and walkouts)
3) Intervention (building institutions we need when the ones we have in place begin to fail)
Harvard’s Erica Chenoweth, who spent decades studying why and how movements win, finds that success depends on “a diverse group of participants sustained over time” and “a creative range of protest tactics.”
Measured Against a List
We went back through the archive and stats with Sharp’s list in mind.
We marched: 7 million people across over 2,700 communities last October, 8 million people turned out across 3,300 events in March. We sang and listened to music using chants that started in our comment section which led to a full post built from our community.
We walked out: 2PM January 20 at over 900 events. We lobbied with FLARE, carrying a guide into district offices in February and we wrote and called week after week. We boycotted Black Friday and on May Day, 100,000 students went on a strike.
Mutual Aid: When SNAP was threatened for 42 million, we all joined in mutual aid and helped stock food pantries, which Sharp would have called building an alternative institution. (Collectively, 10 of Sharp’s methods drawn from all 3 groups)
Researchers found that demonstrations from this past year reached a wider share of the USA than any point they measured before. You’re part of that finding and you’re helping to shape history.
The post liked more than any other from the past year is one of our earliest promotional videos: “NEXT PROTEST ANNOUNCEMENT” from April 2025, with 8,484 likes. Another one of this year’s favorite was “Tomorrow, America Rises,” sent the night before No Kings.
The post read the most was ICE Vehicles Don’t Look Like ICE Vehicles Anymore, opened more than 107,000 times and passed on over 2,400 times. People don’t usually share safety guides for entertainment, you sent it to someone who needed it to keep them safe, thank you. 💙
The post that brought the most new-readers this year was our guide to walking out safely. And on just our second day of daily publishing, we shared the story of Norwegians who resisted occupation with a paperclip. It was shared more than 2,300 times and some of you pinned a paperclip to your shirt, method 19 on Sharp’s list.
Another Substack Favorite: It’s Even Worse Than You Think, But There’s Hope which remains the most shared post thanks to 50501 NY for the collab! (Give them a follow if you can!) After a year, we can say where the hope comes from: You and collective, peaceful, resistance.
Sharp listed 198 methods. Which one will you try?
Thank you for reading, sharing, and for helping us make a difference.
The next event is coming up fast: No Kings: Vote Early is October 17.
And readers have a lot to thank you for as well. We appreciate having a solid place to express our frustrations and unmistakable hopes for a better future. Remaining positive is difficult but you offer the opportunity to hold on to our determination. Thanks to all of you at 50501.
Thank you