The Resistance: The Dawn of the Anti-Trump Opposition Movement

This past week, the St. Louis branch of the Scholars Strategy Network brought David Meyer to town to discuss his new edited volume (with Sidney Tarrow) called The Resistance: The Dawn of the Anti-Trump Opposition Movement. The book includes chapters by many top scholars in the field and focuses on the origins, organization, and dynamics of the movement while situating these contemporary efforts into their historical context. In his discussion on the topic, Meyer focused on the spread of activism immediately following the election. Of particular interest to the audience, he detailed a counterfactual account of whether the large-scale and highly-resourced travel ban airport protests would have occurred as they did without the Women’s March. Although he noted some features that were unlikely the direct result of the Women’s March (e.g., ACLU and CAIR legal actions) he suggested that the size of the protest, decisions to offer free legal services, and extensive political support would have been unlikely without the previous mobilization effort. Meyer concluded the talk by noting that there is often a desire to create a “recipe” for social movement outcomes, but they are highly contextual and determined by the goals, timeline, and extensiveness of the demands put forth. Social movements, after all, are as Meyer said, “blunt instruments” for sharing solutions to complex problems. The book offers an opportunity to continue thinking critically about the extensive mobilization efforts in the last two years.

 

Activism against Sexual Violence is Central to a New Women’s Movement: Resistance to Trump, Campus Sexual Assault, and #metoo

By Nancy Whittier

Sexual violence and harassment have been central issues in almost every era of women’s organizing and they are central to a contemporary women’s movement that both builds on and differs from earlier activism. Since 2010, a new generation of activists has targeted sexual violence in new ways. Slutwalks, a theatrical form of protest against the idea that women provoke rape by their dress, brought a new spin to long-standing “Take Back the Night” marches against violence against women. The wave of activism grew as college students began speaking out about assault on campus and gained a broad platform through social media. Students protested institutional failures to follow procedures for addressing sexual assault and used symbolic tactics to highlight the issue. For example, in 2014/15, Columbia student Emma Sulkowicz carried her dorm room mattress everywhere as a protest against Columbia’s inaction after she reported sexual assault. “Carry That Weight,” her project title, became the name for an emerging activist group. Another, “No Red Tape,” led to a cross-campus day of action in which activists attached pieces of red tape to clothes or campus statues.