At the Town Hall
1. Get there early, meet up, and get organized. Meet outside or in the parking lot for a quick huddle before the event. Distribute the handout of questions, and encourage members to ask the questions on the sheet or something similar.
2. Get seated and spread out. Head into the venue a bit early to grab seats at the front half of the room, but do not sit all together. Sit by yourself or in groups of 2, and spread out throughout the room. This will help reinforce the impression of broad consensus.
3. Make your voices heard by asking good questions. When the MoC opens the floor or questions, everyone in the group should put your hands up and keep them there. Look friendly or neutral so that staffers will call on you. When you’re asking a question, remember the following guidelines:
Stick with the prepared list of questions. Don’t be afraid to read it straight from the printout if you need to.Be polite but persistent, and demand real answers. MoCs are very good at deflecting or dodging question they don’t want to answer. If the MoC dodges, ask a follow up. If they aren’t giving you real answers, then call them out for it. Other group members around the room should amplify by either booing the Congressman or applauding you.
Don’t give up the mic until you’re satisfied with the answer. If you’ve asked a hostile question, a staffer will often try to limit your ability to follow up by taking the microphone back immediately after you finish speaking. They can’t do that if you keep a firm hold on the mike. No staffer in their right mind wants to look like they’re physically intimidating a constituent, so they will back off. If they object, then say, politely but loudly: “I’m not finished. The Congressman/woman is dodging my question. Why are you trying to stop me from following up?”
Keep the pressure on. After one member of the group finishes, everyone should raise their hands again. The next member of the group to be called on should move down the list of questions and ask the next one.
4. Support the group and reinforce the message. After one member of your group asks a question, everyone should applaud to show that the feeling is shared throughout the audience. Whenever someone from your group gets the mike, they should note that they’re building on the previous questions – amplifying the fact that you’re part of a broad group.
5. Record everything! Assign someone in the group to use their smart phones or video camera to record other advocates asking questions and the MoC’s response. While written transcripts are nice, unfavorable exchanges caught on video can be devastating for MoCs. These clips can be shared through social media and picked up by local and national media.
A Single Photo From Baton Rouge That’s Hard to Forget
It is a remarkable picture. A single woman stands in the roadway, feet firmly planted. She poses no obvious threat. She is there to protest the excessive force which Baton Rouge police allegedly deploy against the city’s black citizens. She stands in front of police headquarters, on Saturday. And she is being arrested by officers who look better prepared for a war than a peaceful protest.
House Democrats’ Gun-Control Sit-In Turns Into Chaotic Showdown With Republicans
The House chamber on Wednesday became the site of an hours-long sit-in by dozens of House Democrats who defied the Republican majority and demanded that they hold a vote on a gun-control measure before a weeklong recess for Independence Day.
The Democrats — including senior party leaders — plunked down in the well of the chamber, effectively paralyzing all legislative business as they chanted, “No bill, no break!” They took turns making impassioned speeches against gun violence, interspersed with chants demanding a vote on measures to tighten the nation’s gun laws.
But shortly after the sit-in began, Republicans forced the House into recess, cutting off the microphones and the televised feed that broadcasts floor proceedings live on C-Span. Democrats refused to relinquish control of the chamber and enlisted new technology — the Periscope live-stream feature of Twitter — to overcome the Republican blackout.
C-Span picked up the feed and broadcast as if the House was in session, albeit with the unavoidably shaky camerawork by lawmakers using their cellphones.
.. Yet even by the hyperpartisan standards of modern Washington, it was a brazen disruption that underscored the outrage many lawmakers have expressed about the failure of Congress to act in the aftermath of numerous mass shootings.
.. Even if all Senate Democrats and the independents who caucus with them voted in favor, which is hardly assured, at least 14 Republicans would need to agree to reach the 60-vote threshold for advancing the measure. Ms. Collins still seemed far short of that number on Wednesday.
Why Street Protests Don’t Work
. There was never a plan to demolish the fountain—Colding-Jørgensen simply wanted to show how easy it was to create a relatively large group using social media.
.. In today’s world, an appeal to protest via Twitter, Facebook, or text message is sure to attract a crowd, especially if it is to demonstrate against something—anything, really—that outrages us. The problem is what happens after the march.
.. “Before the Internet, the tedious work of organizing that was required to circumvent censorship or to organize a protest also helped build infrastructure for decision making and strategies for sustaining momentum. Now movements can rush past that step, often to their own detriment.”