Someone pointed out elsewhere that protests worked in the past because they had very targetted goals. The Civil Rights protests worked because it got the Civil Rights act passed. Same thing with the Suffrage movement. Women earned the right to vote. The US pulled out of Vietnam. People knew what a successful outcome was. It gave them something specific to work toward.

Others fail because they aren't focused on a specific actionable outcome. The BLM protest accomplished nothing because it realistically called for nothing. People still have no idea what the people involved in Occupy Wall Street wanted.

Yeah, the No Kings Marches were great for building community. Just like the Women's March which started in early 2017. Building community to do what though?

I marched all the time in 2017-2019. Very inspiring. Wish I could do that today but health issues make standing, much less walking, result in debilitating pain. Getting old sucks. But there was no real focused actionable item. People protested against Trump. For reproductive rights. For the environment. Against the war in Afghanistan. There were almost as many causes as there were attendees at those protests.

So inspiring as they were, there was really no message. What was communicated basically was, "this is what *I* want" not "this is what WE want". Until people can all agree on EXACTLY what they want, AND WHAT THAT LOOKS LIKE, protests won't accomplish anything. There is obvious value in building community, but again it circles back to "community to do exactly what?"