Because cowardly politicians bend to strength, we must show we are strong. Perception of public opinion matters to politicians. Some politicians see following public opinion as their job. Others are fear-driven and will always take the side of the strongest person or force, because cowards feel small inside and seek protection above principle. To apply this insight, we should direct our work at demonstrating that we are the strong ones. And we show we are strong just by showing them who we are: a massive wave of people holding bravery and compassion and creativity and joy and rock-hard resolve. We just have to be the wave.
Maybe it’s word that a university student you know has been arrested by ICE and sent off to a secret prison camp.
Maybe it’s Donald Trump declaring that he has asked El Salvador’s bitcoin dictator, Nayib Bukele, to open up 5 new concentration camps, each one capable of holding tens of thousands of prisoners, to confine American citizens as political prisoners.
You hear this news, and then you go outside, into the world, down the street, and you see people just going about their daily business, like everything is just fine, as if no horror is taking place at all.
Their indifference, somehow, makes the atrocity even more terrifying.
You are not alone.
I’m feeling it too.
This is why protest is essential.
When we protest, we stand out in public and we declare that no, things are not just fine.
When we protest, we break the illusion. We violate the silence.
On Friday March 28 of 2025, members of the theater group of The Audacity traveled from their various home towns of the midcoast to the Maine State House in Augusta, donned the red robes and white bonnets that visually refer to Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, and stood outside the hearing room where the Judiciary Committee of the Maine State Legislature received testimony regarding L.D. 975 and other bills that would outlaw and criminalize abortion in the state of Maine. The visual testimony of this group augmented the written transcript of testimony by 34 members of The Audacity submitted to the public record for the same hearing. Multiple members of the theater group had lived through a time in American history during which abortion had been criminalized and women punished for making choices about their own bodies.
Participant Lisa Kushner arrived alone:
“I attended that event dressed in a red costume. When I walked up outside the statehouse there were 2 small groups of people, anti abortion Christians and pro abortion supporters. Those against the bills were loudly chanting slogans like ‘my body my choice’. There were more young people than I’d seen at other demonstrations. I joined another red cloaked person who was there on her own. I was looking for The Audacity group but didn’t know where they were meeting up.
After about 15 minutes the red cloaked white bonnet maidens came from the Cross building in single file through both groups of protesters. A silence occurred. It was a dramatic moment.
The red tape covering their mouths was really effective.”
Nancy Davis describes the day:
“I was part of the handmaid‘s group who went to Augusta on Friday. We met outside the Cross building a little after nine, finished getting our red outfits on and strolled through the building to the capital. We were a big stand out in the crowd as we approach the capital building. Lots of people took our picture and news crews filmed us entering the building. unfortunately, the hearing was in a small room and couldn’t accommodate groups of people. People who wished to speak, had to sign in, declare if they were in favor or opposed to the law and wait their turn to speak one by one. Of course they chose the people who were opposed to abortion go first. So we stood for a couple of hours waiting and still realized we had a long time to go so most people left to go home. Three of us were interviewed by Channel 8 news. However, I watched, and unfortunately, only one of us was quoted and in just a few words. I was the only one filmed in the story, although the two women with me were much more articulate than I.”
Kimberly Krejsa adds:
“We gathered together in a cold, windy parking garage. Looking furtively around, we quickly put on our disguises; red gowns, white bonnets. Briskly, we walked to the rendezvous point, gathering more maidens as we approached the government building. Protesters gathered outside, yelling and chanting at each other; cameras were turned in our direction as we solemnly walked into the building. We were recognized and warmly greeted by several folks. We could hear people murmuring about our costumes as we walked about, silently protesting the extremity of these 7 bills. People signed up to argue their case, one by one, in front of the legislative committee. Passions were high, arguments were eloquent and the committee was patient and kind. Everyone had a chance to speak if they did not mind waiting for hours. Some of the personal testimony was heart-breaking as people shared their personal stories. It was good trouble.”
Cynthia Stancioff concludes:
“We were sort of struggling with costumes in the wind, not all that unified in appearance, and without any choreography of our movements. So I think we looked like a small group of distinctly-dressed, mostly-old ladies (one childbearing age person among us), there to make an impression – but doing nothing in particular. It was clear some people recognized the trope, but there wasn’t news coverage as far as I could tell, so we impressed a hundred people or so? Maybe I missed a tv camera or something though.
“I felt like we needed some plan (marching orders, as it were) of how to walk around, like single file, heads down, – didn’t have to be fancy to be dramatic, but we didn’t take advantage of the theatrical possibilities! A fair number of people did take pictures of us, and we met with only approval, no opposition that I could see.”
This second video in the Why Protest? podcast series starts with a personal story from The Audacity’s facilitator, James Cook, about his night with a trumpet and why arts activism works. First, artists of all sorts know how to tell a compelling story that can hit different parts of the human soul. That’s convincing. Second, by doing works of activist community art together we will weave a web of community connecting people who know each other, who know how to work together. That web of community is a safety net of trust… because they will be able to take any one of us, but they cannot take all of us if we stick together. Community arts activism is preparation for surviving the looming authoritarian disaster.
On March 1, 2025, 131 residents of the towns of midcoast Maine peaceably assembled at the Knox County Courthouse to petition our government for redress of grievances, the protected right of all people living in the United States under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The following list represents the full 75 grievances identified by members of The Audacity as of March 1, each representing an act of the Trump administration during the first 40 days of its second term. We sadly expect many more to follow. We’re sending our list of grievances to each of our members of Congress now.
But that’s not all. We call on all Mainers of conscience to TAKE ACTION and SIGN OUR PETITION FOR A PUBLIC TOWN HALL in Knox County with our members of Congress, Representative Chellie Pingree, Senator Angus King, and Senator Susan Collins. When we reach 1,000 signatures, we will deliver our petition to each of our representatives for a prompt response.
The President has issued an order stripping citizenship from babies born right here in the United States.
The Director of ICE has pledged to deport citizens if their parents are immigrants.
The President has been deporting people in the United States to the Guantanamo camp without notice or due process.
The President has threatened democratic allies and praised hostile dictators.
The administration has given our personal financial information to the world’s richest man.
The President has fired the nation’s top generals for questioning the legality of his orders.
The President has illegally ousted the inspector generals whose job is to protect Americans from abuses of power.
The President has illegally emptied the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, pledged to protect Americans from unconstitutional surveillance, search and seizure, save for one Republican who has been stripped of the power to act.
The President has handed out pardons to violent insurrectionists.
The Attorney General has ordered prosecutors to drop criminal charges against the mayor of New York City in open exchange for political cooperation in hunting down immigrants.
The President disbanded a task force targeting Russian oligarchs who have aided the war against Ukraine.
While people go hungry, the President has ordered $450 million worth of food to be left to rot.
Teenagers with HIV are being denied access to life-saving medication that the United States has already shipped overseas.
Following anti-vaccination campaigning by the Trump Administration, a child in Texas has died from the measles, the first death in 10 years. The rate of measles infection is higher than it has been in 20 years. More innocent children will die.
The President has fired federal agents for investigating his illegal behavior.
Violating the First Amendment of the Constitution, the President has created an office using the government to punish people for disagreeing with Christians.
The President has forbidden families from seeking health care for their transgender children.
The Trump Administration has expunged statistical reports counting the number of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the United States and comparing the rate of violent victimization of lesbian, gay, and bisexual people to the rate of victimization of straight people.
The President has fired hundreds of people who work for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the people who monitor and give us warnings about weather and climate threats.
The President has blamed the people of Ukraine for being invaded and threatened them for defying the tyrant Vladimir Putin.
The President has called for the ethnic cleansing of Palestine so he can develop it into a luxury resort.
The President has praised and promoted a video depicting Palestinian women working for European tourists in the sex trade and the erection of a 50-foot-tall golden statue in tribute to himself.
The President has closed the Social Security Administration’s civil rights office that investigated discrimination and protected disabled workers.
The President has restricted the freedom of the press to cover him, banning news outlets that disagree with him from asking him questions.
The President has sued news networks for reporting the truth about his behavior.
The President has threatened the people of Maine, promising to withhold already-pledged federal funding from the state of Maine unless Maine’s governor promises to act against existing federal and state law.
The President has terminated contracts for work to prevent another Ebola outbreak.
The President has demanded that private companies must stop promoting diversity, equity and inclusion.
The President’s lawyers have asserted that only the President and his hand-picked Attorney General can review and rule on the legality of the President and his Attorney General.
The President has promised to cut Environmental Protection Agency staff by 65%.
The President has fired workers for the Food and Drug Administration who ensure our food and medical supplies are safe.
The President has declared the confirmed torturer and assassin crown prince of Saudi Arabia to be “tremendously respected.”
The President has named right-wing podcaster Dan Bongino, who has repeatedly praised the January 6 insurrection and violence against Trump’s opponents, as deputy director of the FBI.
The President’s administration has blocked funds for biomedical research, bringing U.S. research on cancer, dementia, and addiction to a halt.
The President has ignored the rulings of federal judges who have issued direct rulings that he must end his conduct.
The President has asserted to right to control federal spending, a power expressly assigned to the Congress by the U.S. Constitution.
The President has laid off agents who investigate tax fraud by the richest people and corporations in the United States.
The President has illegally fired the leadership of the Kennedy Center and installed a new director with the promise of using the Center to celebrate Christianity over other religions.
The President has violated federal law to end all activities of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the people who investigate and report on corporate fraud against Americans.
The President’s administration has announced a cut of 84% to federal staff who respond to disasters and help people get back on their feet.
The President has ordered federal officials to stop investigating foreign influence into United States elections.
The President has fired hundreds of employees at the Transportation Security Administration, making the nation more vulnerable to terrorist attack.
Ignoring the existence of intersex and infertile people, the Trump administration has declared it a matter of law that only males and females exist and that they are defined by their reproductive potential.
The President has packed the executive and judicial branches with politicians who have vowed to end women’s control over their own bodies.
The President and his administration have circulated media giving Donald Trump a crown and naming him “The King.”
The President has fired health inspectors at the border who prevent human, plant, and animal diseases from entering the United States.
The President has illegally ordered independent watchdogs to submit to his authority and accept his interpretation of law.
The President has forbidden teachers and schools across the country from Kindergarten to the university level from mentioning the existence of discrimination and prejudice.
The President and his party have made inclusion, the bedrock principle of democracy, an insult to be abolished.
The President has allowed pregnant women to die rather than allow them medical treatment.
The President has declared and then reiterated that “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.”
The President has forbidden communities from requiring Covid vaccinations during outbreaks.
Amidst a backlog of nearly 4 million federal immigration cases, the President has fired federal immigration judges.
The President has deleted all federal references to the existence of transgender people, and revised history to remove mention of the central role played by transgender people in the Stonewall movement.
The President has directed his Health Secretary to initiate actions that would end women’s access to abortion pills.
Ignoring long waiting lists for military veterans to receive health care and other benefits, the President has ousted more than a thousand people who work for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
While cutting dozens of federal programs that help people, DOGE head Elon Musk has maintained a steady flow of government contracts to his private corporation.
The President has ended the longstanding practice of asylum for people being persecuted in their home countries.
The President has purged members of the Intelligence Advisory Board and replaced them with loyalists.
The President has canceled regulations that require America’s wealthiest corporations to disclose the impact of their activities on our climate.
The President has used his office to obtain unreported gifts and promote his private businesses.
The President has halted enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which makes it illegal for companies to bribe political leaders.
The President and his Attorney General have disbanded a task force to stop foreign influence over U.S. elections.
The President and his Attorney General has blocked the enforcement of laws preventing pollution of our air and water.
While granting Elon Musk and his DOGE team access to the personal financial data of every American, President Trump has declared all DOGE records to be immune from Freedom of Information Act requests for public records.
The President has ousted the nation’s archivist, who preserves government documents for history.
The Trump administration has prohibited federal workers from using pronouns to refer to themselves in communication.
The President has banned Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the U.S. Military.
The President has banned the Holocaust Days of Remembrance in the U.S. military.
The President has made it legal to discriminate against trans people in the U.S. military.
The President and his administration have gutted Federal Aviation Administration staff, leading to a rash of safety incidents and outright plane crashes across the country.
President Trump has repeatedly mentioned running for a third term, an unconstitutional act.
President Trump threatened to revoke the broadcast license of CBS after it aired an interview with Kamala Harris.
The President has halted mine-clearing operations across the world.
The President has declared his intention to close the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which provides disaster relief to millions of Americans.
Episode 1 of a YouTube series on the question, “Why Protest?” Each video shares an answer from a different vantage point or experience of protest.
Episode summary:
GOP senators voted unanimously on 3/1/25 to target some of the already most vulnerable children for being different. Living in Maine, it’s necessary to point out this includes Senator Susan Collins.
The morning after the vote, the Ivy League Debate Club circles in Democratic Leadership are murmuring their wishes that we regular folk avoid talking about it. “Shh. This issue loses the game in Maine!” they say.
But we’re not in an oak-paneled room of cozy polite opponents winning on points. MAGA has played Kayfabe for years. Confidence wins that game. And that means confidence in one’s values, whether they be cruel (Republicans targeting kids) or kind (lifting up all children, not using them).
The priorities of this argument are also oriented inappropriately to elections. Yes, elections matter, but winning them is not the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal is to build a constructive, trusting, nurturing society that includes and benefits as many people as possible, and they’re HURTING VULNERABLE KIDS. It is crucial to make that unacceptable, and that means standing up in our communities and setting the standard. That is what public demonstrations do: reset the agenda to reframe the stakes and priorities, with the confidence needed to win a Kayfabe audience over.
Our certainty in shared values seemed justified in simpler times.
It’s easy to stand against Nazism when it’s an evil of the past. It’s something else when the Nazis have gained control of your own country, when they hold every major lever of power.
When Vice President JD Vance told the Germans that they must make way for a new generation of Nazis, he did so as part of a delegation that included Jack Posobiec, an American Nazi who now wanders the halls of the White House at will, who a year before had lifted a crucifix while speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference and declared,
“Welcome to the end of democracy. We are here to overthrow it completely. We didn’t get all the way there on Jan. 6, but we will endeavor to get rid of it, and we will replace it with this. That’s right, we will replace it with this, because all glory is not to government. All glory is to God!“
Glory to God in American politics is now shorthand for brutal totalitarian power. Glory to God in American politics has become an enemy to democracy.
When I learned the part that Posobiec played in the Munich conference at which support for Nazis in Germany became part of American foreign policy, I thought back to a sign I had seen lifted at a local protest in Ithaca, New York.
In a mittened hand lifted high, the hand-drawn sign warned, “Never Again Means Now”.
It’s easy to say “never again” when the Never we imagine is a foreign mistake that America fought against in a righteous war in the time of our grandparents. It’s an evil so specific, and so far removed in space and time, that it seems never likely to return.
We arrived in Newcastle for our first protest. (Well, since the late 60’s during the Viet Nam War and the Nixon years. In retrospect, Nixon was a breeze as compared with trump.)
I had joined an Indivisible group just last week, and had been told that two weeks ago there were 10 protesters, and that last week there were 20. The hope was that this past Wednesday there might be 30 participants.
Well, nearly 90 people showed up and it was so encouraging. Lots of cars traveling both ways over the bridge, with most all of the drivers honking and waving in solidarity.
It was so gratifying to be with so many like minded people, all of us hoping to make a difference.
Send a message to Avelo Airlines and let them know that you will be boycotting their airline until they stop cooperating with ICE and Trump. They are aiding illegal deportations. Phone: 346-616- 9500. Email: support@aveloair.com, or leave a… Read more: Submit your comments to Avelo Airlines, transporter of immigrants
Because cowardly politicians bend to strength, we must show we are strong. Perception of public opinion matters to politicians. Some politicians see following public opinion as their job. Others are fear-driven and will always take the side of… Read more: Why Protest? #3: Because Cowardly Politicians Bend to Strength
I began my professional life as a consultant in the world of business in the mid 1990s, and ever since then, I’ve been trying to fit an identity that could match my career. I worked to keep my… Read more: The Despair In My Hair
President Donald Trump has preaching the hell out of Holy Week this year. With Separation of Church and State left on the same garbage heap as the rest of American law, President Trump opened it up on Palm… Read more: Making Blasphemy During Holy Week
