CleanTechnica Unique — A No Kings Day Photograph Essay

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Right here at CleanTechnica, we’re devoted to retaining our readers absolutely knowledgeable on subjects that contact their lives. And so, one among our ace reporters (me) was dispatched to cowl the No Kings Day rally for democracy. What follows is an unvarnished account with out the enter of corrupting influences corresponding to giant infusions of money from main advertisers (we truly want we had a few of these).

What you might be about to learn is unadulterated, first-hand info delivered straight from the shoulder by somebody who was there and witnessed the acts of braveness, kindness, and occasional silliness that befell on No Kings Day, 2025.

Let’s start with the contributors. We had been instructed they’d all be rabid, foaming-at-the-mouth antifa agitators who hate America. Actually, they appeared like bizarre of us, the sort who’ve jobs, youngsters in class, and hire or mortgage funds that should be met each month. The phrase antifa is a contraction of “anit-facist,” and we admit we’re flummoxed by all of the screaming about antifa activists coming from MAGAlomaniacs nowadays.

It’s perplexing as a result of being against fascism suggests these individuals are in favor of democracy and the entire “liberty and justice for all” concept. Logically, if you’re against antifacisism, doesn’t that imply you might be against democracy? Is it doable that political leaders within the US are literally coming proper out and admitting publicly they’re fascists? It positive looks as if it. Right here’s a photograph of a fellow with an indication and a T-shirt that appeared to sum it up fairly effectively:

The group I noticed in Vero Seashore, Florida, was calm however passionate. Folks truly spoke to one another in civil tones and exchanged tales about what motivated them to end up for No Kings Day. None had been foaming on the mouth or calling for the destruction of the federal government — that’s what the Repugnicans had been doing all week main as much as No King’s Day. The one individuals making an attempt to trigger hassle had been paid provocateurs hoping to develop into Instagram heroes.

There have been just a few of us dressed up in animal fits to poke enjoyable on the spittle being spewed by of us like JD (Juvenile Delinquent?) Vance, whose métier is sniveling about how white males are being unfairly handled due to efforts to carry equality to on a regular basis American life. Vance has contributed nothing to America aside from an limitless litany of how he needed to choke again his rage on the liberal beliefs he encountered on the establishments of upper studying he was compelled to attend towards his will.

Being a reporter didn’t stop me from carrying my very own signal. Due to a last-minute supply from the Submit Workplace, I had a pleasant white cardboard field I may use to create my message. After a little bit trimming and taping, I wound up with this:

All in all, being current was a cathartic expertise. For a lot of Individuals, this yr has been a collection of shocks to the system because the get together in energy has taken a sledgehammer time and again to the notions of honest play and equality we thought had been the bedrock of the American expertise. As a substitute of assembly agitators, I meet grandmothers and husbands singing songs and carrying indicators, asking for the American Dream to stay intact.

There have been about 30 individuals from my group in attendance on the No Kings Day rally in Vero Seashore. Afterwards, eight of us adjourned to Waldo’s, a seaside restaurant that has been in operation since 1937, the place we kibitzed and shared our ideas in regards to the day’s occasions. In spite of everything, protesting is difficult work and it makes an individual thirsty.

In the course of the day, my daughter despatched me a photograph of the No Kings Day rally on the garden of the state home in Rhode Island. It appears fairly just a few of us up north additionally object to the heavy handed skullduggery being promoted by the Potomac potentate and his henchmen.

Clearly, the hatred and venom is all flowing a technique in America. The individuals who love their nation had been out in power, whereas those that wish to slam their fists into individuals’s faces are spreading their bile throughout the land. In the event that they despise America and all it stands for, maybe they need to self-deport again to the nations the place their ancestors got here from. We’re positive these nations would welcome an inflow of misogynists and bigots. Who wouldn’t need such offended, belligerent individuals residing subsequent door?

The search to shred the federal government has been a part of the American expertise for the reason that nation was based, as those that are followers of Heather Cox Richardson know all too effectively. So have public demonstrations like No Kings Day.

The battle is just not over but, however the bastards are successful. Solely standing up for the beliefs enshrined within the Structure can preserve the US from changing into a dictatorship the place oligarchs get obscenely wealthy whereas the individuals get bupkis. If that sounds lots like Russia, that’s as a result of America’s so-called president idolizes Vladimir Putin. It doesn’t should be that method, however it is going to be if we don’t take a stand, not simply on No Kings Day, however daily any further.

I’ve to admit that up to now this yr, I’ve been horrified, offended, and depressed. A darkish foreboding has been my fixed companion. However I got here method from No Kings Day with a way of profound reduction. I’m not alone. There are tens of millions extra like me who’re saying, “We’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore!” For the primary time this yr, I really feel optimistic and hopeful that the nation I do know and love will endure. What a reduction that’s!

It’s as much as us to hold the dream of a liberal democracy ahead. Within the phrases of Harry Truman, who was not one to cover his gentle underneath a bushel, “As soon as a authorities is dedicated to the precept of silencing the voice of opposition, it has just one approach to go, and that’s down the trail of more and more repressive measures, till it turns into a supply of terror to all its residents and creates a rustic the place everybody lives in concern.”

It’s time to face our fears and resolve we won’t allow our nation to be dominated by hatred. Fascism is on our doorstep however we are able to defeat it by being unified in our love for each other, simply as an important chief taught us greater than 2000 years in the past.

We go away you with this melody from 1967, which is in regards to the time that America started to lose its method: