Bear Witness

“Revolution Begins at Home,” Jerome Stueart, (11 x 15), watercolor, mixed media on paper. October 18, 2025.

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Today, many (2 million?) of us are going to be protesting for #NoKings and maybe you’ve attended one of these protests across the country. They are exciting and powerful and you can see hundreds and maybe thousands in your city standing up for change. These protests are powerful things. I’ve seen the ones in New York City and Chicago (on TV) and they give me hope.

But maybe you’ve been part of something else, something smaller. Have you been to a house meeting where you meet your neighbors and strategize over soup how to be effective in strategic campaigns or actions that can help stop some of the negative consequences of Trump policies. Maybe your group is part of the Indivisible or No Kings movement. hey may not look like a movement–if you were looking for thousands of bodies to affirm your stance–but I can argue that they are the places–these living rooms–that will begin change in the country. Movements are born AND SUSTAINED in living rooms and dining rooms of your neighbor’s house.

These small house meetings are where you can find others who feel the way you do, where people can come together and think of ways to change the system. This isn’t about organizing the vote, it’s about voting to organize. All these small home meetings are where revolution happens–and I hope you find a good meeting near you, or start one in your home. This is what Democracy, what Revolution, looks like right now. These meetings of concerned citizens who want to create change.

And the big protests are an outlet for those people too–where we can all come together, peacefully, for change. Here’s where you hatch ideas that 20 people can carry out, and that can spread to other groups meeting in other homes. Our group talked about Cash for Change, the idea of using only cash to pay for things so that corporations don’t keep getting their share of your dollar every time you swipe a card. The store doesn’t get that money. The banks and larger credit institutions receive that percentage off of every sale. Cash for change–if a large number of people did it–would hurt the revenue they are collecting. And that’s kinda what these groups are for. How do concerned citizens get the attention of billionaires? How can we, small but mighty, make a difference against powerful people? We have power–but we have to cooperate to do it. These small groups can help foster new ideas. They still need the mass protests though–and large numbers of people. And until those numbers HURT the established order of things, until there is a general strike, people standing around for 2 hours may not make a huge difference to the oligarchs. But when people begin to stand around for days and shut things down–that may get their attention.

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I hope your #NoKings stays peaceful. But the more powerful we become, the more there will be resistance against us too. Please be safe. 2 million people protesting will keep growing and growing, no matter what happens today. Maybe you will have some frogs or TRexes in your group too!

Keep meeting. Keep planning. Keep that spark alive. Change will happen–we will bring more people together because we have so much common ground between us, and so much to do before us. We need everyone!