BSR writers speak up about Philadelphia’s October 18 No Kings protests

My own political journey has been complicated. I’ve been joining pro-justice vigils and rallies since the Obama years. I honor everyone who’s been protesting since before I was born, and I’m proud of everyone turning out for the first time now. Judging by the scale of last weekend’s protest—at least seven million people at more than 2,500 rallies nationwide, the biggest single day of protest in America since 1970—that’s a lot of newbies.

The Philly No Kings scene

In central Philadelphia, protestors gathered at City Hall and then marched on Market to Old City, where an estimated 15,000 people filled Independence Mall for a rally with speakers including US Representatives Jamie Raskin, Brendan Boyle, and Mary Gay Scanlon as well as local union leaders. (WHYY reports that the crowd was far smaller than the estimated 90,000 who joined Philly’s June 14 No Kings rally, without mentioning that Philly was designated as the flagship city for that event while Trump watched tanks roll through DC.)

Philly’s October 18 event was entirely peaceful (like others nationwide), and boasted a cheeky sense of fun. While the Philly crowd was diverse in terms of age, race, and gender, the marchers I saw were predominantly white—though it might’ve been harder than usual to tell, since so many people were in full-body inflatable suits, from chickens to unicorns to dinosaurs. I saw diverse marchers with signs celebrating their immigrant heritage, including a white man in a kilt. I also continue to notice a growing number of disabled protestors joining in.

BSR writers rally

Many BSR writers joined Saturday’s crowds, attending No Kings rallies in Center City, Mt. Airy, Elkins Park, and West Chester. They offer a variety of perspectives, and they all note the fun, peaceful tone of the protests.

Melissa Strong attended the big Philly rally. She says the thing that stood out most for her was the music.

“Making my way down Market Street with fellow marchers, I first heard the drums of Positive Movement Entertainment, better known as the Philly Elmo drumline. Next was the protest chorus of my spiritual community at First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia, which met at 8th & Market with members of the band. I joined in for Patti Smith's ‘People Have the Power’."

Pamela J. Forsythe also joined the big rally, noting canvassers from Philly’s communist organizers as well as Refuse Fascism, inviting marchers to a November 5 rally in DC. One of her favorite signs featured part of a plastic skeleton and read “Yo Congress, we found your spine.”

Emily Schilling joined the West Chester protest, where she says “the mood was upbeat,” with a friendly atmosphere including kids, dogs, and some elaborate costumes (George Washington was a highlight). And “no-one was rude to the three openly MAGA people I noticed.” She estimates that it was larger than West Chester’s June 14 No Kings event, which topped 6,000 people.

Walt Maguire joined a rally in Mt. Airy. He estimates that about 500 people showed up at the corner of Sedgwick and Germantown Avenues, including seniors, young parents, and small children. There were no press, police, or speeches, but lots of signs and social media sharing. “Cars were encouraged to honk as they passed,” he says. “The most enthusiastic were the sanitation trucks, a whole fleet returning from roadwork, blasting like ships entering the harbor on the Fourth of July.”

Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer appreciated the chance to rally close to home in Elkins Park, where she could protest without sacrificing quality time with family. She notes that the event reflected the area’s diverse cultural and economic makeup, and she felt safe as a Jewish person wearing a kippah.

“There are lots of other ways I’m resisting/advocating…joining a march or rally for me is about encouraging each other, spreading positive energy, and being part of the national numbers of people who came out,” Gabby shares.

“The event made me hopeful,” adds K.A. McFadden, who attended in Philly.

What good is a frog against federal agents?

But what is the point of all this gathering and all this public creativity, while the President shames the nation with an AI video of himself bombing No Kings protestors (and their American flags) with feces, ICE enacts horrible abuses, Trump turns federal troops on our own cities, Republican members of Congress abdicate their own Constitutional powers, and our democracy itself is threatened by gerrymandering, a government packed with election deniers, and other blatant voter suppression?

“How much difference will the No Kings Day protests, even as big as they were, make in the face of the administration’s attempt to get rid of our democratic political system and replace it with authoritarianism?” the essential historian Heather Cox Richardson asks in her October 19 dispatch. “What good is an inflatable frog against federal agents?”

For an answer, she turns to social-movement scholar Lisa Corrigan.

“Fun and play are often a part of social movements as the people trust the larger group to hold their values as the conflict with the state expands,” Corrigan wrote on BlueSky this week (I recommend the whole thread). The viral images coming out of the current rallies (like brigades of inflatable frog suits) capture media narratives and help more and more people feel safe enough to join the resistance movement.

“When the conflict expands in scale & scope, the good feelings help propel people to do hard things,” Corrigan says. “Rallies like this bring together multigenerational groups and the playfulness can help create enthusiasm for big tent politics against the monoculture of fascism.”

Why No Kings matters, in Philly and beyond

Historian and progressive indie pundit Amanda Nelson (of Amanda’s Mild Takes) also explains why the No Kings rallies are meaningful. “Mass nonviolent demonstrations create momentum for opposition and create a permission structure for [non-political] normies … to go out and do something because it is not threatening,” she says, citing the anti-Trump protest movement’s sustained reach, even in small towns in deep red states.

People who tune out the news or stick to their own social-media bubble cannot help but notice if they see more and more of their own colleagues, fellow worshippers, friends, neighbors, and family members joining demonstrations. And as Gabrielle points out, smaller rallies are more accessible in terms of parking and seating. Particularly for parents, it’s easier to fit protesting into your life if it’s right around the corner, and people may feel safer doing it alongside their neighbors.

“If there were 7 million protesters in the streets, then they reached tens of millions of Americans with their pro-democracy messaging—a number that exceeds the reach of the NYTimes many times over,” legal expert and political commentator Robert Hubbell wrote in his October 21 dispatch about how the scope of the No Kings movement can overcome the failure of corporate media to fight the Trump administration’s authoritarianism.

We the protestors continue to prove that MAGA leaders are lying when they call us violent or hateful. And if multicultural creativity, unabashed art-making, and joyful public weirdness are a bulwark against fascism, Philly will help lead the way.