Moving Beyond Symbolic Demonstration: Strategic Protest Through Points of Intervention

Overview

The 50501 Movement is not just about creating visibility, it’s about building power. To effectively challenge authoritarianism and defend democracy, we must ensure our protests do more than signal resistance. They must be resistance.

This guide helps organizers nationwide: choose action locations based on their power to apply pressure on Trump loyalists, decision-makers, and the systems enabling authoritarianism.

Symbolic demonstrations, like mass mobilizations, have their time and place. But if we want to win, we must also include actions that disrupt oppressive systems, influence outcomes, and mobilize real leverage.

Demonstrations vs. Protest

There is a crucial distinction:

• Demonstration: A crowd publicly expressing support for a cause, often using signs, speeches, and visual displays, to build awareness or morale. Demonstrations may be at public parks, empty capitols, or symbolic but unstrategic sites.

• Protest: A targeted action confronting a person, institution, or system with the power to change policy, practice, or behavior. Protests apply real pressure right where the decision makers or loyalists are, actually disrupting the structures threatening our democracy.

Building Strategic Resistance

“Symbolic displays of resistance do not necessarily weaken the opponent’s sources of power.” —Erica Chenoweth, Civil Resistance: What Everyone Needs to Know

50501 exists to: 

• Reclaim democracy from a fascist administration. 

• Reverse the damage done to our institutions and democracy itself. 

• Grow community power, and work for community justice and healing.

To achieve these goals, we must disrupt. We must pressure. We must intervene.

Strategic Framework: Points of Intervention

A Point of Intervention is a location where protest can disrupt harmful systems, influence decision-makers, or expose narratives that uphold oppression.

Here are six types to guide location planning:

1. Point of Production

Where harmful systems originate. Examples: Media outlets spreading disinformation; corporations funding extremist candidates.

2. Point of Destruction

Where harm is actively occurring. Examples: ICE facilities; gerrymandered election offices; legislatures pushing voter suppression.

3. Point of Consumption

Where the public engages with harmful systems. Examples: Businesses profiting from authoritarianism; sponsors of Trump-aligned politicians.

4. Point of Decision

Where political or corporate power is exercised. Examples: Statehouses in session; governor’s mansions; courtrooms; campaign HQs.

5. Point of Assumption

Where false narratives are reinforced. Examples: Pro-Trump events; right-wing media outlets; sites of historical revisionism.

6. Point of Opportunity

Moments of heightened political relevance. Examples: Legal trials; campaign rallies; legislative votes; media events.

(See: Beautiful Trouble – Points of Intervention for more.)

Strategic Resistance in Practice

When we organize protests at neutral or symbolic spaces, such as public parks or capitol buildings when empty, we limit our impact. 

There are a few key reasons:

• No Decision-Makers Are Present: Empty buildings can't hear our demands.

• No Leverage Is Applied: Without a target, there’s no pressure point.

• Risk of Disengagement: Participants who attend repeated low-impact actions may lose motivation and drift away.

Instead, when we plan our local actions around points of intervention, we can intervene in oppressive power structures.

Recommendations for Organizers

• Choose Action Sites Strategically: Prioritize locations that intersect with real systems of power—Points of Intervention—not just symbolic or convenient gathering spots.

• Tie Every Protest to a Demand: Each action should make a clear demand of a specific decision-maker or institution.

• Coordinate Across States: Unify messages and tactics across the country, when possible, to amplify national impact while allowing local relevance.

• Diversify Tactics: Use not only marches, but boycotts, sit-ins, banner drops, rolling strikes, walkouts, and noncooperation to escalate. More examples include Walk-Outs, Vigils, Disrupting Public Comment / Meeting, Car Caravans, Die-Ins, and Picket Lines.

• Train for Impact: Level up your skills with de-escalation training, legal guidance, media messaging, and safety planning for targeted actions.

Common Concerns

“But we need big, visible crowds to recruit people.”

Yes—and we can still be visible in the right places. If we can draw 300 to a park, we can draw 300 to a governor’s office or courthouse. Visibility and impact are not mutually exclusive.

“We need sites that accommodate thousands.”

Crowd size is only part of the equation. A smaller, well-targeted action can create more pressure than a large, symbolic one. Remember: the Montgomery Bus Boycott didn’t fill parks—it emptied buses.

“We’re still new—shouldn’t we build structure first?”

Building structure is the strategy—but we must also act. The changes proposed here don’t require more work, just smarter choices about where we show up.

“Targeted protests could provoke more backlash.”

Authoritarians will always try to intimidate dissent. The goal of nonviolent resistance is not to avoid conflict—but to confront power peacefully. Safety plans and solidarity networks can mitigate risk.

“What’s wrong with symbolic demonstration?”

Nothing—if it's paired with real pressure. But if our only strategy is symbolic, we risk becoming a movement that demonstrates resistance rather than achieving it.

Ready to plan your next action?

 Use this framework to assess your location.

 Ask:

• What point of intervention does this site represent?

• Who holds the power here?

• What demand are we making?

• What impact will this action create?

If the answers are clear, the action is strategic. If they’re not, revise the plan. We have no time to waste on empty stages. It’s time to disrupt power.

Want to share this info? You can share this blog post, or here is a Canva template with the information in graphics.

Next up: Red Rabbit Marshal Training.

Then… start your protest planning with the 50501 Protest Planning Toolkit.