Counter-demonstrations opposing Trump’s June 14 birthday parade in D.C. must confront it with mockery—not physical obstruction, with its potential for violence.
Just as important, protesters must not vilify service members forced to march in this obscene display. Opponents of the Vietnam War made that mistake, lumping draftees and veterans in with the deceitful politicians and top military leadership ordering them to war.
Today, citizens rightfully worried about martial law are picketing military bases with signs pleading “Don’t turn on us.” Well, don’t allow the resistance to turn against our military, which never asked to be mismanaged, hollowed out, and used as props by an incompetent, anti-Constitutional dictatorship.
One nationwide protest tactic to which MAGA
has no answer is #PeoplesOath2025.
On June 14, rally speakers leading this citizen’s pledge
to the Constitution will make national news. Watch:
These demonstrations must also garner enough attention to cut into his attention. I still believe that the military will not let Trump use them. Hegseth is not a beloved boss, and he is not the one who built the military into what it is today.
I agree. State media would like us to believe that the military will betray the American people, but I have better faith. Hegseth is about to gut 20% of our top military leaders. He thinks, I believe, that by doing so he can cull military clout. Foolish! Too many people are being subjected to a presidential leader that is, in fact, not a leader. Trump is absent, his cronies are running the government, the one bought by the billionaires. As we sit at the precipice of WWIII, the call for action is NOW! SCOTUS owns this responsibility. Giving full immunity to this deranged person has sacrificed not only our nation, but the rest of the world.
Not only is he decimating the military leadership, which will do nothing but earn them enemies, and lose them know-how, they are doing the same in the intelligence agencies, getting rid of a lot of people who know what they are doing. Now they want intel on Greenland. Sounds like that is going to be how Trump starts a war that involves the US on the wrong side of a conflict with other NATO countries. Trump is viewed as a bigger threat to Europe than Putin, that is for sure, given the difference in quality of militaries they command. But, Trump imagines he can command the military without any generals, or other high level people, used to decision making. We shall see. He knows absolutely nothing about it. Being surrounded by sycophants, I can see him releasing nuclear weapons, and killing everyone on the planet in the process. The Christian Nationalists won't care, their God will save them.
Professor, this was awesome information, thank you! I felt so much emotion reading your friend’s details about Serbia, almost like a roller coaster. Bless all of the students who have engaged in civil disobedience. I truly feel our unrest, our protests will grow exponentially than ever before. We are just getting started! Perhaps we too will be able to encourage to have “snap elections”.
Thanks for your detailed post of the recent history of Serbia. I had been curious about this since I learned about the assaults on Kosovo from stories about the cellist who played every day for peace. I also learned that a dear friend has family who still live there and whom he visited several years ago. I will forward your invaluable explanation of Serbia’s recent history to him and his family now and be very interested in his response.
I believe that Cellist is HAUSER, and he is regularly seen on social media performing any and every song available, classical and pop songs. I’m a big fan, and he is one of the most accomplished cellists in the world. He has made a difference in the western world, I believe, by playing beautifully and is also very handsome and personable, actually quite a character in his performances.
There is another cellist who played for peace during the siege of Sarajevo in 1992.
I'm a Chicago retiree who participated in the May Day protest here. I am glad I did, as I needed a boost for my rapidly depleting reserves of hope that we will stop the madness and cruelty of the Musk-Trump regime and their minions. Unions (remember them?) representing teachers, service & government workers, nurses & flight attendants, and many others were primarily led by young activists. They gave fierce, humble speeches. Half of them in Spanish, welcome to Chicago. Hundreds of police lined the streets. They were calm and a lot more diverse than my 1980's protest days. You are not alone. Check out your local protest gathering, and breathe in the hopeful breezes ...
This report is very interesting. I would like to read Prof. Snyder’s evaluation of the similarities and differences between the situations in Serbia and the United States and whether or how mass student protests could be effective here. There has been debate over the efficacy of student anti-Vietnam War protests in the 60s and 70s. Your first commenter is right that anti-soldier sentiment did not help. I doubt that blocking freeways helped either. Or anything that celebrated differences between the “counter-culture”and the “silent majority,” when protesters should instead have been focusing on mutual interests between the young and not so young. Polls suggest there were mutual interests. There was growing unease and incipient opposition to the war among middle and working class adults as American casualties mounted with no end to the war in sight. But the student anti-war movement did not form an effective coalition with ‘middle American’ adults. The Nixon right managed to cast the student movement as elitist and radical and dangerous, much as the more recent right did with “Black Lives Matter.” So what is to be done? How, specifically, can we merge students and non-students, leftists and centrists, into a powerful movement to save democracy? Suggestions and proposals welcome. Chris Hanson
"Get into some good trouble." March, Protest, Vote, Write letters, Register voters, Stay engaged with others (as you are now) Go where Republicans "fear to tread" - Town Halls. "These Republicans cannot know a moment of peace. They must understand that we will fight their cruelty with every megaphone and microphone that we have....and then punish them at the ballot box." - Governor Pritzker
Rather than asking rhetorical questions about how, or offering polemics praising the Serbian students, we need to act!
I've said this before and will say it again: We need to turn out, regularly, in such numbers that it strikes terror in the hearts of our Congressional representatives and senators, instilling greater fear of defeat in the polls than of the Führer.
They can act to expunge the rot but will not do so unless terrified for their own personal political future.
The war ended in part because of the student movement. It drove Nixon nuts. That is also to say that the Vietnamese are the real reason that the "VC" and the Front won the war.
I observed that many protesters at the "Hands Off" rally I attended were older folks, though teens and twenties were present as well (disclaimer: I didn't do a head count).
Many thanks for this fascinating essay, Prof. Markovich. I've been following the student protests in Serbia for months now, but didn't know how they organized themselves: "Another special aspect is students’ inclusiveness and ability to bridge political, cultural, and ethnic divisions." This is the best way to organize such protests, and is what we in the US desperately need.
My first love in the study of history was Serbia (mostly 19th and early 20th centuries), and I find myself returning to it time and again. Now that I know who you are, I'm going to look for your papers and books.
I hope you become one of Prof. Snyder's regular contributors.
P.S. I forgot to bring up President Vučić's comment about Color Revolutions: "The regime’s response so far were President’s repeated claims that he prevented the Color revolution financed by the West [. . .]" This robs the protestors of their agency. They're not acting on their own; they have no reason to protest and are being manipulated by outsiders.
Misinformation about the Color Revolutions made its way into the US a few years ago. Most Americans don't know what they are because they don't follow events around the world, and so it's easy to propagandize them.
Having taught government for many years, now retired, my husband is beyond concerned (and angry) that our country is exhibiting the characteristics of the Fascist nations he warned his students about. "Democracy means when you hear a knock at the door at 3 a.m., it's probably the milkman" - attributed to Churchill
However, he is pleased and encouraged to see the Resistance growing, the people fighting back. "The power of the people is greater than the people in power." - Senator Cory Booker
The problem with countries like Serbia is that, once you let dictator-like leaders come to power, it is mighty hard to remove them as they hold most all the cards (the media, banks, military, judicial system, and the voting apparatus). Let us hope that Serbia can overcome and again have a democratic country. As we are finding out, it is not easy hanging onto freedom once you allow a leader with these same intentions to become head of your nation. We must protest, and make good trouble, but be very careful not to allow violence to rule us.
Thank you for posting this "brief history of modern Serbia." I feel it offers not only information not otherwise available, but also valuable lessons about how democracy can be lost and then regained.
I live in Germany across the street from a Serbian restaurant and we talk with the family that owns it about what is going on in Serbia. However, they don't go into the history, and have not given me this perspective. Thank you. There is an organization that was started by the Green Party called Europe Calling, and they have webinars. One I saw recently invited young people active in protests in their countries to talk about it. There was a young woman from Serbia talking about some of the things about the protests. There were also speakers from the Georgian Republic, Greece and Romania. One thing I was struck by from a speaker is that they can no longer look to the US as a role model, or symbol of hope. That is just one of the many worldwide effects of the Trump government on our world.
I have to wonder if this could happen in the US. In one sense, at least in terms of polls, the Trump regime is already delegitimized. But, on the other hand that has happened mostly by protests that included students, but that were not generally organized by students. Students here have been identified mostly with the issue of Israeli's horrendous treatment of Palestinians, not the broader issue of the growth of US fascism. Trump's crackdown on universities and students might have cowed students or maybe our students are more interested in the pleasures of the internet. As a product of the 1960s rebellions at the University of California, I don't see either the philosophical or organizational skills in today's students. I hope I'm wrong.
Today’s students are definitely not like the sixties. A lot of the opposition to Trump seems to be from older people, including some who were perhaps active in the sixties.
But the upshot of all this is that the Kremlin’s weighing its options, with all that portends. But thankfully the EU seems poised to be a good counter balance, especially with the survival today of the Mertz government in Germany — because God knows the US isn’t going to be of any help.
Thank you for sharing this summary. It is inspiring. What especially resonates is the refusal of the protestors to be allied with any political party. This decision opens doors and invites a broad coalition to come together and stand up for freedom of the press, due process, and shared rights.
Thank you so much, Professor Snyder, for including this essay to clarify recent events in Serbia. Just as we here can learn from their courage and unity, they can benefit from our solidarity.
This is an amazing story of the organic growth and success of a resistance that fit the country and its particular regime. And the way the narrative unfolded the specifics was riveting. I am grateful for the hope it gave me that our resistance, also unfolding organically to fight our increasingly autocratic regime, also general enough to include a diverse and vast swathe of people, can succeed in saving our democracy and our freedoms.
Counter-demonstrations opposing Trump’s June 14 birthday parade in D.C. must confront it with mockery—not physical obstruction, with its potential for violence.
Just as important, protesters must not vilify service members forced to march in this obscene display. Opponents of the Vietnam War made that mistake, lumping draftees and veterans in with the deceitful politicians and top military leadership ordering them to war.
Today, citizens rightfully worried about martial law are picketing military bases with signs pleading “Don’t turn on us.” Well, don’t allow the resistance to turn against our military, which never asked to be mismanaged, hollowed out, and used as props by an incompetent, anti-Constitutional dictatorship.
One nationwide protest tactic to which MAGA
has no answer is #PeoplesOath2025.
On June 14, rally speakers leading this citizen’s pledge
to the Constitution will make national news. Watch:
https://bsky.app/profile/indivistwincities.bsky.social/post/3lq5ytujdts23
“I do solemnly swear (or affirm)
that I will support and defend
the Constitution of the United States
against all enemies,
foreign and domestic . . .
and that I will well and faithfully
discharge the civic responsibilities
expected of every American.”
(#PeoplesOath2025)
This needed to be said. Thank you.
These demonstrations must also garner enough attention to cut into his attention. I still believe that the military will not let Trump use them. Hegseth is not a beloved boss, and he is not the one who built the military into what it is today.
I agree. State media would like us to believe that the military will betray the American people, but I have better faith. Hegseth is about to gut 20% of our top military leaders. He thinks, I believe, that by doing so he can cull military clout. Foolish! Too many people are being subjected to a presidential leader that is, in fact, not a leader. Trump is absent, his cronies are running the government, the one bought by the billionaires. As we sit at the precipice of WWIII, the call for action is NOW! SCOTUS owns this responsibility. Giving full immunity to this deranged person has sacrificed not only our nation, but the rest of the world.
Not only is he decimating the military leadership, which will do nothing but earn them enemies, and lose them know-how, they are doing the same in the intelligence agencies, getting rid of a lot of people who know what they are doing. Now they want intel on Greenland. Sounds like that is going to be how Trump starts a war that involves the US on the wrong side of a conflict with other NATO countries. Trump is viewed as a bigger threat to Europe than Putin, that is for sure, given the difference in quality of militaries they command. But, Trump imagines he can command the military without any generals, or other high level people, used to decision making. We shall see. He knows absolutely nothing about it. Being surrounded by sycophants, I can see him releasing nuclear weapons, and killing everyone on the planet in the process. The Christian Nationalists won't care, their God will save them.
Professor, this was awesome information, thank you! I felt so much emotion reading your friend’s details about Serbia, almost like a roller coaster. Bless all of the students who have engaged in civil disobedience. I truly feel our unrest, our protests will grow exponentially than ever before. We are just getting started! Perhaps we too will be able to encourage to have “snap elections”.
Thanks for your detailed post of the recent history of Serbia. I had been curious about this since I learned about the assaults on Kosovo from stories about the cellist who played every day for peace. I also learned that a dear friend has family who still live there and whom he visited several years ago. I will forward your invaluable explanation of Serbia’s recent history to him and his family now and be very interested in his response.
Again Many Thanks!
I believe that Cellist is HAUSER, and he is regularly seen on social media performing any and every song available, classical and pop songs. I’m a big fan, and he is one of the most accomplished cellists in the world. He has made a difference in the western world, I believe, by playing beautifully and is also very handsome and personable, actually quite a character in his performances.
There is another cellist who played for peace during the siege of Sarajevo in 1992.
Thanks for your information
This goes for the vast majority of law enforcement as well.
I'm a Chicago retiree who participated in the May Day protest here. I am glad I did, as I needed a boost for my rapidly depleting reserves of hope that we will stop the madness and cruelty of the Musk-Trump regime and their minions. Unions (remember them?) representing teachers, service & government workers, nurses & flight attendants, and many others were primarily led by young activists. They gave fierce, humble speeches. Half of them in Spanish, welcome to Chicago. Hundreds of police lined the streets. They were calm and a lot more diverse than my 1980's protest days. You are not alone. Check out your local protest gathering, and breathe in the hopeful breezes ...
Absolutely. Keep up the good fight.
This report is very interesting. I would like to read Prof. Snyder’s evaluation of the similarities and differences between the situations in Serbia and the United States and whether or how mass student protests could be effective here. There has been debate over the efficacy of student anti-Vietnam War protests in the 60s and 70s. Your first commenter is right that anti-soldier sentiment did not help. I doubt that blocking freeways helped either. Or anything that celebrated differences between the “counter-culture”and the “silent majority,” when protesters should instead have been focusing on mutual interests between the young and not so young. Polls suggest there were mutual interests. There was growing unease and incipient opposition to the war among middle and working class adults as American casualties mounted with no end to the war in sight. But the student anti-war movement did not form an effective coalition with ‘middle American’ adults. The Nixon right managed to cast the student movement as elitist and radical and dangerous, much as the more recent right did with “Black Lives Matter.” So what is to be done? How, specifically, can we merge students and non-students, leftists and centrists, into a powerful movement to save democracy? Suggestions and proposals welcome. Chris Hanson
"Get into some good trouble." March, Protest, Vote, Write letters, Register voters, Stay engaged with others (as you are now) Go where Republicans "fear to tread" - Town Halls. "These Republicans cannot know a moment of peace. They must understand that we will fight their cruelty with every megaphone and microphone that we have....and then punish them at the ballot box." - Governor Pritzker
Rather than asking rhetorical questions about how, or offering polemics praising the Serbian students, we need to act!
I've said this before and will say it again: We need to turn out, regularly, in such numbers that it strikes terror in the hearts of our Congressional representatives and senators, instilling greater fear of defeat in the polls than of the Führer.
They can act to expunge the rot but will not do so unless terrified for their own personal political future.
See you on the streets!
The war ended in part because of the student movement. It drove Nixon nuts. That is also to say that the Vietnamese are the real reason that the "VC" and the Front won the war.
I have attended several demonstrations in college/university towns. Students were obviously absent. The people were mostly retirees like me.
I observed that many protesters at the "Hands Off" rally I attended were older folks, though teens and twenties were present as well (disclaimer: I didn't do a head count).
Many thanks for this fascinating essay, Prof. Markovich. I've been following the student protests in Serbia for months now, but didn't know how they organized themselves: "Another special aspect is students’ inclusiveness and ability to bridge political, cultural, and ethnic divisions." This is the best way to organize such protests, and is what we in the US desperately need.
My first love in the study of history was Serbia (mostly 19th and early 20th centuries), and I find myself returning to it time and again. Now that I know who you are, I'm going to look for your papers and books.
I hope you become one of Prof. Snyder's regular contributors.
P.S. I forgot to bring up President Vučić's comment about Color Revolutions: "The regime’s response so far were President’s repeated claims that he prevented the Color revolution financed by the West [. . .]" This robs the protestors of their agency. They're not acting on their own; they have no reason to protest and are being manipulated by outsiders.
Misinformation about the Color Revolutions made its way into the US a few years ago. Most Americans don't know what they are because they don't follow events around the world, and so it's easy to propagandize them.
I hope the students lead the way to fair elections that let the people decide.
Having taught government for many years, now retired, my husband is beyond concerned (and angry) that our country is exhibiting the characteristics of the Fascist nations he warned his students about. "Democracy means when you hear a knock at the door at 3 a.m., it's probably the milkman" - attributed to Churchill
However, he is pleased and encouraged to see the Resistance growing, the people fighting back. "The power of the people is greater than the people in power." - Senator Cory Booker
The problem with countries like Serbia is that, once you let dictator-like leaders come to power, it is mighty hard to remove them as they hold most all the cards (the media, banks, military, judicial system, and the voting apparatus). Let us hope that Serbia can overcome and again have a democratic country. As we are finding out, it is not easy hanging onto freedom once you allow a leader with these same intentions to become head of your nation. We must protest, and make good trouble, but be very careful not to allow violence to rule us.
Thank you for posting this "brief history of modern Serbia." I feel it offers not only information not otherwise available, but also valuable lessons about how democracy can be lost and then regained.
I live in Germany across the street from a Serbian restaurant and we talk with the family that owns it about what is going on in Serbia. However, they don't go into the history, and have not given me this perspective. Thank you. There is an organization that was started by the Green Party called Europe Calling, and they have webinars. One I saw recently invited young people active in protests in their countries to talk about it. There was a young woman from Serbia talking about some of the things about the protests. There were also speakers from the Georgian Republic, Greece and Romania. One thing I was struck by from a speaker is that they can no longer look to the US as a role model, or symbol of hope. That is just one of the many worldwide effects of the Trump government on our world.
I have to wonder if this could happen in the US. In one sense, at least in terms of polls, the Trump regime is already delegitimized. But, on the other hand that has happened mostly by protests that included students, but that were not generally organized by students. Students here have been identified mostly with the issue of Israeli's horrendous treatment of Palestinians, not the broader issue of the growth of US fascism. Trump's crackdown on universities and students might have cowed students or maybe our students are more interested in the pleasures of the internet. As a product of the 1960s rebellions at the University of California, I don't see either the philosophical or organizational skills in today's students. I hope I'm wrong.
Today’s students are definitely not like the sixties. A lot of the opposition to Trump seems to be from older people, including some who were perhaps active in the sixties.
Beautiful essay and terrific comments.
But the upshot of all this is that the Kremlin’s weighing its options, with all that portends. But thankfully the EU seems poised to be a good counter balance, especially with the survival today of the Mertz government in Germany — because God knows the US isn’t going to be of any help.
Thank you for sharing this summary. It is inspiring. What especially resonates is the refusal of the protestors to be allied with any political party. This decision opens doors and invites a broad coalition to come together and stand up for freedom of the press, due process, and shared rights.
Thank you for reporting on this. All hail to the students. They give me hope.
Thank you so much, Professor Snyder, for including this essay to clarify recent events in Serbia. Just as we here can learn from their courage and unity, they can benefit from our solidarity.
This is an amazing story of the organic growth and success of a resistance that fit the country and its particular regime. And the way the narrative unfolded the specifics was riveting. I am grateful for the hope it gave me that our resistance, also unfolding organically to fight our increasingly autocratic regime, also general enough to include a diverse and vast swathe of people, can succeed in saving our democracy and our freedoms.
Thank you.