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Scenes from a Revolution
PHILADELPHIA—A sizable contingent, estimated by the Philadelphia Police Department to be at least 80,000 people, marched peacefully on Saturday from JFK Plaza, across the street from Philadelphia’s City Hall, up the Ben Franklin Parkway to the famous steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, for what the organizers at Indivisible called its “flagship” No Kings protest. The protest concluded with a rally at the Art Museum’s Rocky steps, featuring the Reverend William Barber, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Martin Luther King III, and others.
There was a remarkable diversity of age, with a fairly even split between young and old; in many cases parents and grandparents attended with children and grandchildren. Many attendees donned and/or carried American flags, along with a sea of signs and banners referencing Donald Trump’s dictatorial aspirations. There was also a good deal of paraphernalia and signage about Palestine and the war in Gaza, especially but not exclusively amongst the young.
Mild but palpable ideological divisions were observable throughout. I witnessed an Indivisible organizer directing people away at JFK Plaza from a more radical Palestine-focused march that had formed at the corner of 15th and Arch Street. That cohort would soon join the larger march, and could be heard making pro-Palestinian chants and seen waving pro-Palestinian flags throughout the speeches.
“A big problem I have with No Kings and 50501 is they use a ‘good’ protester model,” said a protester who self-identified as V.R., a lifelong native of the greater Philadelphia area sympathetic to the pro-Palestinian cohort. “And they want to be less radical and more palatable to get more middle-of-the-road liberals. When in reality these struggles are all connected.”
There was a remarkable diversity of age, with a fairly even split between young and old; in many cases parents and grandparents attended with children and grandchildren. Many attendees donned and/or carried American flags, along with a sea of signs and banners referencing Donald Trump’s dictatorial aspirations. There was also a good deal of paraphernalia and signage about Palestine and the war in Gaza, especially but not exclusively amongst the young.
Mild but palpable ideological divisions were observable throughout. I witnessed an Indivisible organizer directing people away at JFK Plaza from a more radical Palestine-focused march that had formed at the corner of 15th and Arch Street. That cohort would soon join the larger march, and could be heard making pro-Palestinian chants and seen waving pro-Palestinian flags throughout the speeches.
“A big problem I have with No Kings and 50501 is they use a ‘good’ protester model,” said a protester who self-identified as V.R., a lifelong native of the greater Philadelphia area sympathetic to the pro-Palestinian cohort. “And they want to be less radical and more palatable to get more middle-of-the-road liberals. When in reality these struggles are all connected.”
https://prospect.org/politics/2025-06-15-scenes-from-revolution-no-kings-protests-chicago-philadelphia-los-angeles-brooklyn/