Stop waiting for martial law and apply the 3 R’s of non-violent protest: refuse, resist & ridicule....

As we wait to know if Trump will invoke the Insurrection Act or other emergency powers, veteran activists advise us to think out of the box, creatively, and consider humor a potent weapon.

Image: Silence DoGood

If ever there was a time for large-scale creative action, this is it. If you’ve been dreaming of absurd, funny, satirical responses to Trump beyond street signs, this is it. Why? Because humor and acts of creative and visual resistance that don’t involve violence can bring a dictator down to human size and pierce the cloak of sovereign power. They also lift our spirits, and shift fear to hope. That’s what history has shown us and that’s exactly what we need to start doing now, proactively. As we tensely wonder if Trump will invoke the Insurrection Act soon or seek other emergency powers to further solidify his regime’s control, we should stop waiting and start planning and implementing our creative responses.

That’s advice offered by autocracy analysts and protest veterans of other successful fights against both rising and entrenched autocrats. Further below I share some thoughts about how to prepare for the Insurrection Act from groups who have been thinking about this a lot. Such actions don’t take the place of other tactics, including civil disobedience, and legal rebuttals to Trump’s defiance, or disregard for the rule of law or our rights under the Constitution, but they have a critical role to play right now as they are aimed at the important court of public opinion. We need to deliver our message loudly there, to reach people and change hearts and minds, while paying attention to keeping our protests safe, and avoiding trolls who seek to sow disruption.

The picture above is a new public message that’s being delivered to residents of Boston by the Silence DoGood art collective. It’s a civic reclaiming of the commons they’ve been doing via projections onto historic buildings around Boston, including the Old State House, Faneuil Hall, and the Old South Meeting House. The group takes its name after one of Benjamin Franklin’s pen names, Mrs. Silence DoGood, adopted to get himself published in the local New England-Courant in 1722 after multiple rejections of articles under his own name. There are many others who are using projection, including upon Washington, DC, and Trump buildings around the world. They command attention. A public reminder: we dissent.

Image: Silence DoGood

Take Control of the Message

We need to take control of the message, especially if martial law is invoked. We are already being heavily surveiled, our phones frisked at airports upon arrival to the US. Controlling the message is a pillar of authoritarianism, of sustaining power. That helps explain why so many Trump Cabinet aides are former Fox News pundits; they traffic in propaganda; they’re good at it. They stay on message. That’s also why X is being transformed by Elon Musk and DOGE to serve as the communications platform for the administration’s policies, amid a stream of misinformation. Reframing and challenging that message is something people power does or can do.

This is where Musk has lost, spectacularly. The Tesla Takedown movement and online rebranding of Tesla ‘swasticars’ and showroom vigils demonstrate exactly how nonviolent protest movement can yield concrete victories. Musk has lost billions because he lost in the court of public opinion. That is the sphere we can do battle in. That is the power of creative resistance. It says No.

There’s a group of over 175 activists and cultural artivists from around the world who have created a platform called Beautiful Trouble to share a multitude of action ideas and past campaigns for others to learn from and adapt, including a toolbox for organizers or anyone seeking to develop an action or campaign. They have a lot of lessons to offer us as we face down a possible Insurrection Act.

The big yellow duck became a popular symbol of resistance to Serbia’s strongman Vuvic in 2015 — and continues to inspire the new generation of student protesters

Photo: Otpor

Their words of advice are this: when they go for the gun, or Trump calls in the National Guard to arrest immigrants, if they move to do so, we consider giant yellow rubber ducks as allies in the fight like the Serbian students of Otpor! (Resist!) did years ago. In 2015, Otpor youths delivered a big Styrofoam duck to the front of the Parliament Belgrade in a flash mob protest of a crony waterfront deal involving seized public land. The Serbian word for duck means corruption. The duck became the symbol of Serbia’s resistance to Prime Minister Aleksander Vučić’s hardline regime. Last month, Serbian student protesters drew thousands to rally in four cities against Vučić’s attacks on free speech, picking up the baton.

The big rubber duck action is one example of humorous and totally serious protest actions that took place in the face of state repression, one of some 160 non-violent protest Tactics4Change Case Studies that you can read about on the website of the Center for Applied Non-Violent Actions and Strategies. CANVAS was created by the Otpor student leaders and has grown into a major repository of lessons, tools, and reporting on effective non-violent resistance to authoritarianism.

In nearby Hungary last month, a small knot of opposition MPs in Budapest opted for drama to fight-back, too: they released rainbow-colored smoke bombs in the Parliament to protest passage of a law by Viktor Orbán loyalists outlaw Pride and weaponize facial recognition software of Pride 2025 attendees. Orbán demanded the law be passed in response to massive recent anti-Orbán street protests marches in the capital and across Hungary. There, polls show the center-right opposition candidate, a mild-mannered sweater-vest wearing pol named Peter Magyar of the Tisza party, is more popular than Orbán and his Fidesz party.

For long minutes, Budapest’s Parliament resembled a mad disco rave of colorful chaos, before the smoke cleared, while thousands protested outside and several were arrested. It was a visually dramatic action, shocking to MPs, that stopped business as usual – a sign of growing people power there, too.

Bringing smoking rainbow pride to the halls of Parliament in Hungary

Photo: The Guardian

These acts of resistance also demonstrate how humor applied to scale can have a big impact. Such actions allow the general public to witness someone fighting back. It lets them smile and laugh and redirect and transform fear, and instead perhaps jeer or cheer – an emotional release. Emergency powers and martial law are above all grandly dramatic acts — seeking to capture and hold a nation’s attention. To silence dissent above all. That’s why creative, dramatic acts of resistance that speak truth to power shift public opinion: they engage people’s emotions and can disarm, allowing them to consider another viewpoint. The Serbs loved their big rubber duck. Who doesn’t?

Even small or unexpected commentary can break through and redirect the message, remind everyone that we the people are speaking, we the people have a say, we the people don’t agree, we the people can and will express ourselves in a million ways, thank-you-very-much. That’s one reason Banksy’s graffitied art commentary is always so effective, too. Public art like his communicates on a small, human scale. We are given a moral mirror and it shows us others are with us. Importantly, since these acts don’t use violence, they allow us to communicate our resistance even under emergency powers or wartime rule of martial law. We have lots of public spaces in which to act. Beautiful Trouble can give you lots of ideas.

Last week we saw the OG 80s and 90s ACT UP and Housing Works veterans, led by Peter Staley and Charles King, among them, somberly hand-deliver 200 full-size black Styrofoam coffins to the State Department building in Washington DC, with help from younger activists. The action was a warning that 20 million lives are now at risk since Trump slashed USAID and PEPFAR global HIV treatment funds. Staley resurrected ACT UP’s history of public funeral actions as a complimentary act to civil disobedience by Health GAP and Housing Works, and public activism by a new coalition of activists, federal scientists, and health agency workers, Defending Public Health.

Photos (L): Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images;

(R) Fawkes |@Current Noise | For HRG

In 1991, Staley and others in the newly-formed ACT UP offshoot Treatment Action Group (TAG) used a crane to lower a giant condom on homophobic Sen. Jesse Helms’ house (see further below), protesting his AIDS prevention positions. Early on, ACT UP learned to fight with creative fury. We need more of this now.

How then do we prepare for the Insurrection Act?

What does the Act really say about Trump’s ability to order troops to engage in domestic law enforcement? What actions might be taken? Can Congress stop Trump? What about other emergency laws?

Last fall, a mixed group of citizens, including lawyers, political strategists, and military folks, were convened by the Brennan Center for Justice to carry out a tabletop role-play of scenarios to try to answer those very questions. The group acted out the scenarios that might unfold, the legal strikes and counter-parries. They quickly hit walls, and concluded that, while Congress has the real authority to say yes or no to the Insurrection Act, Trump could still prevail – maybe. The law is so poorly written, it yields a murky legal swamp.

The Insurrection Act of 1807 is a federal law that allows the US president to nationally deploy US troops and to federalize National Guard units in states under specific circumstances of civil unrest – specifically, civil disorder, insurrection, and an armed rebellion against the federal government. That’s why January 6^th was termed an insurrection – because protesters armed with guns and DIY weapons stormed the Capitol and used violence to do so. The Insurrection Act also provides a statutory waiver of the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act that otherwise limits a president’s ability to deploy US military to enforce with civil law or criminal law within the US.

Historically, the Insurrection Act has been used at moments true civil unrest marked by civic violence or clashes with law enforcement officers, and when state or local authorities are deemed unable to maintain power and request federal help. President Lincoln invoked it during the Civil War; President Grant to rein in the Ku Klux Klan; President Johnson to enforce school desegregation; and President Bush to step in during the LA riots following the murder of Rodney King.

(L) ACT UP veterans in the offshoot Treatment Action Group deliver a prevention message to Jesse Helms’ home, 1991; ) R) ACT-UP Paris drops a similar message over the Obelisk monument, Place de la Concorde, Dec. 1, 1993.

Photo: Act Up Paris

Can Congress Stop Trump?

As I noted in an earlier post days ago, the Insurrection Act is an ancient law that actually reflects a bunch of statutes in Title 10 of the U.S. code that have been cobbled together but many terms and words have not been well defined, including insurrection, allowing for legal interpretation – and wrangling. The original text states, “That in all cases of insurrection, or obstruction to the laws… the president of the United States [can] call forth the militia [or armed forces] for the purpose of suppressing such insurrection.”

The Insurrection Act discusses a number of conditions that allow for its invocation. But as Constitutional critics have pointed out, we are at peace, not war. We are not facing a real national security crisis, regardless of Trump labeling the fentanyl crisis an “invasion” or upgrading two Central American gangs in Venezuela and El Salvador to have the status of terrorist groups. Yet Trump has used both as excuses to justify invoking the Alien Enemies Act, which has been deemed an illegal action by lawyers suing Trump for doing this, and now, by the Supreme Court, which has ordered Trump to stop sending any more deportees out of the US.

As progressives have snidely pointed out, Trump might have invoked the Insurrection Act to quell the January 6^th actual insurrection, except that he was a main instigator and primary beneficiary of the uprising. If he invokes the ACT now, we could call on Trump to immediately arrest all the J6ers he pardoned when he stepped back into office. Of course that is as unlikely as Trump recognizing the illegality of his invoking the Alien Enemies Act and his other deliberate breaches of the rule of law.’

Daniel Hunter was among participants in the Brennan-sponsored role play; he was ordered to be on the Trump side to play act how they might try to implement the Act. He’s the founder of Choose Democracy, with a mission of fighting Trump’s policies. In an April 5 piece for Waging Nonviolence, he discussed how the group identified legal strategies to fight back, and concluded it won’t be an easy legal fight, even if the law technically says Trump lacks the legal power to unilaterally invoke the Act. Congress actually has that power.

As Hunter notes, Trump wants to invoke the Insurrection Act to gain operational control of the southern border, not a broader mass deportation – but later broaden the mission. As he writes, “the role of the military is to “assist” civilian authorities, but not replace them (so this is not technically martial law.” He adds, “In theory, Trump could order the army to go door-to-door searching for undocumented residents. The Coast Guard could aggressively patrol the border. Marines could be asked to shut down legal protests. Then the actions would be subject to federal court review on their constitutionality.” I agree with his analysis that, “If the first move is somewhat limited in scope — e.g. the border and ICE enforcement — he will look for a violent spark that he can claim as pretext to expand the scope more widely.

Photo: Silence DoGood

The three R’s of Dissent: Refuse Resist, Ridicule

That’s where the 3 R’s of non-violent protest come in, which Hunter presents as the next step if the Insurrection Act is invoked: Refusal, Resistance, and Ridicule. My post began with an emphasis on the possibilities of actions that make up these three pillars, including humor, satire, visual and other creative forms of non-violent Imdissent.

1. Refusal means just that: a just say no public statement or pledge of non-cooperation to carry out Trump’s illegal orders. That call is being voiced by protesters in marches, to members of Congress, the National Guard, Department of Defense and other military officials, rank and file troops, the FBI and local law enforcement. We’re seeing some university, law firm, and private business leaders agree to pledges of solidarity with students, and refusing to help ICE target and detain students on campuses.

2. Resistance: Here, Hunter suggests two first steps: one is for organizations to update Know Your Rights trainings with respect to engaging with military and National Guard, which is important for organizers of marches and those doing marshaling (see our last post on Safe Protesting While Marching for free trainings and other resources). As Hunter stressed, military officers, and rank-and-file may not know much about our constitutional rights to protest. They’re focused on their mission, which involves carrying out orders. The second step is “document, document, document,” Hunter stresses. Everyone should learn to videotape (iPhone record) everything, which is important “for your protection, the inevitable court cases and for stoking public outrage.”

3. Ridicule, of which there is “so much more to be done,” Hunter concurs: “Humor is key for morale and exposing the vulnerability of the strongman image.” He cites the ongoing Tesla actions and a AI video hack into government offices that appears to show Trump kissing Musk’s feet – a digital action I missed – as recent example of ridicule that are hitting the mark. He also cites Otpor’s sarcastic past “terrorist fashion shows” – where student protesters showed up to walk a public runway in normal clothes and be proclaimed: “Clearly a terrorist — look at his glasses! He must be a reader.” Hunter is among those who suggest we might upend Trump’s declaration of the Insurrection and publicly welcome it – to go after the J6ers.

The bottom line is that all three R’s form a frontline of non-violent action and defense for us in the face of a militarized move to clamp down on free speech or our rights here. Many small acts to rebut the flood of propaganda that may follow an invocation of the Insurrection Act. Taking action now will help inspire others to be ready speak out and take other actions – safely. Can we have fun and protest too? It’s hard when the attacks are so real, and people are rightly terrified of getting deported. But as Act Up knew, and Emma Goldman famously said, if I can’t dance, it’s not my revolution.

Cover of The Path of Most Resistance by veteran strategist Ivan Marovic

Photo::Center for Nonviolent Conflict

Some helpful resources for learning more and strategic planning:

There are some very good legal analyses of the Insurrection Act, martial law and other emergency statutes that Trump could seek to invoke.

• On Martial Law (overviews) one for the general reader and a more legal analysis from the Brennan Center

• On Strategic Planning of Non-Violent Campaigns: a review and PDF of an excellent book, The Path of Most Resistance, by Ivan Marovic at the Center for Nonviolent Conflict, on how to plan campaigns.

My last comment:

We need to direct our resistance not only at the Trump officials who are directing this coup, but the many citizens in America who are making bank as private contractors for ICE and the Trump regime: the investors, and corporate CEOs and employees of The Geo Group and Civic Corps, among them. Those who operate the prisons and detention centers for ICE in the US. Private charter companies like Avelo Airlines, operating under CSI Aviation, and also Miami-based Global Crossing Airlines (known as GlobalX) and Classic Air Charter, among those operating deportation flights for ICE Air that are deemed kidnapping operations, in exchange for billion-dollar contracts. The collaborationists that live among us.

The profiteers include Eric Prince of BlackWater, a private mercenary recruitment company . Prince has been pitching deals to Trump to greatly expand deportations to El Salvador, while Trump is seeking bids from private companies who might build more prisons that the US would own but lease to his new bestie, El Savador’s autocratic Nayib Bukele. He’s happy to take billions to run Salvadoran torture centers like the CECOT, now housing the hundreds of Salvadoran and Venezuelan US deportees removed without due process.

Targeting the collaborators

Don’t forget the Silicon Valley titans who serve as advisors to DOGE. The Peter Thiels and others in addition to Elon Musk. We must include his young DOGE millennials who earn six-figure salaries as they shred Medicaid and our Social Security system and secretly capture and send our financial and labor data to Putin.

Greed is the glue and money is the power and they are lustful for that. We must continue to expose their role and crimes and, as Hunter urges, document, document, document.

We are millions strong. A million small acts of creative resistance. They add up. So start thinking creatively about what you’ll do now or next. Think smartly about the target and the message and the tactics, as others who have taken on dictators urge us to do. Learn from others. And reach out to groups like Beautiful Trouble and the Center for Nonviolent Conflict and Waging Nonviolence who have put together ready-to-go toolboxes, materials, podcasts, newsletters, and free training to help us all think out of the box, creatively, with ethical and tactical clarity, guided by the 3 R’s of effective resistance.

And please, do share with us actions you join or witness, so we can do our part to document, document, document.

Photo: Otpor

More Artivism:

You’re also invited to check out my companion Substack, Artivism v. Trump, for a gallery of inspiring visual protest. Please share any creative resistance that catches your eye with me, and include the creator’s credit. Thank you. — AC.