Why take action on January 6, 2024?
What does January 6th mean right now? It’s a lot of things. It’s a day that already lives in infamy in our history books. It’s an active crime scene. It’s a reminder of both the fragility and the resilience of our democratic institutions.
January 6th, 2024, the third anniversary of the Capitol insurrection, is also going to be to mark the beginning of 2024 -- a big year that will again test many of our democratic institutions. We think January 6th, 2024, is also an opportunity to show that the Indivisible movement is going to be right there fighting for our democracy.
Many Indivisible groups held effective January 6th anniversary actions in the last two years. We’re learning from what works. Though we didn’t hold national days of action on the last two anniversaries of January 6th, a number of Indivisible groups held great rallies, vigils and protests. We saw the media clips that resulted, and have talked with some groups about their tactics. We’ve incorporated learnings from those events liberally into this toolkit.
We want to keep the Indivisible movement visible in local media going into 2024. The Indivisible movement has been a consistent presence in local media across the country since 2017. Many of the busiest times have been in “off-years” when we've been lobbying Congress together: saving the ACA, fighting Trump’s worst anti-immigrant policies, demanding for voting rights and democracy reform, and stopping the MAGA agenda. In election years, many of the voter contact activities Indivisible groups put the most energy into aren’t as media-friendly. In addition, we’re no longer “the new kids on the block” like we were during the Blue Wave of 2018. Growing as a movement means trying new things.
Local media are more likely to cover events held on anniversaries like January 6th. There are a couple advantages to hosting events on anniversaries of news events. Having a date on the calendar means media outlets can plan ahead more easily. More importantly, the significance of the date means the headline “writes itself,” in a way that may make it more likely for the reporter to get the OK to cover the story. “On January 6th Anniversary, Ralliers Call For…”
This is a flexible day of action. We want Indivisible groups to do what makes sense for them. This day of action is different from most we’ve done in the past. Instead of putting pressure on our MoCs ahead of a specific vote, it serves a long-term goal of maintaining our local power, because every time we pop up in our MoCs’ local news, it reminds them that we’re a force to be reckoned with.