If we ignore Polish solidarity, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Romanian Revolution of 1989, protests against the Soviet Union started in the Baltics and quickly to other occupied countries.
The Baltic Way (Lithuanian: Baltijos kelias; Latvian: Baltijas ceļš; Estonian: Balti kett) or Baltic Chain (also “Chain of Freedom”[1]) was a peaceful political demonstration that occurred on 23 August 1989. Approximately two million people joined their hands to form a human chain spanning 675 kilometres (419 mi) across the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, with a combined population of around eight million citizens, who had been subjected to the Soviet Union’s occupation and communist repression for more than 45 years
The next year brought increasing protests. On 21 January 1990, the anniversary of the 1919 Unification Act between the Ukrainian People’s Republic and West Ukrainian People’s Republic, a human chain of three million people linked the western Ukrainian city of Lviv to Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital. The human chain, which also drew hundreds of thousands of protesters to Sophia Square in Kyiv, demonstrated the popularity of Ukrainian independence outside of Western Ukraine. It was the largest demonstration in late-Soviet era Ukraine.
The protests eventually even reached Moscow, with estimates of protest size ranging from 200 K to 500 K.
I will note that US population density isn’t that much lower than in Ukraine (38 per KM2 versus ~70 per KM2 in Ukraine). Assuming there are 4,500 KM between LA and NY (and 2M persons per 675 km) around 13.3 million people to replicate the Baltic Way, a mere ~4% of the population, compared to 25% participation rate in the Baltics as a whole (that would be about 80 million for the US population).
There are of course many differences between Warsaw Pact/USSR and modern US (with the issue that the Soviet economic system was collapsing and was irreversibly discredited), but that’s always the case with any situation.
The bigger point is that it’s never easy and successful anti-regime protests find a way through the challenges. Sure there is some measure of luck involved, and you have to take risks, but that’s true of literally anything in life.
And yes, the decline of democracy is a global issue. The old system/model is clearly reaching a breaking point. “The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: Now is the time of monsters.” We’ll get through it. My only hope is that this breakthrough won’t take 50 years when I’ll be in my 80s.
The Women’s March had 500,000 in DC, 750,000 in LA, 400,000 in NYC, etc. with many other cities. My point is that Lviv to Kyiv is a 6-hour drive. LA to DC is 40 hours, nearly 7 times that distance.
The reason the Soviet Union collapsed was because of a nearly bankrupt Soviet government relaxing its grip under immense international political pressure. That’s not true for the US currently. I don’t mean to diminish it, but ousting this government will take more than linking hands.
But at the same time there also were unqiue challenges in the Baltics, Ukraine and other countries occupied by the russians. Protesting against the soviet union was a very high risk activity and protesters were killed during the subsequent acceleration of demands for freedom and self determination. The USSR was likely capable of putting down the demonstrations, but thankfully luck was on our side and it helped that the USSR was seen by most as having reached a dead end.
All protests against authoritarian thuggish regime carry challenges. I personally think if the scale of protests in the US reaches a sufficient size and intensity (which is unfortunately a big if), you can overcome the challenges with size.
If we ignore Polish solidarity, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Romanian Revolution of 1989, protests against the Soviet Union started in the Baltics and quickly to other occupied countries.
The protests eventually even reached Moscow, with estimates of protest size ranging from 200 K to 500 K.
I will note that US population density isn’t that much lower than in Ukraine (38 per KM2 versus ~70 per KM2 in Ukraine). Assuming there are 4,500 KM between LA and NY (and 2M persons per 675 km) around 13.3 million people to replicate the Baltic Way, a mere ~4% of the population, compared to 25% participation rate in the Baltics as a whole (that would be about 80 million for the US population).
There are of course many differences between Warsaw Pact/USSR and modern US (with the issue that the Soviet economic system was collapsing and was irreversibly discredited), but that’s always the case with any situation.
The bigger point is that it’s never easy and successful anti-regime protests find a way through the challenges. Sure there is some measure of luck involved, and you have to take risks, but that’s true of literally anything in life.
And yes, the decline of democracy is a global issue. The old system/model is clearly reaching a breaking point. “The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: Now is the time of monsters.” We’ll get through it. My only hope is that this breakthrough won’t take 50 years when I’ll be in my 80s.
The Women’s March had 500,000 in DC, 750,000 in LA, 400,000 in NYC, etc. with many other cities. My point is that Lviv to Kyiv is a 6-hour drive. LA to DC is 40 hours, nearly 7 times that distance.
The reason the Soviet Union collapsed was because of a nearly bankrupt Soviet government relaxing its grip under immense international political pressure. That’s not true for the US currently. I don’t mean to diminish it, but ousting this government will take more than linking hands.
That’s fair, it’s not a one to one comparison.
But at the same time there also were unqiue challenges in the Baltics, Ukraine and other countries occupied by the russians. Protesting against the soviet union was a very high risk activity and protesters were killed during the subsequent acceleration of demands for freedom and self determination. The USSR was likely capable of putting down the demonstrations, but thankfully luck was on our side and it helped that the USSR was seen by most as having reached a dead end.
All protests against authoritarian thuggish regime carry challenges. I personally think if the scale of protests in the US reaches a sufficient size and intensity (which is unfortunately a big if), you can overcome the challenges with size.