CORONAVIRUS AND PROTEST: HOW COVID-19 HAS CHANGED THE FACE OF AMERICAN ACTIVISM - ELLIOTT BRENNAN | MAY 2020 - AWS

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CORONAVIRUS AND PROTEST: HOW COVID-19 HAS CHANGED THE FACE OF AMERICAN ACTIVISM - ELLIOTT BRENNAN | MAY 2020 - AWS
CORONAVIRUS AND PROTEST:
       HOW COVID-19 HAS
    CHANGED THE FACE OF
      AMERICAN ACTIVISM
               ELLIOTT BRENNAN | MAY 2020
CORONAVIRUS AND PROTEST: HOW COVID-19 HAS CHANGED THE FACE OF AMERICAN ACTIVISM - ELLIOTT BRENNAN | MAY 2020 - AWS
The United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney is a university-based research centre,
dedicated to the rigorous analysis of American foreign policy, economics, politics and culture. The
Centre is a national resource, that builds Australia’s awareness of the dynamics shaping America —
and critically — their implications for Australia.

UNITED STATES STUDIES CENTRE
Institute Building (H03), City Rd
The University of Sydney NSW 2006
Australia
+61 2 9351 7249
us-studies@sydney.edu.au
USSC.EDU.AU

Research conclusions are derived independently and authors represent their own view, not those of the United
States Studies Centre. Reports published by the United States Studies Centre are anonymously peer-reviewed by
both internal and external experts.
CORONAVIRUS AND PROTEST: HOW COVID-19 HAS CHANGED THE FACE OF AMERICAN ACTIVISM - ELLIOTT BRENNAN | MAY 2020 - AWS
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Key points                                                                                    02

Months of lockdown after years of protest                                                     03

Conservative protests                                                                         04

Progressive protests                                                                          11

COVID-19 could politically activate young Americans                                           15

Conclusion                                                                                    17

Endnotes                                                                                      18

About the author                                                                              22

This report may be cited as:
Elliott Brennan, “Coronavirus and protest: How COVID-19 has changed the face of American activism,”
United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, May 2020.
CORONAVIRUS AND PROTEST: HOW COVID-19 HAS CHANGED THE FACE OF AMERICAN ACTIVISM - ELLIOTT BRENNAN | MAY 2020 - AWS
KEY POINTS

                   ›   The COVID-19 pandemic coincides with an                ›   At this point, only small numbers
                       historic era of protest in the United States.              of conservatives are protesting, yet
                                                                                  movements of all stripes are taking the
                   ›   The number of individual protests                          time to digitally re-tool and prepare to
                       in the United States significantly                         mobilise when restrictions are lifted.
                       diminished at the beginning of the
                       lockdown, increased in mid-April                       ›   Prominent US progressive groups have
                       and accelerated following President                        shifted their focus to recognise the
                       Trump’s LIBERATE tweets on April 17.                       immediate challenges of household relief,
                                                                                  health support for the most vulnerable
                   ›   The biggest increase in protests has                       and gearing the economic recovery in
                       been mostly in states that went to                         the direction of a Green New Deal.
                       Donald Trump in the 2016 election,
                       but have Democratic governors.                         ›   With younger generations of Americans
                                                                                  bearing a heavy social, educational and
                   ›   The pandemic and its economic fallout                      economic burden while facing the lowest
                       have created new protest movements and                     health risk during the pandemic, this crisis
                       stand to embolden already simmering                        could activate this otherwise famously
                       progressive and conservative movements.                    politically lethargic demographic.
                   ›   The lockdown policies across the United
                       States set the conservative priority of
                       individual liberty against the progressive
                       priority of the common good, exacerbating
                       an already entrenched partisan divide in the
                       United States.
                       ----

                   Protestors circle Philadelphia City Hall in vehicles to demand reopening of Pennsylvania, 8 May 2020 (Getty)

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CORONAVIRUS AND PROTEST: HOW COVID-19 HAS CHANGED THE FACE OF AMERICAN ACTIVISM - ELLIOTT BRENNAN | MAY 2020 - AWS
MONTHS OF LOCKDOWN
AFTER YEARS OF PROTEST

Protest is a defining characteristic of American     But now the loudest social movements in the
society. The Boston Tea Party, the subsequent        United States are pro-Trump and anti-lockdown.
Revolutionary War and the splintering Civil
                                                     Physical protest in the time of a pandemic is a
War all bear the hallmarks of a national spirit
                                                     dangerous and broken tool of civil resistance.
of protest. The First Amendment of the United
                                                     Experts, including those in the White House,
States Constitution clearly enshrines freedom of
                                                     acknowledge that restric-
assembly, expression and the right to petition as
                                                     tive measures will need to be
three of the first five freedoms.1                                                      THIS REPORT
                                                     maintained in some form for
                                                                                        CONSIDERS HOW
The last half century has been punctuated by         months to stop the spread of
                                                                                        SUCH A DEVASTATING
episodes of great American protest. These            the coronavirus and to prevent     ECONOMIC DOWNTURN
mass acts of expression, assembly and peti-          a “second wave” of cases.4         AND FAR REACHING
tion emanate from the civil rights and anti-war                                            USE OF GOVERNMENT
                                                     This report places recent            POWER COULD EXPAND
movements in the 1960s and 70s, continued
                                                     American protest movements           THE SCALE, URGENCY,
through anti-nuclear and gay and lesbian rights
                                                     in historical perspective. It        AND BOLDNESS
campaigns in the 80s and 90s, came back to the
                                                     outlines why conservatives           OF CONSERVATIVE
fore at the turn of the century with the anti-glo-                                        AND PROGRESSIVE
                                                     are particularly aggrieved by
balisation “Battle of Seattle” and surged during                                          MOVEMENTS BOTH
                                                     the lockdowns in many states
the Iraq War. In the 12 years since the Global                                            DURING AND AFTER
                                                     and examines the conservative        THE PANDEMIC.
Financial Crisis (GFC), protests in the United
                                                     players agitating for the easing
States again increased with the Tea Party and
                                                     of COVID-19 restrictions,
Occupy movements and accelerated in many
                                                     including the president. By using state-level data
directions following the election of President
                                                     of the protests, this report maps the number and
Donald Trump in 2016.2
                                                     trend of protests in the United States in response
In 2019, American movements like March For           to the pandemic restrictions.
Our Lives, Black Lives Matter, #MeToo and the
                                                     It also considers how such a devastating
Women’s March, as well as the international
                                                     economic downturn and far reaching use of
School Strike For Climate, were important play-
                                                     government power could expand the scale,
ers in the global sweep of protests, although
                                                     urgency, and boldness of conservative and
they fell well short of scale and impact of the
                                                     progressive movements both during and after
Hong Kong protests and the government-break-
                                                     the pandemic.
ing movements that took place in countries like
Lebanon, Algeria, Bolivia, Iraq and Sudan.3          The United States is now an immensely divided
                                                     nation tackling a high-stakes health crisis and
                                                     headed towards a high-stakes presidential elec-
                                                     tion.

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                                        CORONAVIRUS AND PROTEST: HOW COVID-19 HAS CHANGED THE FACE OF AMERICAN ACTIVISM
                                                                                                                            3
CORONAVIRUS AND PROTEST: HOW COVID-19 HAS CHANGED THE FACE OF AMERICAN ACTIVISM - ELLIOTT BRENNAN | MAY 2020 - AWS
CONSERVATIVE PROTESTS

                     What motivates conservative                            How is COVID-19 playing into this?
                     protesters?
                                                                            The stay-at-home and lockdown measures
                In recent weeks, much attention has been paid               enforced by many states do not sit well with
                to groups of conservative protesters demanding              the primacy of individual liberty. During March
                that their states reopen and they be given the              and April, all but five US states paused their local
                freedom to work. Personal freedom is a well-                economies to varying degrees and issued stay-
                known value in American society. In a 2019 United           at-home-orders.9 The most severe closed all
                States Studies Centre (USSC) survey of Ameri-               schools and only kept businesses and opera-
                cans and Australians, 74 per cent of Australians            tions open that were deemed absolutely essen-
                nominated it as a favourable aspect compared                tial. Given the scepticism of government inter-
                with 87 per cent of Americans.5 The perception of           vention in the United States, it is no surprise that
                                   the United States as the land of         the state’s role in curtailing this liberty and the
                                   the free is a longstanding one           ability to move about freely has provoked, among
    THESE PROTESTERS                                                        a small fraction of conservatives, a compulsion
                                   but is also one that is funda-
    AND THEIR OFTEN-
    FLAGRANT DISREGARD             mentally disjointed with the             to exercise their constitutional right to assem-
    FOR SOCIAL                     COVID-19 pandemic.                       bly. State governor’s residences and state capi-
    DISTANCING, AS WELL                                                     tols have been subject to groups of protesters
    AS A VISIBLE MINORITY               The central role of liberty in      demanding that the economy be opened. These
    PROUDLY CARRYING                    conservative American thought       protesters and their often-flagrant disregard for
    HEAVY FIREARMS,                     extends to a perception of an       social distancing, as well as a visible minority
    HAVE DOMINATED                      individual’s role in determin-
    PRESS COVERAGE.                                                         proudly carrying heavy firearms, have dominated
                                        ing their own success. This         press coverage.
                                        is historical,6 but it continues
                     to this day, albeit in a more politically charged
                     manner. In the same USSC survey, 80 per cent           The number of protests in the
                     of Americans who voted for Donald Trump in             United States has surged, but the
                     the 2016 election said that “hard work and ability     number of protesters hasn’t
                     determine how well off a person becomes in
                                                                            It is possible to ascertain the broad impact the
                     your country”. Only 43 per cent of those who
                                                                            lockdown has had on protests in the United
                     voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 said the same.
                                                                            States using data from the Global Database of
                     This 37-point gap between progressive and
                                                                            Events, Language and Tone Project (GDELT),
                     conservative-voting Americans provides a snap-
                                                                            an open-source academic resource providing
                     shot of the deep partisan divide in the country.7
                                                                            information on various “events” stretching back
                     Similar partisan divisions were on display in a        to 1979.10 It can be observed in Figure 1 that the
                     variety of areas but were largest on issues of         number of protests in the United States dimin-
                     government intervention, where conservatives           ished significantly in early March 2020, as the
                     were considerably more sceptical of the govern-        pandemic became apparent in the United States.
                     ment’s involvement in questions of support for         Protests began increasing in mid-March as many
                     the unemployed, a minimum wage set above the           states began to impose stay-at-home and lock-
                     poverty line and universal healthcare.8                down orders and surged in mid-April. These data
                                                                            only represent the number of protest events and
                                                                            not the number of protesters, they show the

       UNITED STATES STUDIES CENTRE
4      CORONAVIRUS AND PROTEST: HOW COVID-19 HAS CHANGED THE FACE OF AMERICAN ACTIVISM
Figure 1. The number of nation-wide protests in mid-April 2020 eclipsed all 2019 protest movements

   GDELT data showing the five-day rolling average of national protests between 1 Jan 2019 and 4 May 2020

                                              Protests against the
                     300                    detention of children in
                                             border camps and for
                                                 gun control.                                                 President Trump
                           Global Climate                                                                    tweets "LIBERATE
                             Strike for                                      Greta Thunberg                     MICHIGAN",
                              Future.                                         leads Global                "LIBERATE VIRGINIA",
                                                                             Climate Strike                         and
                                                                              in New York.              "LIBERATE MINNESOTA"
Number of protests

                                                                                                               in response to
                     200                                                                                   COVID-19 lockdowns.

                     100

                      0

                                            Apr '19                    Aug '19                Dec '19                  Apr '20

   broad trend of protest against authorities. The                         ident Trump’s tweets on Friday 17 April issuing a
   dataset overwhelmingly represents anti-lock-                            vague call to “LIBERATE” Virginia, Michigan, and
   down protests but includes less-frequent protest                        Minnesota.13 The number of protests peaked at
   actions like those taken by activists seeking                           more than 400 events on Monday 20 April.14
   the release of prisoners at risk to COVID-19.11 It
                                                                           Figure 2 shows that following the peak on 20
   does not include counter-protests, like those
                                                                           April, protest action levelled out before a second
   conducted by healthcare workers in Colorado,12
                                                                           smaller peak between 1 and 2 May. This peak
   as it is coded for protests against government
                                                                           follows a high-profile protest in Lansing, Michi-
   (local, state and federal) and not civil groups.
                                                                           gan on 30 April when militia groups joined with
   The five-day rolling average of protests in                             600-700 protesters and staged a high-profile
   mid-April 2020 shown in Figure 1 is on par with                         armed occupation of the state Capitol as the
   the peak level of national protests following reve-                     legislature debated extending the stay-at-home
   lations about the prison-like conditions children                       order.15 President Trump weighed in on this action
   were kept in at immigration border camps in July                        as well, tweeting early in the morning of 1 May
   2019. Protest action began trending upward in                           that the protesters in Michigan were “very good
   mid-March 2020 when states began imposing                               people” and that Governor Gretchen Whitmer
   stay-at-home orders. The surge in mid-April                             should negotiate with them.16
   encompasses and then accelerates after Pres-

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                                                           CORONAVIRUS AND PROTEST: HOW COVID-19 HAS CHANGED THE FACE OF AMERICAN ACTIVISM
                                                                                                                                               5
Figure 2. Increase in national protests following LIBERATE tweets

     GDELT data for the number of national protests between 1 April and 12 May 2020

                                                           President Trump tweets
                         400                               "LIBERATE MICHIGAN",                                           Early morning 1 May,
                                                            "LIBERATE VIRGINIA",                                       President Trump tweets that
                                                        and "LIBERATE MINNESOTA"                                          armed protesters who
                                                          in response to COVID-19                                        occupied the Michigan
                                                            lockdowns on 17 April.                                       Capitol are "very good
                                                                                                                           people" who should
                         300                                                                                               be negotiated with.
    Number of protests

                         200
                                              California issues
                                          first of many state-wide
                                           stay-at-home orders.

                         100

                           0

                         12 March    19 March   26 March     02 April   09 April      16 April   23 April   30 April      07 May      14 May
                                                                                     Date

                                       Since President Trump’s first encouraging tweets,         Although the number of protests is high, the
                                       the number of daily protests in the United States         number of overall protesters presents a differ-
                                       remained at a baseline significantly higher than          ent picture. Preliminary data from the Crowd
                                       most of 2019 — the so-called “year of global              Counting Consortium seems to indicate that
                                       protest” — with more than 100 actions per day.            these protests have been significantly smaller in
                                       The two occasions that President Trump most               scale than many of those that took place through-
                                       notoriously weighed in on the protests corre-             out 2019.18 For example, there were an estimated
                                       late with the two largest spikes in protest action,       313,000 protesters in July 2019, compared to a
                                       moments when other presidents would likely                preliminary estimate of 43,000 throughout April
                                       have acted to quell actions. Governors like Wash-         2020, including repeat protesters. Many individ-
                                       ington state’s Jay Inslee blasted the president’s         ual protests during 2019 eclipsed this number
                                       interventions as attempts at “fomenting domestic          many times over. Indeed, the wave of Tea Party
                                       rebellion”.17 These data do not demonstrate that          protests a decade earlier on 15 April 2009 mobi-
                                       the president’s interventions caused the protest          lised more than 300,000 people in more than
                                       action. Rather, it shows that as can often be the         500 distinct protests across the United States.19
                                       case with Donald Trump, he identified an existing
                                       grievance and amplified it.

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6                        CORONAVIRUS AND PROTEST: HOW COVID-19 HAS CHANGED THE FACE OF AMERICAN ACTIVISM
But none of these actions occurred during a                 cially considering the health risks, points to a
pandemic like COVID-19. Protesting at this time             genuine agitation across the country that corre-
is a dangerous political act. After 1,500 people            lates with the imposition of stay-at-home orders
attended a 24 April rally in Madison, Wiscon-               and the president’s high-profile interventions.
sin, more than 70 people tested positive for the
virus who indicated to health officials that they
                                                            AstroTurf versus grassroots:
had “attended a large event”.20 As these actions
have centred on state capitols, anonymous cell
                                                            The reopen movement is being
phone data has shown that protesters have often             pushed from the top down
travelled hundreds of miles and even across                 This widespread phenomenon of protest is
state lines to attend, before returning home.21             important. These national measures mask the
For some of these protesters, home can be more              fact that each state is experiencing the pandemic
rural parts of the United States which often lack           differently. Looking at the ten states that had the
the necessary health infrastructure to deal with            largest per cent increase in protests between
any outbreak, let alone one as aggressive as the            March and April 2020 shows the sharpest
novel coronavirus.                                          increase in protest action in Democratic-gov-
The increase in the number of individual protest            erned, split or marginal states coming into the
events, however small the gatherings and espe-              2020 presidential election (Table 1).

Table 1. Per cent increase in state protests between March and April 2020

 Rank         State          Increase                Governor                 Electoral           COVID-19             Partial
                            in protests                 and                 college 2016             cases           reopening
                            March-April           party affiliation          and margin            (as at 30            plan
                             2020 (%)                                                               April)22         announced
   1       Kentucky              115.0             Andy Beshear                 Trump                4,375             29 April
                                                    (Democrat)                 (29.8%)
   2      Wisconsin              97.0                Tony Evers                 Trump                6,520             11 May
                                                     (Democrat)                 (0.7%)
   3       Colorado              73.0                Jared Polis               Clinton               14,735            22 April
                                                     (Democrat)                (4.9%)
   4       Maryland               21.3              Larry Hogan                Clinton              20,849             14 May
                                                    (Republican)               (26.4%)
   5       Michigan               15.2          Gretchen Whitmer                Trump               40,399              6 May
                                                   (Democrat)                   (0.3%)
   6      Washington             13.0                 Jay Inslee               Clinton              13,842             30 April
            state                                    (Democrat)                (15.7%)
   7       Louisiana              11.9           John Bel Edwards               Trump               27,660             11 May
                                                    (Democrat)                  (19.7%)
   8        Virginia             10.9             Ralph Northam                Clinton              14,961             11 May
                                                    (Democrat)                 (5.4%)
   9        Georgia              10.8                Brian Kemp                 Trump               25,572             20 April
                                                    (Republican)                (5.1%)
   10         Ohio               10.2              Mike DeWine                  Trump               17,303             27 April
                                                   (Republican)                 (8.1%)
Source: GDELT data of protests against government (local, state, and federal) in the United States between March and April 2020

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                                            CORONAVIRUS AND PROTEST: HOW COVID-19 HAS CHANGED THE FACE OF AMERICAN ACTIVISM
                                                                                                                                  7
Many of these states listed in Table 1 are Demo-       But so long as the protests remain largely non-vi-
                     cratic-governed but have Republican-controlled         olent, their organisation by maleficent forces will
                     or split state congresses. Several, particularly       serve to normalise the act of protest for more
                     Wisconsin and Michigan are crucial swing states        mainstream conservatives feeling the same sharp
                     in the 2020 presidential election. On the broadest     sense of limitation and loss.
                     sweep, these states are either very conserva-
                                                                            There is a large degree of politics at play. Pres-
                     tive, moderate or conservative-leaning (though
                                                                            ident Trump’s clearest interventions in state
                     excluding Maryland and Washington state) with
                                                                            politics have been in Virginia, Michigan, and
                     governors who have clashed with President
                                                                            Minnesota — all states with a large increase in
                     Trump over lockdown policy.23
                                                                            the number of protests in April and all-important
                     The combination of a Democratic governor and           Electoral College states in the November elec-
                     a broadly moderate or conservative constituency        tion. The president has clashed with governors
                     can make the governors genuinely appear as a           by political convenience. He has most vigorously
                     “tyrant” dressed in colours at odds with a constit-    called for the reopening of Democratic-governed
                     uent’s personal politics.                              states, but Republican governors have not been
                                                                            immune. Maryland’s governor Larry Hogan drew
                The conservative protests represent genuine and
                                                                            the ire of the president when he circumvented the
                well-founded concerns about the freedom to
                                                                            federal government to import personal protec-
                provide and maintain a standard of living, but
                                                                            tive equipment from South Korea.27 Georgia’s
                many of the early and high-profile gatherings
                                                                            governor Brian Kemp initially had the support
                were organised and funded by truly far-right
                                                                            of the president for one of the earliest and most
                groups.24 These groups plug into the ideolog-
                                                                            aggressive reopening policies, but President
                                    ical leanings of conservative
                                                                            Trump later publicly said he “strongly disagreed”
    PRESIDENT TRUMP                 Americans where and when
                                                                            with the move.28 Ohio’s Republican governor
    HAS FORGONE THE                 it suits them. They are able to
                                                                            Mike DeWine has repeatedly contradicted the
    OPPORTUNITY TO BE A             mobilise conspiracy theorists
    NATIONAL UNIFIER AND                                                    words of the president in his implementation of
                                    ranging from anti-vaxxers to
    HAS SUBSEQUENTLY                                                        one of the strongest lockdowns in the country. All
                                    anti-deep state online move-
    SHROUDED THE FIGHT                                                      three have had to contend with protesters, a large
    AGAINST THE VIRUS               ments like QAnon. Protest
                                                                            contingent of which are visibly Trump support-
    IN A DANGEROUS                  organisers have requested that
                                                                            ers. In his ad hoc handling of the politics of this
    POLITICAL CLOAKING.             disparate private militia groups
                                                                            crisis, President Trump has pitted states against
                                    “provide security” and uphold
                                                                            the federal government, governors against each
                the constitutional right of assembly they are exer-
                                                                            other, and protesters against politicians. He has
                cising.25 But as they sweep up these extremists,
                                                                            forgone the opportunity to be a national unifier
                they embolden them. For many of these militia
                                                                            and has subsequently shrouded the fight against
                groups, truthers and government sceptics, this
                                                                            the virus in a dangerous political cloaking.
                is the moment of crisis they have been prepar-
                ing to exploit. The fact that Michigan cancelled a
                sitting of the legislature on 14 May in the face of
                an organised armed protest demonstrates the
                power they are being afforded to wield.26 It is
                a wicked problem. Ceding to armed intimida-
                tion validates its utility, clamping down on it risks
                violence.

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8      CORONAVIRUS AND PROTEST: HOW COVID-19 HAS CHANGED THE FACE OF AMERICAN ACTIVISM
This opens the way for political entrepreneurs to     Conservative opinion leaders in the media,
exploit the partisan divide. A group of conserva-     too, have begun to lionise the protesters. Rush
tive leaders, including some with links to the Tea    Limbaugh told his listeners that “hunkering
Party Movement of 2009, banded together in late       down in total fear is not a hallmark of American
April to form the ‘Save Our Country Taskforce’        history, or American culture”.31 Affiliates of the
which is pushing for eased restrictions.29 Senior     alt-right conspiracy bastion Info Wars organ-
members of this taskforce have admitted that          ised an early protest in Texas and its founder,
they have been providing technical support to         Alex Jones, addressed the crowd shouting
protest organisers and have helped to promote         “you can’t close America”.32 Fox News host
the anti-lockdown demonstrations.30                   Laura Ingraham, who has been meeting with
                                                      Trump in the Oval Office during the pandemic,
                                                      retweeted a video of protesters on 16 April with
                                                      the message “time to get your freedom back”.33

Partisan media and alternate COVID-19 facts
Cable news viewership in the United States has        If the general message of conservative media
skyrocketed to all-time highs during the lock-        continues to change in favour of opening the
down, particularly in April.34                        economy quickly, it will not necessarily mobilise
                                                      Americans in the middle or on the left in the same
The partisan nature of cable news in the United
                                                      direction, though other factors may. However,
States was already having an impact on how
                                                      existing right-wing partisans may continue to
Americans viewed basic information about the
                                                      shift their views with the message of discontent
pandemic in early April. For example, accord-
                                                      emerging in these channels.
ing to Pew Research, 56 per cent of Fox News
viewers said the effects of the virus had been
greatly exaggerated, while only 12 per cent of
MSNBC viewers said the same.35 While ratings
have surged, these cable channels still largely
preach to the choir. Ninety-three per cent of Fox
News viewers in the poll identified as Republican
or Republican-leaning, while a mirror 93 per cent
of MSNBC viewers identified as Democrat or
Democrat-leaning.36

Online media consumption in the United States
has surged as well, but it has disproportionately
been directed to less-overtly partisan sources.
Traditional bastions of right-wing sentiment
like Fox News have seen only small increases,
and these messages are not reaching a rapidly
expanding base.37                                                                                                      Getty

                                                                                             UNITED STATES STUDIES CENTRE
                                        CORONAVIRUS AND PROTEST: HOW COVID-19 HAS CHANGED THE FACE OF AMERICAN ACTIVISM
                                                                                                                               9
Armed
     protesters at the
     “Michiganders
     Against
     Excessive
     Quarantine”
     rally in Lansing,
     Michigan,
     15 April 2020
     (Getty)

                         Staggered reopening will                             This exacerbates the trend for state-led policy
                         exacerbate the politics                              responses to the pandemic to be strongly tied
                                                                              to the partisanship of the state’s governors and
                         of the pandemic
                                                                              legislatures and less to rates of infection and
                         States began announcing plans to reopen at           public health considerations.
                         varying rates in mid-April, with many coming into
                                                                              Conservative media support for the protests will
                         effect in mid-May. Republican governors in states
                                                                              entrench the anger of those already protesting
                         like Texas, Georgia and Florida expressed deep
                                                                              and will normalise the act itself for others. Presi-
                         concern about the economic consequences of
                                                                              dent Trump has already seen protest movements
                         perpetual lockdown and have moved quickly and
                                                                              as moments of political advantage to seize upon
                         early to substantially reopen their economies,
                                                                              and amplify and not as opportunities to instil a
                         despite the advice of experts and increasing rates
                                                                              sense of national unity. All these factors will play
                         of infection.38 Democratic governors generally
                                                                              out as the November presidential election nears,
                         have been more cautious, but have announced
                                                                              as infections and deaths rise, and as the disas-
                         plans for gradual reopening, some of which
                                                                              trous economic consequences of the pandemic
                         include county-based approaches.39 This creates
                                                                              escalate.
                         a picture of the United States where some states
                         and counties have “more freedom” than others.
                         As such, the disparate policy responses across
                         the country and intractable nature of a pandemic
                         could serve to further embolden protesters.

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10      CORONAVIRUS AND PROTEST: HOW COVID-19 HAS CHANGED THE FACE OF AMERICAN ACTIVISM
PROGRESSIVE PROTESTS

What motivates progressive                                Linking progressive politics and progressive
protesters?                                               movements ignores the significant lag between
                                                          the two. Activists are wont to point out that it can
Generally, progressive protesters in the United           take decades of struggle for their goals to be
States are motivated by the notion of equality            absorbed by progressive politicians. But crises
— like liberty, another key principle present in          can expedite this process.
early American history.40 Unlike conservatives,
progressives tend to prioritise the common good
over individual freedoms. The government’s role
                                                          COVID-19 has cleared the streets
is thus to safeguard the common good, rather              of massive progressive protests
than stay out of the way.41 President Trump’s             The COVID-19 pandemic has hit during a signif-
perceived violations of these values and the              icant moment in progressive protest. Protests
unapologetic manner in which he governs have              in the United States markedly increased in the
clearly motivated forces on the left.                     wake of the Global Financial Crisis and acceler-
Definitions of what constitutes the common good           ated after the 2016 election. President Trump’s
can vary between (and even within) progres-               election itself spawned
sive protest movements and civil rights groups            several protest movements
                                                                                               UNLIKE CONSERVATIVES,
depending on historical circumstance.42 Employ-           and lit the fire under others        PROGRESSIVES TEND
ment rights movements, for example, have                  more longstanding. Accord-           TO SEE FREEDOM AS A
tended to extend this notion to the common good           ing to GDELT data compiled           COMMITMENT TO THE
                                                          by the Center for Strategic          COMMON GOOD RATHER
of members and utilise strike action as a stick for
                                                          and International Studies,           THAN THE INDIVIDUAL
collective bargaining agreements. By contrast,                                                 GOOD AND THE
civil rights movements in the 20th century like           between January 2017 and
                                                                                               GOVERNMENT’S ROLE AS
the National Association for the Advancement of           January 2020, almost 11.5            BEING TO SAFEGUARD
Coloured People (NAACP) take a universal view             million Americans partici-           THAT RATHER THAN
of the common good and advocate the inclusion             pated in more than 16,000            STAY OUT OF THE WAY.
of marginalised people, relying on legal fights,          protests — a scale of dissent
legislative pushes, marches and protest.                  likely eclipsing that of the civil rights movement
                                                          when adjusted for population growth.44 In fact, in
The influence of these sways on the politics of the       the first three months of the Trump administra-
left in the United States can be readily observed         tion, American protests — including those against
in USSC’s 2019 polling. A majority of Clinton 2016        the Muslim ban and more broadly associated
voters overwhelmingly supported government                with the #Resistance movement — accounted for
intervention to preserve elements of perceived            roughly 40 per cent of the global total.45
common good, such as free tertiary education
(56 per cent), a minimum wage that ensures no             In 2019, the American left was a visible presence
family with a full-time worker falls below the            in the “year of global protest”, though notably
poverty line (82 per cent), a decent standard of          not at the scale of dissent following the inau-
living for the unemployed (61 per cent) and fund-         guration of President Trump in 2017.46 The
ing for hospital visits for emergencies and opera-        Women’s March had its third iteration,47 thou-
tions to lower the costs for patients (74 per cent).43    sands marched with Swedish climate activist
Trump voters, by contrast, registered between             Greta Thunberg in New York,48 Americans across
14 and 28 per cent support across all of these            the country were outraged by reports of children
measures.                                                 in prison-like conditions at immigration border
                                                          camps,49 and various groups agitated for the

                                                                                                 UNITED STATES STUDIES CENTRE
                                            CORONAVIRUS AND PROTEST: HOW COVID-19 HAS CHANGED THE FACE OF AMERICAN ACTIVISM
                                                                                                                                11
impeachment of President Trump and for the             But in moments of economic calamity, many of
                   release of the full Mueller report.50 Rallies were     the goals of progressives of all stripes can quickly
                   carried out around the country in opposition to a      converge. The Great Depression gave rise to the
                   spate of state-level anti-abortion laws,51 protests    FDR’s New Deal and massive strike actions, and
                   for stricter gun control measures followed a           the Global Financial Crisis birthed the disarrayed
                   deadly series of mass shootings and El Paso resi-      but powerful Occupy Movement, the echoes of
                   dents protested in the thousands against a visit       which accelerated the fortunes of politicians like
                   from Donald Trump following one such shooting          Bernie Sanders who have since stamped their
                   where the perpetrator drew on the rhetoric of the      credentials on Democratic politics.53
                   president in his manifesto.52
                                                                          Through the progressive lens, local, state and
                   Many of the progressive groups prominent               federal government’s role in a crisis like COVID-
                   during the first years of the Trump administration     19 is to take the necessary steps to protect the
                   have had to withdraw from the streets. It is abun-     health of the community first, and then protect
                   dantly clear that protests and marches now fall        their economic wellbeing. Recognising this, the
                   outside the scope of the common good. As such,         most prominent progressive groups in the United
                   these causes have suffered an attention deficit        States have shifted their focus to prioritise the
                   as the media pivots towards COVID-19 cover-            immediate challenges of relief and recovery
                   age and the spectacle of gun-toting conservative       presented by COVID-19.
                   protesters.

                   How prominent progressive groups have responded to COVID-19
                   Black Lives Matter                                     March For Our Lives
                   Black Lives Matter has pivoted to more urgently        The closure of schools in many states has ceased
                   advocating policy shifts to support prison popu-       school shootings and neuters the prospect of
                   lations, homeless populations and the unem-            nationwide school walkouts. But the group had
                   ployed — all groups in which African Americans         already begun to move away from walkouts and
                   are significantly overrepresented and which face       marches since its first in 2018. While 2019 was a
                   increased exposure to the fallout of COVID-19.         big year for gun legislation protests in the United
                                                                          States following several high-profile mass shoot-
                   The organisation likewise successfully peti-
                                                                          ings, the March For Our Lives organisation used
                   tioned the Centers for Disease Control to aggre-
                                                                          the year to pivot towards lobbying for legisla-
                   gate racial data about the spread of the virus, to
                                                                          tive reform and campaigned for increased voter
                   inform the increased help black communities
                                                                          registration. Similarly, although the group was
                   need going forward. These policy areas are not
                                                                          born out of a physical tragedy and led by those
                   new to the movement but have taken on a height-
                                                                          impacted by the Marjory Stoneman Douglass
                   ened importance during the pandemic.
                                                                          shooting, it grew most quickly online.

     UNITED STATES STUDIES CENTRE
12   CORONAVIRUS AND PROTEST: HOW COVID-19 HAS CHANGED THE FACE OF AMERICAN ACTIVISM
A pandemic does little to stop this kind of activ-      Historic accusations of sexual assault against the
ism, but it has influenced the immediate goals of       presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden
the group. Since the beginning of the pandemic,         have surfaced in recent months threatening to
March For Our Lives leaders have focused their          split many in the movement from political cham-
attention increasingly on the use of firearms in        pions in the Democratic Party and Congress.60
domestic violence and suicides. At the beginning
of the pandemic in the United States sales of
                                                        Climate change
guns and ammunition soared.54 The group argues
these sales and the lockdown measures increase          Climate activists have had significant difficulty
the risk of accidental shootings, armed domestic        cutting through. What has planned to be some of
violence and the use of firearms in suicides. The       the largest ever in-person marches on Earth Day
group has also broadened its focus beyond guns          in April ended up being broadcast as an under-
to encompass youth issues generally and joined          whelming webinar.61 Swedish climate activist
with Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren and            Greta Thunberg’s weekly protests have likewise
Democratic Congresswoman Lucy McBath to                 been moved online with diminished patronage.
launch a digital initiative called “Our Power” in
                                                        School Strike for Climate efforts are ineffective
March 2020.
                                                        when there is no school. Activists in this space are
                                                        intensely concerned that climate change will be
Women’s rights                                          forgotten or deemed unnecessary spending. The
                                                        leading climate groups in the United States like
Movements like #MeToo and The Women’s
                                                        the Sunrise Movement and the Extinction Rebel-
March have likewise emphasised the increased
                                                        lion are arguing that the incredible economic
risk many women face during lockdown. Women
                                                        fallout from the pandemic demands that the
are more likely to be frontline and essential work-
                                                        economy be rebuilt and geared green. Affiliated
ers,55 more likely to have been made unem-
                                                        experts have advocated what is being termed the
ployed,56 and many more women than usual
                                                        Green stimulus deal. This variation of the Green
will not be able to avoid partners who present a
                                                        New Deal is a detailed set of plans, infrastructure
direct threat to their lives.57 Additionally, several
                                                        investments, labour reform, housing initiatives
states deemed abortions “non-essential” medi-
                                                        and foreign policy positions.62
cal treatments during the pandemic, essentially
banning them.58                                         The Biden campaign has invited climate cham-
                                                        pions to the table by way of what have been
Motivated by these broad impacts, dozens of the
                                                        dubbed ‘unity task forces’. Each has two chairs,
most prominent women’s rights organisations
                                                        one put forward by the Bernie Sanders campaign
have banded together to form the “We Demand
                                                        and one put forward by the Biden campaign.
More Coalition”. The collective is pushing
                                                        New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-
Congress for increased relief, more considera-
                                                        Cortez, a champion of the Green New Deal, is a
tion and protection of women at risk of domestic
                                                        co-chair of the climate taskforce, and its panel
violence, stronger state powers, more protec-
                                                        includes Varshini Prakash, the co-founder of the
tions for abortion and more expansive voting
                                                        Sunrise Movement.
rights.59

                                                                                               UNITED STATES STUDIES CENTRE
                                          CORONAVIRUS AND PROTEST: HOW COVID-19 HAS CHANGED THE FACE OF AMERICAN ACTIVISM
                                                                                                                              13
The unequal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic                 The left is mobilising, but not alone
                 has laid bare and activated structural problems
                 in American society, demonstrating clearly as               Where possible, activists are also finding new
                                    Brown University’s Brandon               ways to protest despite the restrictions. The
     THE POSITIONS OF               Ogbunu writes, that “social              Crowd Counting Consortium has reported more
     SEVERAL MOVEMENTS,             distancing is social justice”.63         than 100 novel methods of mobilisation ranging
     PARTICULARLY THOSE                                                      from acts of solidarity like balcony applause for
     WITH A FOCUS ON                       An historic surge in unem-        healthcare workers to acts of resistance like car
     HEALTHCARE, EQUAL                     ployment caused by a              and boat rallies.64 But these lack the effectiveness
     ACCESS TO VOTING AND                  pandemic in a nation where        of traditional marches that many organisers are
     ECONOMIC EQUALITY,                    healthcare is contingent
     ARE GETTING MORE                                                        used to. As such both progressive and conserv-
     MAINSTREAM AIRPLAY                    on employment for most            ative activists are viewing the pandemic as a time
     THROUGH VECTOR                        will likely send the progres-     for aggressive organisation.
     POLITICIANS THAN EVER.                sive pushes for Medicare
                                           For All and green economic        For marches, protests, strikes, lobbying and legal
                      reform into hyperdrive. As such, while Washing-        action, organisation is the crucial aspect. As the
                      ton weighs the best options to pull itself out of      developed world moves online, activists’ groups
                      this crisis, the positions of several movements,       will be throwing their resources into reinforcing
                      particularly those with a focus on healthcare,         their mailing lists, digital strategies and flexibility.
                      equal access to voting and economic equality,
                                                                             Traditionally, such online activity might quickly
                      are getting more mainstream airplay through
                                                                             flow into echo chambers, but the nature of this
                      vector politicians than ever.
                                                                             crisis has pushed people into the digital space.65
                                                                             For activists of any persuasion, increased digital
                                                                             literacy across the board will make organising
                                                                             efforts in the future significantly more efficient
                                                                             with larger payoffs.

        UNITED STATES STUDIES CENTRE
14      CORONAVIRUS AND PROTEST: HOW COVID-19 HAS CHANGED THE FACE OF AMERICAN ACTIVISM
COVID-19 COULD POLITICALLY ACTIVATE
YOUNG AMERICANS

This report has shown that as it stands, there has           to have protections in place. In fact, in early April,
been mobilisation on a small scale on the right              Americans 49 years of age and younger repre-
across the country. But beyond the pandemic,                 sented 2.9 per cent of hospitalisations due to
there is likely to be an appetite for larger-scale           COVID-19,66 while 52 per cent of working-age
social activism. Particularly since the civil rights         Americans younger than 45 reported a loss of
movement, social movements in the United                     income directly linked to it.67
States have predominantly been comprised
                                                             As The Atlantic’s Anne Lowrey points out, many
of the so-called “next generation”, who have
                                                             millennials (between the age of 22 and 38) entered
the most stake in what future movements are
                                                             the workforce during a ‘once in a 100 year reces-
pushing for. These are formative years for these
                                                             sion’ and have been slammed by another just as
demographics, they’re being offered a picture of
                                                             they were finding their feet.68 Additionally, these
the future that strikes many as unfair.
                                                             are the generations that will be tasked with paying
Millennials and younger generations are bear-                off the vast majority of government debt.
ing a heavy social, educational and economic
                                                             It is a common assumption that young people
burden while facing the lowest health risk during
                                                             naturally lean towards progressive views.
the pandemic. Disproportionate numbers of
                                                             GenForward polling from the University of
young people work in the informal economy,
                                                             Chicago tracks the views of Americans 18-36
making them more likely to be the first to be
                                                             on a bi-monthly basis, and its results consist-
made redundant or have hours cut and less likely

Protesters are seen in New York City’s Battery Park as activist Greta Thunberg leads the Youth Climate Strike,
20 September 2019 (Getty)

                                                                                                   UNITED STATES STUDIES CENTRE
                                              CORONAVIRUS AND PROTEST: HOW COVID-19 HAS CHANGED THE FACE OF AMERICAN ACTIVISM
                                                                                                                                  15
ently support this claim. The polling released              An unequal financial burden, an anti-globalisa-
                  in February, as the pandemic was taking hold,               tion stance and racially motivated arguments
                  showed that majorities of young people across               about the virus’ origin are already finding a strong
                  racial lines in the United States strongly or some-         conservative audience and show the directions
                  what support a universal basic income, that the             that conservative movements might take that
                  government should guarantee jobs, and that                  could attract young Americans heavily impacted
                  the super-wealthy should be taxed more.69 As a              by the COVID-19 pandemic. There is historical
                  whole, American millennials and younger gener-              precedent, too, for increased receptiveness to
                  ations are more receptive to arguments about                right-wing movements in the wake of severe
                                       inequality in society and as           economic hardship. The growth of the Tea Party
                                       such, the progressive causes           movement after the GFC is an obvious example,
     FOR MANY IN THESE                 detailed in the section above          but one working paper by the Federal Reserve
     YOUNGER GENERATIONS,              could be seen to have been             Bank of New York on the historical impact of a
     THIS IS THE SHORTEST
                                       validated by the pandemic              global pandemic has also found a direct corre-
     POLICY PIPELINE THEY
     HAVE BEEN EXPOSED                 and their urgency increased.           lation in the regional impact that influenza had in
     TO. WITH AN INCREASED                                                    Germany in 1918, municipal spending as a result
     CAPACITY TO “FEEL” THE                But the progressive idea
                                                                              and then regional voting rates for the National
     DIRECT AND IMMEDIATE                  of the common good can
                                                                              Socialist Workers Party (Nazi Party) in the 1932
     IMPACT OF POLICY,                     fall apart when it is as pain-
                                                                              and 1933 Reichstag elections.71
     MANY WILL START TO                    ful to uphold as it currently
     THINK ABOUT THEIR                     seems to be. As such, there        While they may not be taking to the streets in
     LOT IN NEW WAYS.                      are conservative pathways          large numbers, for many in these younger gener-
                                           for developing movements           ations, this is the shortest policy pipeline they
                      as well. The same polling shows that there was          have been exposed to. With an increased capac-
                      already an impending sense of political loss            ity to “feel” the direct and immediate impact of
                      and streak of conservatism among young white            policy, many will start to think about their lot in
                      Americans before COVID-19. Nearly half of this          new ways. In concert with the increased focus on
                      demographic in February 2020 said that discrim-         structural notions of the economy like “essen-
                      ination against white people has become “as big a       tial” and “non-essential” workers, stratification in
                      problem” as discrimination against other races.70       society by age, as well as record levels of news
                      It is pertinent to remember that the 2017 “Unite        consumption, this crisis could politically acti-
                      the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia was       vate an otherwise famously politically lethargic
                      overwhelming attended by young white men.               demographic.

        UNITED STATES STUDIES CENTRE
16      CORONAVIRUS AND PROTEST: HOW COVID-19 HAS CHANGED THE FACE OF AMERICAN ACTIVISM
CONCLUSION

The COVID-19 pandemic will leave an indeli-          Protesting at its heart is a political act. Many
ble mark on the United States. While physical        people are now experiencing the immediate
marches may be out of the question for many,         impacts of policy at the point at which they feel
the COVID-19 pandemic has already done much          most hopeless about their ability to provide for
more to animate protest movements than it has        themselves and their families. The president has
to kill them.                                        done nothing to assuage those who are agitated
                                                     and to posit the health necessity of the actions.
President Trump has amplified the volatility of
                                                     By failing to offer this political cover, President
conservative protests on several occasions. He
                                                     Trump has laid the blame of any consequences at
has directed them at his political enemies and
                                                     the doorsteps of state governor’s mansions. With
has leveraged them to defer responsibility for the
                                                     vested interests and high-profile media personal-
grievances of Americans during this crisis.
                                                     ities lionising the bravery of these protesters, the
For progressives, these economic consequences        actions could continue despite eased restrictions
and their unequal distribution demonstrates          in the future.
the need for extensive, economy-wide reform.
                                                     The implications of such activation on either side
The president’s actions and the very presence
                                                     of the political spectrum could have grave conse-
of protesters during a pandemic quickens the
                                                     quences for the already fractured state of the
view that he is endangering the most vulnerable
                                                     American union headed towards a high-stakes
people in society. While they do not see it fit
                                                     presidential election.
to protest on the street, progressive groups are
aggressively organising and innovating during
this pandemic.

                                                                                             UNITED STATES STUDIES CENTRE
                                        CORONAVIRUS AND PROTEST: HOW COVID-19 HAS CHANGED THE FACE OF AMERICAN ACTIVISM
                                                                                                                            17
ENDNOTES

     1.   In companion with freedoms concerning                            facing-risk-of-coronavirus-in-state-prisons.html
          religion and freedom of the press.                           12. David Williams, “Health workers face anti-lockdown
     2. Samuel J. Brannen, Christian S. Haig, Katherine                    protesters in dramatic photos, CNN.com, 21 April 2020.
          Schmidt, “The Age of Mass Protest: Understanding                 Accessed online: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/20/
          an Escalating Trend,” Centre for Strategic and                   us/coronavirus-colorado-health-care-trnd/index.html
          International Studies, March 2020. Accessed                  13. Michael D. Shear, Sarah Mervosh, “Trump Encourages
          online: https://csis-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/                      Protest Against Governors Who Have Imposed Virus
          s3fs-public/publication/200303_MassProtests_                     Restrictions,” The New York Times, 17 April 2020.
          V2.pdf?uL3KRAKjoHfmcnFENNWTXdUbf0Fk0Qke                          Accessed online: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/17/
     3. Keith Johnson, “2019: A Year of Global                             us/politics/trump-coronavirus-governors.html
          Protest,” Foreign Policy, 23 December 2019.                  14. “Donald Trump urges supporters to ‘liberate’ states,
          Accessed online: https://foreignpolicy.                          encouraging protest against coronavirus restrictions,”
          com/2019/12/23/2019-a-year-of-global-protest/                    Australian Broadcasting Commission, 18 April
     4. Olivia Laughland, “Birx declines to criticise Trump                2020. Accessed online: https://www.abc.net.au/
          and warns distancing will last months,” The                      news/2020-04-18/usa-protests-for-coronavirus-
          Guardian, 27 April 2020. Accessed online: https://               reopening-after-donald-trump-tweet/12160930
          www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/26/                       15. Steve Almasy, Rebekah Riess, “Protesters pour
          coronavirus-birx-trump-disinfectant-remarks                      into Michigan Capitol calling for an end of state
     5. Simon Jackman, Shaun Ratcliff, Jared Mondschein,                   of emergency,” CNN.com, 1 May 2020. Accessed
          Zoe Meers, Elliott Brennan, “Public opinion in the age           online: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/30/us/
          of Trump: The United States and Australia compared,”             michigan-stay-at-home-protest/index.html
          The United States Studies Centre, December 2019.             16. Donald Trump (@realDonaldTrump), Tweet at 1
          Accessed online: https://www.ussc.edu.au/analysis/public-        May 2020. Accessed online: https://twitter.com/
          opinion-in-the-united-states-and-australia-compared              realDonaldTrump/status/1256202305680158720?s=20
     6. Alexis de Tocqueville. Democracy in America,                   17. Morgan Chalfant, “Inslee accuses Trump of
          Sanders & Oatley, London, 1835-1840.                             ‘fomenting domestic rebellion,’ The Hill, 17 April
     7. Ibid.                                                              2020. Accessed online: https://thehill.com/
     8. Ibid.                                                              homenews/administration/493404-inslee-accuses-
                                                                           trump-of-fomenting-domestic-rebellion
     9. North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa and Arkansas
          did not issue orders: Sarah Mervosh, Denise Lu, Vanessa      18. The Crowd Counting Consortium is a crowd-sourced
          Swales, “See Which States and Cities Have Told Residents         database of dissent in the United States. It uses manual
          to Stay at Home,” The New York Times, last updated 20            counts and estimation based on photos of events as well
          April 2020. Accessed online: https://www.nytimes.com/            as news and social media reports. With a large margin
          interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-stay-at-home-order.html          of error, it is most useful in cases like these to show large
                                                                           disparities between counts; accessed online: https://sites.
     10. The GDELT Project’s database uses machine learning to
                                                                           google.com/view/crowdcountingconsortium/home
          scrape and compile instances of protest with verifiable
          mentions in the media. Scraping media reports in such        19. Nate Silver, “Tea Party Non-Partisan Attendance
          a way means that the dataset is liable to missing smaller-       Estimates: Now 300,000+,” FiveThirtyEight.com, 16
          scale actions that do not garner media attention. By             April 2009. Accessed online: https://fivethirtyeight.
          nature, the data is approximate and by no means a                com/features/tea-party-nonpartisan-attendance/
          completely accurate account of every instance of protest.    20. Jessica Vanegeren, “72 COVID positive after attending
          But it provides a worthwhile picture of temporal and             large event,” Up North News, 13 May 2020. Accessed
          geographic protest trends. For an example of the dataset         online: https://upnorthnewswi.com/2020/05/08/more-
          used on a global scale, see Samuel Brannon and Christian         than-70-covid-positive-after-attending-large-event/
          Haig’s already-referenced and excellent “The Age of          21. Jason Wilson, “US lockdown protests may have
          Mass Protest” report: https://csis-prod.s3.amazonaws.            spread virus widely, cellphone data suggests,” The
          com/s3fs-public/publication/200303_MassProtests_                 Guardian, 18 May 2020. Accessed online: https://www.
          V2.pdf?uL3KRAKjoHfmcnFENNWTXdUbf0Fk0Qke                          theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/18/lockdown-
     11. For example: Malachi Barrett, “Protesters urge Whitmer            protests-spread-coronavirus-cellphone-data
          to release Michigan inmates facing risk of coronavirus in    22. The COVID Tracking Project. Accessed
          state prisons,” MLive Michigan, 16 April 2020. Accessed          online: https://covidtracking.com/data
          online: https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2020/04/
                                                                       23. Washington state was the site of the first major outbreak
          protesters-urge-whitmer-to-release-michigan-inmates-
                                                                           in the United States and subsequently had one of the

          UNITED STATES STUDIES CENTRE
18        CORONAVIRUS AND PROTEST: HOW COVID-19 HAS CHANGED THE FACE OF AMERICAN ACTIVISM
first and most severe stay at home orders; Maryland                 Sun, “34 days of pandemic: inside Trump’s desperate
    had an earlier and more comprehensive lockdown                      attempts to reopen America,” The Washington Post, 3
    in place than other Republican-governed states.                     May 2020. Accessed online: https://www.washingtonpost.
24. Isaac Stanley-Becker, Tony Romm, “The anti-quarantine               com/politics/34-days-of-pandemic-inside-trumps-
    protests seem spontaneous. But behind the scenes,                   desperate-attempts-to-reopen-america/2020/05/02/
    a powerful network is helping,” The Washington                      e99911f4-8b54-11ea-9dfd-990f9dcc71fc_story.html
    Post, 22 April 2020. Accessed online: https://www.              34. “Cable news soars to record ratings during coronavirus
    washingtonpost.com/politics/inside-the-conservative-                pandemic,” Axios, 29 April 2020. Accessed online:
    networks-backing-anti-quarantine-protests/2020/04/22/               https://www.axios.com/cable-news-ratings-coronavirus-
    da75c81e-83fe-11ea-a3eb-e9fc93160703_story.html                     89a3722a-752b-4646-9db4-c58f0ce97c3d.html
25. Jane Coaston, “The private militias providing ‘security’        35. Mark Jurkowitz, Amy Mitchell, “Cable TV and
    for anti-lockdown protests,” Vox.com, 11 May 2020.                  COVID-19: How Americans perceive the outbreak and
    Accessed online: https://www.vox.com/2020/5/11/21249166/            view media coverage differ by main news source,”
    militias-protests-coronavirus-michigan-security                     Pew Research, 1 April 2020. Accessed online: https://
26. Carol Thompson, “Capitol building will be closed during             www.journalism.org/2020/04/01/cable-tv-and-covid-
    Lansing protest because legislature won’t meet,” Lansing            19-how-americans-perceive-the-outbreak-and-view-
    State Journal, 13 May 2020. Accessed online: https://www.           media-coverage-differ-by-main-news-source/
    lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/2020/05/13/michigan-         36. Ibid.
    capitol-closed-during-coronavirus-protest/5183573002/           37. Ella Koeze, Nathaniel Popper, “The virus changed the way
27. Sophia Barnes and Associated Press, “Maryland governor              we internet,” The New York Times, 7 April 2020. Accessed
    says state will re-open in a gradual way,” NBC Washington,          online: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/07/
    6 May 2020. Accessed online: https://www.nbcwashington.             technology/coronavirus-internet-use.html
    com/news/local/maryland-gov-says-state-will-reopen-             38. Jack Healy, Manny Fernandez, Peter Baker, “Reopening
    in-safe-gradual-way-despite-protests/2291303/                       Plans Across U.S. Are Creating Confusing Patchwork,”
28. Kristen Holmes, Kaitlan Collins, Eric Bradner, “Trump               The New York Times, 27 April 2020. Accessed
    says he ‘strongly’ disagreed with move to reopen                    online: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/27/us/
    Georgia — contradicting source who said he agreed                   coronavirus-governors-states-reopening.html
    with it,” CNN.com, 23 April 2020. Accessed online:              39. Michael E. Miller, Gregory S. Schneider, Fenit Nirappil,
    https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/22/politics/trump-                  “Northam confirms Northern Virginia likely to be excluded
    pence-georgia-governor-brian-kemp/index.html                        from initial reopening,” The Washington Post, 12 May
29. Fredreka Schouten, “White House-allied conservatives                2020. Accessed online: https://www.washingtonpost.com/
    band together to support economic reopening,” CNN.                  local/northam-confirms-northern-virginia-likely-to-be-
    com, 27 April 2020. Accessed online: https://edition.               excluded-from-initial-reopening/2020/05/11/2aa6255a-
    cnn.com/2020/04/27/politics/conservative-trump-                     9399-11ea-91d7-cf4423d47683_story.html
    allies-economy-reopening-lobbying/index.html                    40. Particularly evident in the Declaration of
30. Ibid.                                                               Independence, the preamble to the United
31. Rush Limbaugh Show 17 April 2020 transcript and                     States Constitution and eventually in the 14th
    tape, posted at: Media Matters Staff, “Cheering                     Amendment to the United States Constitution.
    protests against social distancing, Rush Limbaugh               41. John Halpern, Marta Cook. “Social Movements and
    likens risks from opening the economy to risks of                   Progressivism,” report for the Center for American
    fighting in world wars,” MediaMatters.com, 17 April                 Progress, April 2010. Accessed online: https://
    2020. Accessed online: https://www.mediamatters.                    cdn.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/
    org/coronavirus-covid-19/cheering-protests-against-                 issues/2010/04/pdf/progressive_social_movements.pdf
    social-distancing-rush-limbaugh-likens-risks-opening            42. See for example the splintering of the Women’s March: Liz
32. Lois Beckett, “Protesters decry stay-at-home orders                 Robbins, “How New York City Ended Up With 2 Competing
    in Maryland, Texas and Ohio capitals,” The Guardian,                Women’s Marches,” The New York Times, 16 January 2019.
    19 April 2020. Accessed online: https://www.                        Accessed online: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/16/
    theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/18/stay-at-home-                     nyregion/womens-march-rally-nyc.html
    order-protest-lockdown-maryland-texas-ohio                      43. Jackman et al, “Public opinion in the age of Trump”.
33. Laura Ingram (@IngramAngle), Tweet, 16 April 2020.              44. Global Database of Events, Language and Tone
    Accessed online: https://twitter.com/IngrahamAngle/                 (GDELT) data in Brannen et al “The Age of Mass
    status/1250462822577975296?s=20 ; Philip Rucker, Josh               Protest”: https://csis-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/
    Dawsey, Yasmeen Abutaleb, Robert Costa, Lena H.                     s3fs-public/publication/200303_MassProtests_

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                                             CORONAVIRUS AND PROTEST: HOW COVID-19 HAS CHANGED THE FACE OF AMERICAN ACTIVISM
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