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Protests and Social Reform on Access Utah

The tumult at Rep. Jason Chaffetz’ recent town hall meeting made national news, but it’s not unusual of late. Marches and protests continue in the early days of the Trump presidency. In addition to the women’s marches, and protests at airports, there is the Indivisible movement and unusual events on Capitol Hill, such as the recent controversy surrounding Senators Warren and McConnell. Some are comparing the current situation to the Tea Party movement or Occupy Wall Street. Some Trump supporters say that protesters are sore losers and that the president should be given the chance to implement the policies he ran and won on. John Oliver, from Last Week Tonight, warns against resistance and anger fatigue and urges protesters to not just march but to give financial support to organizations they believe in.

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On Access Utah we going to talk about the current marches and protests, but we also try to put these in historical context and predict where this social movement might go in the future.

And we want to know what you think. Have you marched? Will you in the future? What do you think of these protests? What do you think the future holds: will this movement die out over time or get stronger? And what will be the political effect? What about civil discourse and working across the aisle: is that a desirable goal? If so, how does it happen?

Our guests include USU professors Laura Gelfand and Jason Gilmore. Laura Gelfand has been involved in the Women’s Marches and Jason Gilmore is interested in social movements from the Civil Rights era to today.

Tom Williams worked as a part-time UPR announcer for a few years and joined Utah Public Radio full-time in 1996. He is a proud graduate of Uintah High School in Vernal and Utah State University (B. A. in Liberal Arts and Master of Business Administration.) He grew up in a family that regularly discussed everything from opera to religion to politics. He is interested in just about everything and loves to engage people in conversation, so you could say he has found the perfect job as host “Access Utah.” He and his wife Becky, live in Logan.