 "'Nobody voted for him, he's a thug': Massive global protests planned at 200 Tesla showrooms against Elon Musk")
Scores of angry protestors will lead demonstrations against Elon Musk on Saturday at around 200 showroom locations in the US and worldwide. The ‘Tesla Takedown’s Global Day of Action’ will be the biggest culmination of protests that have been going on since US President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January.
Trump has made Tesla CEO Musk one of his closest allies by giving him the power to overhaul the federal bureaucracy. Saturday’s protests will be organised to send a message to the Trump administration that people are not on board with Musk’s decision to lay off thousands of workers, cutting of departmental budgets and getting rid of agencies.
Vickie Mueller Olvera, an organiser of one of the protests, told The Guardian, “Nobody voted for this, and nobody voted for Elon. He’s an unelected super-billionaire and he’s a thug.”
Tesla Takedown identifies itself as a decentralized grassroots movement focused on “protesting Tesla for as long as Elon Musk continues to shred public services.” On its organizing page, the group claims that Musk is “destroying our democracy using the fortune he built at Tesla,” and as a result, they are “taking action at Tesla.” Local organisers are planning individual demonstrations, rather than working under a single national group.
Have Tesla’s shares dipped because of the protests?
Musk’s Tesla hasn’t been doing so great lately and the reason might be the mass movement against him.
Since Trump’s inauguration, Tesla’s stock has dropped by over 35 per cent, sales have sharply declined, and the resale value of used Teslas seems to have reached a record low. Musk’s personal net worth has also decreased by 25 per cent, losing roughly $100 billion.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsAlso, many Tesla owners have given up their cars after Musk supposedly showed the nazi-salute as he gave the inauguration speech.
“I would go so far as to say the Tesla takedown protests have been one of the most consequential protest movements in the shortest amount of time ever. They helped to obliterate one-third of Elon Musk’s net worth, in like 100 days. And when you attack his money stack, you attack his power,” said Jonathan V Last, the editor for the Bulwark.
Protests and vandalism
In the United States, France, and Germany, Tesla stores, charging stations and vehicles have been vandalized in recent weeks.
Protests have also been called in which participants have criticized the world’s richest person for his heavy hand in US and international politics.
In New York, one recent sign asserted that “Tesla finances fascism” and called for a boycott of its cars.
And in Germany, where an arson attack in March 2024 halted production at Tesla’s plant in Germany, Musk has come under heavy criticism for his support of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in the parliamentary elections.
With inputs from agencies
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