They are coming down hard on protestors because the powers the be are scared and weak. They are stretched thin and are incompetent. They lost Vietnam, they lost the Middle East, they lost Cuba, they lost North Korea, they lost Ukraine and they'll eventually lose the world.
You are currently in the claws of the beast and the beast is dying. You will be free of it's clutches, keep biting its hands. It's squeezing you because your bites hurt it. Do not give up.
Oh, absolutely. I never said we should sit idly and wait for collapse to come. That's why I said not to give up. Do what you can, organise, be there for your comrades.
There is a course called organizing for power through the Rosa Luxemburg foundation. But be worth a look for anyone who needs help getting started.
It looks at organizing through the lens of Unions, though I suspect it's mostly to make sure they don't get shut down by the freedom loving German police