# He Will Not Divide Us He Will Not Divide Us (HWNDU) was a 24-hour livestream art project launched by actor Shia LaBeouf and artists Nastja Säde Rönkkö and Luke Turner on January 20, 2017, during Donald Trump's inauguration. Meant to run the full four years of Trump's first term, the stream instead became a running battle with 4chan's /pol/ board, which repeatedly disrupted, stole, and tracked down the installation across multiple continents. ## Overview He Will Not Divide Us, often shortened to HWNDU, started as an anti-Trump performance art project and turned into one of the internet's strangest games of hide and seek. The setup was blunt: a wall-mounted camera, an open invitation for anyone to step up and repeat the phrase 'he will not divide us' into the lens, and a livestream broadcasting the results around the clock[1]. Everything shifted the moment 4chan's /pol/ board treated the installation as a live target. Users showed up in person to chant counter-slogans, hold Pepe the Frog signs, and blast 'Shadilay' at the wall, while the artists scrambled to keep the stream alive by moving it to new cities and eventually just a flag in the sky[4]. The trolling was so effective that each relocation drew its own news cycle about how 4chan had found the camera this time. ## How It Spread Within days, threads on 4chan's /pol/ board coordinated in-person visits where users held Pepe signs, played 'Shadilay,' and scrawled 'KEK' on the museum wall while praising Trump into the microphone[4]. In the early hours of January 26, 2017, LaBeouf himself was arrested on stream after a scuffle with a 25-year-old man; NYPD said he grabbed the man's scarf and scratched his face during the confrontation, and he was charged with assault and harassment before being released the same day[2]. The Museum of the Moving Image pulled the plug on February 10, 2017, citing 'numerous arrests,' round-the-clock police patrols, and neighbor complaints about visitors urinating and smoking marijuana on nearby porches at all hours. The museum publicly called the installation a 'flashpoint for violence' in its shutdown statement[3]. The team relocated to Albuquerque, New Mexico on February 18, 2017, mounting the camera outside the El Rey Theater; that setup lasted five days before someone spray-painted the lens on February 21, and the stream closed on February 23 after gunshots were reported in the local area[4]. On March 8, 2017, the artists shrank the project down to a single flag against the sky at an undisclosed location. /pol/ users tracked it down within about 24 hours using plane flight paths visible in the frame, honking cars picked up by the microphone, and star maps compared against Google Maps. The flag was pulled down and replaced with a Make America Great Again hat and a Pepe the Frog T-shirt. Later relocations to Liverpool, London, and Nantes each ended the same way, with 4chan users finding and disrupting the stream within days[4]. ## How to Use HWNDU is not really a reusable template, it is a specific 2017 event, but the phrase 'he will not divide us' itself became a rally-and-mock line online. Supporters chanted it earnestly at the camera, while /pol/ users flooded the same stream to say it ironically over Pepe imagery and pro-Trump signs. Modern references typically point back to the livestream saga rather than proposing the slogan as a serious rallying cry. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is He Will Not Divide Us? He Will Not Divide Us (HWNDU) was a 24-hour anti-Trump livestream art project launched by Shia LaBeouf and artists Nastja Säde Rönkkö and Luke Turner, in which passersby were invited to repeat the phrase into a wall-mounted camera[1]. ### Where did He Will Not Divide Us come from? It launched on Trump's inauguration day, January 20, 2017, outside the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens[1]. ### What does He Will Not Divide Us mean? The phrase was pitched as an anti-Trump rallying line, but /pol/ visitors used the same livestream to say it ironically alongside pro-Trump chants and Pepe the Frog imagery[4]. ### How do you use He Will Not Divide Us? In practice, people 'used' HWNDU by standing in front of the livestream camera and saying the phrase; today it is mostly referenced as a specific 2017 event rather than a reusable template[1]. ### Is He Will Not Divide Us still popular? The project is no longer running, but it is still remembered as a classic 2017 internet story about /pol/ tracking down and disrupting an art installation across multiple continents[4]. ### Who created He Will Not Divide Us? Actor Shia LaBeouf together with artists Nastja Säde Rönkkö and Luke Turner[1]. ### Why was Shia LaBeouf arrested during He Will Not Divide Us? In the early hours of January 26, 2017, LaBeouf was arrested after a scuffle with a 25-year-old man at the installation; NYPD said he grabbed the man's scarf and scratched his face, and he was charged with assault and harassment[2]. ### Why did the museum shut He Will Not Divide Us down? The Museum of the Moving Image ended the installation on February 10, 2017, describing it as a 'flashpoint for violence' after numerous arrests, 24-hour police patrols, and neighbor complaints[3]. ### How did 4chan find the hidden HWNDU flag? After the artists hid a lone flag against the sky in March 2017, /pol/ users triangulated the site using visible plane flight paths, star maps checked against Google Maps, and a local honking horn picked up by the microphone[4]. ### What happened to the He Will Not Divide Us flag in Liverpool? On March 23, 2017, one day after the flag went up on top of the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology, a masked climber pulled it down and the venue announced the installation had been removed on police advice[4]. ## References 1. [https://www.indiewire.com/2017/01/shia-labeouf-he-will-not-divide-us-pictures-first-day-4-year-performance-art-exhibit-jaden-smith-1201771609/]() 2. [https://metro.co.uk/2017/01/26/shia-labeouf-arrested-during-his-anti-trump-live-stream-6406826/]() 3. [https://pagesix.com/2017/02/10/museum-shuts-down-shia-labeoufs-anti-trump-exhibit/]() 4. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/he-will-not-divide-us]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/he-will-not-divide-us Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library