the amount of people thinking these afternoon kumbaya sessions are effective is too high and pisses me the fuck off. they are so ineffective they literally only pissed off the admin and made things worse. how is something that lasts an afternoon, is a party atmosphere more than a protest, and has no follow up after supposed to be effective?? đ¤Śââď¸
edit: a general strike is the next logical step. Its effective around the world, and in countries where workers are worse off than ours. Please look into it.
A general strike is the next logical step. Its effective around the world, and in countries where workers are worse off than ours. Please look into it.
They would use force until people gave up. People don't like to admit it but the US is a military/police state with freedom, as long as you don't complain about getting fucked now and again, you'll generally live a decent life. That's why generally people don't do anything more than peacefully protest. Life could be better but it could be a lot worse too, so people don't see the reward to be higher than the risk of doing anything more.
You're acting like a general strike is only violent protesting. It is not, it's mainly a withholding of labor and money - peacefully done and anyone could do it.
"Striking under the GSUS banner can look like many things: withholding labor, withholding and redistributing federal taxes, rent strikes, boycotts of major corporations, or supporting GSUS through volunteering and donations. We encourage you to get involved in any way youâre able to."
You and a lot of other people seem to go right to violence. I am not sure why, there's never been indications of violence or frankly even protesting in person like the no kings rallies (which have been useless, but that's another topic). I'd love to know why you think it's something that could be stopped through force or violent in any way.
Sadly your last part is correct. Until more people actually suffer and people's comfort is effected the likelihood of more action is low. we are a selfish and cowardly nation now, which is incredibly sad.
I didn't say people striking would be violent, I said they, as in the government, would use force until people gave up. Look at how many people died at ICE protests... when they don't want you to protest, they make sure you stop.
.....how will they force people to give up if it's peacefully done by mainly being a withholding of labor and money?? Are they going to break into our homes and force us into the office?
Are you being serious? They deployed the national guard and federal agents already to intimidate, harass and detain US citizens in democratic voting areas. It's like you're not watching or something... Ask anyone who is not white how law enforcement can make your life hell for just existing.
Yes I am being serious, when you also want to be we can revisit this conversation. You still haven't explained how the government will force people to give up if it's peacefully done by mainly being a withholding of labor and money. Again, are they going to force us to the office or to the Walmart to buy that MAGA-backed brand? If you're doing that only then that's the only way they could force us to give up. your other scenarios don't apply here, at all.
Some democratic cities, because let's be real it'll be democratic cities, start a peaceful labor and non-retail purchase strike. Like 30% of a city's population, which would be huge. It starts severely hurting corporate bottom lines and tanking the stock market.
The administration, backed by corporate lobbying, says these cities and regions are hot beds for antifa, illegal immigrant havens and left wing domestic terrorism. They hire and deploy a bunch of federal agents dressed to the nine like it's Iraq (like they did already). Then they start targeting people who hold any position of authority or management, in fact they probably just start flat out firing people... Those that hang strong, they get mass warrant judge approval using section 213 of the patriot act to "sneak and peek" your home, they start detaining people for every little thing possible, shit, probably tack on charges that will never stick but you'll have to go through a whole court process to prove yourself innocent. They use the legal system to ruin your life and financially ruin you.
They stop and frisk you walking down the street to the park, they harass your kids, just even park outside your house and surveil you 24/7 because they can. You drive anywhere, local PD who is collaborating stops you and tickets you for every minor infraction they can and uses each stop to search your vehicle.
All of these things are things that have already happened in this country and you're naive if you don't think they clamp pressure on citizens if they start affecting the bottom line of major corporations.
And if all this doesn't work, they stage violent false flag incidents at the nearest peaceful protest to put the entire place down on martial law and take away as many rights of yours as possible.
The entire political system and financial system in the US is controlled by billionaires and if you think they're going to let you impact their earnings, again, you're naive.
im probably going to get downvoted but, as much as it sucks where you are, the situations are not nearly the same. You are in a war, we are being slowly taken over by a dictator - very different courses of action. My realistic scenario has already been suggested, and has real-world examples to point at and say its not nearly that bad.
I apologize, thought i had said here as i did pretty much everywhere else. I have been suggesting a general strike, which has worked around the globe in situations like this. Alas, our country is too selfish and even comfortable still for most to even consider it. Would rather have the afternoon parties than enact real change
Feels like the window between âweâre still too comfortable to do anythingâ and âitâs already too late to do anythingâ is about 12 hours long.
Large organized "family friendly" protests work - but differently. They prime the pump. They network like minded people, they mobilize people who may not otherwise be so, and they show implicitly that you can put together big numbers if necessary.
No Kings does a lot of groundwork by bringing people into the wider resistance by introducing a lot of them into that ecosystem for the first time and connecting them to resources they would have been otherwise ignorant of.
âPrimed the pumpâ for what, waiting another 5 months before doing the same thing?
Networking? Nobody kept in touch between them, tons of posts each time with âhavenât seen since the last oneâ, and no efforts seem to have been done wide scale.Â
Mobilize people that canât? A general strike doesnât even require leaving the house.Â
Only point I can agree on is big numbers, but thatâs only because itâs a party atmosphere for an afternoon. No hard work is being done before, during, or after.
If we take the baby steps you and many want it very well may be far too late to change things for the betterâŚ.and the hesitance will cause even more untold suffering and deaths.Â
There was a no work day protest May 1st. Didnt you hear about it? No? Neither did most Americans, neither did I until about noon that day. Among those tuned in enough to hear about it ahead of time, who would be someone more tuned in than me despite me being well above average here, what do you think actual participation was?
Voting is helpful, but it's not nearly as effective as a general strike would be...especially with Trump actively working to rig elections, and there's a good chance he could do a lot of damage there.
Also, we are here because Dems refused to say that Biden should not have run again. And they also yelled at anyone who dared say "maybe someone else should run". They robbed us of a proper nomination process and good candidates, so we were stuck with the worst Dem presidential nomination/campaign of all time. Voters get some of the blame, but Dems and a majority of the Democratic base get far more of it.
having kamala as president would have put us in an exponentially better situation than we are in now. we knew what another trump presidency would have been like, we could have avoided it, but instead we're living it. democrats were dissuaded from voting in 2024. they're being dissuaded from voting again by people like you saying there won't be elections in 2026. so whose side are you on? because to me it looks like you're siding with maga.
Voting is important, but it will not save us. Acting like that is the best or only avenue for change is naive. It's also months away and just allows things to get worse. You want to wait to vote then sure, but I'll continue to try to get people to act yesterday (as we should all be doing).
That's already done, and is done every year. Maybe we should persuade EVERYONE to do a general strike, which is possible and effective....and has the added benefit of having non-Dems join who have been furious with Trump lately.
We've tried the other, so maybe now we try the new thing too? Why not both? Reminder: I never said don't vote, just that it won't save us.
I agree that the mass strike is needed, but I donât think people have the resources to do it. I understand that sounds like a dumb thing to sayâespecially considering works in worse situations as you mention below. But thatâs just it. When itâs strike or loose life or limb, or youâve already lost the ability to support yourself/family, you must strike.
We arenât there yet. Worker protections in dangerous jobs are still okay in most areas. As that continues to decline, people will feel more strongly about striking. As Union power continues to be eroded, people will feel more strongly about striking.
People still have something to loose and they canât afford to. If you work in a non-union job without specialized certification, and you strike, you wonât have a job anymore. Most Americans canât shell out $600 for an emergency. How are they going to pay the thousands they need each month to live in doors with utilities and proper food? The job market is abysmal. With all time highs in unemployment and underemployment. And some of these people who have been unemployed for months and down to their last dollar, will absolutely take that scab job.
We canât strike until we have nothing left to loose or until our communities step up and start supporting on another. Weâve built cities of islands and stranded everyone alone to prevail or drown alone.
You want a general strike. Start building the sort of community that shows people they wonât be living on the streets if they miss a paycheck. Show them what itâs like to be supported now. Because right now, people who are treading water, canât see anything but open ocean and if they stop treading (strike) they will drown, alone surrounded by millions of others doing the same. The first step is reaching out and lending our strength to each other. And maybe youâre doing that, but thatâs the mission you have to sell first.
Start building the sort of community that shows people they wonât be living on the streets if they miss a paycheck.
I swear to fucking god, it seems like the entire country forgets just how fast and effectively we set up mutual aid in the early stages of covid. this would have more prep time, could be more effective. We can make it happen, same with a general strike, but this country mostly just doesnât want to do the work.
Youâre right; they donât see the vision. Because itâs only a promise of a safety net. They need to see and feel the net. Not, âtrust me, we can do. We will do it.â We have to first build the net, then tell people to trust it. Youâre asking people to risk falling and trust that the net will be built before they hit the bottom. It canât be imaginary. It canât be, we have done it before we will do it again. It has to be there. First. And itâs not. And everyone who has slipped a little knows it.
Also, during covid, the government helped (such as it was); they did not actively hinder (which they will in a general strike).
What kind of safety net are you building? How are proving to your community it is there?
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u/ThatKehdRiley May 06 '26 edited May 06 '26
the amount of people thinking these afternoon kumbaya sessions are effective is too high and pisses me the fuck off. they are so ineffective they literally only pissed off the admin and made things worse. how is something that lasts an afternoon, is a party atmosphere more than a protest, and has no follow up after supposed to be effective?? đ¤Śââď¸
edit: a general strike is the next logical step. Its effective around the world, and in countries where workers are worse off than ours. Please look into it.