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Three children zip-tied at the San Antonio immigration court, ages 9-12 (lemmy.ca)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/boycottus@lemmy.ca
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[–] 25 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It's still early. The Nazis took over in 1933, but their first euthanasia program didn't start until 1936. The Holocaust didn't really start in earnest until about 1939.

We can't let it get that far, of course, but the point is that it will take some time to get bad enough for people to start really fighting back. I suspect that protests will get really ugly and violent next summer, in the closing stretch before the 2026 Midterm Election.

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  • [–] 21 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    There are a lot of different ways to resist. I'm throwing my money and some volunteer effort at lawsuits to gum up the works, add friction to a bunch of the Trump administration's decisions, and make them expend a ton of resources even to accomplish the things within their power (or that are inevitable).

    I know people who are feeding bad data into the surveillance state, clogging immigration and DEI tip lines with plausible but ultimately incorrect leads that waste their time.

    There's a pretty serious boycott movement and it is making a difference to some businesses' bottom lines.

    There's a bunch of other ways to contribute:

    • Stirring the pot and feeding internal faction rivalries, like DOGE vs populist MAGA vs business interests. Elon Musk has lost a few prominent internal fights (China briefing at the Pentagon, hand picked IRS chief fired less than a week in, his NASA pick being withdrawn). These guys think chaos is a ladder, but chaos can swallow them up, too.
    • Disruption with plausible deniability: blocking doors and driveways that look unintentional, jury nullification, firing Trumpers for pretextual reasons, wasting Trump supporting businesses' time and money, pranks that cause Trumpers to gather in the wrong place, etc.
    • Further escalation as situations warrant.

    If things escalate to where property destruction, outright fraud or scams or other white collar crime, or violence is justified, it won't be sudden. It will be a gradual build up, with legal resistance giving way to nonviolent disruption to property destruction and theft to violent resistance. But I think it's worth exhausting the less disruptive options first, and be satisfied that escalation is justified at each step where that actually happens.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 child)

    I think some of these protests so far are controlled opposition to prevent real progressive movement in preference for same old bs from DNC. We need to weed out the fakes

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  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    What makes you think that that sentiment itself isn't fostered by controlled opposition? Don't get me wrong, as an anarchist I have no love for Democrats or republicans. But unfortunately with our electoral system the way it is. Realistically we have to be bedfellows with one or the other at some level of government.

    At least of course until all national parties are abolished, and the electoral system reformed. Trying to push change from the top down has backfired every single time. The unions thought it would be good to give Carter a lesson. And instead Carter lost and they ended up becoming irrelevant. There's plenty of parallels between that and the recent presidential election. Honestly I don't think the Office of the President shouldn't even exist. It's too much power just begging to be abused as it currently is.

    That will only change however by building up local parties and making National parties irrelevant, or at least serving the interest of the accountable local parties. Till then we can gnash and wail, grinding our teeth at every shitty candidate the National Party puts forward. But as long as they are in control and full of shitty candidate fodder. That's never going to change. But us focusing on that over everything else certainly enables the worst actors in society.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    That will only change however by building up local parties and making National parties irrelevant

    Even this is thinking too narrow. Power in our society comes from a lot of places. We all have different capacities to do directly, to fund, or influence things.

    If I go to the food bank and actually prep bundles of food to distribute, I'm doing something outside the government. Maybe the government should be doing that, but it doesn't much matter what should happen when we're out there doing.

    If I donate my money to a food bank, or a nonprofit that litigates immigration cases against the government, my money might make a difference by slowing down the government, maybe even stopping its ongoing actions, or even reversing its past actions. And that threat can deter some of those actions from taking place in the first place. (And even if unsuccessful, laying bare the administration's lawlessness lays the groundwork for morally/ethically breaking the law in resistance).

    If I have a podcast that has a bunch of listeners, I can influence public opinion. There are big voices in support of the current administration, and there are some voices against.

    We each have our own power. Some of us even have substantial economic power that isn't our own individually: organizing collective action, making spending decisions of our deep pocketed employers, etc. And at the end of the day, if nonviolent or even violent resistance becomes justified, the government and the political parties won't have a role in how that power is deployed.

    Elections and campaigns still matter, of course. But so much else matters, too. And those decisions and those actions don't go through a political party or any party officials. The key is finding balance between trying to influence the politics versus just bypassing politics and influencing the world directly.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    Yes all that was implied, anarchist, mutual aid, investment in communities, yes. The point was the national parties were never our friends. And will never be our friend. You can "weed out fakes" indefinitely.

    It doesn't matter how much you food bank etc. No National Group as a whole is going to sit up and take notice of you and dedicate themselves to you. Local groups and politicians will though. And it is absolutely part of what will be required to build up and empower local groups to take back leadership. It just won't solve the problem on its own.

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