Distributed as in non centralized. Many people feel like there is nothing they can do to contribute to meaningful change, especially with how spread out Americans are, but surely there has got to be something.
Using the trend of blocking traffic as an example, I think a coordinated effort to not just block a highway in one city, but to block state routes and other arteries in many places would be more effective. Instead of one city having bad traffic for a day, it would be many towns and it would be harder to dismiss as a local problem if people across the states are engaging.
Opting out of consumerism. Not that it’s legal disobedience, but it’s certainly social disobedience that would get the attention of and take power from the corporations who control our politicians. Yes we can’t stop buying everything completely, going to a barter system for everything is not feasible. But we can at least stop buying so much crap.
Yep
Modern American economy doesn’t give a shit about labor strikes.
But a consumer strike?
Everyone literally cutting out all extraneous purchases and cancelling every subscription except utilities…
That would get the wealthy’s attention.
Can’t speak for your household, but ours is already there, by necessity. Shit’s gotten too damned expensive. At this point we’re buying only what we actually need with an eye on how to make it last as long as possible. And me and my wife make $140k combined.
Same. Making less but similarly the consumerism has all but died in our young family. Just healthcare and food for the most part.
Modern American economy doesn’t give a shit about labor strikes.
How do you figure that?
The old ways are being forgotten
US corporations have been paying real attention to Canadian boycotts of US products. At this point, it has become habituated and will not be reversible.
Oh, I’m not sure how much that will matter. I was shopping today and all that was left was an American brand of spring mix that I have been avoiding for months now because it’s American.
Well fuck me sideways, wasn’t it suddenly made in Canada?
I also noticed something similar at the hardware store. I researched a product and found exactly what I needed. It was a gutter screw made by a company called Euramax.
When I got to the store the packaging said “Amerimax”. So they rebranded their shit in Canada online before their current stock was out, I guess.
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That’s true, but at the same time, aren’t most people already boycotting what they can? I think anyone who feels bad about supporting shitty companies are already avoiding them when they can, and if they can’t, well there isn’t much more to do until we hit mutual aid networks.
I’m not talking about boycotting shitty companies, though. Just like, boycotting capitalism. To the degree that’s even possible. We need food, shelter, and utilities.
But clothes? Repair, swap, thrift.
Entertainment? Cancel streaming services, stop going out to movies. Don’t use social media sites that make money by showing you ads. Play cards or board games, read or listen to books from the library. Trade things with friends when you get bored of what you have instead of just buying new stuff. Touch grass.
I’m not saying I do all of this stuff or that it would be easy, but lots of people doing this consistently would make a much bigger difference than boycotting shitty companies piecemeal.
In that case, I was boycotting before it was cool.
You need to extricate yourself from your bubble if you think American’s are meaningfully boycotting anything.
Well, that’s part of my point. Everyone who stopped eating at Chick Fil A stopped 10+ years ago, everyone else doesn’t care. Anyone willing to boycott is already boycotting, and they can’t boycott any harder until we have a method of acquiring necessities from somewhere else.
I don’t think there’s some fraction of people who are ethically driven, and the rest don’t care. Everyone sits on multiple spectra for what they care about, and where their thresholds for acting are. Most people are under the pump for cost of living, and that’s pretty dominant when you’re on the verge of poverty. Get those people a bit more stability, and they’ll have more capacity to care about broader ethical ssues…
Everyone sits on multiple spectra for what they care about, and where their thresholds for acting are
Right, so what would push people over that threshold now?
- Its different for everyone, and there will usually be multiple influencing factors, not just one big one, but
- I already pointed out one big one in my last sentence.
Ah! Perfect example as I won’t touch Chick Fil A. :)
So yes, those who care and are politically aware are boycotting what they can, but the vast majority of Americans neither care or are aware.
target would like a word
I believe that’s called a Boycott. Usually those are targeted. I’d recommend boycotting as many companies as you can whose CEO tickled Trump’s anus with a faux golden thimble.
There was a ‘single day consumer stop’ recently that was just plain silly. That won’t even show up on a weekly report, let alone concern even managers.
Also, if they don’t know it’s due to a standpoint, they will look for every other likely reason available. It needs to be a movement
Target is an interesting case study. Largely self-inflicted, but conservatives remember them having trans bathrooms and liberals remember them taking them away (not that that was the only issue, they have become blatantly racist as well). It’s too narrow and too slow, but that’s what results when society rejects an institution.
It would be great if we could narrowly focus on a few egregious examples and wreck them, but getting everyone to non-organically agree on who to target (no pun intended) is going to be difficult.
The target needs to be capitalism. Not Walmart, not Target, not Amazon. Just quitting the sheer amount of shit we buy that is not necessary. Reassessing our understanding of the word necessary. And for the things that are truly necessary, buying from companies who don’t race to the bottom with the most low-quality instant garbage they want to break so we’ll but another one.
Worked against Bud Light and Cracker Barrel. Not sure how effective it is elsewhere. Maybe Target?
If every blue state stopped paying federal taxes simultaneously they’d be fucked. Tax season isn’t for another sixish months, just saying.
It has to be the employees not the state because companies withhold it and remit directly to the IRS. Not saying you should do this, but if you increase your
withholdingsexemptions then it won’t go to the IRS. Though you will owe it in April and may have to pay penalties for underwitholding.Small technical correction:
To DEcrease withholdings (the dollars shown on the Fed line of your paystub)
One must INcrease exemptions claimed on Form W-4
But the rest is correct. If you underwithhold/underpay you risk penalties come April.
However, if you try to claim so many exemptions as to get to zero federal withholdings, employers are required to second-guess you and make you document the exemptions you are claiming (not all will do this but they’re required to nonetheless). But if you go to very little federal withholding, just not zero, employers generally don’t give a shit and will just make the payroll adjustments accordingly.
Constituents would have to unite and convince their house/senate members to repeal the 16th amendment. Probably would be a ton of grassroots support from both sides actually cause everyone hates taxes, and the voters in poor red states would be too ignorant to realize their state would get hosed.
But just overturning the amendment wouldn’t be enough. There’d need to be an alternative amendment related to taxation to specifically shift more responsibility to states.
Something I liked about the response to LA was people showing up at hotels where occupiers were staying and driving them out. There’s a sort of group denunciation happening, and then also it just makes it hard to do the work - they don’t have enough sleep, they have to travel farther to the intended area of action.
What about other ways to foul logistics? And what are other ways to shame/demoralize people supporting the regime? Totalitarians require everyday people to carry out their orders. The more people we peel away or disillusion the less control a totalitarian can exert.
ICE Pigs are going to have to eat regularly, so make it difficult for them. Undercook, overcook, serve it cold, spit in it, add extra onions when they ordered it without, slow service, slow delivery, refuse orders, forget ingredients, forget condiments, lose orders, short orders, etc.
Mess up EVERY meal, and it doesn’t take long to start making people really unhappy.
Do this for all cops.
We need a community dedicated to these questions.
The fact that top comments on Lemmy, a sophisticated platform, still don’t provide much leverage is a little worrying. I hope we can find a collective way to raise awareness in a news blind world. Shows how far the system has worked to block out civil protest moving markers anymore. My hope is that organized non-violent marches and banners becomes so prevalent that it’s impossible to ignore. Like how MAGA got its image annoyingly all over rural America.
Birthstrike - stop reproducing
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Previous poster isn’t talking about those people; but about people who do have a choice and why they should decline.
Yeah, my comment is clearly aimed at people who do have choice. That should be implied when someone makes any sort of idea: the ability to actually do something. I’d say that a birthstrike is comparatively easier than a labor strike, where a good percentage of the population is 1 or 2 missed paychecks from financial ruin and homelessness.
Don’t use someone else’s inability to justify your own lack of action. “Whatabout the people who can’t?” isn’t a strong argument if you do have the ability.
this just increases the ratio of parents in the next generation that are shitty people, effectively strengthening fascist movements by increasing the proportionment of lil hitlers vs everyone else in the kindergarten class.
This is one of the reasons I want children despite everything. If all the conscientious people stop reproducing, the future population will be composed entirely of people raised by selfish assholes.
So what is your plan? Try to outbreed the selfish assholes? Because otherwise, being the conscientious minority among an assholish majority is not a great place to be.
I’d rather maintain a conscientious minority than abandon the world entirely to assholes.
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I have been fantasizing about figuring out where epstien is buried, digging his evil ass up and catapulting his corpse onto the white house lawn.
That would force them to release the files. It is so outrageous that it would get national attention, and people would support it because RELEASE THE FUCKING EPSTIEN FILES.
This sounds like copium even if it was realistic. The idea that Epstein is some kind of anti-fascist silver bullet fundamentally misunderstands how fascist movements work.
I think this would actually have the opposite effect. It’s essentially the Dead Cat Strategy. That’s a political tactic where if you’re losing an argument and can’t see a way to turn it around, just throw a dead cat on the table. Now everyone is suddenly talking about the dead cat, instead of the argument you were losing. It refers to when a politician is losing a debate, so they just start making outrageous statements to grab attention and divert the debate away from the argument.
Epstein’s body would be a dead cat, as news would divert towards covering that instead of covering the files.
So like, all of 2025 so far.
Be happy and grow a supportive, active, and independent community network of helpers
Not civil disobedience, but I agree. Unfortunately creating communities is probably a bigger ask than getting arrested in a protest.
This is what I’ve done; I founded an adult rec sports league a few years ago that’s burgeoned into a thriving community. It’s about half queer, we have a large group that hangs out after games, regular social events, developing leadership board, active Discord. We’ve raised over $10,000 for charities and member medical bills. (America is really sad) It’s really a bright spot in a lot of our lives right now. As things get worse, we now have a community to fall back on and support one another.
Everyone, DRIVE FUCKING SLOW.
“C’mon, that’ll just piss myself off.” Do you think the French living under nazi occupation wouldn’t love to dangle their bumper in front of every German driver that comes along?
Do 58 in a 65.
Do 41 in a 45.Don’t worry, because when I see you on the road driving slow, I’ll join you for solidarity. I’ll keep a safe distance behind, just attempting to
navigate international waters in the South China Seadrive as slow as we legally fucking want.Stick to the rule of “Stay to the right”. Don’t break traffic laws. Provide no incriminating behavior beyond “slower than normal”.
Let the rest of the bastards deal with it. Those bastards, whose privilege blesses them with the worst part of their day being “shitty traffic,” who then arrive to the office and bitch about it to the other old ladies who share that same privilege, ALL OF WHOM proceeded to wax poetic about the nostalgia of their gun-laden childhoods the morning after another elementary classroom was shot up, yet who didn’t acknowledge THE SHOOTING amongst each other.
Huh turns out I was already resisting without knowing it.
It pisses me off when people accelerate so quickly off the red light and whip around me just to slam on their brakes at the next light, while I’m trying to save gas. It seems so unnecessarily dangerous.
Same thing when accelerating onto a highway or up a hill with a downhill on the other side. I get that people are in a hurry - sometimes I am too - but don’t do it behind me in the right lane.
Actually accelerating quickly uses less fuel than accelerating slower as engines are more efficient at higher rpm.
Not in my hybrid it doesn’t. Besides, pickups and suvs get like 20 mpg no matter how fast they drive.
I am operating under the assumptuon that my engine is most efficient at about 2k RPM, and I shift so the new gear is about 2k. I have a pretty small engine so this isn’t that fast.
My other heuristic is that by avoiding unnecessary braking, I also save fuel. The people flooring it, getting around me, and slamming on the brakes are wasting their fuel.
If you’re getting on the highway you should aim to go the speed limit by the time you’re merging. It’s good for the engine to breathe and stretch it’s legs a little bit and blow out any carbon that has built up. I agree that in town it makes no sense in town to floor it all the time. I noticed that the lights in my town are mostly timed to the speed limit.
that can be true but is dependent on like a dozen factors. those factors are common but not universal.
Well tjst was a trip…
What a stupid idea. People like you make a mockery of the plight of the working class.
I hope somebody runs you off the road.
I hope you recover from your carbrain
You’re a special kind of stupid cunt, right?
Step 1. Enter the main office of a corporation en masse
Step 2. Refuse to leaveNot against the idea in spirit, but that’s not distributed and not feasible for many people who live far from corporate HQs.
Eh? Corporate HQs are all in city centres, and the vast majority of people live in cities…
They are. And you’ll get arrested in 100% of them for doing this. Which is fine if that’s your goal, but go in with eyes open.
Sure, getting arrested is always a risk with civil disobedience. I’ve been to a few corporate and political party office sit-ins. Usually we’ve had one or two people (sometimes hundreds) volunteer to be arrested, and others leave before it gets to that point. How risky that is for the ones leaving early will depend a lot on how the authorities act in your jurisdiction though.
Filling empty beer bottles with hand sanitizer. Pass them out at marches so people don’t get sick.
With a cloth coming out the top to wipe your hands? And a lighter to keep warm?
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Exactly. Wouldn’t want to catch cold.
Piracy
If you make a mistake on your taxes you can always file a correction later.
If you can’t get people to vote differently or at all, you’re not going to get them to blow up bridges (or sit and do drum circles on them), either. The how was never the problem, the who was.
If you’re American, you should focus on surviving. The time where America could have gone in a different direction is over.
Make friends with random people, especially conservatives.
Make lots of money, which can be used for many useful things.
Buy real estate in your communtity.
Start a business in your community.
Develop personal relationships with your elected officials or other powerful people.
Get elected to positions of power, even if just a school board member or neighborhood council representitive.
Blocking traffic will only turn people away at best and get you run over at worst.
Maybe it depends on who you are blocking.
The ones I don’t understand is when they just block and entire interstate or main road. Like, why? You are keeping other random people like parents and kids from going home? How is that helping? It just makes them all REALLY mad at you and your cause.
But if you blocked specific vehicles, like ICE vans. Now we are actually doing something productive.
Oh, definitely, unfortunately that’s rarely what they do.
And I’d add this… they rarely protest where they need to be protesting as well.
Netanyahu isn’t even AWARE of the Gaza protests in the US and wouldn’t give two shits if he was aware, but you take it to Israel and protest in Tel Aviv? That will get the attention you need.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/aug/25/israel-protest-tel-aviv-army-war-gaza
Right, that was just an example of things anyone with a couple friends could do locally that would still accumulate at scale.
A while ago people were going to banks with rolls of pennies and depositing them I to their accounts one by one.
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It is so unfortunate that Bureau of Land Management and Black Lives Matter are difficult to tell apart by context at first glance.
Oh, god no, as stated, stories like this are why I don’t like BLM:
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2015/12/31/dunbar-slayings-prompt-a-rethinking-of-black-lives-matter/
These dead kids in Chicago were met with SILENCE from BLM. Their lives and deaths didn’t matter because they did not fit the BLM narrative.
“The activists working to protest rogue cops must work just as hard to shatter indifference toward the violence plaguing normal citizens. Or else black lives south and west still won’t matter. Only our escape from the city will.”
Unless the perpetrator is a cop, specifically a white cop, BLM is dead fucking silent. Which means they aren’t really BLM. They’re BLM*
*When it fits our agenda.
The article is the essence of All Lives Matter. And that isn’t a good thing.
The “All Lives” folks would conveniently skip over this bit:
“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that between 2010 and 2012, on an annual basis only one in every 40,000 white Americans was a homicide victim, while the number was one in 5,000 for African-Americans.”
Until BLM steps up with a “say their name” protest for every black homicide victim, they are just as full of shit as the All Lives asshats.
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Wanting BLM to use their platform to talk about ALL black deaths and not just those killed by white cops is a Republican talking point? 🤔
Here’s another good example, take homicides out of the equation:
Black people (and more specifically black women) are discounted by medical professionals, resulting in worse outcomes and higher death rates:
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/maternal-mortality/2022/maternal-mortality-rates-2022.htm
“In 2022, the maternal mortality rate for Black women was 49.5 deaths per 100,000 live births and was significantly higher than rates for White (19.0), Hispanic (16.9), and Asian (13.2) women.”
BLM? Silence. More black women die in childbirth each year than anyone killed by cops. Do they think black lives matter or don’t they?
Shouldn’t they be raising awareness on this? Shit, why do I have to be the one telling you this, shouldn’t this be common knowledge for everyone?
