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[–] 68 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (26 children)

Sort of nullifies the effectiveness of a general strike if you agree ahead of time that its only for one day, a friday even. I'll take whatever we can get at this point but calling this an actual "General strike" is a bit exaggerated.

Strikes don't end until demands are met.  The strike starts on the 23 and ends when ICE leaves, otherwise its not a strike its just a day of protest which while also good its nothing new and is not going to convince any capitalists or politicians to actually do anything. 

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  • [–] 70 points 9 months ago* (5 children)

    Baby steps.

    This mutually demonstrates to each other that we are all fed up and ready to take action.

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  • [–] 6 points 9 months ago

    I hope you are right, however this was said about the length of time between the protests about the obese imbecile. "It takes time" "baby steps" "we need to gain momentum", etc etc, and look how that turned(fizzled) out.
    Again, I hope so. Please, guys, do something.

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  • [–] 27 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    Fair question, but you have to start somewhere. Most early strikes and protests aren't about succeeding on the first attempt with anything, but more conditioning people to see this as a new norm, and get used to the idea of a strike.

    It's also a great way (protesting specifically), to meet others of a like mind and exchange contact details and get organized.

    What needs to happen next is another folowup general strike if nothing changes that lasts for 3 days.

    Then one that lasts for a week.

    Then 2 weeks.

    Then a month.

    Then in perpetuity until demands are met.

    Countries and people who are not used to striking or protesting need baby steps to get there. The US is not used to this sort of civil disobedience and need time to ramp up to this being the new norm for everyone until the fascist in chief is chased out of the office.

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  • [–] 8 points 9 months ago*

    The voice of reason. We aren't supposed to be finding the ONE, SINGLE mechanism that will suddenly flip the political switch from Insanity to Utopia. That doesn't exist. We need to send a continuous, growing message to those in power that we are are watching them, we know what they are doing, and we are going to change it. Big strikes and demonstrations demonstrate the growing numbers, and that terrifies them.

    There has been a lot of talk of reaching a "Tipping Point," where an idea or movement suddenly takes on a life of its own, and becomes a societal trend. It takes about 3.5% of the population to reach a Tipping Point, and that's about 12.5 million people on America. The last couple of No Kings protests attracted over 7 million, and were significantly increasing in size. In addition, there are millions of supporters at home, who may not be able to join a protest for many reasons, but believe in the cause, perhaps debate online, but certainly VOTE.

    MAGA recognizes and understands the growing existential danger those growing ranks of PEACEFUL protesters represent, and are likely to respond harshly and violently. That will betray their fear, and it only means we have to apply even more pressure.

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  • [+] 9 points 9 months ago* (2 children)
  • [–] 8 points 9 months ago* (4 children)

    To make national news all it needs to do is shut down the airport. Prolonged shutdown of airports does far more damage to the politicians and wealthy than it does to average people which is why republicans are so afraid of it.

    A one day strike will absolutely test what kind of power is being weilded by the public.

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  • [–] 3 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    The perfect demonstration was the last government shutdown. The Dems were willing to let their constituents literally starve, but once the shutdown started affecting the airports, and their wealthy campaign donors couldn't move their operatives around the country, the Dems folded in 48 hours, and got NOTHING.

    It was the final last straw for me. It perfectly illustrated who the Dem leadership works for. Time for The Hook for the MAGA comedy act of Schmuck & Hakeem.

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    I suspect this government would use a strike at airports as an excuse to take it over with military, going by the air traffic controller strike way back when
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1981_Professional_Air_Traffic_Controllers_Organization_strike

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  • [–] 5 points 9 months ago*

    The military can't replace commercial flight crews. They can maybe fill in for air traffic controllers but if flight attends, pilots or TSA strike there's no flights. The military lacks an analog for tsa and flight attendants, and pilots have to be approved for specific planes.

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  • [–] 3 points 9 months ago*

    just like protests, it was mostly ineffective and just made ICE more bold, because they know there wont be rioting or retaliation coming their way. no need to issue violence, but rioting should be enough to scare them as well.

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  • [–] 7 points 9 months ago

    For real, if you are actually on the ground in MN, you need to be doing every single thing you can to switch the verbage to "we're doing this until demands are met" none of this "we promise we'll stop in a bit, please don't go have drinks with your buddies all weekend and forget this was even planned"

    Also, not you, collective you

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  • [–] -5 points 9 months ago (3 children)

    A Friday 2 days from now.

    I'm all for a general strike, but I do need to do little things like make sure there's food in the pantry first.

    I get there's urgency, but a half-hearted shrug of a strike that we can't maintain for more than a day is just gonna embolden them.

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  • [+] [S] 3 points 9 months ago (3 children)
  • [–] -2 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    One of the things I keep seeing in relation to strikes-- the idea that calling out sick is good enough--- is somewhat problematic, honestly. A strike is a clear picket, And holds little value if it's not clear that you're doing it for the cause

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  • [–] 3 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    There are strikers who are on the frontlines, like you describe, and people who strike by staying home.

    Both are valid forms of civic disobedience. One is not inherently better than the other. Both are required to necessitate change.

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