In solidarity, I will also do nothing on the 23rd
post
Or if our leaders grow a particularly large pair of balls, they could attempt nullification.
Recognize ICE as it stands as unconstitutional, and evict/imprison them for harassing people.
For a national general strike to work you need to get buy-in (ideally pledges) from major trade unions all across the US, as well as non-union organizations due to the very low union membership here in the US. Simply calling for one and then having almost nobody participate would be a disaster and would set the movement back, which is why it's important to do the work of organizing a coalition to agree ahead of time to participate. The short of it is, if you want this to happen (which I do as well), start selling the idea to the people who need to buy it now and get them talking. The only reason they were able to get this organized so quickly in MN is because of how dire the situation is on the ground, so that everyone asked was immediately on board.
That's what America needs now and not just for a day, they need to keep it up until things change
This is the solution. Stop contributing to the economy of the people fucking you over.
There is going to be an "extreme cold event" on that date so most of that's is happening either way.
This will have zero effect. It’s ice out until they are out.
True, but they should do it anyway in the hopes that it will normalize doing it more in the future.
I shouldn't bother responding to this energy-suck, but god damn I get so mad reading so many versions of the same defeatist comment. Why do you even take the time to write it?
Because people need to know the truth. I’m sorry that it sucks your energy, but you’ll think it sucks a lot more when ICE shows up at your door.
A single day of protesting will do nothing.
ICE is at my door. Do you live in Minneapolis? I do, and I'm out every day, but not everyone is able to do that. People have kids, they have patients they have to see, they have disabilities. It's bleak right now, and I promise you that even though these organized protests aren't physically confronting ICE, they keep the community engaged and send a message that they're not wearing us down. Even if you believe what you're saying, it contributes nothing helpful to this movement.
How about a moratorium on evictions so endangered families can stay safe at home? Done.
How about volunteers delivering food to those families at home so they don’t have to leave? Done.
How about schools pivoting to allow remote learning options so endangered students can continue to receive an education without having to risk leaving the house? Done or almost done depending on district.
If you think this march is the only thing we are doing, then you haven’t done your research. This march draws national eyes, but it also allows local organizers to recruit new people to take steps to weather this siege in a fashion that increases national (and international) support instead of stepping on it through violent means.
Ahhh weathering the siege is your plan.
That’s perfectly fine bud. But stop telling people that doing something besides hiding is a bad thing. I know you won’t stand up for yourself, but lots of people will stand up for you… and they just need encouragement.
So when you see people suggesting fight instead of flight… just don’t comment.
Wow, everything you just said could be mirrored right back at you. So here is the mirror:
Ahhh fighting the federal government is your plan.
That’s perfectly fine, pal. But stop telling people that doing something besides shooting is a bad thing. I know you won’t protect the folks around you, but lots of people will stand up to protect you… and they just need encouragement.
So when you see people suggesting non-violent fighting instead of killing people… just don’t comment.
Wow, that’s like partway to a general strike, I hope it makes an impression!
Do people expect this to make any difference?
Don't get me wrong, we need to take action, and a strike would do it (and be hard on the participants) . But a strike for one day? What would this do?
I'm supportive, but not particularly optimistic about this
The money doesn't care till you fuck with the money, and this does in a way that they can't exactly lash out in retaliation.
This is true, but this doesn't fuck with the money. A one-day strike just moves the spending to a different adjacent day. People still need their food and stuff.
Data-wise, this would come up as a tiny blip in an otherwise unchanged pattern of spending. Easily rejected by most analysts as an outlier.
I guess I have more faith in a massive crowd demonstrating than I do in a one-day strike. At least one of them puts on a public spectacle
It's a warning shot fired at the money. If spending on that day drops 80%, it shows the money that the strike threat has teeth. It also puts that population on the street that day, and i would bet AFL-CIO in Minneapolis outnumbers the jackboots on the ground 10:1
Sounds like you enjoy the politics of strongly worded letters then.
It might be a one day strike and then they do it again with an even bigger crowd spanning two days. Then the next time the crowd size doubles and it's a three day strike. Then...
Learned about it from this episode of the Team Human podcast
But what is happening in Hong Kong is they come up with a slogan, which is translated as Do Not Split, which is, we know that some people are willing to be confrontational with riot police.
And when they are, that's going to cost the state in terms of not only resources, but it's going to cost the state in terms of political capital and support. And we know that there are some people who are not willing to do that. And we are going to abide by the protocol of Do Not Split, which means that we're not going to criticize them openly, and they're not going to criticize us openly.
If we're the pacifists, we're not going to have them criticize us for being sort of like, I don't know, limpid or flaccid or not courageous or whatever. And we're not going to criticize them for being more confrontational. And the thing is that the support is also tacit.
It's not like they have to come out and tell the media, oh, we approve of our more sort of confrontational colleagues. They just keep quiet. They just keep quiet.
Understanding that a range of tactics is probably going to be necessary. Nobody really knows what's going to work. But if everybody's pushing back against a particularly violent state, then everybody's really on the same side.
I don't think it's inappropriate to discuss how effective a protest will be. If anything, it should inspire more ideas and action.
I already said I support doing something at all, but if you're saying we shouldn't try to make protests more effective, then you have lost me
If people really want to get rid of ICE they would do this anywhere ICE is for as long as ICE is there.
I wish them luck but I have serious doubts about the effectiveness of a single day general strike. You could optimistically expect maybe 20% of people to even participate and without them coordinating with their coworkers or with a broader movement to target specific industries it’s basically just like calling in sick.
While I too have my doubts, it's useful because it's a day where everyone is either taking a day to rest, protest, or stall ICE detainments. It will be quite valuable in that regard. We've all been wishing for a major snowstorm to give us some time to breath. Ice been hearing a lot more people talking about it than previous attempts at this.
all 23 comments