cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/18476518
The day to buy nothing, to make the corporations and governments experience our power. ☮️
Upvote if participating.✊
28th FEB 2025
Read more here ➡️ https://jointhepeoplesunion.com/
I’m seeing far too many variations of national strike/don’t buy anything/everyone local protest memes that are scattered throughout February. I can hear someone argue that they might want a month filled with protest, and that’s fine, but if you’re looking at this from the outside all you see is disorganized shifting dates and objectives. Shit needs to get organized. It’s head-shakingly liberal; everyone has their own agenda, all are legit and should be heard, but they all can’t pull together to succeed with the overwhelming show of force to be effective.
Yeah, just like during the campaign the left can't even agree on what we're supposed to be doing.
It looks like cringe amateur stuff from the inside too, don't worry
Until people start taking protest seriously nothing will change. A single day for a few hours event will do nothing to sway them. It needs to be a prolonged event that hurts them
Join us then
How does "no school" fit into this exactly?
SO MUCH commerce surrounds a day at school. You disrupt that along with everything else.
If Mom doesn't have to go to work, she doesn't have to stop for that Starbucks on the way in and fill the gas tank. She doesn't have to pay to park or feed the meter. If she's not taking the kid to school, she doesn't have to drop them off early at early day care and doesn't have to give them lunch money to spend. If you're not at work, you wouldn't eat that shitty Subway at lunch and wouldn't have to go to that gathering at TGI Fridays after work. Little things that add up. Point is to show them that there is a light switch. You turn it off for a day to tell them you could turn it off longer if needed .
Its simple if you have to go to school you dont go.
I meant how is not going to school a protest exactly? They're already dismantling education, this kinda plays to their favor. Not buying anything and messing with the economy makes sense, but avoiding school shouldn't bother them in the least.
Unless I'm missing something else, which is what I was trying to get at.
Its a total blackout day. If your kid doesnt go to school and pay for the Cisco shitlunch then this also takes a stab at the economy. Its less useful as the rest unless you are in college. But what it really demonstrates is WE have the power. WE can stop everything, not you, Mr President. Its a power play relying on unity and cooperation.
Yes but to reach the big we need to start small.
People have been going small for 75 years, that method isn't working.
Small as for this not buying , not that other methods need to be pasued , of course what's going big already should continue whiles this is added too. Of course its just one day, but I and a lot of people practice this everyday trying to buy as less as possible and reaching self-sufficiency.
Yeah I feel like it hasn't really grown as much as it needs to, what do you think we should do to motivate more people?
People won't do anything until it impacts them, or they perceive it impacts them, hence the sudden interest in protest now that Biden is out of office. Once a Democrat gets back in the WH, regardless that material conditions still suck, they will go back to brunch and ignore the things they claim to hold dear right now.
That doesn't sounds like an actionable thing we can do?
Luigi already did that, now it's time for the next step, or at least continue his legacy. With Musk on top of the list.
I dint think these general "buy nothing" days are the right way to go. Whatever people don't buy on the day will just be bought the next day.
I think it would be difficult to achieve anything more than a standard deviation in daily sales, as in its not really noticeable.
Yep. It's 1/365th of their business. That's a single day stock dip of -0.O2%
I'm not sure about your math really.
My point though, is that weekly sales won't dip at all, you'll just buy things before or after.
I'm not sure about my math either, but my math is just as irrelevant as a one-day shopping boycott
What you're asking is for single moms not to work and have enough money to feed kids and pay rent. You're asking people to miss rent payments and be homeless. Some people can't afford to do this, full stop.
Well then I suppose we better just call the whole thing off since single mothers can't participate. That's just an excuse to try and justify actions that accomplish nothing. If people used those same protest techniques 100 years ago, we would still be fighting for things like 40-hour, work week, paid holiday, sick time, etc. We would still be fighting civil rights movements from the '60s.
This came up in another thread and I am surprised it is not as well known: General strikes are illegal in the United States since 1947's Taft-Hartley Act.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taft%E2%80%93Hartley_Act
Attempts to organize and exert political and economic influence have to do so under the parameters of that act. Unions can't support these things openly or officially without violating the act. So these things have to be called something other than a general strike to avoid persecution. They're essentislly stripped of major legitimizing and organizing organ: labor unions, by default.
Not a lawyer but I wonder how much teeth that law has. The GOP/Trump has put on a clinic on how to legally gum up the wheels of justice, it seems like unions could try the same. Delay, argue technicalities, appeal, rise, repeat...
For example: if you spend 2 months in court arguing about who organized what and what they're technically striking for, damage could still be done even with the strike broken up. Multiply that by a few major unions and it adds up.
You can already see a similar plan coming together with UAWs 2028 contact expiration plan. Its not a general strike, there's just coincidentally a lot of strikes at once.
Of course there's a stricter set of laws and leeway when you're not a corrupt oligarch so it wouldn't work. But it's fun to think about...
Its not a general strike, there's just coincidentally a lot of strikes at once.
Exactly. These are the hoops organized labor has to jump through to get even a footing.
Meanwhile compare what the billionaire class is able to use for their signaling.
what are the demands of the protest?
If this thread is like the others, there are no demands but a strong intention to express general discontent.
what is being protested then?? Why make the effort if they themselves don't know what they want?
Yeah that's a really good point.
The general consensus seems to be that doing something is better than doing nothing.
I really disagree though. After a few failed attempts people will lose heart and get in line.
There seems to be half a dozen different protests now too, all on different days with no cohesive objectives
with no cohesive objectives
That's a pro. As soon as there's a clear motif or leader, it's very easy to undermine that single point of weakness. A general rabble sends the clear vibe of "we are not impressed, and might burn things" with the air of uncertainty to keep the powers that be on their toes.
Well I guess you can't undermine a protest that isn't protesting anything but that still doesn't explain what the point of this non-protest protest is? How would a bunch of people not buying stuff for a day keep "the powers that be" (who? the capitalists? Their politicians? The police?) on their toes?
"We saw a blip in <sale/metric/police safety> and we think it correlates with the general unhappiness of the populace, as displayed here, here, and maybe here."
Blips can cause panic, even small ones
Is it supposed to hit profit margins? Because I doubt it will, people will still be buying necessities at the same amount and call me cynical, but I believe almost everyone will be buying the non-necessities the days before and after.
To be candid, it just sounds like the most toothless, do-nothing, slacktivism kind of protest that's only meant to generate backpats
it could turn violent and do real damage to capital, that's the beauty of an unfocused protest -- the night is ever young
No it's not. A general rabble isn't going to achieve anything because they're not asking for anything. Morale is low and participants are easily disuaded because they can see they're not achieving anything. No one wants to risk physical harm or incarceration for a cause that just doesn't really exist.
In my experience, in my country, a protest without a clear goal is a quick way for right wings to rally people with their agenda.
Ukraine? Because from what I understand the maidan would be a prime-example of it
Brazil, shit like this happened in a lot of countries.
Nobody answer, this guy might be a fed
Blackout Friday.
Fuck Black Friday. We need Blackout friday.
Alright, let's do it then?
Blackout Friday
Every Friday until he's gone and damage is reversed
We don't transact at all each Friday.
We directly call the businesses we would have shopped at that day to tell them the dollar amount we'd be spending with them if democracy wasn't under attack.
And/or email their corporate with the same message.
Maybe they can dismiss a total boycott that as a hollow, reactionary promise that will pass, but saying "I will shop with you much less" feels much more real and they can see it being enough to reverse their endless growth line. They care about one thing.
Who wants to post and get this started?
That sounds great too
We're trying to reduce the numbers of hours a person has to work.
We talk about the end of paid work being mandatory for survival.
Partnerships:
/join #antiwork)