Resistance and Risk - Part 2
Investigating more ways to resist authoritarian rule
For more ways, refer to Resistance and Risk Part 1 :)
Some of the actions described below carry a very high amount of risk, and represent a step up which might already have become necessary. It looks like the United States are currently already under an authoritarian fascist regime, way past presidential and congressional mandates, with a president and a co-president who are both working out their retribution for anyone who did not or does not currently agree with them. From now on, the Constitution is ignored as irrelevant. This disregard makes simple acts become true acts of Civil Disobedience. It is both good and bad. Good, because the actions are easy to find, and bad because even the simplest actions can be severely punished.
Holding the psychological line
Once the authoritarian and his sycophants take power, what usually happens is that many politicians, journalists as well as individuals seem to fall under the “spell”, stop seeing what is happening, and get in line to curry favor from the leader. This can happen out of fear, which is the case with journalists and politicians, but also it seems that hubris itself is a magnet for those in prey to discontent, be it justifiable or not.
In 1956, Don Siegel directed a movie called “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”. It told the story of an alien invasion in the form of pods from outer space. So far so good. However, these pods would take the shape of friends and significant others, and suddenly become devoid of emotion, or compassion or kindness. What is the scariest in the movie, is not the presence of aliens, but the way familiar people are suddenly acting. The film is really a metaphor for what happens during authoritarian rule.
To deal with this we need to concentrate on keeping a basic vision of reality and truth. No, the leader is not all knowing, because no one is all knowing. No, the people he tells us to hate should not be hated. Hatred only leads to more hatred. As M.K Gandhi said “Be the change you want to see in the world”.
Trying to “be the change” is never without risk, but doing our best to be kind and generous is opposing the “pod people” in a big way. The difficulty is to find the line between being kind and generous, and giving in. This is where consciousness is the most important, as well as the ability to see things as they are: do not think the leader doesn’t mean what he says, or do not think things will be OK. They won’t. If they are OK for you, they might not be OK for others, and being aware of this is important.
Risk level: 1 to more, depending…
Bearing witness
The first thing that happens at the dawn of authoritarian rule, is a feeling of hopelessness and fear. This is a sign that you understand fully what is happening, and are not holding on to “It won’t be too bad”, or “we just need to make it through the next 4 years”. As Maria Ressa, journalist from the Philippines and Nobel Peace Prize winner always recommends, prepare for the worst. You can always be happily surprised if it doesn’t happen. Fear is normal, and there is no courage without fear.
What to do: be a witness to what is happening. Do not turn away. The ACLU used to have a mobile application called “Mobile Justice”. It was available on iPhone and on Android, and it allowed a witness to instantly video abuses by law enforcement, ICE, or anyone else, directly send the video to a local chapter of ACLU who would help with the fight. Unfortunately, Mobile Justice will be discontinued as of February 28th, no reason given. But all smart phones have a camera, that can shoot videos and ACLU does encourage filming abuse, even though most police try to stop witnesses from filming, through threats and intimidation.
Bearing witness also involves reporting on what you see on any social media you are familiar with, and speaking up. The point is not to disparage the leader and insult the sycophants. The idea is to take the side of the victims, not for political reasons, but for the fact that no one should be prosecuted for what they think, or deported for responding to a demand for cheap labor. The offer of cheap labor here is the culprit, not the people who respond to it. A world where everyone is treated with dignity is a long ways away, but it is a goal worth aiming for instead of seeking revenge or vying for political power by force or destruction.
While many social media platforms cater to MAGA, including X, now official voice of the U.S Government, there are many who are resisting, including many podcasts, substack letters, YouTube channels, etc. Here is a far from exhaustive list:
Heather Cox Richardson (of course, the mandatory first step)
Paul Krugman (to debunk economic lies)
Jim Acosta (now with his own independent channel)
Marc Elias (if we are saved, he will be one of the heroes!)
Timothy Snyder (expert on Tyranny)
Frame Lab (Gil Duran and George Lakoff)
Andrew Weismann (Legalese, and to the point - Bluesky link) also podcast Main Justice with Mary McCord, very technical.
And of course, The Contrarian (Jennifer Rubin walked out of the Washington Post to start her own media platform)
Most of these are Substack, but some are independent. No social media platform is guarantee to not give in to the regime. So far, Substack and Bluesky are holding.
Also, to follow up with Resistance and Risk Part 1, let’s of course add these 2 groups that organize actions and demonstrations:
Indivisible (Nationwide and local)
Fifty Protests Fifty States One Movement (50501)
Risk level: 3 (for now)
Teaching critical thinking
Teaching, under authoritarian regimes, is a dangerous proposition. The regime wants to control information, and education. In some areas or states, teachers who decide to go against supporters of the regime and teach true history or encourage students to practice critical thinking and tolerance are taking many risks to their jobs, and sometimes to their lives.
Teachers can organize visits by activists for nonviolent resistance, LGBTQ+ education to help students navigate and resist criminalization of what they or their friends might be feeling, fighting discrimination and teenage suicide, or advocating for gun control and safety in schools, or even seminars on democratic civics education and history. This of course should be an evident way to help students become thinking adults, but this goes against the wishes of a regime which punishes free thinkers and critics.
Most teachers following this path will lose their jobs. It could be possible then to have “flash schools” where teachers could meet students outside of the regime ordered academic world. This could be done after talking to parents who want the best for their children and not a propaganda imbued education. The parents would then help with expense, make sure the unemployed teachers are supported, and have classes in private homes or in rented classrooms. The system would be based on one or two hour sessions starting with 5 minutes of silence, and interested students would be free to discuss, debate, and maybe even become teachers themselves.
Risk level: 8 for teachers :(
Boycotts
Boycotts can work. It is a personal choice, and does not carry much risk except doing a little more work to avoid the boycotted companies.
For example, to boycott Amazon one has to take more time and possibly a little more expense to find the original company that provides the desired product.
For Facebook, a good way to stay in touch with real friends (don’t accumulate “friends” that you don’t know unless you are doing it for your business) is to not purchase ads, not click on ads (copy the url and go there directly on your browser), and not react to posts from groups that you don’t explicitly belong to.
There are planned in the immediate future, 2 “shutdown” days. Will they be followed? As in all boycotts, the more people do it, the more effective they are, and these are perfectly safe ways to protest the oligarchy, corporations, and dictatorship.
Buy Nothing Day February 28th 2025
#SHUTDOWN315 on March 15th (The Ides of March :)
Risk level: 0
Strikes
It looks like the regime is planning on crippling the National Labor Relations Board, if it hasn’t happened already. But the dictatorship and oligarchy will hopefully give impetus to existing unions to strengthen, increase membership, and readiness for action.
In some European countries, like France for example, strikes are a common way of fighting the government, and general strikes can happen and are quite powerful. In 1968, France entered a general strike organized by labor unions and student unions, which brought down the De Gaulle presidency, though the 5th Republic Constitution, which he helped write is still in effect, as well as the Napoleonic code :)
There is actually a plan in the U.S for a general strike. The way they are going about it is quite interesting, and might succeed if enough of the population wakes up. Especially in fields like high tech, which thanks to Elon Musk might lose a lot of its mystique. Check it out:
Hunger strike
Hunger striking is a very dangerous approach, that has been misunderstood many times. M.K Gandhi’s hunger strikes are well known, but are usually wrongly explained. If one goes on a hunger strike to convince one’s adversaries or the regime itself, chances are that the striker will risk death with very little positive result. Gandhi would start hunger strikes not to convince his adversaries, but to convince his supporters to do the right thing and reject violent action. While it didn’t always work (he could not stop the Indian government’s support of Partition, for example) it did work in other cases because it addressed those who cared for him and desperately wanted him to live and continue the work. The one time Gandhi fasted “against” the British, nothing happened and he had to end the fast without any positive results. But in another example, he went on hunger strike for 3 days after violence broke out in Bombay to protest a visit by the Prince of Wales. His supporters went out and were able to calm things down and commit to a peaceful protest, so Gandhi ended the fast.
In a country where one political party is supporting the regime and one is in opposition, a hunger strike would be directed at the party opposing the strike, with a clear path describing when the fast could end.
As is the case with many actions of this type, the strikers have to either be in a position of leadership, or be doing the fast in high numbers. This is a very complex and difficult type of protest, but it can be successful when it requests action by those on the same side as the strikers, not by the regime or its supporters.
Risk level: 9 (save your life! Don’t die!)
Reverse strikes
Reverse strikes are an interesting concept, popularized by Danilo Dolci anti-mafia activist, often referred to as “the Gandhi of Sicily”. There is plenty of information about Dolci’s reverse strike on a site dedicated to him:
A reverse strike can be necessary if funding is taken away from various projects of public interest that would have (as mentioned in the preamble to the U.S Constitution “promoted the general Welfare, and secured the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity”, but were not fulfilling the interests of the reigning oligarchy. This is especially true in terms of education and could include extra curricular classes, reading of banned books (like “1984”, or “To Kill a Mockingbird”)
Conclusion
None of the above is complete of course, and as the regime pursues its march to destruction, don’t forget to enjoy all that we have left to enjoy in our everyday lives, including Stephen Colbert and John Oliver, and everything else. Make sure you find ways to get some quality sleep.
There are many more ways and ideas, all suggestions are welcome. Maybe this dark period will give birth to the most creative and peaceful times in history. One can always hope :)