The current hostile corporate takeover in the USA and the clear loss of political power of the common people, I started wondering what happened if people used consumption as their leverage. Since the system is designed for continuous growth, what would happen if a mass movement of people stopping buying new non-essential consumer goods?
It would send a much stronger message than angry public protests. Thoughts?
Edit 1: Received some fantastic responses one of these highlighted February 28th as the “National No Spend Day” that we can consider the rehearsal.
*Do not make any purchases Do not shop online, or in-store, No Amazon, No Walmart, No Best Buy, Nowhere!
Do not spend money on: Fast Food,Gas,Major Retailers Do not use Credit or Debit Cards for non essential spending
WHAT YOU CAN DO: Only buy essentials of absolutely necessary (Food, Medicine, Emergency Supplies) If you must spend, ONLY support small, local businesses.*
This movement is the definition of equitable, not spending means everybody can contribute within their means, and if you can’t afford to buy shit anyway, you’re already doing your part!
Anything that $peaks their language will work better than protests IMO
I haven’t bought stuff in over a year. AI laptop let me check out completely and mostly offline all the time in general except for mobile like now
It certainly would, but I would be worried about the people at the bottoms whose salary depend on this. Rich people can afford not getting revenue for a month, but people with precarious work contracts often can’t.
What about mass boycott targeted at the companies undeniably supporting this government?
It could impact bottom people less.
This is where mutual aid comes in.
Share cash with people who need it. Pay their bills, pay their rent, pay their bail money, pay their medical expenses.
The capitalists will hurt people to try to get you to stop boycotting and striking.
Not to be a dick, but I barely have enough money to cover myself and my wife. I don’t exactly have any extra money, and our budget is tighter than a tightrope wire, which I suppose is part of the point.
Maybe… You shouldn’t have to be on a shoestring budget? Maybe this economy should let you support yourself more comfortably.
And maybe you should be the recipient of mutual aid during a general strike if you need it.
We need society to go back to our earliest economy. The gift economy, just sharing things expecting nothing in return. I wonder what life would be like if that was our main economy.
I try to explain to people how incredible that would be. I don’t believe in pay it back or pay it forward. I believe in helping people because it’s what we should be doing, it’s the way society should function. I don’t expect anything in return, and I don’t want someone I help to pay it forward because I helped them, I want them to help others because it’s what everyone should be doing at all times, so much as they are able to. Building the new within the shell of the old and all that
Should turn Amazon prime week into boycott week. We just did a one week break from Amazon in our house and it was refreshing.
If you got a substantial amount of people to it, like 40-50% of the population it would probably collapse the economy via domino effect. So much is underpinned on people spending money on any given day
But, I don’t see it happening in reality, just getting 20% to actually do it would be a massive undertaking and 20% would probably be painful, but not cause a cool cascade of collapse
Total collapse might not be required for real, tangible change. Collective action is a unifying force, and it would remind everyone top to bottom that the house of cards is in fact collapsible and not an inevitable behemoth under its own inertia.
You could argue that even with reforms the underpinning economic system remains as problematic as ever. But building that collective support, reminding poor voters that they’re not temporarily embarrassed billionaires, adds more opposition to it than support.
Both. Definitely both. Every person has a unique capacity for resistance, so however you’re able is good and important. Talking about it, protesting, boycotting (even in tiny amounts) is something! Being nice to yourself and others in non-consumerist ways is also resistance; like hand-write a note instead of buying a card; your loved one will still appreciate it.
The point is to be a dandelion - they try to pave over us, and we pop back up through the cracks, even in our own little unassuming ways. We may be ants to them but insects outnumber vertebrate life forms by orders of magnitude.
Lots of metaphors as I get sidetracked but case in point: if you can do it, do it!
ETA: Decentralized forms of resistance may be our best bet. Big coordinated efforts are good. Making them play whack-a-mole is also good. If they don’t know where to look next even better.
