Vote with your wallet. Money is the only thing that matters to the people in charge here
This but big. Large scale disruption to the economy would do a lot toward fixing problems.
Exactly. Here’s a thought… and I’m just spitballing here: tariffs. Then take them away. Then add them again. Then take them away. Then add them again. /s
Voting with your wallet is a lie, like recycling plastic
You can’t do collective action individually. You can make the house hurt a little bit, but you’ll never force them to change through what you buy. The house always wins, unless you get together to change the rules
I disagree with this. You can already see a recent example of Canadian consumers avoiding US imports, creating pressure on US companies, and the US government reacting by making moves to curtail the original tarrifs proposal.
Obviously the Canadian boycott was only one component but I believe it did have a meaningful impact.
Kind of agree with you re:plastics. Last time I read about it they could only be recycled once into inferior quality plastic. Ironically in this case I’d suggest voting with your wallet is a solution to the plastic problem since businesses will react to more consumers switching to responsibly packaged products like paper bags for fruit + veg from a local grocers. One of the large supermarket chains in the UK, Waitrose, switched to paper bags due to public pressure in the past few years.
The Canadian boycotts are not “voting with your wallet”, they’re collective action.
Canadians, together, decided to boycott American goods. Their leaders cancelled deals. Their local stores and suppliers decided they’d rather source from anywhere else. The Canadian government started working on trade deals with everyone else
The nation of Canada as a whole is boycotting American goods. They’re not doing this individually, they have an organized response
Where possible, avoid buying from companies that are complicit. It’s not always possible but it’s worth trying.
I’ve used apps like this to help make decisions:
Where possible, avoid buying from companies that are complicit.
Unless you buy from local creators/farmers, EVERYONE is complicit.
Buy local, in cash.
Every card transaction benefits the big credit card companies, all of which are complicit. Local businesses are some of the ones hit hardest from all of this and will need your support.
Avoid chains owned by local folks, too. Those big chains still benefit even if it’s your neighbor that owns the local McDonalds.
Support things the government is trying to destroy, like your local library, and your local stores that sell LGBT positive merchandise.
Make friends with your neighbors. Grow things in your yard that they need and trade for stuff you need. Many folks that seem in agreement with all of this really aren’t if you know them. We are stronger together.
In regards to home gardens, Not everyone needs everything, but everyone needs something. If you can get chickens or some kind of egg laying fowl, then that’s a possibility as well. Guineas are fighters and do well in areas without a lot of brush or low trees.
Bike as much as you can. Avoid gas as much as you can. Ride the bus or a train. Don’t fly anywhere. Install solar panels if you are able. Capture rain water and use it for your garden.
Buy used as much as possible, especially clothes.
Replace your single use materials in your home with reusable ones. Rags instead of paper towels, glass containers instead of plastic ones, metal straws, and a water pick instead of floss.
Make things. Anything. Don’t monetize your hobbies, share them instead. Trade homemade goods and art for other stuff.
Avoid the dollar as much as possible, and use cash when you can’t.
Thanks for attempting an answer. I’ve got to say this feels laughable in light of what’s going on.
join your local protests today :)
if protests didn’t work they wouldn’t try so hard to fight it/buty it
they say violence is never the answer but historically, well, history disagrees.
My issue is I never know there ARE protests until like 4 days after it happened.
ugh. for real though lol
I’ve been recommended 50501 and mobilize.us
there’s also !50501@piefed.social and !Mirror@50501.chat on lemmy
Unless you’re a billionaire or willing to go full Player 2, there’s nothing you can do on a macro scale.
You can, in your little slice of the world, do good things. When ICE asks you if you’ve seen someone, you tell them you haven’t. If you’re walking past a business getting raided and see a brown person, you tell them to turn around and get away. If you run a school and ICE shows up, you stand up for the kids they’re trying to kidnap. If you see ICE kidnapping someone, at minimum, film and post it. If there’s a group of people willing to physically intervene, join them.
That’s it.
Voting doesn’t solve this because all Democrats have to offer is strongly-worded letters, and Donald uses those letters to wipe Elon Musk’s ass. Their choice was aiding and abetting fascism or getting richer, and they chose the money.
Furthermore:
Be aware of local political groups in your areas that share values that align with yours. Generally, have a practice of being involved. Work out how your state and local elections and party machines operate, run for empty positions or support good candidates who will do the job, and not sell out to the local moneybags.
Attend protests. Sure, it might look like a bunch of people standing outside getting rained on with soggy cardboard signs, but protest works. It shows others that even though you may be afraid, you’re still standing up for what you believe is right. Support protests you agree with - order them some pizzas or something.
There’s no longer a choice about what to do - become an activist, or become complicit.
Attend protests.
Meh, not sure I agree on this one, unless you’re part of the Marsha P. Johnson school of brick throwing and you’re going armed. Protests accomplish nothing (apart from making it easier for ICE to identify people) without a credible threat of violence.
I disagree with you. Protests accomplish a great deal, and send an undeniable message when that message is appropriately scoped and targeted.
Protests show popular support for an issue in ways that are impossible to minimize or ignore, and they are effective in moving the needle on issues. Have a few tens of thousands of people take to the streets sends an undeniable message. Even getting a hundred people to chant something in a town square sends an undeniable message. Just because the outcome isn’t immediately visible doesn’t mean that nothing was accomplished.
NEVER go to a protest armed, that defeats the purpose. Why make a situation worse by making everyone surrounding the protest regardless of whether they’re uniform, or just someone getting to and from lunch fearful for their lives? That’s very bad advice. Additionally, gearing up almost automatically makes for a bad look. Half of what a protest aims to accomplish is to show the other side of an issue “We are here, we aren’t something you should be afraid of, we are people like you” - how is that aim going to be achieved by masking up like a bunch of cosplaying militarized goons? You don’t want that. I don’t want that. Believe it or not, I doubt half of the people co-opted into ICE want that. And part of the message has to be “We don’t need this in our lives”
Just take a look at the campus protests regarding the Palestinian Genocide. First off the students were made out to be violent, which as it turns out is largely untrue, then a bunch of pro-israel actual crazies showed up and started assaulting them (and random people) on the street. Not a good look, even with media minimization. By simply being there, and refusing to give up, they have raised awareness on the issue despite the personal cost. Those people have taken a great personal risk to do something about a situation they find ethically intolerable. I think that deserves respect, at the very least.
Be loud, focused and get your point across, but be respectful. I’ve seen police step in to stop potentially/violent counterprotestors on many occasions, believe it or not they do actually try to be neutral even in the face of provocation - so don’t offer that kind of fear to anyone sharing the local environment whilst making your point. There’s so little respectful middle ground remaining that it is critical to preserve it, because this is now a wasting asset.
This situation is now tilting towards the question of how much the lack of protest and visible popular opposition emboldens a group of self-serving individuals, before the cumulative risk becomes worse than the risk of protesting and possibly getting hurt. Constant, nonviolent protest in even the face of state violence is how to win this, and sure, that puts the protestors at risk. Risk is part of this equation, it’s coming for us - for many it’s already here - and can no longer be ignored.
I get that it’s hard work. Sometimes it feels like nothing is accomplished, and it’s not shocking and awe inspiring…but Hard Work is what’s required to correct this trajectory. We spend so much time and effort making entertainment about one special person or one special moment that we’ve given ourselves a social impediment vs. truly understanding the kinds of efforts, risks and suffering it took to get to a more equitable society in the first place.
The Spanish went on general strike to stop their country’s complicity in genocide, but failing that you can start with these guys. You can just write BDS on Wikipedia if you want to know what they’re about, but this site has plenty of concrete, actionable steps you can take to reduce your, your community’s, your workplace’s and—with enough people on board—your country’s complicity in genocide. I’d suggest looking into apartheid-free zones as a start. I also want to note that the best thing you can do for Palestinians is to spread the word and get more people on the side of humanity.
Also, if you’re not already doing so, organize in your community and workplace, and use your collective leverage to push for causes you care about. Be an active participant in the fight against fascism and for democracy, equity and solidarity. These values, I should add, are already mutually exclusive with Zionism, so you’d be hitting two birds with one stone.
Edit: In case anyone wants assurance that this works (or just wants to enjoy some economic schadenfreude), enjoy.
Spain did not go to general strike.
A general strike was convoked by a small union (as it is their right) and basically no one seconded the strike.
I don’t think I could, on good faith, call it a general strike if basically no one stopped working. Was a very minoritarian thing. General strike was called as it is a right unions have, but if workers decide not to follow there’s not a real strike to talk about.
Source: I’m Spanish and I clearly remember first hand what happened.
Second source: https://funcionpublica.digital.gob.es/dam/es/portalsefp/funcion-publica/dialogo-social/seguimiento-huelgas/27_9_2024_Datos_Huelga_General_convocada_por_CGT_y_SUO.pdf Strike supporting numbers for AGE workers. As you see about 1% of public workers followed the strike.
Become Luigi.
