How bad it gets is up to us
Our institutions have failed us here in the U.S. The sooner we come to terms with that, the sooner we can move on and start resisting effectively.
I don’t have to tell you about the bill that just passed, about the millions who will go hungry, who will die needless deaths, about the very deliberate and conscious acceleration of the climate crisis. The pain and suffering millions will experience due to this bill is “immaterial” according to our vice president. With immigration enforcement set to receive roughly as much money as the annual funding of the U.S. Army, and with the administration doing PR stunts and its lackeys creating “merch” for newly built concentration camps - which will proliferate under this bill - I’d argue the pain and suffering is, in fact, the point.
I don’t have to tell you about the Supreme Court decisions, the erosion of checks and balances, the decimation of Constitutional rights, the stripping of protections for the most vulnerable. The courts can’t save us. There may be some victories here and there; some individuals whose lives have been spared, protected by individual judges with a sense of decency and humanity. But don’t mistake an errant moment of justice for a functioning system of justice. People in the highest echelons of power bend and break laws all the time. When our leaders are lawless, what power does a judge’s signature on a piece of paper have? Laws must be enforced. What do we do when law enforcement has been captured by the lawless? It’s as if the Supreme Court saw our “No Kings” protest and said, here, hold my beer.
I don’t have to tell you about the fight the Democratic Party is taking on - not against those who voted for pain, suffering and death - but against a progressive mayoral candidate who inspired people not just in his city, but across the country. A platform with just a whiff of democratic socialism and a healthy support for Palestinian human rights is a greater threat to the Democratic Party (and their billionaire bankrollers) than the Christo-fascists trying to ensure we’re all too sick, hungry, and frightened to fight their depravity.
We need to come to grips with the dire reality of the situation here in the U.S. The institutions we so desperately want to rely on to save us will not save us. They’ve been captured by an authoritarian regime that’s shredding them to pieces, and we’ve got no opposition party.
So what do we do?
Sure, you can go ahead and donate to a political candidate you like. The Zohran Mamdanis of the world deserve our support. But let’s also be clear-eyed about the fact that we are way past the point where begging politicians to do the right thing and crossing our fingers that the courts will intervene is an effective resistance strategy.
Our government, and the Trump administration especially, works through the language of material power, force, and fear. We can’t counter material power with persuasion and permitted protests. They simply aren’t a threat. They don’t have material consequences (Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò talks about this on the Movement Memos podcast: “Awareness-Raising Protests Won’t Threaten the Richest, Most Well-Armed People on Earth”).
The material power we wield is our labor and our dollars. We strike. We strike strike strike. And we boycott. Our strongest immaterial power? Solidarity, care, and courage.
Yes, unions are weak in this country. I’m not going to pretend like organizing a massive general strike isn’t a risk or is easy to pull off. But, in 2023 UAW President Shawn Fain called for a general strike in 2028. Major labor unions across the country are in support of the May Day 2028 strike. I wish it were coming sooner, but since this is a serious call for a general strike (as opposed to a silly, last minute social media call), it takes time to organize. It’s the best effort we’ve got right now to counter the ruling class dismantling our rights and meager social safety net. If you’re in a union, get organized around this. For non-union people, there’s this grassroots general strike call. It’s based on the tired and somewhat flawed “3.5% principle,” so I’m skeptical. But if these folks have the foresight to coordinate with the May Day 2028 effort, then we’re really wielding some collective, material power.
I saw an interview recently (which I can’t for the life of me find now) about why French protests are so effective. When French workers strike, other unions, as well as large numbers of citizens, support the strikes in solidarity, often striking at the same time or demonstrating in support. The French also aren’t afraid to ensure demonstrations grind daily life to a halt. They get militant. Sanitation workers leave garbage in the street; buses and trains stop running; riots and property damage are common. French protests are incredibly disruptive, as a good protest should be.
There are a lot of other reasons why the French are so effective at protesting. It’s part of the fabric of French history and culture. Unions also enjoy much more protection and influence in France than in the U.S. But that doesn’t mean we can’t learn some lessons from them about building protest movements that can’t be ignored.
I can hear American readers clutching their pearls right now. Smashed windows? Flaming cars? Garbage? No transit? No way!
Yes. If we want the ruling class to actually feel our wrath, not just watch us stroll through the streets carrying cutesy signs, we need to step it up.
The Tesla Takedown protest/boycott has been effective. Tesla is still losing money. Musk had to retreat from the administration, and is now feuding with Trump like a petulant toddler. Musk, of course, still has obscene wealth and therefore, obscene power, but, as Daniel Hunter writes in this article:
“This is the most important teaching of these times: Collective power resides not in a protest sign or petition asking Musk to do better, but in disabling the abuser by undermining their power.
Noncooperation means not giving them money, social capital, social approval or obedience when they tell us what to do. Musk’s power weakens when we don’t buy his stuff, when we turn his cars into pariahs and when we refuse his orders and turn to mass noncompliance.”
So what if we picked a few big corporations and got serious? Like millions of other folks, husband and I have been avoiding Target this year (we’ve only shopped there twice since January). Their sales are in serious and steady decline, and they’ve acknowledged part of that reason is the boycott. Great! Let’s get even more people on board, and keep it up! Now if we can do that with Amazon, too, then we’d be exercising some serious material power. The key is focusing all our efforts on just a few powerful targets and making them feel the pain over a prolonged period of time. Sure, we might need to tolerate a little bit of inconvenience. We’ll also need to stop making excuses for why we can’t participate, or shrug and say it doesn’t matter. Boycotts, done right, can work.
In all our resistance, we need to exercise patience. Change doesn’t come overnight. Getting back to our comrades overseas: the French Revolution took 10 years, even with guillotines! Sometimes, I think those folks who dismiss the idea of boycotts, strikes, and other sustained, disruptive resistance are expecting to get a change in policy or politics as quickly as they get their Amazon packages.
Americans are addicted to convenience and instant gratification. We’ll need to fight these addictions if we hope to win the bigger fight against fascism in this country. We’ll also need to find our own power and stop accepting crumbs from elected officials. Many folks are now looking to the 2026 midterms for hope, but it’s a mistake to simply shift our energy to the next election. Yes, it will be a litmus test, but it’s only one of many.
We already have a force of masked men in tactical gear, with no identification, dragging people off the streets and shipping them to prison camps (read Hamilton Nolan’s “Building the American Brownshirts”). This is all the litmus test I need to know we’re not a democracy anymore. And this paramilitary force of lawless, White supremacist thugs is only going to get bigger. Much, much bigger. Nolan says:
“So how can Trump be sure that the absolute loyalty he demands extends all the way down to his foot soldiers? By hiring new ones… Job applicants will consist of those who see pictures of dudes wearing tactical vests and face coverings jumping out of unmarked trucks and grabbing people and think to themselves, “that looks cool.
The new and expanded version of ICE will not just be immigration enforcers. They will be the most ideologically reliable armed branch of government for Donald Trump… I guarantee, once they are in place, you will see their sphere of activities expand. Enforcing immigration laws will be defined to include “going after those who try to impede the enforcement of immigration laws”—a group that, according to Trump and Miller, includes protesters, journalists, and Democratic politicians.”
And this brings me to my last point.
We need to get serious about community defense. Vision Change Win’s “Get in Formation: A Community Safety Toolkit” is a good resource to help folks start thinking more tactically about how we protect each other, both at demonstrations and in our neighborhoods. The organization Defend & Recruit has tons of resources for folks forming ICE watch groups, rapid response networks, and more. If you live in a major city, you’ve almost certainly already got several of these groups nearby. Join one. If there isn’t one in your area already, form one. We need to be prepared for escalation way beyond what we’re seeing now.
It’s going to get worse. But it’s only going to get as bad as we allow it to get.
It’s been a harrowing few weeks. But few things fill me with more despair than when I encounter someone, especially a privileged someone in suburbia, who is either convinced courts and elected officials will take care of the problem, or worse, is simply indifferent. A lot’s been said recently about the phenomenon of hypernormalization - the dissonance of living through collapse while carrying on as normal, constantly adjusting to new horrors, whether it’s ICE agents disappearing immigrants or flash floods disappearing kids in Texas. If we’re not careful, this tendency to adapt to and tolerate even the most awful things will hijack our ability to stop all of this (*waves hands wildly at everything*) before it gets worse.
So don’t be indifferent because you’re comfortable and the goons haven’t come for you yet. Don’t allow any of this to be normal. Don’t ask for permission to fight.
We’ve got real, collective power. Now is the time for all of us to use it.
I’m not sure that French strikes have actually benefited anyone. France doesn’t seem in a particularly good place.
Unfortunately, I don’t have an alternative to offer, except for us all to find our islands of coherence.