We are still in this together, but "this" is going to be real different in the very near future. This demands a different kind of "we."
The French Resistance during Nazi occupation played important roles delivering downed Allied airmen back to safety, supplying military intelligence, and acts of sabotage.
The Underground Railroad is estimated to have brought 100,000 freedom seekers to safety between 1810 and 1850.
It's time.
A general strike would absolutely be warranted in the US right now, so this is reasonable.
However, there is something decidedly US-like to having a "general strike" be a website looking for viral popularity instead of... you know, a general strike.
General strikes are typically called by nationwide unions, not a "if this post gets 11 million likes" thing.
Taft-Hartley made general strikes illegal. Organized labor isn't going to openly participate in this.
Holy crap, I didn't actually know that. Striking is a constitutional right where I'm from. Fascism is obvious, but it's easy to forget that place was an anarchocapitalist hellhole way earlier than that.
Not that legality seems to matter much at this point, but still. I presume that'd affect this initiative as much as a union-driven strike, though, right?
If not framed as a general strike I suppose it'd have to be general mobilization and disobedience. In any case real action rather than... signature gathering.
Preface: None of this represents my opinion on whether these realities are just, only that they are realities.
I only learned very recently that general strikes are illegal in the US because someone pointed it out to me.
Striking itself isn't illegal (usually, some jurisdictions have made it illegal for "certain industries" to strike), but labor unions are not allowed to strike in solidarity with another union.
Anyway, I brought this up as an explanation of why established labor unions aren't involved in any general strike, and why they will never be.
@Nougat@fedia.io @Talaraine@fedia.io @MudMan@fedia.io the upper eschelons of leadership in this country don't seem to give a damn about what's legal and what's not. Maybe it's time we all stop worrying about what's legal when it comes to standing up for our RIGHTS
You may have misread my comments. Read them again.
I want to take part in this, but I have bills to pay. How is a working class person supposed to do this?
I worry that many people are in a similar situation to mine, and while we support the idea, we likely couldn't afford to commit to it when the time comes. This is an intentional trapping of fascism; keep us poor, keep us compliant. But it works. I can't afford to go homeless for a cause that, if successful, may buy us a few months of sanity, at best, before Trump makes another push toward fascism. For a lot of people, participating in this is a gamble, which would have long-term consequences with no guarantee of even short-term results.
Not trying to be dissuasive. It just all feels hopeless.
Spread the word to everyone you know, likely some of them will not have heard and also have the support structure to join in without risking life under a bridge.
They want you feeling hopeless. Think laterally and help in anyway you can.