this post was submitted on 21 Feb 2025
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Resist: It's Time

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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.

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Monetary Protests (lemmy.blahaj.zone)
submitted 20 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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I was sent this by a friend who saw it trending around various social media which I don't use.

Personally, I think it would do good to lengthen the economic blackouts to 3-7 days. But, any coordination helps, and I think the weeklong corporate boycotts will at least send a message.

I'm looking for other places to share this. I checked BuildTheResistance, but I couldn't figure out a way to submit dates for a protest without a link to a site. I have a link for the February 28th blackout, and I would be grateful to anyone that could help me in sourcing these other protests.

EDIT: found the sources! They're all by The People's Union USA. It's just that all the boycotts besides the 28th are tucked away in their FAQs page.

I should say, as well: I think general boycotts are a good idea, and I support the idea of protesting on these dates. However, I don't necessarily trust The People's Union USA. They have a login feature. Don't be so foolish as to make an account on a fucking resistance website.

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

What if I already don’t buy from any of these? Lol

[–] [email protected] 9 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Sounds like you're already doing your part!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

I guess the answer is suggest other people do so as well.

The nice thing about being anti-capitalist for essentially my entire life is that these boycotts are always easy for me. Hopefully I can show the way for others too.

Edit: for anyone here who has an Amazon prime sub, maybe consider canceling on the 7th. If there’s enough that could have a big impact too I think.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

You probably do buy Nestle under different names, they own a lot of stuff

[–] [email protected] 5 points 17 hours ago

I don’t buy much packaged foods. I glanced at their list of brands but nothing caught my eye.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 18 hours ago

Protests on 3/4 as well at your state capitol.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

Maybe we should also have like protest classes on how to be self sufficient. Grow your own food. It can be done on any property any size. Join a community garden. things like that will help people stop using these big brands

[–] [email protected] 10 points 20 hours ago

That's a great idea! I know that Build The Resistance has training courses, but I have not yet looked into them.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Why would you define an end date on a boycott?

[–] [email protected] 19 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

I assume because this is more for the normies. I plan to keep my wallet away from these companies regardless, but some people need a little push.

If they can give up Amazon for a week, maybe they realize they can live without it. But I think more politically inactive people can be convinced with "only for a week" than "boycott this corporation that you've been dependent on your whole life forever." Sometimes it's about getting people to take that first step.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 15 hours ago

This exactly. Much easier to convince friends and family members to swallow a day, then a week, rather than push a “radical” view and meet resistance, and subsequently be brushed off as a crazy hippie.

Just like corporations slowly boiled the frogs, we have to take baby steps to get our loved ones and communities back.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

Why not start the boycott of all of those now? Why wait and allow them to prepare for it?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

I don't really get why it would have a time limit either. Just don't buy from these companies, ever. It's not even hard to do. A minor inconvenience at most.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 19 hours ago

they probably won't even notice people bought before and after those days in their monthly report. you gotta do it multiple months at least.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 16 hours ago

A coordinated effort is more noticeable and impactful. It takes a little time to get information out and organize. You can start anytime but you’ll have a stronger message if you show you can network and demonstrate results

[–] NoxAstrum 11 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

I'm already doing all of these things. I really only buy groceries, and those are all Canadian.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 20 hours ago

That's awesome! Keep up the good work!

[–] [email protected] 8 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (2 children)

Why put end dates on them? Even if the boycotts get a huge turnout and meaningfully damage the bottom line of each corporation, the boycotts will be over (and a lot of the damage made up for) faster than they even COULD make the changes the website is demanding. Changes which will take years even if pursued in good faith, which, of course, they won't be. They'll lead us around, make empty gestures, and inoculate themselves against the next round of blowback.

This feels like Occupy Wall Street all over again. People's enthusiasm being wasted on ineffective protests with vague demands. If we want change, we're gonna have to be willing to put up with more inconvenience, i. e., no Amazon at all, permanently, until they meet some specific, achievable goals to make things better, like full unionization.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Good point. I view this as more of a way to get the politically inactive to start being active. As I said in response to another comment, it's easier to get most people to give up stuff like that for a week than forever. I plan to continue my own personal boycott indefinitely, and I encourage others to do the same. That said, most people balk at the idea of permanently ridding themselves of a major shackle on their lives - because they simply don't see it that way. Every journey begins with a single step, and my hope is this can convince enough people to take that first step.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (1 children)

Then we should be setting up to help people prepare for actions that would actually be effective, like sharing Amazon alternatives to make a permanent boycott less intimidating. Public enthusiasm is a finite resource, and if it's wasted, we're stuck waiting until the next round of "things got worse." The megacorps we're trying to fight will be entrenched even more deeply, making meaningful action even harder.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 19 hours ago

Great idea! I'll start doing my research now. Do you know of any alternatives off the top of your head?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

A week isn't going to do anything to their bottom line if people just stick up beforehand or wait until it's over to buy what they would have bought anyway. It's like the one day gas protests during the Bush Jr years.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 16 hours ago

All efforts, great and small.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

So do we just ... Not use the internet March 7th to 14th? Because Amazon makes the bulk of its money from Amazon Web Services which is like half the internet at this point.

Pretty sure Blahaj is on AWS even.

Amazon is basically impossible to "boycott" due to that.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Internet blackout would definitely mean staying uninformed for a week, but honestly that doesn't sound like a terrible idea.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (1 children)

Even then, it doesn't do much except reduce traffic to sites that are already paying for hosting. The people paying for hosting would have to find new hosts for it to mean anything. Amazon makes money directly from the people paying for hosting, not the people visiting the site.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (1 children)

Gotcha. Are there any viable alternatives to AWS I could help promote? I'd imagine it's hard to find a web hosting service that isn't an evil corporation.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

I’d imagine it’s hard to find a web hosting service that isn’t an evil corporation.

That is indeed the issue at hand. The ones that aren't evil corporations don't have as much stability, which is enough for most people to be put off them. "High availability" has become the name of the game and consumers are fucking coddled babies. If a website doesn't load instantly, they'll just leave and not come back.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 19 hours ago

You can't even convince them to switch to something that works fine, either. Been trying to get my peers to run some type of Linux for the past year or so, because it really does just work now - for daily office activities and gaming.

But, they know Windows so they stick with Windows. That's why I'm hoping an announced temporary boycott will break their link with these megacorps enough to help them see that you really can just switch.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 20 hours ago

Start the boycott now. End the boycott when these companies no longer own our representatives. If you don't, then you are part of the problem, and you deserve what you get.