Social Activism in the Age of Trump: What To Do and What We Are Doing

Can we please not try to separate all this out from 2018? Whatever you think of the "Democrat/liberal establishment," I'm not aware of any other opposition party positioned to hand the GOP electoral defeats for local, state and national offices.

scale is a legitimate question. there are some forms of activity that will only work if they can be organized on a large scale. the implication i draw from that is that people should, as a matter of policy, seek to remain within existing law, for the simple expedient that it is extremely difficult to effectively organize mass-scale illegal activity. the kinds of things we read about in history books- wildcat strikes, the haymarket riot, the french saboteurs- my general impression is that these actions were not productive, were arguably even counterproductive.

sabotage and wildcat strikes would be great for the Trump admin

re: the democratic party- look, i think the tea party is a pretty good model to work from. if you want to start off nominally positioning yourself as "independent" and "grass-roots" like the tea party did, sure, but if the tea party could take over a party perceived as not sympathetic to their ideals, there is no reason whatsoever we couldn't do the same with the democratic party. the "moderate" democratic party is in just as much of a corner as all other "moderates" - they can't afford to spend much time denouncing anybody who opposes trump.

I'm all for primary'ing shitty Dems

The Tea Party movement had a small number of discrete items it cared about:
1. Get rid of that black president; barring that, stop him and his party at every turn - do not pass a budget, filibuster every appointment, filibuster every judicial nominee
2. Oh yeah that was pretty much it

They didn't give a shit about the stimulus package, they didn't give a shit about abortion rights, or even marriage equality - they hated that we elected a black man.

I'm all for emulating some of that single-mindedness but I thought our thing was that we care about issues.

We should just obstruct the bad things Trump does. If that ends up being everything so be it.

Yeah, every four years we get people who pointlessly prattle on about how no one represents them and we need a third party. I think these people just don't seem to get American electoral politics, let alone the situation we face.

You really only have two options other the Democratic Party as-is, the way I see it:
1) Tea-party style insurgency (berniecrats)
2) Third party that coalitions with the democrats in most elections (working families).

I think both are good models for progressive electoral politics. I also think we can't expect a progressive in every congressional district overnight.

But it's really, really fucking important for progressives to start caring more about local and state and off-year elections.

They didn't give a shit about the stimulus package, they didn't give a shit about abortion rights, or even marriage equality - they hated that we elected a black man.

I'm all for emulating some of that single-mindedness but I thought our thing was that we care about issues.

― El Tomboto, Thursday, December 8, 2016 5:55 PM (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I think the current GOP congressional agenda makes clear that this is patently not true -- they have a radically anti-deficit and pro-privatization agenda that they're frothing to enact. They don't even care if it's popular! They're legit ideologues.

I mean the voters, dude. I don't mean the people they elected. Obviously the post-New Deal GOP has always had at least a couple of specific policy ideas, obliterating the New Deal being the main one, but that's not what the Tea Party used for fuel.

the Democratic Party as-is

I'm not sure what this is right now, either.

I mean the Democratic Party platform in 2016 won 2.6 million more votes, we should probably start by stealing from that, don't you think

I mean the Democratic Party platform in 2016 won 2.6 million more votes, we should probably start by stealing from that, don't you think

― El Tomboto, Thursday, December 8, 2016 3:08 PM (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

if we were in an alternative universe were the electoral college didn't exist.

they have a radically anti-deficit

lol wut the GOP loves deficits they are gonna run up insane deficits just like they always do

Yeah i feel like these people are literally robber barons looking to suck as much wealth out of the economy as they can and leave it a hollow shell with no civic institutions. At least thats the feeling behind the people who bankrolled this movement

that is their stated goal, it isn't a mystery

Paul ryan and ted cruz and them like to say they are fans of "fiscal responsibility"

A lot of republican voters definitely feel like unleashing the markets is a sober step toward a more prosperous, sustainable future and not a prescription for national and ecological suicide

It is the democrats constant shame that they are unable to effectively point out this transparent con to the voters

well the government just needs to be run like a business, you see

JIV, you missed my point

always love the like a business analogy, because that is what people want from government - to show up one day and find a FOR LEASE sign

http://nymag.com/thecut/2016/12/women-marching-on-d-c-cant-access-lincoln-memorial.html

There’s been a long history of rallies taking place at the Lincoln Memorial in D.C., including civil rights and anti–Vietnam War protests. However, women marching on Washington the day after Donald Trump’s inauguration won’t get the same opportunity, as the National Parks Service has blocked access to the Lincoln Memorial.

The Guardian reports that the NPS, on behalf of the Presidential Inauguration Committee, filed a “massive omnibus blocking permit” to block off much of the National Mall, Pennsylvania Avenue, the Washington Monument, and the Lincoln Memorial for the inauguration. The permit secures these public spots for “days and weeks before and after” the January 20 event, which means the locations won’t be available for protests.

Shortly after the election, women across the country came together to organize a Women’s March on Washington for January 21. The march was set to be held at the Lincoln Memorial, and 136,000 women have already RSVP’d on Facebook. However, given the NPS’s decision to block access to the famous spot, the rally will have to find a different home. Cassady Fendlay, a spokesperson for the women’s march, told The Guardian that the group is in conversations with the police, and that they have secured another location nearby

As of today they have not yet announced the other location: https://www.womensmarch.com/

http://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2016/11/sharpton-to-lead-mass-protest-in-dc-ahead-of-trumps-inauguration-107302

The Rev. Al Sharpton plans to lead a protest on the grounds of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 14, six days before before Donald Trump’s inauguration

I'm all for changing the electoral college, but it's worth remembering that even if we achieve that longshot, campaigning will change too, and the republicans will tweak their platform, strategy, and campaigning to appeal to more urban voters. Meanwhile, those extra 2.6 million popular votes are tiny droplets of water falling into a vast bottomless pit. So we'd better start figuring out how to swing those margins in the states that count like yesterday. Not to mention fucking STATE AND LOCAL ELECTIONS. The GOP is really close to being able to call a constitutional convention right now.

People shutting down their spending (as much as possible) in the next 6 months would freak out our overlords more than anything.

I agree

well maybe not the "more than anything" part, but yes to a spending freeze

They didn't give a shit about the stimulus package, they didn't give a shit about abortion rights, or even marriage equality - they hated that we elected a black man.

I'm all for emulating some of that single-mindedness but I thought our thing was that we care about issues.

― El Tomboto

if we're still committed to working within the system, we have to recognize the nature of the system as it is today. which is to say, we can and should assume that anybody who cares about the issues is already on our side, and that said coalition is not sufficient to govern effectively against this sort of opposition. furthermore people who do care about the issues are essentially shut out of power. to be able to do anything about the issues, we need the support of people who care less about the issues than they do about who looks better on tv.

personally i care less about issues than i do about values. having trump as president is a severe attack on pretty much all of the values i have. if he suddenly proposed to implement bernie sanders' program in its entirety, i would still oppose him, because he is not fit to hold the office he was elected to.

morbz otm. hit em where it hurts

Pulling it out of the banks wouldn't hurt, either. And if there was a way to broadcast to said overlords that the money you used to spend on 'stuff' is now being donated to, like, the ACLU, that'd be super.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cS06eprlj2I

(of course, that's an easy suggestion for me to make, as my recent UK trip means i will wake up every morning til at least next summer knowing what my chacking balance is)

hmmm. "buy nothing ever" seems like a better tactic than "buy nothing day" (the "hey if we all jump up and down at the same time we can send the earth spinning out of its orbit" of economic protests), but i am not totally convinced of its effectiveness. first is that it's only effective for people who have disposable income, and a lot of us who are being mostly seriously hurt by the new order don't. cutting consumption and cutting production are both good ideas, but can they be implemented on a necessary scale to be effective?

XP, rusho, those are very good points, above. What would the short list of values be for a winning progressive coalition? (I am 100% sure I am the first person who has ever asked this)

three day weekend

free pony for everyone

(sorry, it's a good question that deserves serious answers, forgive me my moments of levity cuz I take them where I can find them)

what value would i suggest running on? i'd run on justice! not "social justice", which is perceived as being a code word for something else. just plain justice. let trump supporters go around badmouthing justice. be my guest.

because when i look at all the anger, a big chunk of it is people thinking they're being screwed out of something they deserve by people who are getting away with murder. which is, if you abstract it enough, true.

we want justice more than we want freedom, more than we want prosperity, more than we want peace. run on that.

some helpful thoughts here:

https://www.thenation.com/article/5-practical-principles-to-guide-our-work-under-trump/

I am curious if anyone knows the answer to this.
What is the Democratic party doing to assist people in voting-restricted areas to obtain government-issued ID? Is there a financial need here that donors could direct money to?

The answer is probably 'not enough', but I'd sure like to know, too. In all honesty, my mulling over the logistics of starting a nonprofit upthread was in direct relation to addressing that problem. It would be great to see an organization form with local chapters that could help people figure out exactly what hoops they need to jump through well ahead of the 2018 elections.

A certain B.H. O'Bama has telegraphed that voter access is the issue (or AN issue) he wishes to pursue in his forthcoming spare time.

I guess as individuals we can take it upon ourselves to familiarize ourselves with our own state voting laws prior to any GOTV efforts we undertake.

The Brennan Center xpost

http://www.brennancenter.org/

Brennan Center is great. I'd definitely say that if you are going to participate in any voter reg drives, being extra careful and meticulous is a good idea nowadays given the likelihood of the right looking for excuses to toss registrations and smear organizations.

Hey I have a dumb tech question: is there a way to build mirror sites of stuff like breitbart that lets you see the content without giving them a click?

I believe there's a general-use site/service that lets you do that for any site?

DoNotLink helps with that, don't they?