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.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/32356461
I honestly don't know what the "don't buy anything" protest is supposed to do. Everyone is going to buy extra stuff on the 27th and then just do all of their catch-up spending on the 29th. This isn't going to affect companies at all.
you have to crawl before you can walk.
the point isn't to impact companies... no one's expecting a single day boycott to end capitalism. that's ridiculous.
small events leading up to bigger ones is part of growing a movement, of testing how far you can count on people to support your cause. these types of actions are test runs to see if people have any capacity whatsoever for organizing and acting together in unison.
some leftists (other commenters in this thread who were gatekeeping) are too smart for their own good, and think that we can get millions to go on a general strike overnight or enact some dramatic v for vendetta moment. turns out, deeply individualist Americans conditioned by a lifetime of isolation and atomized existence need a little gradual coaxing sometimes.
It's a show of support and organization. It's a warning that "We are able to organize enough people to make this much of an impact for 1 day, if nothing changes then next time it will be longer."
Hey everyone! Let's break down why that viral campaign idea might not hit as hard as hoped. If we're calling for a day to make companies feel the pain, here's the thing—consumers can be pretty quick on their feet. People might just push their shopping a few days ahead instead of waiting.
Think about it: if I was planning to buy something on February 28th, maybe I'll just do my shopping on March 1st or even February 29th if that's when the sale is happening. Companies are usually managing their finances monthly or quarterly, so one day's dip in sales won't make a huge difference. They've likely already accounted for those numbers in their budget.
Plus, with all the online shopping and delivery options out there, people can buy what they need anytime, making it easy to avoid any specific "buying panic" on that targeted day. Companies might even use this time to up-sell or promote other products to make up for any lost sales.
So, while the idea sounds powerful, it's probably not going to cause the big change people are hoping for. We'll just keep shopping as usual, and companies will keep humming along without much of a financial hiccup. And hey, maybe people will even forget about the whole thing after a week! This is nothing other than a "feel good" activity people can do, but it's really not going to hurt any business in a significant way.
If you REALLY want to have an effect, boycott a business over a long enough period that it shows up in their revenue reports. Of course, I expect "don't buy gas for a year" to not be that feasible, so maybe the approach of limiting buying is just fundamentally flawed, especially with goods that you can't live without, like gas or food.
As always: all efforts, great and small.
Other people have pointed out, and I will echo: there are plenty of people who have not yet been moved to take any action, and a "symbolic" action is something as opposed to nothing. People who decide to take this symbolic action are going to be more easily moved to take more directly effective action in the future.
Building a critical mass takes time. Providing people with easy opportunities to experience involvement now will increase the number of people willing to take on greater risks later.
This is why we don't gatekeep resistance.
Your both right, get folks started, they weren't sure how to help. This is step one
No buying from Amazon for a week 💀
Everyone should blacklist that filth.
Every step counts. I'd rather 1 person ditch Amazon for a week than 10 people do nothing because they don't think 1 week is enough.
Okay, but I've bought one item in the last five years on a throwaway account. It's trivial to drop them.
We're so doomed if people think not buying from Amazon for a week is brave and strong.
All efforts, great and small.
If a lot of people do it, it could have a bigger impact than all 1000 of us or however many who are on a permanent boycott. You have to meet people where they are at and give them the next step in the process.
It's a start. Just boycotting for a week, while a small drop, serves two purposes. First (assuming it registers), it's a warning shot to the powers that be saying, "We are asking politely that you pick our side. We will get less polite." Second, it gets people who would otherwise not resist more comfortable with it. Just as with evil, if one can go from A to B then B to C because C is not much more than B, the same incremental approach can be used for pro-social behaviors, too. In other words, not buying from Amazon for a week makes it easier to talk to friends about resisting, which makes it easier to go to a march, which makes it easier to...so on and so forth.
That said, I doubt that this will have much of an effect on Amazon or the other powers that be. If it registers, it will be a small blip. With continued action, that blip will grow.
Cancelled my prime earlier this month. Surprised how little I’ve needed it since
IMO when stuff gets bad enough, this stuff will start to get around by word of mouth.
[email protected] can we please pin this post?
You forgot the leading @, but I'm paying attention, so I saw this comment.
I think you're on to something, but I think I might have a better idea for a "what events are going on" thing to pin. Hold please.
I wouldn't know how to distinguish all of these calls for protest lately from astroturfing campaigns.
Are there really no institutions left in the US you can rally behind and who are big and experienced enough to call for organised protests? What are the biggest non-governmental progressive or liberal institutions in the US anyway?
The amazon protest should be ez pz. I already don't buy from them
Stopped but from Amazon last summer. Almost a year now
Please don't post images of text
I'm old, and I don't personally understand the "images of text" thing all the time, but the kids seem to like it.
Blind people can't read it. Its disallowed by most communities. It can't be indexed by search engines. It takes up unnecessary space. Users can't find-in-page for the content or copy-and-paste to share it.
Its bad in every way, and op should receive a temp ban for this.
... op should receive a temp ban for this.
No.
Yes. All they have to do is type the text if they want to share it here. Low effort posts of text in pictures is ban worthy
I refer you to my previous comment.
Of course, you are welcome to start your own community, with blackjack and hookers, and ban whoever you like from it for whatever reasons you deem appropriate.
They should get banned for posting an image that contains text? Hahahahaha.
You are delusional.