Feb 17 General Strike. MAKE IT HAPPEN

[demtenjeep]

Strike. One way we can all strike is by refusing to purchase anything on 2/17. Nothing. No milk, no gasoline, no shoes, no bread, no Starbucks...nada. (Obviously emergency situations do not apply). We can jolt the economy as a message to Trump and Republicans. GOP has the power to remove him. We The People have a choice. We can briefly jolt the economy until they do it, or we wait and see if Trump starts a war with China or wait for a terrorist attack (which will happen now) and Bannon - who loves war - and Trump will be the ones who decide what to do. #RESIST

[Tatiana]

1. I do think we're coming to that point.

But it will have to be a series of successive strikes.

Something that has a serious impact.

[2naSalit]

2. Would be hard to make a single day have the desired impact

but I hope that it happens. I have to make quite an effort to buy anything or show up for anything so I have that part covered... at least on that day.

[WillowTree]

3. How does that do anything?

So on Thursday you make sure that you have enough milk/gas/shoes/bread/whatever to tide you over to Saturday. These "don't buy anything" days don't jolt anything. I mean, go ahead if it makes you feel better, just don't expect it to accomplish anything else.

[customerserviceguy]

4. Agreed

And once the reich wing gets news of this, they buy as much as they can on that day, and, let's face it, they have more money than we do.

Economic boycotts only have power if they are for a decent duration.

[LanternWaste]

10. I don't think acting on one's convictions is done to "make you feel better."

I don't think acting on one's convictions is done to "make you feel better."

However, I do understand the sentiment behind trivializing and minimizing the convictions of others; it's both an ethically convenient and rather popular narrative these days.

[WillowTree]

12. I was criticizing the OP's method, not convictions.

[justicejunkie]

5. Slight rebranding

Hi all,

Here are my thoughts on this: if we do a slight rebranding and coordinated social media strategy (fancy way of saying let's get a handful of people to use the same general batch of hashtags at once to generate some steam) we might be able to make this work--maybe not as the incredible strike event that we'd all like for it to be, sure, but as the beginning of many more to come. A trial-run, essentially.

In terms of rebranding, I've been looking on a lot of socialist/anarchist forums about their thoughts on what's going on, and it seems that because of the extremely narrow definition of "strike" in the modern American context, people are dismissing the idea because there is no labor/union support, which at this point for F17 is true. And it's likely we won't get any unions to endorse us.

However, I think an important point that they've been overlooking is the importance of social media in generating rapid change. Social media was an essential tool for the Arab Spring protests, and think about how quickly the #DeleteUber campaign made Travis Whateverhisnameis step down from Drumpf's economic council (not that this means anything--I'm sure they're still best buds).

But imagine if the #DeleteUber campaign hadn't stopped and was still going on right now? If Uber's profits were still tanking today, Travis WhatsHisFace would be scrambling to win customers back. If that means sabotaging his relationship with Drumpf, he just might do it.

If we focused our efforts from #f17strike to a more general #F17 #DontShop #NoWorkSchoolIfPossible #BoycottTrumpFunders or #BoycottTrump movement. We could tag all the companies that support Drumpf's products, tarnish their reputations to threaten sales, and more people could get behind a boycott than a strike.

If any of you are interested, I'd really love the help spreading the word. I'm kind of a lone wolf on Twitter right now, so having some folks to help disseminate the message would be much appreciated.

Resources:
General info: https://www.reddit.com/r/socialism/comments/5s6mge/xpost_from_resist_feb_17th_national_strike/

For those who can't strike but can boycott/participate on social media: https://www.reddit.com/r/Strike4Democracy/comments/5rtm8f/social_media_strategy_for_those_who_cant_strike/

Businesses that support Drumpf: https://www.reddit.com/r/socialism/comments/5s9m5g/xpost_from_impeach_trump_businesses_that_support/

Banks that fund DAPL:
https://www.reddit.com/r/SandersForPresident/comments/5s6afy/xpost_from_rstrike4democracy_all_the_banks/

[JudyM]

17. These are good links. Welcome to Du, justicejunkie!

[justicejunkie]

19. Thanks so much!

Feel free to share them widely!

[socialist_n_TN]

6. Copied from Facebook..........

Some thoughts on the idea of a general strike.

I've seen at least three calls for a general strike in the US against the Trump agenda recently. One is for February 17th, one for International Working Woman's Day (or month, i.e. sometime in March), and one on the traditional worker's holiday of Mayday. While I applaud the positives of folks trying to bring this ultimate working class weapon to bear on the scourge of Trumpism, I'm not sure a lot of folks know exactly what a GS means.

Of course on my newsfeed, a lot of you DO know what it means, so for you all this is sort of "preaching to the choir". But this IS the USA and the idea of a GS for most Americans is not something that they know a lot about. It's something that happens in the rest of the world and not here.

As said above, a general strike is the ultimate weapon, short of outright insurrection, of the working class against the oligarchs and the ruling class because it means a LOT of people in all areas of the economy withhold their labor and their buying power (a boycott of purchasing together with the strike itself is almost a given). It doesn't have to be adhered to 100% to be effective, but it does have to be widespread. Otherwise, it's just losing a day's pay or have a "personal day" where you play hooky from work.

A GS poses a sharp question in politics and class struggle and that is, who holds the power in society? Is it the bosses or the workers? So as such, by its very nature, it challenges the system of capitalism itself. And of course if it fails, it runs the real risk of discouraging workers and their supporters from using the tactic again.

Because it IS a tactic and NOT a strategy. When you call for a general strike you need to ask yourself what you hope to gain from it. The grand ultimate goal of a GS is to make it indefinite until you win, so it's REALLY important to know what you want to win.

Of course, most of the recent calls are NOT for an indefinite GS until you obtain a "regime change". Or for socialists, a "system change". These are for strikes of a more symbolic nature, a one day GS with the goal of just firing a "shot across the bow" of the rulers in society letting them know that the people are becoming "ungovernable". And that's a legitimate strategy and goal also, albeit limited. But "What is the goal?" is a question that MUST BE ANSWERED.

Finally, this is a subject that a lot of words could be written about and HAS been written about, so I'll just close with one last observation.in this FB post. For even a symbolic GS to be considered a "win" MOST OF THE ECONOMY NEEDS TO BE SHUT DOWN. Or at least severely curtailed. That means that even if you WANT to scab and work, you aren't allowed to because the streets are clogged because of mass demonstrations and rallies, stores and workplaces are closed either in sympathy or because not enough people show up to work or shop, and nobody is paying their bills that day or buying anything. For one day capitalism grinds to a halt because of united working class action.

Are we there yet? That's doubtful, but that IS where we need to be, so how do we get "there". That's the question of the day. Thanks for reading.

[butdiduvote]

13. Great post.

I tried, less eloquently, to say similar things recently and was accused of concern trolling by numerous posters because I dared to question what the impact would be of women trading their shifts with men or just using some of their allotted sick time during the women's strike. Despite explaining that I have been all for a truly disruptive strike since November 9th, the accusations of simply trying to stand in the way of female resistors (I am a woman of color myself *shrug*) continued. I do think that these smaller, more symbolic strikes have value in that they can get the ball rolling, so to speak, and get more people interested in the idea of going on a strike. However, they still have to be reasonably well planned out so that they don't backfire, giving people actually less faith in the strike as a powerful resistance tool. It is my ultimate dream to see the left truly come together and organize something so colossal that the current administration is forced to resign. I really do think we hold the ultimate power here thanks to this one powerful tool that other nations have used to topple corrupt regimes, but we need the audacity and willingness to go all-out with it. A large number of people calling in sick for a day won't force Trump out of office or even to take us seriously.

[socialist_n_TN]

14. Thank you...........

I'm a revolutionary socialist, so my ultimate goal is NOT a "regime change", but a "system change". And one-day symbolic actions won't really accomplish either one. But, like you, I see the value in the calls in and of itself. Just calling for a GS is a sign of awakening consciousness for many people and a sign that the populace IS becoming more and more "ungovernable". The interest in this basic and militant action against the system, is being talked about on my newsfeed by MANY "liberals" and also union officials in a serious manner. And this is good because calling for a general strike by traditionally non-revolutionary people means that more and more of them are realizing that for the resistance to be effective it MUST MOVE INTO THE ECONOMIC SPHERE. The owners will allow you to march, parade, rally, and shout slogans all day long and greet it with a yawn. But if you touch their wallets (profit), THEN you will get their attention.

Jacobin magazine printed an article that denigrated the idea of a general strike and listed a litany of reasons why it's not feasible at this time, including the violent reaction to strikes by governmental forces throughout American history. Strikes can and often HAVE led to violent repression and outright gun battles with cops, the NG, and even the active US military. And I applaud this effort to show EXACTLY what the reaction to a SERIOUS general strike will probably be. My problem with the Jacobin article is that it was ALL negative and seemed to be attempting to funnel the resistance into traditional electoral remedies which have failed and brought about our current situation with Trump. That doesn't seem to be appropriate for a magazine that claims to be representative of the far left and its positions on our current system and society. So the far-left is as divided about these calls as they seem to be about the mass resistance to Trump represented by the demonstrations to date.

And that's a shame IMO. Revolutionary socialists need to be on the front lines of this, not standing on the sidelines whining about how "bourgeois" and reformist it is. ANY mass movement will begin as bourgeois and reformist. Instead of standing on the sidelines railing against it, if it's not revolutionary enough for you, get in there and radicalize it.

And this is why myself and many of my comrades are supporting these calls to the best of our ability. When a spontaneous mass movement appears, you have two choices. You can jump in and try to influence it into a direction that you think it should go or you can ignore it and be overtaken by events. I prefer taking the first option.

[socialist_n_TN]

15. A little more on the topic........

I believe that the positives outweigh the negatives. I don't believe that any of these "general" strikes will be true a true general strike that shuts down the economy for a day. I DO however, think that they can be MASS strikes, by various "identities" (women, immigrants, both Muslim and Latinix, black folks maybe represented by the BLM coalition, etc) that lead to MORE mass strikes in the future in a slowly building wave of economic resistance that could culminate at some point in the future to a true and widespread general strike.

Of the three dates mentioned, I think Mayday has the best shot for several reasons. It's far enough out that it could actually BE much better organized and even bring in elements of the organized working class. It's also a highly symbolic day for workers of the world AND the anniversary of the "Day Without Immigrants" action in 2006 (? not sure of the year) AND there will have been a couple of attempted actions previous to this which will help with organizing.

The truth is though, a general action is probably even further away than Mayday. I'm thinking that something big could be up for the early Fall, IF things build the way I think they will. And of course, with a spontaneous, mass movement like this, a big, nationwide action could be sparked in a reaction to some egregious action by the Trump administration or the Congressional right-wing. Either way, this will build, with each action building on the one previous to it. Or at least, that should be the goal.

[justicejunkie]

7. The thing is

I understand where everyone in this thread is coming from.

However, I think Trump and the GOP made a number of significant errors last night:

1. Going through with the final easement of DAPL - this outrages Native communities and sympathetic communities of color, liberals, veterans who had been there, lawyers, etc.

2. Betsy DeVos' confirmation, because this affects white women on the most personal level: their kids.

3. Mitch McConnell's really tactically stupid and morally disgusting attempt to shut Senator Warren up when reading the words of Coretta Scott King. Black History Month has been utterly tarnished by these white, greedy old men.

The culmination of these three events is generating a LOT of tweets that include #generalstrike #nationalstrike, and many of these are being tweeted to Senator's accounts directly, requesting that Senators demand a general strike.

Social media cannot be what we rely on; any social movement needs mass street protests and acts of civil disobedience. But the role of social media in being able to destroy a business' reputation and threatening their profits cannot be denied. Uber, Nordstrom, Disney, etc. are examples of this, and those movements weren't even coordinated.

I think everyone is going to be surprised at how quickly things progress. That's at least my prediction.

[Calculating]

8. Getting rid of Trump alone doesn't even accomplish anything

We'd just get stuck with Pence then, and he would set about trying to turn America into a Christian theocracy. Getting rid of Trump isn't the answer. Containing him, and turning him into a lame duck president is the answer.

[triron]

21. Pence is as in on it as Trump. No way he isn't

complicit in all the shit.

[brooklynite]

9. yawn...

Threatened before. Will be threatened again. Won't happen.

Seriously, don't overplay the protest hand with something you won't be able to deliver.

[irisblue]

11. Friday Feburary 17th, I'm in.

[BainsBane]

16. I switched around my schedule so I wouldn't

have to work that day.

[demtenjeep]

18. I won't be working or buying anything

this isn't my idea, I have had 4 or 5 invites on FB

I will be doing this as right now, it is the only thing I can do

[triron]

20. How about the whole damn weekend!

[demtenjeep]

22. works for me

I think we could make a difference

Look at the marches on the 21st and the airports last week

[justicejunkie]

23. More Coming Up

March 8 - A Day Without A Woman
https://www.womensmarch.com/womensday/
@womensmarch

March 10 - Native Nations March on DC
http://standwithstandingrock.net/march/
@StandingRockST

March 15 - Ides of March (no link currently available)

March 17 - Strike4Democracy #2
@f17strike
Strike4Democracy.com (site has not yet been updated to reflect new date but will be soon)

April 1 - Fool's Strike (no link currently available)

April 15 - Tax Strike
http://taxmarch.org/

April 22 - March for Science
https://www.marchforscience.com/
@ScienceMarchDC

April 29 - People's Climate March
https://peoplesclimate.org/
@Peoples_Climate

May 1 - May Day (no link currently available)

June 11 - LGBTQA+ March on DC
https://www.queerty.com/happening-major-lgbt-march-washington-set-d-c-pride-weekend-20170125