I’m kind of annoyed that the labor union sponsored strike last Friday which was two weeks in the making got almost no air, but was extremely successful. And now a student strike at the U of M with very little momentum with labor unions is getting national attention.
I know that one is the cause of the other, but it sure makes it feel like this next strike is going to fall flat on its face and rob the whole tactic of its power. I really want to be wrong, and want nothing but for this to work, but you really need buy-in in order to shutdown businesses and get the actual impact you need.
10% of labor striking across all industries will be impactful, but 10% of businesses closing due to a strike is outright devastating. And without labor union buy-in, I don’t think the latter is likely.
The media are largely owned and controlled by the oligarchs. They no longer exist to serve the common person’s best interests. The examples that really cemented this reality in my mind are:
-The way they coordinated against our boy Bernie in 2016. I recall a specific instance on live tv where they listed the leading DNC candidates. It displayed an infographic said something like: #1, Hillary Clinton, #3 someone else, #4 someone else. And the announcer made some brief comment at the end, along the lines of, “oh and also some guy Bernie Sanders, some communist or something is in 2nd place. Anyway, here’s Eric with the weather!”
-The way they coordinated to tell everyone that anybody who bought GameStop stock a few years ago was stupid and should absolutely sell. The wealthy had bought an illegal amount of short sale positions in GameStop and were losing tons of money to common people who had realized this.
You might think that these two situations are unrelated. Maybe the DNC has its own interests and manipulated the media by its own mechanisms. Maybe the hedge funds and their wealthy investors had enough power and leverage to get help from their media friends. I assert that the rich and powerful people pulling the strings in these two scenarios are the same group of people and they have powerful influence over media, using it to shape popular perception to their benefit.
That’s because it was organic and real. The one in the OP is an op. DO NOT GIVE THEM YOUR INFORMATION
I mean, it’s not an op. It’s led by the student unions out of the U of M. I just don’t think it’s a good follow-up, like I was saying
I see no reason to trust it.
- There’s nothing on the site about who’s behind it.
- The list of “endorsers” is just a list. No URLs/links to their sites, no logos, no statements from any organizations or individuals. All data easily scraped.
- You don’t need to give your name, phone number, or email address to join a strike.
- There’s no contact information for the organization behind the website but they are demanding mine
- The art submission page requires first name, last name, and email address. Again, why do they need my name but they won’t reveal themselves?
- The art submission page also has an option to “sign up for news and updates”. This smells like a DNC fundraising ploy or something.
And I wouldn’t give them my info whether it’s an op or not. The No Kings/Indivisible have a sign-up thing too, and I wouldn’t give them my info either.
It’s one thing if you personally meet organizers and exchange phone numbers or something, and another thing to put your name and other personal info into someone’s internet-accessible database where you have no idea what may happen with it.
We need to shut down and STAY shut down. Jan 30 needs to be the first day of an indefinite movement.
You have to build the ground work for that first. How do you feed people indefinitely when stores are closed, trucks aren’t moving, etc? You need a massive mutual aid network and solidarity. We don’t really have anything approaching that in the US
That’s always going to be the case. How many strikes, protests, etc have we had? There’s never going to be a good time, because you can’t hardly get 3 people on the same page about stuff, let alone 3 million. People are going to die no matter the path we choose to walk. Choosing non-violent resistance is the noble path, but it’s got its own risks. At least those risks come with the potential of a better future.
I’m not saying not to do it, I’m saying you can’t just call for something on the internet and expect it to materialize out of nothing.
I’d also maybe suggest we stop using the term “general strike” when we mean “protest”
General strike and protest cover different things, both effective means of displaying our outrage. A general strike is a form of protest.
As far as ‘materializing out of nothing’ I don’t expect that either. This is far from out of nothing, though. These sentiments have been boiling over since 2016, literally a decade. We need more voices saying “let’s do it now” and fewer saying “but I have other responsibilities”. It’s rapidly approaching the point where every possible responsibility one could have runs through this issue.
That website is an op. DO NOT visit and DO NOT give them your name, phone number, email address, or any other identifying information.
You don’t need to give your name to join a general strike.
Jan 30 is too soon for people to work around. People have to get their PTO approved before they can take part in this
I’m yer Huckleberry!!
