The use of Boycotts in Fighting an Oligarchic take over of the US

 Many years ago now a woman named Erica Chenoweth decided to do a thesis on the effectiveness of violence vs non-violence based upon the study of civil wars.   She thought violence would be more effective and was surprised to see that non-violence was.   She went on to study how dictators are overthrown.  She discovered there to her surprise again, that it only took 3% of the population protested the dictator...although they had to be consistently in the street over a prolonged period of time - they could overthrow him!  She also found that the most effective movements did not rely too heavily on one tactic but used a variety of tactics that escalated over time.

This resonates for me with a long held frustration with US protest movements that they rely almost exclusively on marches and rallies with a slight peppering of civil disobedience.   A movement leader, George Lakey, has often lamented that US movements try to get by on one off events (like rally's and marches instead of building a campaign with a strategy over time.  And sadly many movement leaders do not even know what that means to build a campaign.  (Histories of the Civil Rights movement are very instructive in terms of the strategy and many steps that were planned for in each campaign.)  I have often lamented that Americans are taught in public school that the only way to effect political change is through Congress.   So we write our Congress and then don't know what to do.   This is sadly evident right now during a crisis of democracy where the phones are ringing off the hook in DC and there are some protest rally's happening...and yet mostly people are sitting in silent horror.

So this is a clarion call to ask you to start understanding the difference between protest and resistance and that it will take organized campaigns of resistance to stop this fascist coup.  We must stop acting like this is just a bad presidential election outcome, or that we just have to make it two years to an imagined next election.   We must actively try to stop the destruction of our democracy and resist by not giving our cooperation to any of the evil.  One such kind of tactic which can be organized into a campaign with goals and timetables is Boycott.

By now it is fairly well known that a loose coalition of groups called 50501 have called first for a President's day protest, then a day of no spending on Feb 28th (which was again a one off and not as effective as needed) and now for a longer week of boycott against  Amazon this week March 7th to the 14th.   This to be followed by a week long (March 21- 28th) black out of Nestle  (know of old for things like selling poisoned baby formula in 3rd world countries) and then April 7th thru the 14th of  Walmart (whose family wealth if combined would make them wealthier than Musk.) and then April 21st thru April 28th of General Mills.  (They are not just a cereal company....look for the extensive list of food companies they own.)

Now given the information at the beginning of this post - why this strategy?                           Essentially we have had an oligarchic take over - it may look like the Republican Party took over to some- but as Musk's role in this and the attendance of all the top Billionaire's to the inauguration makes very clear - the rich are now running this country and the policies that are being made are for their advantage and no one else's.   (The cutting of medicaid to make a tax break for the rick also frames that very clearly.)   We cannot vote out of office the megalomaniac Millionaires running Congress or the White House.   But we can refuse to participate in their wealth machines.  This is how you vote against them with your wallet!

Is this strategy effective?

While the corporately controlled media many failed to report on the outcomes of these boycotts here is some information.  

The WA Post lost 17% of its readership after it came out that Bezos (its owner) squashed their editorial endorsement of Kamala Harris.

After a bunch of companies dropped their Diversity and Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies a boycott of Target was held for dropping theirs (I did not feel this was entirely fair since many companies had done this and Target had been more robust previously than many places that had no policy to drop) None the less they lost $15 billion in stocks due to that (before the whole stock market started dropping.)  But the point is the boycott made its impact.

Tesla soared as Trump came to office and Musk gained power - but once it became clear how evil Musk is, protests started at his stores and people started trying to sell their Tesla's - the value of the used Tesla dropped, but the stock is down 43% since the beginning of the year.  See chart below.  And this is all mostly not from an organized campaign but from people hating him.  Granted as the richest man in the world he is not probably feeling it yet...but let's keep it up.  He is feeling the political problem of it.

The Guardian reported on Feb 18th that 24% of Americans had already reported shifts in where they bought things based upon politics

The day long boycott:  The traditional media did not even cover the out come at all. But Amazon who was included since everything was - saw an up to 19% drop, Forbes (of all things) reported Target's web traffic was down 9% that day and in stores shoppers down 11%.  Also a poll of customers reported that 16% said they participated in the day of boycott - which would mean 40 million people nationally!  The People are just getting started.  People are getting madder and madder and looking for things to do and the word is just getting out.

Right now the Amazon week long boycott is in full swing.  I know many people now think it impossible to get things without Amazon.  As someone who has boycotted them almost entirely from their beginning, I assure you it IS possible to live without them!  You can usually go straight to the manufacturer's site to order, or find another alternative and it feels so much better!

In the process of writing this post I found this amazing website: https://shophowyouvote.com/

You can click on any kind of good or service and see who those companies gave to - Dems or Republicans.   I clicked for example on rental cars...and found it is probably better not to rent a car because the best it gets is Avis, Budget or Payless.  They each gave 51% Democratic but 49% Republican.  The others were all heavily Republican.  

Is it somewhat time consuming to look this up...well yes but once you know it you know it.  I have known since 2016 that Home Depot heavily supported Trump and Lowes did not, so I have been shopping Lowes since.   I don't have to keep looking it up. It is a new habit.   Get in the habit of non cooperating with those who oppress us!

What Should we Do?

 Right after the election the argument on the Progressive Left was how bad is it going to be?  Some folks thought it would just be another bad 4 years of Republicans.  Others felt it was going to be the end of Democracy.   Many felt it would be the implementation of the 2025 Project.  Pretty much everyone I know is saying "This is worse than I thought it would be".   Worse because while we could easily see that there was going to be a push to round up immigrants, pardon Jan 6th offenders, go after political enemies, persecute LBGQT folks and roll back environmental programs....I don't think most people expected the pace or the wide range of bizarre things peppered on top (The Gulf of America, the claim for Canada to be the 51st state, the creation of DOGE with an unelected and not congressionally confirmed Musk at its head).  

But as has been pointed out by many at this point, that is the point of shock and awe.  On a recent Friday just two weeks into the new administration, Trump had at that time made 50 Presidential orders.  The group was asked how many orders they guessed he had made?  The guesses ranged from 75 to most people guessing 200 or more all the way up to someone saying 500.  I was fascinated that no one underguessed, and that it felt so huge to us.   This speaks to how the shock and awe is actually working.  Everyone I meet says they are overwhelmed and exhausted.   This of course is because the assault is not limited to executive orders, it is also the parade of horrible cabinet appointments and the stream of threats and bizarre untrue claims.

If one thinks about the classic stages of grief: the first is denial, numbness, shock and the second is bargaining.   All of us who have wanted to believe he would not win or that what was to come would not be "that bad" have operated in denial.  Many of us are just frozen right now - exhibiting classical numbness and shock - like an animal frozen in the road as a car hurdles toward it.  Those who are arguing we can just pull this back in two years at mid terms or that "we have survived 4 years of Trump before" are operating in bargaining. it is important to cry hard enough for the country you once had that you can face present and fight for a country you want.

I have written previously about my advise to folks to limit their news consumption because the media is like a dog with a squirrel - all stories are given equal attention and they are running all over in frenzy and if you run with them you also are in a frenzy.  This creates the feels of overwhelm and hopelessness and numb disbelief.   It further disempowers and takes us into the frozen state.  I have recently asked two activist groups (most of whom were consuming news) to list signs of resistance or things that were hopeful.   Mostly they could not do it.  Oddly I who was limiting my news intake could.  It was because I had not swamped my own boat.  Also it is important to dismiss no piece of good news because the overall picture is still bad.  Each piece matters and if they grow they start to impact the outcome.

What I think is helpful is to limit yourself to essential information so that you can focus and resist.  So what is essential?   It is not useful or important to know about the drama that continually surrounds Trump.  As you select stories to read - read the ones that matter to the maintenance of Democracy.  What we must keep our eyes on are what are the actions that dismantle democracy and move the US towards fascisms?  As Erica Chenowith, historian of non-violent overthrows has already stated: 

Among the most urgent work in a moment of potential backsliding is to both protect the most vulnerable people from direct harm, while also upholding the rule of law. If you don’t defend the rule of law, you lose it, and the terrain becomes much more uncertain and treacherous. Most urgently, this means filing suit against every move that appears to be illegal and/or unconstitutional. We are seeing some of this happening already with regard to the executive orders and some of the firings of inspectors general, etc., but many more such cases would be needed for the federal courts to fully exercise their authority to contain executive power.

So we need to keep paying attention to action that are unconstitutional (not simply annoying or inhumane) and bring them to courts as well as the court of the people - which means our noncooperation with that which is illegal and immoral.  

It is helpful to stay remembering that because of the number of people in the US who are not registered voters (27%) and the people registered who did not vote - Trump only won 1/3 of the US adult population.   We need to keep remembering that we the disaffected are actually the majority and then act like it.  We need to keep remembering a vision of a society where Democracy functions fully, where people are treated humanly and like they matter and we need to keep acting for that society.

We need to disobey orders that are illegal or immoral to hurt other people be they immigrants, or LBGQT folks or BIPOC groups. We need to form circles of mutual support that extend resources to those who are being targeted and are suffering.  We need to not cooperate in things like the call for Federal works to resign.  We need to support verbally and if need be with protest the brave judges and other US officials who are doing the jobs that they are appointed and elected to do!  If you have the means support the lawsuits that are challenging illegal actions.   Study quickly the history of fascism and non-violent resistance throughout history.  Know that throughout history the uprising of the people has removed dictators from power.  Show up for upcoming boycotts and general strikes.  This is part of how people have brought down dictators before. 

The history of Nazi Germany shows that from the time Hitler took power there were repercussions against those who opposed him.  But the early repercussions were firings or brief arrests.   By the end his power and control was so great people were terrified to oppose him because the penalty by then for opposition was death.   In short it is better to oppose in the beginning.   The people of Germany had no way to know what was coming so it was way to easy to enter into denial and not step out of one's comfort zones.   But we have the benefit of history to know what horrors can still come - it is essential therefore that people come together quickly in unity and act promptly to curb his power before steps like the disbanding of Congress occur or the prohibition of 2026 elections.

The third stage of grief is depression.  Many of us are very very depressed right now.  That also keeps us from action.  The best antidote to depression is action, because it aligns us with hope.   Do not sit alone with this.  Find the other people trying to change our country and roll up your sleeves.

Among the most urgent work in a moment of potential backsliding is to both protect the most vulnerable people from direct harm, while also upholding the rule of law. If you don’t defend the rule of law, you lose it, and the terrain becomes much more uncertain and treacherous. Most urgently, this means filing suit against every move that appears to be illegal and/or unconstitutional. We are seeing some of this happening already with regard to the executive orders and some of the firings of inspectors general, etc., but many more such cases would be needed for the federal courts to fully exercise their authority to contain executive power.

Federal Workers Resist and Persist

 

Dear Federal Worker:

Don’t do it.  Don’t take the Federal buy out!  Don’t fire yourself..

Since the McCarthy era there have been federal laws established prohibiting loyalty oaths, and public servants are non-partisan, and serve the public not a party.  Trump knows he cannot legally fire you. Instead, he is trying to get you to leave now, to self select if you are someone who would refuse to follow a dictator.  He is the one that said he would be a dictator on Day One and now we see that in action..   The Weimar Republic was a democracy in Germany before Hitler disbanded the legislature and made all public servants serve the agenda of his new fascist government.  This is the best moment in time to try to stop that outcome!

Please think about the tasks and goals of your current position.  Our society would suffer deeply if there were not people doing the many things that Federal workers are doing.  What would happen if no one were doing those essential tasks?  There is no guarantee your position will be filled, as part of the goal of the Project 2025 is to disband government.  Trump repeatedly denied he knew about it, but that was clearly not true.  You doing important work and are needed.  We, the citizens, need you to stay.

You maybe asking yourself the ethical question: “Could I carry out what he wants done?”   Since none of us have a crystal ball that is unknowable.  Remember this is not your last chance to quit.  You never have to do anything immoral or illegal, and please don’t!  But it is possible that after this “buyout” situation is over that your department will be ignored for a while or forever – that really he is just trying to ensure loyalty.  Don’t leave and don’t stop making ethical and legal decisions.

By not cooperating with his attempt to eliminate US Federal government by not leaving, you also have the potential to resist from within.   There are legendary tales of low-rank to high-ranking clerks and officials within the Nazi government who subverted and saved lives from within the government.  If you stay and resist, yes that may end in being fired.  I am asking you to serve our country right now by staying and trying to provide the services we so desperately need.

You may also be trying to figure out how you would earn a living to provide for yourself and your family in this trying situation?   Many of you have very specialized bodies of knowledge, not easily translatable to general society.  Another reason to stay.   It may seem very tempting to be offered such a long “severance package” and to not have to work during that time.  But my own US Senator, Patty Murray has had to write to constituents pointing out that they cannot believe the word of the President.  She points out he has a long history of stiffing workers and lying to people.  Most compellingly the government is currently only funded thru the end of March, and while that is likely to be extended again, at this moment he cannot with assurance make such a promise.  Additionally, US law caps buyouts at $25,000.   So you must decide your career and income decisions in the face of sheer chaos and disorder being created by the Trump administration.

Senate leader Mitch McConnell famously said of house leader Elizabeth Warren when she was doing something he did not want: “and yet never the less she persisted…”   I ask you in the name of WE the People…please persist.

 

Resisting Fascism

Since Nov 3rd I have not been consuming the news.  It does not mean I don't know what is going on.  I probably still know more than many people who watch news.  I am far too connected to activists to not know.   But I want to report it is helping me keep my sanity.   For years I have not consumed tv news because it is presented with way too much drama.  I have chosen instead to just skim headlines and click on articles I was interested in.   I know right now that my nervous system cannot handle even the headlines.   But I am not living with my head in the sand.  On the evening of inauguration day I googled and thus zeroed in on an article that listed what Trump's Executive orders are.   I knew I did need to know that, and I do know.

I want to share what I have discovered by living this way.  I have discovered that there is an amazing way to take back our own power.  That I am in charge of who I allow to crank my chain, and what level of outrage I choose to engage.  I liken it to non violent resistance in the form of non compliance.   I am not complying with Trump's shock and awe plan.  I am not giving him any of the power to create despair and disempowerment for me.   This is not a platform for me to check out and live in privilege and unaffected.  Even those who normally live checked out and did not vote WILL be effected by this administration.  It is a method to preserve my energy and power in order to resist. I still have the same moral responsibility to help those in harms ways that those watching the news have.

I do not feel I need to pay attention to his insane nominations of incompetent and hateful people ill equipped for the cabinet seats they are being appointed to.   I already know they will be a group of Nazi's whose loyalty to him is their main qualifying characteristic.  So largely it makes no difference - we are not going to get a good Nazi out of the process.  It is more important to focus on how we will oppose the actions they take.

I initially the day after the election felt very powerless in the face of a Congress captured by Republican's along side the Presidency and the knowledge that the Supreme Court was already packed.  However, the following significant statistics have come to my attention.  Biden was able to place as many judges on the lower court Federal benches as Trump did in his previous term, and then there is also all the Obama judges, so at this point there is a much higher percentage of Democratically appointed lower court judges.  The Supreme Court can only take a relatively small number (but important cases) per year.   So most cases end with the decision of the appellate courts.  For this reason EarthJustice won 85% of their cases against Trump, and the Center for Biological diversity reports winning 9 out of 10 of their cases during those years.   The then attorney general of WA sued Trump 99 times.  Only 57 of those cases have been decided and Ferguson's team won 55 of those 57.    So in short because Trump keeps doing illegal and unconstitutional things he does wind up losing.   Is this still a huge waste of time and money from our side?  Yes, but it does work.

But I was also reminded by a unionist that the public itself, in public protest and non-cooperation is also a check against abuse of power.   We have already seen this in Trump's insane 1 day cancellation of all Federal Grants.  This effected so many things (one account I saw said 1/3 of all Federal dollars) that the out cry was immediate, intense and crossed party lines and within 24 hours and on the heels of lawsuits he rescinded it.   Mainly the significant lesson of that moment is he can be stopped by the public.  This unionist reminded me of the power of a country wide strike (think Korea).   If he does something egregious enough that a country wide strike happens...he does not then hold power.

There is a war going on right now for our psyche's.   Trump is trying to do shock and awe.  To come in with so many big and awful things as to overwhelm us and deflate us and make us feel powerless.  This is the same as what domestic violence perpetrators do to their partners.  So the partner will stop fighting and comply.   So it is big work to stay in your own head space and keep your own spirits up.

I am working on keeping my vision for the society I want.  Not surrendering it to some small and sad and hateful version of the world being offered by MAGA.  I am trying to align my energy with that and as much as is humanly possible non-cooperate with the new Oligarchical order.  This means I am trying to figure out how to not use companies like Amazon, or Tesla or other companies that give profit to megalomaniacs.

Other Suggestions:

Work on local issues which also matter but where you may have more power.

Reach out to provide aid (resources or emotional support) to groups who are targeted.

Do things and create events that life people's spirits and empower them.

Be careful about what you watch - look for things that remind you of the goodness and resilience of the human spirit!

Community build like mad.  We need to rest in each other's love right now.  To engage in dance, music, art, comedy, nature, and spirituality....all things that fill and nourish the spirit.

How to misuse Testimonies

 The reason Quaker's call them testimonies and not creeds is because we believe in continuing revelation.  We hold up our testimonies as the truth as we know it so far, with the idea that God can reveal the Truth anew to us or in a new way - that our understanding of the truth can evolve.   So you would think that we would hold the testimonies lightly.

And yet - I moved to a city where Friends were in deep conflict about an issue before the Meeting.  Increasingly sides were be taken and each side could point to certain testimonies and say how those should be carried out by certain actions the meeting should take.   In short we had thoughts and feelings about the testimonies!  And so did I.  But my "idea" was to take  a third way - to not get caught up in conflict - to find a bridge across the differences.  (Thus making me unpopular with both groups.)  The Meeting eventually split over this issue and at least a dozen people left...myself included.  In the end I was not mad because one side or the other prevailed (In fact neither side prevailed - the issue sort of collapsed in exhaustion - aided by a pandemic imposed separation from personal contact on Sundays.)  For me I left in despair of realizing that in all the side taking we had not asked:  "What does God say?  What are we hearing from Spirit".  It was as if we held a big fight and did not invite the Divine.

I am sort of amazed at this slippery slope - how easily our thoughts about our beliefs can take us out of our belief - out of the continuous seeking Spirit and divine revelation.  I am bemused that the Buddhist practice of mindfulness is to watch the "monkey mind" and all its tricks it plays on us.

This is what a blue wave looks like under gerrymandering

 I am sick and tired of the pundits prattle.  Of the remarks that it was not the red wave that was predicted or that the Dems did better than expected.  I am dismayed by the sort of sigh of relief of progressives that it was not the shellacking they feared.  I am tired of the sort of business as usual "live to fight another day" attitude that assumes "well maybe better next time" - as if we just have two more years to suffer though the grid lock we have already had for two years.  (While both Trump and Biden signal their intentions to run again in 2024 potentially setting us up to live in a perpetual rerunning nightmare where Trump never leaves the newswaves, where a landslide is referred to as a stolen election and where one of two elderly white men continue to run our country.)

This prattle incorrectly fails to identify that this was a blue wave - it was a blue wave under severe gerrymandering.   If one looks at how close so many individual races were, it is clear that without the gerrymandering that took blue districts and divided them between two and sometimes even 7 neighboring districts to bury the votes of people of color, youth and suburban women, that the Republicans would not have even the house.

I am concerned that progressives seem to believe that we have a good chance two years from now to have a different outcome.  There seems to be a failure to understand that between stacked courts, redistricting that happened after the 2020 census and a 40 year plan on the part of the Koch brothers and their think tanks...the game can in fact be too fixed to ever again be "won".

The Koch think tanks have been planning for decades.  They planned to slowly take over statehouses, (check), to use wedge issues (check), to interfere with Democratic appointment of Judges (check), and to stack the Supreme Court so there would be no where to go for relief, (check).  All of this was designed to make it so that after the 2020 Census, they would control enough statehouses to gerrymander enough states as to ensure a permanent Republican advantage.   Their plan was not concerned about who would be the Republican President or who would get elected under this plan, as it was assumed that all members of the Republican party favor big business over the little guy.  It seemed certain an oligarchy could be accomplished.

What they never could have imagined, and has been a great fly in their ointment, is Donald Trump.  Who would have imagined in the 80's or 90's or 00's that a bad businessman, a reality tv star, and a person with narcissistic personality disorder could run for President and win?  Remember they tried pretty hard in the beginning of the 2016 primary race to tip it for a Bush, Cruz or Rubio (really anyone familiar and typical).  But when he won the nomination, I think the Republicans still thought he could be their puppet.  (They did not know that Putin had already claimed puppetmaster.)  They simply could not imagine the kinds of irrational and counterproductive decisions that a narcissist makes to serve their own ego.  They could not have imagined that he would both eliminate all competition for 2020 and also lose the election because of his poor performance as president! 

They briefly thought they would then be rid of him in the way it has worked throughout history that the losing figure recedes into obscurity.  But again they did not count on the sort of desperate personality disordered behavior that would lead him to encourage seditionists to over throw the government.  On Jan 7th 2021 they briefly stepped back from him thinking this time he had gone too far, and they would be rid of him.  However, when the media did not immediately condemn him, they had already learned that to fail to back him could mean political ruin.  Thus they stayed loyal to him, swallowing hard on the new party line that the election had been stolen.  They privately worried about his pushing this rather than solid policy for the mid-terms and bit their tongues as he picked incompetent men for the mid terms simply for their willingness to kiss his ring.   But only now as this has lost them the House are they beginning to step away from him.

So Trump has sort of screwed up the great Koch think tank plan.  The Republican elected in 2020 was supposed to be easily re-elected.  The Supreme court had already been delivered. The Gerrymandering was supposed to assure that in 2022 he would have everything he needed in the way of complete control of all three branches of government, and any other additional rules could be changed to assure that a Democrat would never win again.   Except Trump is so hated that we had a blue wave in 2020 bringing in Biden and a thin majority for him.  But the Republican control was great enough to mostly block Biden's agenda so he simply looks in effective and his ratings have dropped.   Yes still the blue wave came out to stop Trumps minions from getting elected in the midterm.

The problem of course as the fan of any team that never wins can tell you - over time people stop coming out as they sense the impossibility of winning.  So 2024 is not in my opinion simply the next election season.  To have any effective strategy at all, the Democrats are going to need to start naming that the game has been fixed.

Integrity

 Recently I was invited in worship sharing to visit the topic of Integrity.   Most of my Quaker life this has seemed  very straightforward Quaker topic.  I have felt quite clear about the importance of telling the truth and found it pretty easy to tell the truth.  I have listened to the Quaker imperative to tell truth to power and even found that fairly easy to do.

However I saw in this round of queries that living in a country that has been plunged into a crisis about truth by 4 years plus after shade of a President who has told a record number of lies and who responds to being caught in a lie by telling another one, has worn on all of us.  Between him and the Fox news propaganda machine ideas like "alternative facts" that at first seemed like a bad joke to me have become sadly quite common place situations in our polarized country. We are not all looking at the same facts or even the same sources of information.  In a country that has never really achieved scientific literacy we seem unclear about how you test something for truth.  

I also recently listened to a podcast that talked about confirmation bias and how when something questions our position we dig in tougher on it - so that means right now a very polarized country.  Even as certain very damning facts come out about the former Presidents illegal behavior I despair that it will not cause reevaluation of his behavior but dig some folks in even deeper.  I despair that if a fact cannot uproot a lie, how will wed uproot the conspiracy lies and mythologies that have a solid hold on 1/3 of our country?

But I also see that someone I have respected has put forth the idea that we do not own oppressive systems the truth - especially if they will only use it to further the oppression.   I think of how in Nazi countries Jews were required to register.  Most obeyed because they were being truthful.   But the ones who did not tell the truth to the authorities were the ones mostly that survived.  What is the truth in the hands of those who do not serve the truth?

I also have reviewed with much sadness the numerous times I have told groups of people/institutions truths that I knew they were not happy to hear, but that I believed it would serve the group to know or improve itself - only to see that this was received with anger, disregard or actual persecution.  I am realizing this is another one of my "internalized Quakerism" traits that outside of Quakerism is not expected or well received.   I think it still makes sense to testify to the Truth - to make public testimony to the truth of the Arms race, Climate Change, sexism and racism.   And I am rock solid clear that to tell an untruth when it would cause wrong things to happen is unacceptable.  To tell a lie to cover my own bad choice or make me look good is also not ok.  But I am questioning whether it makes sense to tell people who don't want to hear it that the way we run our organization is not effective, or has unintended consequences or wastes money, etc. etc. if that serves any question.  Does it make sense to give "true feedback" when it is unwanted feedback?