The General Strike
March 22, 2025 8:13 PM Subscribe
Can non-USians do anything to help?
posted by ginger.beef at 8:54 PM on March 22
posted by ginger.beef at 8:54 PM on March 22
Can non-USians do anything to help?
I expect you could donate. Or spread the word.
posted by NotLost at 9:13 PM on March 22
I expect you could donate. Or spread the word.
posted by NotLost at 9:13 PM on March 22
And thanks for asking!
posted by NotLost at 9:34 PM on March 22 [2 favorites]
posted by NotLost at 9:34 PM on March 22 [2 favorites]
I would be very wary of signing up for any protest action. Just protest, just show up, do not put your name on a list.
posted by azpenguin at 9:54 PM on March 22 [55 favorites]
posted by azpenguin at 9:54 PM on March 22 [55 favorites]
This https://generalstrikeus.com/ seems to be a more grassroots, radical effort.
Also see: https://inthesetimes.com/article/may-day-2028-general-strike-working-class
...and https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2024/09/will-there-be-a-general-strike-on-may-day2028.html
posted by johnabbe at 9:54 PM on March 22 [3 favorites]
Also see: https://inthesetimes.com/article/may-day-2028-general-strike-working-class
...and https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2024/09/will-there-be-a-general-strike-on-may-day2028.html
posted by johnabbe at 9:54 PM on March 22 [3 favorites]
This https://generalstrikeus.com/ seems to be a more grassroots, radical effort.
That's the home page for the OP.
posted by NotLost at 10:01 PM on March 22 [7 favorites]
That's the home page for the OP.
posted by NotLost at 10:01 PM on March 22 [7 favorites]
✊
posted by Phssthpok at 10:34 PM on March 22 [1 favorite]
posted by Phssthpok at 10:34 PM on March 22 [1 favorite]
My only concern is - what stops anyone from signing up, and then backing out the day of ?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:39 PM on March 22
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:39 PM on March 22
Oh my fucking god, do not sign a "strike card" with your real information on a site made by "two friends living in New York City". Where are they storing that data? Who is going to have access? The site doesn't even have a privacy policy. You might as well hang a big neon sign over your head saying "feds, come harass me now!"
posted by adrienneleigh at 10:55 PM on March 22 [122 favorites]
posted by adrienneleigh at 10:55 PM on March 22 [122 favorites]
Yeah, these folks might have good intentions but this feels verrrrry thin, verrrry off.
posted by Going To Maine at 12:07 AM on March 23 [8 favorites]
posted by Going To Maine at 12:07 AM on March 23 [8 favorites]
Should I not be commenting on the whitehouse.gov website then during the 30 day comment period for new regulations then ? Or writing emails to my senators? Because I have to leave my real information there too to be counted as a constituent.
I understand the paranoia but hundreds of thousands of people have signed. You can sign up with just an email (burner email) if you're that paranoid. The government has better things to do than harass (if this is successful) 11 million people who haven't committed a crime. If they are compiling a list of people who disagree with current govt policy but aren't intending to break the law I'm on it already.
Here's the rationale for collecting contact info:
Why do we need 11M strikers?
Research shows that 3.5% of the population striking ensures serious political change.
We need 11M strikers to reach 3.5% of the US population. When we reach 11M signed strike cards we STRIKE !
posted by subdee at 12:38 AM on March 23 [18 favorites]
I understand the paranoia but hundreds of thousands of people have signed. You can sign up with just an email (burner email) if you're that paranoid. The government has better things to do than harass (if this is successful) 11 million people who haven't committed a crime. If they are compiling a list of people who disagree with current govt policy but aren't intending to break the law I'm on it already.
Here's the rationale for collecting contact info:
Why do we need 11M strikers?
Research shows that 3.5% of the population striking ensures serious political change.
We need 11M strikers to reach 3.5% of the US population. When we reach 11M signed strike cards we STRIKE !
posted by subdee at 12:38 AM on March 23 [18 favorites]
> By providing your telephone number and email, you consent to receive calls and text messages.
Even in a less fascistic year, this would be a bad idea. The United States of America is now a fascist state. If you give these people your information, you are telling them to hunt you to extinction. The raw internet has proven itself to be the servant of power, not the servant of the downtrodden.
Be smart. Don't do this.
posted by zirconium_encrusted at 2:25 AM on March 23 [9 favorites]
Even in a less fascistic year, this would be a bad idea. The United States of America is now a fascist state. If you give these people your information, you are telling them to hunt you to extinction. The raw internet has proven itself to be the servant of power, not the servant of the downtrodden.
Be smart. Don't do this.
posted by zirconium_encrusted at 2:25 AM on March 23 [9 favorites]
Oh my god no that's not how it works: You have small protests and use the attention they attract to have larger protests.
A signup sheet is the dumbest thing in the world. Especially for an illegal activity like a general strike. E-super-specially for a general strike in the current condition the US is in, where the leadership is trying to foment the conditions to declare martial law.
This is literally a volunteer list for prison camps. Putting your name on this will get you disappeared.
posted by at by at 2:27 AM on March 23 [11 favorites]
A signup sheet is the dumbest thing in the world. Especially for an illegal activity like a general strike. E-super-specially for a general strike in the current condition the US is in, where the leadership is trying to foment the conditions to declare martial law.
This is literally a volunteer list for prison camps. Putting your name on this will get you disappeared.
posted by at by at 2:27 AM on March 23 [11 favorites]
How Domestic Spying Tools Undermine Racial Justice Protests
The demands are laughably vauge. "Climate action. Gun safety. Tax the rich." Come on. It's barely one step above turning your Facebook profile picture black to prove your solidarity to BLM, except this time you're also risking DOGE "enforcement agents" turning up at your door.
posted by fight or flight at 2:41 AM on March 23 [10 favorites]
In 2015, the Intercept reported that the Department of Homeland Security had been monitoring BLM activities on social media as protests spread from Ferguson, Missouri, across the country after the police killing of Michael Brown. In 2017, the Guardian revealed that undercover New York Police Department officers infiltrated groups of BLM activists protesting the killing by police of Eric Garner, and accessed organizers’ private group texts.From the website linked in the post:
Authorities have also created fake Facebook accounts to gain access to personal networks of civic activists. In 2016 and 2017, the Memphis Police Department allegedly created at least one fake Facebook profile to “friend” racial justice activists and gather information from their public and private posts. In one instance, police collected information from a nonpublic post recommending a book by the activist and political theorist Saul Alinsky—along with names of 58 individuals who simply “liked” the post. Four journalists were among those swept up in this monitoring.
Unfortunately, the federal government can decide to subpoena anyone at any point. We’ve consulted with labor lawyers to create this Subpoena Policy to provide complete transparency and slow down the process long enough to inform all Strike Card signers before the data is shared.Security issues aside, this website says next to nothing about the actual aims and values of the protest. A few sentences about diversity, great. Where's the commitment to unions? What's their plan for strike funds? Do they expect random donations from online nerds to cover bail for strikers who get arrested during actions?
The demands are laughably vauge. "Climate action. Gun safety. Tax the rich." Come on. It's barely one step above turning your Facebook profile picture black to prove your solidarity to BLM, except this time you're also risking DOGE "enforcement agents" turning up at your door.
posted by fight or flight at 2:41 AM on March 23 [10 favorites]
The demand list is overbroad. Quote:
For now, our broad list includes, but is not limited to: Climate action. Universal healthcare. Racial justice. Reproductive rights and women’s rights. LGBTQIA+ rights. Disability rights. Raising the minimum wage to a living wage. Immigration reform. Education reform. Gun safety. Tax the rich. Affordable housing. Welfare and child support reform. Voters rights. Constitutional convention. End corporate personhood and reverse Citizens United. Paid family and medical leave. Criminal justice system reform. Workers’ rights. End foreign militarism. Israeli arms embargo.
Having "constitutional.convention" right in the middle nearby "education reform" is fun. I am sure we can agree on those after the fact!
I will not be signing.
posted by billjings at 4:21 AM on March 23 [14 favorites]
For now, our broad list includes, but is not limited to: Climate action. Universal healthcare. Racial justice. Reproductive rights and women’s rights. LGBTQIA+ rights. Disability rights. Raising the minimum wage to a living wage. Immigration reform. Education reform. Gun safety. Tax the rich. Affordable housing. Welfare and child support reform. Voters rights. Constitutional convention. End corporate personhood and reverse Citizens United. Paid family and medical leave. Criminal justice system reform. Workers’ rights. End foreign militarism. Israeli arms embargo.
Having "constitutional.convention" right in the middle nearby "education reform" is fun. I am sure we can agree on those after the fact!
I will not be signing.
posted by billjings at 4:21 AM on March 23 [14 favorites]
Yes, in this political climate, a constitutional convention would result in untold horrors.
posted by rikschell at 4:27 AM on March 23 [12 favorites]
posted by rikschell at 4:27 AM on March 23 [12 favorites]
Looking at the subpoena policy:
Strike if you want to strike. But don't trust people who want your data and your credit card number before you can sign up to their movement, particularly people who hide their own faces and names behind flashy websites.
posted by fight or flight at 4:55 AM on March 23 [9 favorites]
Upon the receipt of a valid civil subpoena, GSUS will promptly notify the customer whose information is sought via e-mail or U.S. mail. If the circumstances do not amount to an emergency, GSUS will not immediately produce the customer information sought by the subpoena and will provide the customer an opportunity to move to quash the subpoena in court. GSUS reserves the right to charge an administration fee to the customer by charging the Payment Method the customer has on file with GSUS.So not only can they do next to nothing to prevent the subpoena, they will also charge you money if you want to attempt to prevent your data being handed over. They will apparently charge these costs back to the issuer of the subpoena, but there's nothing to say they will then use those fees to pay back the people who signed over their personal information.
Strike if you want to strike. But don't trust people who want your data and your credit card number before you can sign up to their movement, particularly people who hide their own faces and names behind flashy websites.
posted by fight or flight at 4:55 AM on March 23 [9 favorites]
Going to point back to a link johnabbe lut above: May Day 2028
There is a plan in the works to get union contacts to align for May 2028 so that there can be an organized mass strike. Unlike the proposal in the original post, this would provide legal cover and allow time for structure tests and building up strike funds.
A worker striking in the U.S. faces losing their jobs, healthcare, and potentially housing and citizenship. It's a much greater risk than in countries that have more social safety nets. A structure test is when you take a smaller step to see how many people are on your side. For instance, in some workplaces, signing a union card at work makes workers the target of constant harassment and attempts at firing. It's a risk but not as big a risk as a strike. Seeing how many of your coworkers you can get to sign a union card is a structure test that can indicate how much support there would be for a riskier strike.
In general, I am wary of requests for a general strike that don't come from people I know, because I don't know what their level of risk is compared to, say, the single parents or trans workers they are talking to. A retiree or college student telling everyone they should strike is much different from one of your coworkers telling you to strike, because the coworker is sharing the risk.
If someone from outside the U.S. wants to make strikes more likely overall, they can donate to the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee or Labor Notes which both train workers on how to form progressive unions and on how to strike.
posted by tofu_crouton at 4:55 AM on March 23 [20 favorites]
There is a plan in the works to get union contacts to align for May 2028 so that there can be an organized mass strike. Unlike the proposal in the original post, this would provide legal cover and allow time for structure tests and building up strike funds.
A worker striking in the U.S. faces losing their jobs, healthcare, and potentially housing and citizenship. It's a much greater risk than in countries that have more social safety nets. A structure test is when you take a smaller step to see how many people are on your side. For instance, in some workplaces, signing a union card at work makes workers the target of constant harassment and attempts at firing. It's a risk but not as big a risk as a strike. Seeing how many of your coworkers you can get to sign a union card is a structure test that can indicate how much support there would be for a riskier strike.
In general, I am wary of requests for a general strike that don't come from people I know, because I don't know what their level of risk is compared to, say, the single parents or trans workers they are talking to. A retiree or college student telling everyone they should strike is much different from one of your coworkers telling you to strike, because the coworker is sharing the risk.
If someone from outside the U.S. wants to make strikes more likely overall, they can donate to the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee or Labor Notes which both train workers on how to form progressive unions and on how to strike.
posted by tofu_crouton at 4:55 AM on March 23 [20 favorites]
This feels like spreadsheet dorks edging toward rediscovering the labour movement
posted by june_dodecahedron at 4:59 AM on March 23 [14 favorites]
posted by june_dodecahedron at 4:59 AM on March 23 [14 favorites]
I just don't see how we get to where we want to be without taking some risks. You can trace the backers of this semi easily (as easy as anything on the internet), they list affiliated (real) organizations on their website and have working meetings twice a week on discord.
posted by subdee at 5:11 AM on March 23 [3 favorites]
posted by subdee at 5:11 AM on March 23 [3 favorites]
The power of a (truly) general strike comes from the fact that it emerges from working class organisation and self-activity, which can't just be conjured into existence overnight.
You need organisation, skills, and fortitude built up such that the movement permeates and penetrates a huge majority of workplaces across the whole economy. The workers need that fortitude and experience to stick it out through a protracted battle against the ruling class.
Putting together a spreadsheet and a discord doesn't achieve any of that. It's a waste of energy, and demonstrates that the organisers don't have the first clue what they're doing. I sincerely recommend they go look at the history of the actual workers movement to start getting a clue.
posted by june_dodecahedron at 5:38 AM on March 23 [13 favorites]
You need organisation, skills, and fortitude built up such that the movement permeates and penetrates a huge majority of workplaces across the whole economy. The workers need that fortitude and experience to stick it out through a protracted battle against the ruling class.
Putting together a spreadsheet and a discord doesn't achieve any of that. It's a waste of energy, and demonstrates that the organisers don't have the first clue what they're doing. I sincerely recommend they go look at the history of the actual workers movement to start getting a clue.
posted by june_dodecahedron at 5:38 AM on March 23 [13 favorites]
This is literally a volunteer list for prison camps. Putting your name on this will get you disappeared.
I agree that people should use caution when signing up for things in these times, but maybe asserting that writing your name on an internet form will definitely result in you getting kidnapped by the state is a level of certainty and hyperbole that is unhelpful.
posted by entropone at 5:39 AM on March 23 [39 favorites]
I agree that people should use caution when signing up for things in these times, but maybe asserting that writing your name on an internet form will definitely result in you getting kidnapped by the state is a level of certainty and hyperbole that is unhelpful.
posted by entropone at 5:39 AM on March 23 [39 favorites]
their abbreviation is G-SUS? exactly
posted by kokaku at 5:44 AM on March 23 [1 favorite]
posted by kokaku at 5:44 AM on March 23 [1 favorite]
maybe asserting that writing your name on an internet form will definitely result in you getting kidnapped by the state
French scientist denied US entry after phone messages critical of Trump found.
French scientist denied US entry after phone messages critical of Trump found.
Another AFP source said that US authorities accused the French researcher of “hateful and conspiratorial messages”. He was reportedly also informed of an FBI investigation, but told that “charges were dropped” before being expelled.Trump calls arrest of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil ‘first of many to come’.
He added: “Many are not students, they are paid agitators. We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country – never to return again. If you support terrorism, including the slaughtering of innocent men, women, and children, your presence is contrary to our national and foreign policy interests, and you are not welcome here. We expect every one of America’s Colleges and Universities to comply.”posted by fight or flight at 6:03 AM on March 23 [8 favorites]
This is literally a volunteer list for prison camps.
Great to see informed and thoughtful discussion here on the blue.
posted by SaltySalticid at 6:08 AM on March 23 [10 favorites]
Great to see informed and thoughtful discussion here on the blue.
posted by SaltySalticid at 6:08 AM on March 23 [10 favorites]
Also seems like a lot of y'all have already signed up to obey in advance and we had a whole FPP recently about how that was a bad idea.
posted by SaltySalticid at 6:14 AM on March 23 [8 favorites]
posted by SaltySalticid at 6:14 AM on March 23 [8 favorites]
it'd be nice if people wouldn't drop into political threads pooh-poohing people for worrying about things that are literally happening, just not to us yet, and historically are not out of the realm of possibilities.
posted by kokaku at 6:19 AM on March 23 [17 favorites]
posted by kokaku at 6:19 AM on March 23 [17 favorites]
Squarespace is the US company that handles both their DNS and their NYC hosting, while shows up as RELIX Inc or Squarespace. RELIX Inc maybe a subsidiary of a British comapny, but imho likely Squarespace servers behind that IP. This doesn't tell us where the backend database servers live, but likely US based since everything else looks like Squarespace.
I've found no web crypto API references while crtl-F-ing view source, nor obvious WASM, so likely no end-to-end encryption here. There is one <form..> element like you'd expect, not sure exactly what it does, but maybe start there if you want to explore more carefully.
Also, there is text that claims "The Strike Card uses a simple Google form to auto-populate an encrypted, spreadsheet" but without the web crypto API, or some crypto implemented in WASM or JS, then you'd expect they send everythinbg unencrypted to Squarespace or even Google, making the enccryption claims likely worthless.
posted by jeffburdges at 6:26 AM on March 23 [5 favorites]
I've found no web crypto API references while crtl-F-ing view source, nor obvious WASM, so likely no end-to-end encryption here. There is one <form..> element like you'd expect, not sure exactly what it does, but maybe start there if you want to explore more carefully.
Also, there is text that claims "The Strike Card uses a simple Google form to auto-populate an encrypted, spreadsheet" but without the web crypto API, or some crypto implemented in WASM or JS, then you'd expect they send everythinbg unencrypted to Squarespace or even Google, making the enccryption claims likely worthless.
posted by jeffburdges at 6:26 AM on March 23 [5 favorites]
Is this general strike site aligning its work with the 2028 effort?
posted by audi alteram partem at 6:29 AM on March 23 [1 favorite]
posted by audi alteram partem at 6:29 AM on March 23 [1 favorite]
Based on their listed partners, no. They do not list any labor groups but list a group that says it works with labor groups.
posted by tofu_crouton at 6:58 AM on March 23 [3 favorites]
posted by tofu_crouton at 6:58 AM on March 23 [3 favorites]
it'd be nice if people wouldn't drop into political threads pooh-poohing people for worrying about things that are literally happening, just not to us yet, and historically are not out of the realm of possibilities.
I think you are responding to me, but also completely misinterpreting what I wrote.
posted by entropone at 7:19 AM on March 23
I think you are responding to me, but also completely misinterpreting what I wrote.
posted by entropone at 7:19 AM on March 23
Political donations and party registration are also matters of public record. My congresspeople want my name and address when I contact them. Publicly outing yourself is the whole point of signing a petition.
People have different risk levels. There are people who have very good reason to be extremely cautious, but there are also millions of Americans in situations that are, at the moment, relatively secure. Telling the people in secure positions to keep their head down and not take any chances is literally advocating for "compliance in advance."
posted by mark k at 7:37 AM on March 23 [17 favorites]
People have different risk levels. There are people who have very good reason to be extremely cautious, but there are also millions of Americans in situations that are, at the moment, relatively secure. Telling the people in secure positions to keep their head down and not take any chances is literally advocating for "compliance in advance."
posted by mark k at 7:37 AM on March 23 [17 favorites]
How long until disrupting any business is decreed terrorism, though. They're already saying it with Elmo's busyness. If your country is ruled by oligarchs, then boycots and strikes are going to be called terrorism.
posted by seanmpuckett at 7:46 AM on March 23 [3 favorites]
posted by seanmpuckett at 7:46 AM on March 23 [3 favorites]
Telling the people in secure positions to keep their head down and not take any chances is literally advocating for "compliance in advance."
You seem to be implying that the only two options are "donate to/support a suspicious looking and insecure site calling for a general strike" and "comply unwaveringly with fascism".
There are plenty of other options when it comes to standing up for your rights and fighting against oligarchy, as tofu_crouton has pointed out, that don't involve giving your personal details to some random dudebros from New York, who may or may not be subpoena'd and have to give evidence of your activism and political support to the fascist government. It is possible to take part in a strike or a protest without talking about it online.
posted by fight or flight at 8:07 AM on March 23 [9 favorites]
You seem to be implying that the only two options are "donate to/support a suspicious looking and insecure site calling for a general strike" and "comply unwaveringly with fascism".
There are plenty of other options when it comes to standing up for your rights and fighting against oligarchy, as tofu_crouton has pointed out, that don't involve giving your personal details to some random dudebros from New York, who may or may not be subpoena'd and have to give evidence of your activism and political support to the fascist government. It is possible to take part in a strike or a protest without talking about it online.
posted by fight or flight at 8:07 AM on March 23 [9 favorites]
> Political donations and party registration are also matters of public record. My congresspeople want my name and address when I contact them. Publicly outing yourself is the whole point of signing a petition.
It is not illegal (as of yet) to join a party or donate to it, to contact a political representative or sign a petition.
A general strike is illegal.
posted by at by at 8:14 AM on March 23 [1 favorite]
It is not illegal (as of yet) to join a party or donate to it, to contact a political representative or sign a petition.
A general strike is illegal.
posted by at by at 8:14 AM on March 23 [1 favorite]
A general strike is illegal.
Please elaborate.
posted by NotLost at 8:24 AM on March 23 [8 favorites]
Please elaborate.
posted by NotLost at 8:24 AM on March 23 [8 favorites]
A general strike is illegal.
Well, everyone could just decide to call in sick or take the day off.
Golden Toilet still has an approval rating in the mid/high 40s, even if those numbers are likely jacked. Mass protests will be both ignored by the corporate media and also viewed as "well of course the Dummycrats hate Trump". Only once his approval rating gets down to 38 or so, and people who voted for him start wanting to protest, will these sorts of actions really move the needle—and probably get a lot of people killed/disappeared, but that's another story. I mean, go on ahead and go to a protest if it helps make you feel not as alone or traumatized; there's nothing wrong with that. But as far as making a real difference goes, this website is both premature and top-down, when protests are only going to be effective if they're organized by working-class voters AND include a lot of people with buyer's remorse, which we've not got to yet. Six months from now? Wouldn't surprise me.
posted by outgrown_hobnail at 8:35 AM on March 23 [1 favorite]
Well, everyone could just decide to call in sick or take the day off.
Golden Toilet still has an approval rating in the mid/high 40s, even if those numbers are likely jacked. Mass protests will be both ignored by the corporate media and also viewed as "well of course the Dummycrats hate Trump". Only once his approval rating gets down to 38 or so, and people who voted for him start wanting to protest, will these sorts of actions really move the needle—and probably get a lot of people killed/disappeared, but that's another story. I mean, go on ahead and go to a protest if it helps make you feel not as alone or traumatized; there's nothing wrong with that. But as far as making a real difference goes, this website is both premature and top-down, when protests are only going to be effective if they're organized by working-class voters AND include a lot of people with buyer's remorse, which we've not got to yet. Six months from now? Wouldn't surprise me.
posted by outgrown_hobnail at 8:35 AM on March 23 [1 favorite]
There are plenty of other options when it comes to standing up for your rights and fighting against oligarchy, as tofu_crouton has pointed out, that don't involve giving your personal details to some random dudebros from New York, who may or may not be subpoena'd and have to give evidence of your activism and political support to the fascist government. It is possible to take part in a strike or a protest without talking about it online.
Cosigned.
Also, organizing things this way, where they don't declare a date until they get [X] number of committed attendees, is doing things bass-ackwards. If I signed on and then eight months later the organizers finally decide "okay! The Strike's gonna be on October [X]" and that's the same date as my mother's 80th birthday, then....they've lost me, and any other striker who has that kind of conflict (and there are bound to be many). So they don't have the numbers they thought they had.
I get that they want to make sure they have the numbers, but at least declaring a GENERAL RANGE of dates would be better - that way people who know that they have commitments on X date can avoid signing up because they already know there's a chance they couldn't make it. Better yet - pick a date and make it a good enough distance in the future that they can now have plenty of time to drum up the numbers.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:39 AM on March 23 [1 favorite]
Cosigned.
Also, organizing things this way, where they don't declare a date until they get [X] number of committed attendees, is doing things bass-ackwards. If I signed on and then eight months later the organizers finally decide "okay! The Strike's gonna be on October [X]" and that's the same date as my mother's 80th birthday, then....they've lost me, and any other striker who has that kind of conflict (and there are bound to be many). So they don't have the numbers they thought they had.
I get that they want to make sure they have the numbers, but at least declaring a GENERAL RANGE of dates would be better - that way people who know that they have commitments on X date can avoid signing up because they already know there's a chance they couldn't make it. Better yet - pick a date and make it a good enough distance in the future that they can now have plenty of time to drum up the numbers.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:39 AM on March 23 [1 favorite]
A general strike is illegal.
Please elaborate.
🎵It's a complicated law
And no one understands it but Big Labor
TAFT!(-Hartley Act of 1947)🎶
posted by gusandrews at 9:23 AM on March 23 [6 favorites]
Please elaborate.
🎵It's a complicated law
And no one understands it but Big Labor
TAFT!(-Hartley Act of 1947)🎶
posted by gusandrews at 9:23 AM on March 23 [6 favorites]
What I don't get is this assertion that a movement has to be grassroots to succeed, and then declaring that this is not grassroots. They are partnered with grassroots organizations. They are trying to build momentum behind a movement. Like it or not, spreading word on public internet forums is how you reach people these days who aren't connected to labor unions (bc don't have a union job) and aren't plugged into the network of established lefty protest orgs, who in any case aren't advocating for a general strike.
. It is possible to take part in a strike or a protest without talking about it online.
I also fundamentally disagree with this, because for better or worse online is where we ARE. You can do some local protests with people you know personally but for mass protests you need the internet to spread your message. There are millions of people in this country completely disconnected from any kind of grassroots movement or even mainstream orgs like ACLU or indivisible, who have never been to even a legal protest. What's the plan for reaching those people?
I saw the same comments - this is decentralized, I don't trust it, how can we know this isn't a trap - on the first wave of protests organized by 50501. But that was paranoia. Those protests have been getting bigger each time. Isn't this how you build momentum in the first place? People have bought billboard space within a hundred mile radius of DC to advertise the rally on April 5th, I hope it is massive.
A public discord group is the easiest thing in the world to infiltrate, of course you have to be careful. Discord isn't encrypted either so really not the best choice for illegal organizing. But then also think of what this could do for people who haven't organized before, there is possibility there you know? Do some in person smaller legal actions to verify the group is legit, take your organizing from there to another, more secure channel.
So I suppose I agree that this group should run some smaller, legal, test actions to show they are serious and have organizing chops, not just collect signatures for one big action that definitely will happen, trust us bro. But I'm with Mark k, for many people who don't already have targets on their backs just giving your email address is NOT a high risk action.
posted by subdee at 9:25 AM on March 23 [4 favorites]
. It is possible to take part in a strike or a protest without talking about it online.
I also fundamentally disagree with this, because for better or worse online is where we ARE. You can do some local protests with people you know personally but for mass protests you need the internet to spread your message. There are millions of people in this country completely disconnected from any kind of grassroots movement or even mainstream orgs like ACLU or indivisible, who have never been to even a legal protest. What's the plan for reaching those people?
I saw the same comments - this is decentralized, I don't trust it, how can we know this isn't a trap - on the first wave of protests organized by 50501. But that was paranoia. Those protests have been getting bigger each time. Isn't this how you build momentum in the first place? People have bought billboard space within a hundred mile radius of DC to advertise the rally on April 5th, I hope it is massive.
A public discord group is the easiest thing in the world to infiltrate, of course you have to be careful. Discord isn't encrypted either so really not the best choice for illegal organizing. But then also think of what this could do for people who haven't organized before, there is possibility there you know? Do some in person smaller legal actions to verify the group is legit, take your organizing from there to another, more secure channel.
So I suppose I agree that this group should run some smaller, legal, test actions to show they are serious and have organizing chops, not just collect signatures for one big action that definitely will happen, trust us bro. But I'm with Mark k, for many people who don't already have targets on their backs just giving your email address is NOT a high risk action.
posted by subdee at 9:25 AM on March 23 [4 favorites]
for many people who don't already have targets on their backs just giving your email address is NOT a high risk action.
But they don't just want your email address. They want your full name, email, phone number, and zip code. That's enough identifying information to find out just about anything you want to find out about a person. Weren't you all taught in school not to give your details out to strangers on the internet?
If this isn't a fascist honeypot, it's at best a scam. If it isn't a scam, it's at best a poorly thought out idea that's encouraging people to make themselves vulnerable in ways they might not fully understand.
Again, this is not the only option out there. There are probably plenty of local organisations readying action near you. Join a union. Get to know your neighbours. You don't have to go running straight to these guys just because they posted on reddit about it. Be smart about it.
posted by fight or flight at 9:41 AM on March 23 [13 favorites]
But they don't just want your email address. They want your full name, email, phone number, and zip code. That's enough identifying information to find out just about anything you want to find out about a person. Weren't you all taught in school not to give your details out to strangers on the internet?
If this isn't a fascist honeypot, it's at best a scam. If it isn't a scam, it's at best a poorly thought out idea that's encouraging people to make themselves vulnerable in ways they might not fully understand.
Again, this is not the only option out there. There are probably plenty of local organisations readying action near you. Join a union. Get to know your neighbours. You don't have to go running straight to these guys just because they posted on reddit about it. Be smart about it.
posted by fight or flight at 9:41 AM on March 23 [13 favorites]
I object to a link that says "via r/fednews" going anywhere other than reddit. In fact, searching for "General Strike" on r/fednews yields no results.
So not only is https://generalstrikeus.com/strikecard shady, so is this thread.
posted by hypnogogue at 10:24 AM on March 23 [7 favorites]
So not only is https://generalstrikeus.com/strikecard shady, so is this thread.
posted by hypnogogue at 10:24 AM on March 23 [7 favorites]
A general strike is illegal.
Please elaborate.
🎵It's a complicated law
And no one understands it but Big Labor
TAFT!(-Hartley Act of 1947)🎶
I am not a lawyer, but going by what Wikipedia sez, the Taft Hartley Act defines a general strike in a very specific way, and consequently the public understanding of this has changed.
To sort-of steelman the site, the community is clearly active, the project dates back some time, and it has some kind of backing from online folks. The above comment about this being internet dorks reinventing the labor movement is exactly right. But at least for me and many other mid-tier Americans, the idea of joining a union is so alien to us that we have no idea how to go about it. A general strike is romantic and powerful.
Anyhoo, that’s my expanded take. I also think the demands are overly vague, the security seems weak, and if you want to do a focused action you can go to a Tesla Takedown protest today without having to sign your name to anything.
posted by Going To Maine at 10:29 AM on March 23 [4 favorites]
Please elaborate.
🎵It's a complicated law
And no one understands it but Big Labor
TAFT!(-Hartley Act of 1947)🎶
I am not a lawyer, but going by what Wikipedia sez, the Taft Hartley Act defines a general strike in a very specific way, and consequently the public understanding of this has changed.
To sort-of steelman the site, the community is clearly active, the project dates back some time, and it has some kind of backing from online folks. The above comment about this being internet dorks reinventing the labor movement is exactly right. But at least for me and many other mid-tier Americans, the idea of joining a union is so alien to us that we have no idea how to go about it. A general strike is romantic and powerful.
Anyhoo, that’s my expanded take. I also think the demands are overly vague, the security seems weak, and if you want to do a focused action you can go to a Tesla Takedown protest today without having to sign your name to anything.
posted by Going To Maine at 10:29 AM on March 23 [4 favorites]
Both true at once:
1) In any serious general strike, the strike itself is the tip of the iceberg. To be in any way sustainable, the work stoppage goes along with social solidarity, mutual support, and the construction of parallel systems to provide essential supplies and services to community members. Popping your name into a form ain't that.
2) The level of panicky fear in threads like this can get real, real high. We're facing risks of grave possible harms, some of us more than others. Our opponents impose risk in order to instill fear: widespread fear is the mechanism of control. Anxious anticipatory fear is selling our compliance too cheap. Make them do the work to break you.
I would personally estimate the risk of putting my info in this as lower than other things I've already chosen to do. There's data on my presently-legal actions already. But I also estimate the benefit as low enough that I won't, because it's such an atomized action in a plan that looks amateur. Still, if people do and they join this Discord and they get into some things, great!
posted by away for regrooving at 10:30 AM on March 23 [17 favorites]
1) In any serious general strike, the strike itself is the tip of the iceberg. To be in any way sustainable, the work stoppage goes along with social solidarity, mutual support, and the construction of parallel systems to provide essential supplies and services to community members. Popping your name into a form ain't that.
2) The level of panicky fear in threads like this can get real, real high. We're facing risks of grave possible harms, some of us more than others. Our opponents impose risk in order to instill fear: widespread fear is the mechanism of control. Anxious anticipatory fear is selling our compliance too cheap. Make them do the work to break you.
I would personally estimate the risk of putting my info in this as lower than other things I've already chosen to do. There's data on my presently-legal actions already. But I also estimate the benefit as low enough that I won't, because it's such an atomized action in a plan that looks amateur. Still, if people do and they join this Discord and they get into some things, great!
posted by away for regrooving at 10:30 AM on March 23 [17 favorites]
I get that we need political change, but are there specific demands (or will there be)?
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 12:07 PM on March 23
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 12:07 PM on March 23
//I would be very wary of signing up for any protest action. Just protest, just show up, do not put your name on a list.
posted by azpenguin
Conversely, if everyone is on the list, the information value is neutralized. Cambridge Analytica already has your number
posted by eustatic at 12:14 PM on March 23 [2 favorites]
posted by azpenguin
Conversely, if everyone is on the list, the information value is neutralized. Cambridge Analytica already has your number
posted by eustatic at 12:14 PM on March 23 [2 favorites]
The government has better things to do than harass
I have bad news for you
posted by Jon Mitchell at 1:31 PM on March 23 [6 favorites]
I have bad news for you
posted by Jon Mitchell at 1:31 PM on March 23 [6 favorites]
I mean, ok, that’s glib, but the government has been very active in what are clearly low-priority/low-result efforts purely in the name of either reducing trust, causing fear, or just plain pettiness & personal grievance, so I don’t think you can rule anything out on the grounds of “any rational person, even if evil, would not waste their time on this”
posted by Jon Mitchell at 1:34 PM on March 23 [4 favorites]
posted by Jon Mitchell at 1:34 PM on March 23 [4 favorites]
You seem to be implying that the only two options are "donate to/support a suspicious looking and insecure site calling for a general strike" and "comply unwaveringly with fascism"
At the same time, it’s also possible to think that this is a fundamentally sketchy setup and a silly approach to politics without being especially high-risk, and that saying stuff like this
This is literally a volunteer list for prison camps. Putting your name on this will get you disappeared.
about people putting their names on this is functionally fearmongering about putting your name on anything.
posted by atoxyl at 4:28 PM on March 23 [3 favorites]
At the same time, it’s also possible to think that this is a fundamentally sketchy setup and a silly approach to politics without being especially high-risk, and that saying stuff like this
This is literally a volunteer list for prison camps. Putting your name on this will get you disappeared.
about people putting their names on this is functionally fearmongering about putting your name on anything.
posted by atoxyl at 4:28 PM on March 23 [3 favorites]
“Putting your name on this will get you disappeared”.
In a scenario like that, publicly protesting or talking extensively with a neighbor about politics would also get you disappeared. Does that mean that those things are not options anymore? If this is what you think it is, there are risks that the opposition has to be willing to shoulder, including but not limited to imprisonment.
posted by Selena777 at 5:25 PM on March 23 [1 favorite]
In a scenario like that, publicly protesting or talking extensively with a neighbor about politics would also get you disappeared. Does that mean that those things are not options anymore? If this is what you think it is, there are risks that the opposition has to be willing to shoulder, including but not limited to imprisonment.
posted by Selena777 at 5:25 PM on March 23 [1 favorite]
I spent about 10-15 minutes poking around in their discord server, and here are some of my takeaways:
1. These folks are young (20somethings & students, mainly), yes, but there are also a number of professional organizers and some very tech-savvy folks even by MeFi's jaded standards. I don't get the sense that they've ever attempted anything quite this big before, but neither do I get the sense that this is their first rodeo.
2. It's already better-organized than anything I've ever seen Metafilter put together. (...That may not be an especially high bar.) It looks to me like the discord alone spent about a year being organized and put together before being opened to the public.
3. Right now, there's a lot of well-intentioned enthusiasm, concern about proper process, and very inchoate goals. To me: big big flashbacks to early-days Occupy Wall Street. Very similar energy and vibes. Whether that's a good sign or a bad sign for its future prospects of success is left as an exercise for the reader.
3. There's like 16,000 people on the discord server, about 2500 active right this minute, and apparently over 300k people have signed the strike card.
4. I am 100% sure that the above numbers include some non-zero number of federal agents tasked with keeping an eye on things. And I believe that the Trump administration would be perfectly willing to round 'em all up and ship 'em to "wellness camps" or whatever. But while the Trump administration might want to do that, I don't think it has the logistical ability to do so, and certainly does not (yet) have the ability to withstand the massive PR blowback that would cause. Like I said, strong shades of Occupy Wall Street - basically the same demographic - which means you'd be scooping up probably 150k-200k of what are traditionally viewed by the media as "good kids" and in the process you'd be turning those kids' parents from complacent to outraged like flipping a switch. Trump might be willing to risk that at some point when he's got things more locked down but we're not there yet, he's still wrangling control of the courts and the military. If the kids actually *do* go for a general strike or otherwise cause some disturbance that turns public sentiment against them, that math may change, but for right now I'm confident that signing that card and being in that discord is just as safe as posting on Metafilter (left-wing hive-of-scum-and-villainy that it is).
5. And look....at some point under a full-blown authoritarian regime, you gotta be willing to risk being "disappeared" for whatever you're doing, or else you gotta accept that the reason you're not at risk for being "disappeared" is because whatever you're doing isn't actually at all threatening, or even irritating, to the regime. You can be perfectly safe or you can fight back, but one day coming soon - a day which will not be announced - will be the very last day it was possible to fight back and be perfectly safe at the same time. Everyone will have to make their own choice about that, and the sooner you decide, the better. I'm personally not going to shame anybody for picking "be safe" (up to a point, anyways; there is some degree of complicity where it stops being self-preservation and starts being cowardice -- probably right around the point where you start being a snitch), but at the same time, if folks here are as against Trump's authoritarian takeover as I believe we all are, shaming or belittling people for choosing "fight back" instead of "be safe" ain't the way to go. Even if you think the specific avenue they're choosing to fight back in is silly or sub-optimal.
6. You might as well hang a big neon sign over your head saying "feds, come harass me now!"
The more people who hang a sign like this around their necks, the less useful the sign is. If everybody hangs a sign like this around their necks, then simply by that fact alone, the meaning of the sign changes to, "Feds, come FAFO."
posted by mstokes650 at 6:19 PM on March 23 [20 favorites]
1. These folks are young (20somethings & students, mainly), yes, but there are also a number of professional organizers and some very tech-savvy folks even by MeFi's jaded standards. I don't get the sense that they've ever attempted anything quite this big before, but neither do I get the sense that this is their first rodeo.
2. It's already better-organized than anything I've ever seen Metafilter put together. (...That may not be an especially high bar.) It looks to me like the discord alone spent about a year being organized and put together before being opened to the public.
3. Right now, there's a lot of well-intentioned enthusiasm, concern about proper process, and very inchoate goals. To me: big big flashbacks to early-days Occupy Wall Street. Very similar energy and vibes. Whether that's a good sign or a bad sign for its future prospects of success is left as an exercise for the reader.
3. There's like 16,000 people on the discord server, about 2500 active right this minute, and apparently over 300k people have signed the strike card.
4. I am 100% sure that the above numbers include some non-zero number of federal agents tasked with keeping an eye on things. And I believe that the Trump administration would be perfectly willing to round 'em all up and ship 'em to "wellness camps" or whatever. But while the Trump administration might want to do that, I don't think it has the logistical ability to do so, and certainly does not (yet) have the ability to withstand the massive PR blowback that would cause. Like I said, strong shades of Occupy Wall Street - basically the same demographic - which means you'd be scooping up probably 150k-200k of what are traditionally viewed by the media as "good kids" and in the process you'd be turning those kids' parents from complacent to outraged like flipping a switch. Trump might be willing to risk that at some point when he's got things more locked down but we're not there yet, he's still wrangling control of the courts and the military. If the kids actually *do* go for a general strike or otherwise cause some disturbance that turns public sentiment against them, that math may change, but for right now I'm confident that signing that card and being in that discord is just as safe as posting on Metafilter (left-wing hive-of-scum-and-villainy that it is).
5. And look....at some point under a full-blown authoritarian regime, you gotta be willing to risk being "disappeared" for whatever you're doing, or else you gotta accept that the reason you're not at risk for being "disappeared" is because whatever you're doing isn't actually at all threatening, or even irritating, to the regime. You can be perfectly safe or you can fight back, but one day coming soon - a day which will not be announced - will be the very last day it was possible to fight back and be perfectly safe at the same time. Everyone will have to make their own choice about that, and the sooner you decide, the better. I'm personally not going to shame anybody for picking "be safe" (up to a point, anyways; there is some degree of complicity where it stops being self-preservation and starts being cowardice -- probably right around the point where you start being a snitch), but at the same time, if folks here are as against Trump's authoritarian takeover as I believe we all are, shaming or belittling people for choosing "fight back" instead of "be safe" ain't the way to go. Even if you think the specific avenue they're choosing to fight back in is silly or sub-optimal.
6. You might as well hang a big neon sign over your head saying "feds, come harass me now!"
The more people who hang a sign like this around their necks, the less useful the sign is. If everybody hangs a sign like this around their necks, then simply by that fact alone, the meaning of the sign changes to, "Feds, come FAFO."
posted by mstokes650 at 6:19 PM on March 23 [20 favorites]
Great to see informed and thoughtful discussion here on the blue.Yeah, I'm sure if we search certain peoples' comment history it'll turn out they'd said the same thing about pre-election speculation that Trump would gut the civil service and ignore the courts. Crazy left-wing paranoiacs, amirite?
posted by klanawa at 6:20 PM on March 23 [2 favorites]
lawyers telling Trump they ain't scared.
Seriously, the response to being afraid IS to organize with others. Hope all the universities are taking notes.
posted by subdee at 6:21 PM on March 23 [8 favorites]
Seriously, the response to being afraid IS to organize with others. Hope all the universities are taking notes.
posted by subdee at 6:21 PM on March 23 [8 favorites]
I think there are some legitimate criticisms of the way this is being organized, but it'd be more productive to figure out better ways to organize something like this, than to just poo-pooh the whole idea of organizing a general strike, or some other sort of action, online.
If you cede the online space, you are suddenly operating at a huge disadvantage. That's a foot-shoot of epic proportions. Where do you expect people, especially working people, to learn about a protest or strike in year-of-our-lord 2025? At the next meeting at the Grange Hall? Got some bad news for you...
"Don't do stuff online" isn't a realistic suggestion anymore; particularly since the pandemic, fewer (especially young) people are interacting regularly in-person outside their existing social circle, and there aren't many extant mechanisms left for easily informing large numbers of people en masse about something. Maybe in time, some could be created (crystal radios? numbers stations?), but doing so would probably require coordinating their construction... online.
And we have seen in other places that online tools can be very effective at mobilizing a lot of people quickly. There's a reason that shithead authoritarian regimes tend to reach for the Internet kill-switch whenever opposition groups start to get feisty—they know it provides a mechanism for coordinated action.
That doesn't mean I think that "GeneralStrikeUS.com" is necessarily a good example of a well-designed tool for coordinating a mass protest. Maybe it is, but it doesn't really give me a ton of warm fuzzies. But that means we need better tools, and to get them into the hands of the right people.
posted by Kadin2048 at 6:26 PM on March 23 [9 favorites]
If you cede the online space, you are suddenly operating at a huge disadvantage. That's a foot-shoot of epic proportions. Where do you expect people, especially working people, to learn about a protest or strike in year-of-our-lord 2025? At the next meeting at the Grange Hall? Got some bad news for you...
"Don't do stuff online" isn't a realistic suggestion anymore; particularly since the pandemic, fewer (especially young) people are interacting regularly in-person outside their existing social circle, and there aren't many extant mechanisms left for easily informing large numbers of people en masse about something. Maybe in time, some could be created (crystal radios? numbers stations?), but doing so would probably require coordinating their construction... online.
And we have seen in other places that online tools can be very effective at mobilizing a lot of people quickly. There's a reason that shithead authoritarian regimes tend to reach for the Internet kill-switch whenever opposition groups start to get feisty—they know it provides a mechanism for coordinated action.
That doesn't mean I think that "GeneralStrikeUS.com" is necessarily a good example of a well-designed tool for coordinating a mass protest. Maybe it is, but it doesn't really give me a ton of warm fuzzies. But that means we need better tools, and to get them into the hands of the right people.
posted by Kadin2048 at 6:26 PM on March 23 [9 favorites]
I want to have a reverse-strike. Imagine just one week showing how good it could be if things were actually fair. It would be so much more devastating to go back to normal after having the best week ever. It could actually shift the needle.
Obviously we still would have to be smart and strategic, and this doesn't preclude other ideas anyways.
posted by grokus at 8:45 PM on March 23 [2 favorites]
Obviously we still would have to be smart and strategic, and this doesn't preclude other ideas anyways.
posted by grokus at 8:45 PM on March 23 [2 favorites]
Saying fuck it to your job for a day, a week, whatever requires so much faith and trust in your country. That to me is so much bigger, so much more impossible, than trust in whoever is running this website. How can anyone trust anyone, having lived through COVID?
posted by eirias at 8:50 PM on March 23 [5 favorites]
posted by eirias at 8:50 PM on March 23 [5 favorites]
There's a reason the seminal book on organizing actions like strikes is called "No Shortcuts." If joining a mailing list was effective organizing, we would already have a tightly organized public that could pull off a general strike. I don't care if people join this mailing list and I don't think anyone will get disappeared as a result. I just don't want someone to join it as a way to absolve themselves of the actual difficult work that it will take to make the 2028 general strike happen.
posted by tofu_crouton at 3:44 AM on March 24 [4 favorites]
posted by tofu_crouton at 3:44 AM on March 24 [4 favorites]
If you want more info, Labor Notes has a guide to How to Strike and Win with information like the types of strikes and ways to not quite strike if needed.
Some recent strikes we can learn from:
The big one! UAW strikes and wins. Workers even got a plant reopened in a town that depended upon it for its livelihood.
This John Deere strike was in 2021 but I was thinking about it recently because John Deere was one of the companies that said it wouldn't back down from DEI. I wondered how much of that was due to having an organized workforce that would take action if suddenly non-white-male workers were fired.
I have walked the picket line with nurses when they were striking. I went to find an article about it, and instead I found a long list of recent nurses' strikes around the country.
The Good Vibrations strike was done with help from the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee.
RE: "we're online now so that's where organizing should happen." We are online, but we're also elsewhere. The question is, which forms of organizing are most effective? There hasn't been a ton of research done on this with relation to labor specifically because labor is trying to reach people in workplaces, not the terminally online. Eric Blanc did a study of two campaigns in the education sector and found that some uses of social media could be helpful. That's the only research I know of. More research has been done on how to reach people in electoral campaigns and that tends to show that nothing beats real life outreach, preferably from people you already know.
posted by tofu_crouton at 4:52 AM on March 24 [3 favorites]
Some recent strikes we can learn from:
The big one! UAW strikes and wins. Workers even got a plant reopened in a town that depended upon it for its livelihood.
This John Deere strike was in 2021 but I was thinking about it recently because John Deere was one of the companies that said it wouldn't back down from DEI. I wondered how much of that was due to having an organized workforce that would take action if suddenly non-white-male workers were fired.
I have walked the picket line with nurses when they were striking. I went to find an article about it, and instead I found a long list of recent nurses' strikes around the country.
The Good Vibrations strike was done with help from the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee.
RE: "we're online now so that's where organizing should happen." We are online, but we're also elsewhere. The question is, which forms of organizing are most effective? There hasn't been a ton of research done on this with relation to labor specifically because labor is trying to reach people in workplaces, not the terminally online. Eric Blanc did a study of two campaigns in the education sector and found that some uses of social media could be helpful. That's the only research I know of. More research has been done on how to reach people in electoral campaigns and that tends to show that nothing beats real life outreach, preferably from people you already know.
posted by tofu_crouton at 4:52 AM on March 24 [3 favorites]
labor is trying to reach people in workplaces, not the terminally online.
I'm not saying that unions shouldn't focus on what they already know best and what they already know works. BUT: is it not the case that since 2020, "in workplaces" is a very different thing? Like if the union reps wanna come to my spare bedroom, and the spare rooms of all 450 of my coworkers, to organize my workplace that's great, but I don't think they're going to.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 10:02 AM on March 24 [1 favorite]
I'm not saying that unions shouldn't focus on what they already know best and what they already know works. BUT: is it not the case that since 2020, "in workplaces" is a very different thing? Like if the union reps wanna come to my spare bedroom, and the spare rooms of all 450 of my coworkers, to organize my workplace that's great, but I don't think they're going to.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 10:02 AM on March 24 [1 favorite]
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.If we're too scared to use it, is it still a right?
-First amendment, United States Constitution, 1791
posted by fragmede at 4:54 PM on March 24 [3 favorites]
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Interesting strategy to pick a number of strikers instead of a date. Anyone know examples of that, that have met their goal and happened?
posted by SaltySalticid at 8:35 PM on March 22 [3 favorites]