Resistance is not futile

In the first hours and days after the 2016 presidential election, many of the people around me (myself included) described a similar feeling – we felt like we’d been punched in the stomach, and couldn’t breathe. This feeling derived from the simultaneous crush of really strong emotions. Shock, disbelief, anger, frustration, disappointment, fear, and despair among others. Perhaps the strongest of these, turned out to be disgust. Within the ball of disgust in the pit of my stomach, there was the hardest piece of all, self-disgust. Underneath all the varied lamentations, there was something else there; the certain knowledge that I was partially responsible.

Naturally, I pushed back. Didn’t I vote every time? Didn’t I support government programs and projects and ballot initiatives designed to enhance the common good, increase opportunity, and provide a social safety net? Didn’t I give money to all the right causes? How could I possibly have seen this coming? We had a two-term black president, and gay marriage was the law of the land. Now we were seeing widespread recognition that transgender people actually needed somewhere safe to go pee. Good try, I thought. I knew the truth; I had been too complacent, too comfortable. I had done very well year-over-year. The system and economy was working for me. If it wasn’t working for other people, that was the fault of the Republicans, right? How the hell can twenty-five years of de-industrialization and the dismantlement of the social safety net be the fault of the Democrats? Finally, there was this—how the hell are they able to win the war of fucking ideas? Ok, because they have a massive articulated propaganda machine, which we lack for some reason. But why didn’t we have a message? Where was our change agenda? How could the Democrats be so stupid that they thought that the winning formula was going to be neo-liberal economics, entitlements, and identity recognition, plus wads of election cash?

But why didn’t we have a message? Where was our change agenda? How could the Democrats be so stupid that they thought that the winning formula was going to be neo-liberal economics, entitlements, and identity recognition, plus wads of election cash?

As I already mentioned, lots of people I know felt this way. Even the far-right press picked up on it, in fact, and commented that the country was “awash in liberal tears.” When I heard that I really saw RED. I decided at that moment, that I was really going to fight. I had done it before, in the 80s, in the fight against HIV/AIDS and for lesbian and gay rights. Once I decided that I was going to stand up and fight, I started to breathe a little, and the pain in my guts lessened a bit. In this post, and the series that follow it, I go about refreshing my memory about how to RESIST.

Varieties of Resistance: Just Getting Started

Political resistance — protest and civil disobedience — are obviously not for everyone (unless of course there really is no option, and then it is). My suggestion is that even taking steps short of activism, or perhaps on the road to activism, will make you start to feel a little bit better. Here are some commitments anybody can make right now:

  1. Stop watching and listening to corporate media. All of it. They have way too much to answer for. Really. Even the liberal corporate media. Even NPR. Six giant corporations control 90% of the news. Stop watching their smiling, exasperated expressions; stop listening to their witty urbane banter; stop letting them normalize the unacceptable, and turn you into a permanent spectator. Follow independent media only. Here is a first list:
  2. Write checks to organizations that are really going to matter in the coming fight, not to lobbyist organizations. Lobbying no longer matters. Petitions no longer matter. Give money to the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, the Southern Poverty Law Center. Tell the democrats to go to hell unless or until we see new, younger leadership. The current leadership is part of the gerontological kleptocracy.
  3. Think hard again about where you invest money and spend it. Try not to send money to red state billionaires who want to destroy everything you care about. Go out of your way to support locally sourced products, and support minority and women-owned small businesses. Hey! But isn’t that unfair to white people? If someone asks that, just say you feel it’s time to shake things up.
  4. Protect your digital privacy. See Steve Heikkila’s excellent overview of the topic in this very blog.

Some Initial Thoughts on Resistance; Protesting and Civil Disobedience

The practice of nonviolent civil disobedience and other forms of similar resistance has a long heritage going back to Gandhi in South Africa at the beginning of the last century. Notable accomplishments in relation to such movements include women’s suffrage, gains of the labor movement, the civil rights movement and Viet Nam War protests, united farm workers, anti-nuclear actions, anti-apartheid divestment, liberation theology-related actions in Central America, and of course ACT UP and HIV/AIDS. In the most recent period, we have the occupy movement, and also Black Lives Matter. There are things of great value to be learned from people who have participated in these movements. Some links are provided below.

It is really important to understand why and how civil disobedience has been successful, and where it has not, and why not. Although spontaneous acts of individual and collective resistance have sometimes become powerful symbols, in general, it’s better for people to take the risks associated with civil disobedience while feeling confident that we are doing something more than just protesting in order to voice our displeasure to centers of power. CD actions should be strategic, with individual actions being coordinated as part of a longer game.

CD actions should be strategic, with individual actions being coordinated as part of a longer game.

I have already mentioned the commitment to non-violence. I can’t stress the importance of this too much. In order for CD to be successful, we need sustained large numbers. After all, we just numerically won an election, and we’re already being intimidated as if we were a smallish minority. We are going to need to show our numbers, and soon. For that to happen, people need to feel that what they are doing has integrity. The inclusion of violent elements makes everybody really unsafe, allows authorities cover to be extremely heavy-handed, discredits the cause, and splits the group into factions. People considering participating in actions where they put their bodies at some degree of risk should plan to get some civil disobedience training, form affinity groups, etc. More on this in the next section. There is a lot of good material on thinking about non-violence as an active rather than passive state. One final point for the white liberal CD newbie. Coalition-based politics has more impact and credibility, and leads to larger numbers that are harder to dismiss as just “professional protesters.” As a result, don’t expect to be leading the charge. If you have trouble with this, and still want to join, there are all sorts of sincerely helpful resources to raise your consciousness about white male privilege, etc. There really is no need to get existentially butt hurt about it. A spoonful of cinnamon makes the medicine go down!

In the next installment of this attempt at a practical guide, the discussion will be about the elements of CD training, planning actions, knowing your rights, and a lot more.

Related Links:

by Tedd Siegel