I was sent this by a friend who saw it trending around various social media which I don’t use.
Personally, I think it would do good to lengthen the economic blackouts to 3-7 days. But, any coordination helps, and I think the weeklong corporate boycotts will at least send a message.
I’m looking for other places to share this. I checked BuildTheResistance, but I couldn’t figure out a way to submit dates for a protest without a link to a site. I have a link for the February 28th blackout, and I would be grateful to anyone that could help me in sourcing these other protests.
EDIT: found the sources! They’re all by The People’s Union USA. It’s just that all the boycotts besides the 28th are tucked away in their FAQs page.
I should say, as well: I think general boycotts are a good idea, and I support the idea of protesting on these dates. However, I don’t necessarily trust The People’s Union USA. They have a login feature. Don’t be so foolish as to make an account on a fucking resistance website.
Why put end dates on them? Even if the boycotts get a huge turnout and meaningfully damage the bottom line of each corporation, the boycotts will be over (and a lot of the damage made up for) faster than they even COULD make the changes the website is demanding. Changes which will take years even if pursued in good faith, which, of course, they won’t be. They’ll lead us around, make empty gestures, and inoculate themselves against the next round of blowback.
This feels like Occupy Wall Street all over again. People’s enthusiasm being wasted on ineffective protests with vague demands. If we want change, we’re gonna have to be willing to put up with more inconvenience, i. e., no Amazon at all, permanently, until they meet some specific, achievable goals to make things better, like full unionization.
Good point. I view this as more of a way to get the politically inactive to start being active. As I said in response to another comment, it’s easier to get most people to give up stuff like that for a week than forever. I plan to continue my own personal boycott indefinitely, and I encourage others to do the same. That said, most people balk at the idea of permanently ridding themselves of a major shackle on their lives - because they simply don’t see it that way. Every journey begins with a single step, and my hope is this can convince enough people to take that first step.
Then we should be setting up to help people prepare for actions that would actually be effective, like sharing Amazon alternatives to make a permanent boycott less intimidating. Public enthusiasm is a finite resource, and if it’s wasted, we’re stuck waiting until the next round of “things got worse.” The megacorps we’re trying to fight will be entrenched even more deeply, making meaningful action even harder.
Great idea! I’ll start doing my research now. Do you know of any alternatives off the top of your head?
A week isn’t going to do anything to their bottom line if people just stick up beforehand or wait until it’s over to buy what they would have bought anyway. It’s like the one day gas protests during the Bush Jr years.
All efforts, great and small.