Violence really, really fucking sucks.
It may be necessary, but if there's any other option you should look to that first. If it legitimately comes to violence a lot of innocent people are going to suffer in a big way.
Peace as a choice is only possible when the option of violence exists.
There where options they didn't work.
To be fair, both Ghandi and MLK Jr. showed that there is an alternative to violence that can be very effective in gaining support.
That being said, I do think the Black Panthers/Malcom X were very instrumental in the civil rights movement. I think the leadership saw two options: work with MLK Jr. or deal with the Black Panthers.
Of course, the FBI, amongst other groups in power at the time were able to successfully thwart MLK Jr.'s attempt at educating people about class consciousness. MLK Jr. wasn't just fighting for equal rights among racial lines, but also economic lines.
Hell, Jesus Christ was able to start an entire religion based in nonviolent protest based around class consciousness. Of course, that religion has since been perverted, but the point still stands.
MLK and the Civil Rights Movement have been majorly white-washed since they happened. That narrative is a big reason why protests since have been largely ineffectual in the US.
MLK supported the Black Panthers and Malcolm X and said that the only reason that he didn't do anything more than the sit-ins and such was because that was already illegal and anything more could get them all jail time. And he was still seen as being just as violent as they made BLM out to be.
The Million Man March was seen as a threat of violence by white America. If he could get a million people to mobilize in the capital and shut down the entire city, what else could he get them to do?
Also, civil rights were only put into law after a full-on week of violence that burned down entire sections of cities and did millions in property damage. Years of protests led to flowery words. A week of riots saw the bills written, voted on, and codified into law.
Violence isn't the answer; it's the path.
#VITA
Couple of things:
- Information : Keep creating and sharing reliable information. Not just opinions, information. We are still the majority, the US fascists is not world, we need to flood all the relevant platforms with our content.
- Education: The reason these monsters have any credibility is because some people are too mentally weak to defend themself from misinformation. We need to educate around in any way possible. Everything counts, keep trying.
- Humor is a powerful weapon. These people have giant ego and 0 humor. Let's keep ridicule them and have fun at their expense. They need to understand we have some things they can never touch, even with all the money in the world, solidarity, humour and camaraderie.
also hope. Got to show people there is hope so they dont fall into apathy. They got to know others are actively doing something and refuse to be silenced. I have been trying to look for this for long time now and its not been good.
Run for political office. The Democrats have no intention of fixing anything, let alone making things better.
And if you believe you're not qualified or don't know how to do the job, just remember that both parties are filled with incompetent fools, fakes, conspiracy crackpots, and morons. It would take considerable effort to do worse than some of the people in congress.
Well, both parties are also filled with money and other resources needed to ensure that only two parties can succeed.
We need alternative voices in office, but I don't think that's happening without some form of revolution. The best one can hope for in lieu of that is co-opting a party's direction over a span of decades, like the fascists did to the GOP.
Many state and local democratic parties are far ahead of the national party in the progressive shift, too, and it's absolutely easier to inspire change in a local or state party than the national party.
And it's not just running for elected offices. In-party roles like chair membership and planning can be effective for driving change in a party, and also be the difference in whether the elections continue to go to the shoe-in forever politicians or someone new. The people supporting a change who have access to the resources of the party are just as important as those running.
And if anyone is thinking "my city/county/state party is so tone deaf/old/corporate" consider that they might simply need someone younger or more progessive to become more involved. In an ideal world, they'd be able to speak more with the community, but sometimes they are understaffed or unaware and rely on who is involved to provide context. Become that context.
Run for office? With what money?
I don't want to put a target on my or my families backs 😓
Politics stopped working at the federal level, and only some states are full democracies.
So running for local office either won’t help at all, because the fight is not there. Or it’s a dangerous futile thing to do - if one were to be outspoken and all public against injustice.
The only hope for many is to make new things while breaking as little of the old as possible
I really want to. But getting started in that is kind of like looking for a door in the castle walls.
Run for office, or find someone worthy and get behind their run. Don't worry about Republicans for now,vee have to defeat the Democratic establishment before we will have the ability to fight Republicans.
I'm pretty sure that the answer is against the Terms Of Service of this instance.
One can infer that from the amount of deleted comments. I can't believe they didn't delete the post altogether already. Or closed the comment section.
Not mine, but from a post: First, you’re never going to win a head-on battle with an adversary that’s got you outgunned. That’s not the point of the Resistance. The point is to create friction, make it hard for your adversary to operate, to increase transaction costs.
Second, resistance doesn’t have to be a dramatic act. It can be a small act, like losing a sheet of paper, taking your time processing something, not serving someone in a restaurant. Small acts taken by thousands have big effects.
Third, use your privilege and access if you’ve got it. He and his buddies stole weapons from the Nazis by driving up with a truck to the weapons depot, speaking German, acting like it was a routine pick up, and driving away.
Fourth, part of the third point really, sometimes the best way to do things is right out in the open. Because no one will believe something like what you’re doing would be happening so blatantly. All good Social Engineers know this.
Five, bide your time. But be ready for opportunity when it strikes. Again, your action need not be dramatic. Just a little sand in the gears helps.
Six, and this is a no-brainer, operate in cells to limit damage to the resistance should they take you out. Limit the circulation of info to your cell, avoid writing things down and...
Seven, be very careful with whom you trust. Snitches and compromised individuals are everywhere. My dad was arrested because of a snitch. His friends weren’t so lucky, the Gestapo machine gunned the cabin they were in without bothering to try and arrest them.
Eight, use the skills you have to contribute. Dad was an electrical engineer. When the Nazis imposed the death penalty for owning a radio (the British sent coded messages to the Resistance after BBC shows) he said he became the most popular guy in town.
I'm not sure how applicable this is to the current situation.
It is very much applicable.
Second, resistance doesn’t have to be a dramatic act. It can be a small act, like losing a sheet of paper, taking your time processing something, not serving someone in a restaurant. Small acts taken by thousands have big effects.
Fourth, part of the third point really, sometimes the best way to do things is right out in the open. Because no one will believe something like what you’re doing would be happening so blatantly. All good Social Engineers know this.
Five, bide your time. But be ready for opportunity when it strikes. Again, your action need not be dramatic. Just a little sand in the gears helps.
Every government needs to work. It depends on its loyalists to give it financial and organizational support in exchange for economic benefits.
So anything that interferes with the "normal" order of things is an act of resistance. Also don't get fooled into the idea, that you will resist once things reach a certain threshold. By then you will feel what needs to be done to be way to big for your own abilities, since you never trained and tried to do anything.
Start with something easy like putting up political stickers around your town. That sounds easy in concept, but you already will train yourself to be brazen, but also on alert if someone politically opposed to you might want to challenge you verbally or attack you physically. You life close to an amazon warehouse? Why not skip a green phase, when the delivery trucks are lined up behind you?
Speaking of Amazon, we see with the Resistance for Palestine, that Boycotts work. Making a point of not buying products from companies that support the Israeli regime can be expanded to also making a point of not buying into the Trump government.
You think Nazi Germany imposed the death penalty on owning a radio from day one? It’s a slow process, and it must be disrupted as early as possible.
"A Riot is the language of the unheard"
-Martin Luther King Jr.
"When peaceful revolution becomes impossible, violent revolution becomes inevitable"
-John F. Kennedy
As per lemmy.world rules, I'm obligated to say that I do not condone violence, just quoting some people, interpret it however you wish to. 😉
O.K.! 😉🤫🤭
I am writing this with the assumption that you are tacitly asking about US politics because of the moment in history. What I have to say will make people mad, but here goes:
A lot of the people on this webzone are what Eitan Hersh called "political hobbyists". These are people who do not really take political action in their daily life despite voting or occasionally attending a rally. They may be well informed about politics, but being well-informed in itself is not really effective at changing politics. You can get on your phone and "rub the glass" to complain about politics, or to find people who agree with you. But outrage on social media won't change anything, and if rubbing the glass and occasionally voting is all you do, then you are a political hobbyist.
Political hobbyism mostly functions as a consumerist approach to political engagement. A political hobbyist will passively receive news and information about politics, but will never really try to change anything, because to them engaging in a news feed is all they really do. That consumerism is painfully apparent here when, for example, posters denounce a Democratic candidate as being "not exciting" or someone they are "not passionate about" as if the candidate was the newest model in a brand of laptops that failed to zazzle in Q3. We see signs of political hobbyism again when political parties are treated as entities that are somehow completely separate from the public. For example when a lemmy user denounces the Democratic party for not doing what they want. "The Democrats need to do X!" Why are you complaining about that on the internet? You know the DNC isn't reading these threads right?
If you really wanted to influence the Democratic party (which I think is the best bet for resisting fascism right now) why aren't you lobbying the party? Why aren't you mobilizing voter bases? Why aren't you building political power in your local community so you can influence larger political organizations? Because its hard, because you don't know where to start, because you are busy? Ok, but fascism is coming, and you are too busy to do anything about it. Or too overwhelmed to even try?
The truth is, if you wanted your ideas (and I am including here opposition to fascism as an idea) to influence policy, or what candidates gain traction in nomination races, then you should have been working on that LOOOOONNNNNG before the national candidate was nominated. Treating the Democratic party as a vendor that offers political products is a losing strategy for gaining influence. There will be an endless parade of glass rubbers ready to denounce the various political parties, but by and large, they didn't do anything to gain influence with those parties. Their denouncements are ignored, they are irrelevant. My advice is to ignore the glass-rubbers. Identify one or two local issues in your physical area and try to improve them. What you should do is find a little slice of America (or your own country if you are not American) and try to make it better. Use those efforts to build up influence at higher levels. My goal here was to convince you not to listen to the glass rubbers. But my advice for resisting fascism is: Try to build political networks, try to mobilize local voters in local issue elections. Doing this will make your network an invaluable asset to larger (state and national) organizations. If you have a network of voters, of issue conscious citizens, or donors, larger organizations are going to want to leverage that network when it comes time for lager races. That gives you leverage. That gives you power. The glass-rubbers are going to tell you that is impossible. Its not. People do it all the time. The book I cited has examples of people doing it. Fascist conservative groups do it all the time. So why not you?
I will admit, this is hard. When I first read Hersh's book I was offended, because when he was describing political hobbyists, he was describing me. But it did give me some motivation to think about politics from the perspective of power. And set me down the road of trying to do all things I wrote about here. It is early days for me yet, and I have only seen limited success. My work complicates things. I am busy, and often overwhelmed. But fascism is coming.
A lot of this is true. And the system is designed to keep the masses in such an incredibly insecure place when it comes to living and health that they cannot find the time, money, or courage to risk it.
People are barely keeping afloat. They pay their rent hoping their next paycheck will bring up their account balance before the check clears. People are using installment plans for the grocery trip. They have irregular swing shifts and/or two jobs that make scheduling incredibly difficult.
Organizing stuff takes a lot of people's time, mental effort, and money.
I'm definitely not saying don't organize. I'm saying do try and understand especially for the less privileged (among Americans) it's really an insane task.
Very well said! Thank you.
Voting was the thing to do, too late now for that. History has the answer for what's next
If "political hobbyism" isn't impactful how did MAGA come to power? Why does russia have a military arm specializing in radicalizing people who participate in "political hobbyism?"
The truth is, political messaging, no mater the venue, needs to be countered at every level. Be it on the darkest depths of the internet or in a local venue that is just as unlikely to ever coalesce into something meaningful.
Political hobbyists are people who consume political content, but don't do anything substantive with it. There probably are MAGA types who are political hobbyists, but the movement in general is extremely politically active, organized, motivated, and effective across all levels of public life. They influence conservative politics through those organizational efforts. The MAGA movement came to power by leveraging networks of activists and voters to build political infrastructure that could be used to drive voters to the polls, fund candidates, coordinate campaigns and set the scope of policy, which they do very effectively. If you want to be effective you should be building political networks too.
Also, this is an aside, but political messaging is way less effective at persuasion than your comments here suggest. In practice this type of messaging tends to only reach people who already agree with it, and the persuasive effects of media on political attitudes have very weak effects that are attenuated quickly (Look up something called the hypodermic model of mass communication if you want to know more). Benkler, Faris, and Robberts offer really good illustrations of this in practice. By analyzing the spread of political messaging in news and social media networks, they show that most of the misinformation, lies, and propaganda that circulate through conservative media spaces do so because conservative media consumers want that content and punish outlets that criticize it. Creating 'counter messaging' is unlikely to be effective because conservatives would just reject the messaging.
the Democratic party (which I think is the best bet for resisting fascism right now)
Which part of the last eight years informed you that liberals have any interest in resisting fascism?
Now that's what I call evolution
Ok, so serious answer for our friends who don't live in places without an active culture of protest:
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Vote. No, really. If people actually fucking voted, we wouldn't be in this mess.
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Give money to advocacy organizations
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Give your time and money to mutual aid organizations
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Read the news (not just on lemmy either)
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CALL your congresspeople. Emails and letters are better than nothing, but do not have the same impact.
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Try to get your friends to do #1-5
Just playing devils advocate here. If we are talking about real fascism then usually the vote is rigged by that point. Usually by the point where you already have facism take over voting is already too late.
I live in a country where voting is compulsory and yet we got Donald trump lite elected. Voting can be part of the solution but it can never be the only thing.
How's giving money going to help when it would take a million of me to counter a single billionaire?
We don't need to match a billionaire. We just need to finance lawyers and advocates to work on our behalf.
As bad as things are now, think about how much quicker things would devolve without organizations like planned parenthood, the EFF, and the ACLU.
- Vote. No, really. If people actually fucking voted, we wouldn't be in this mess.
You would think that, but the reality is probably that out if everyone who didn't vote you would get an even spread so they really don't make that big of a difference. Take other countries where voting is compulsory like Brazil and Argentina and they also elected extreme right clowns.
out if everyone who didn’t vote you would get an even spread
I don't think that's necessarily true. I suspect that the median non-voter is less wealthy than that of the voters.
Take other countries where voting is compulsory
We have compulsory voting in Australia. Presently we have a progressive (left of centre) government. It's possible or likely that we will elect a right of centre government this year, but not extreme right clowns.
Vote. No, really. If people actually fucking voted, we wouldn’t be in this mess.
Trump won with the popular vote.
A key element to defeat things like fascism, which build themselves on the popularity of fear, is that voting can't be free-for-all. Voting should require, or be weighed with, some sort of licensing, testing of sane mind, awareness and understanding of at least current events, review of known association with dangerous anti-society parties, etc.
A key element to defeat things like fascism, which build themselves on the popularity of fear, is that voting can’t be free-for-all. Voting should require, or be weighed with, some sort of licensing, testing of sane mind, awareness and understanding of at least current events, review of known association with dangerous anti-society parties, etc.
This is inherently anti-democratic. Who decides who's qualified to vote? Is it you, with your infallible understanding of every issue?
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What can you do as an individual? not much. A community? Now we're talking.
Find people to fight fascism with.
And do what?
Just having a network of care, looking out for each other and replacing functions a fascist state doesn't offer any more (think childcare/healthcare/food for those in need) can be a huge act of resistance. Organizing political protests as long as it's still possible (even if it's illegal). Strike, sabotage, physical violence ... Eventually you will have the choice of imprisonment/death, assimilation or exile to me the last act of resistance will be never to choose assimilation. Continuing to live in exile can be as much of a martyrdom as dying for the cause.
The things being said here are a good start, but you cant do anything without other people. And if you and your community dont like the reccomended actions here? Make up your own plan with them! We cant just wait until we have the perfect plan to stop fascism and fix alll the world's issues. We need to start working together now.
Fight facism together! Duh!
Rally, apply pressure to local politics, interfere with the workings of the government and their loyalists...
Putting up political stickers, Grafitti, sharing leaflets and more action forms to drive up costs of operations for the Trump system.
For more specific actions you could take inspiration from Palaction, who take action against Britains complicity in the Gaza genocide. https://www.palestineaction.org/
Strong, inclusive communities are the antithesis of fascism. If everyone had a sense of belonging and camaraderie with their community it would be a much less fertile population for fascist ideas to spread.
Your start an underground resistance movement, get branded a terrorist, and end up in Guantanamo Bay. It's called FREEDOM.
They should start building tunnels because so far this is the most effective form of resistance against air and space attacks.
Really sleepwalking into the plot of The Matrix, aren't we.
That's what bunker busters are for.
Organize en masse using a common enemy (billionaires). Fascists win when they are able to successfully divide and conquer, which they have been very successful at.
There's a very good reason both neoliberals and fascists have been working so hard for so long to distract the masses from who's causing the real issues in society.
We can't let them shut us down this time, like they did with Occupy Wall Street, the George Floyd protests, the hippy movement, MLK Jr.'s economic movement. We need to stay controversial and constantly active so we can stay in the news cycle (much like how Trump has been able to dominate the news cycle since 2015). If they try to distract us, we must counter at every step of the way.
Workers have the real power in society, and the oligarchs can't survive without us. The sooner we all realize that, the better.
also remember any movement will get infiltration attempts and if succesful they will try to derail, corrupt or otherwise bring the movement to its end. Got to plan things well since halfassing this will have severe consequences.
Check this book with 20 relatively specific actions written by a historian https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Tyranny
Also here are the rules briefly summarized. https://scholars.org/contribution/twenty-lessons-fighting-tyranny-twentieth
I think this one rings particularly strong today.
- Take responsibility for the face of the world. The symbols of today enable the reality of tomorrow. Notice the swastikas and other signs of hate. Do not look away, and do not get used to them. Remove them yourself and set an example for others to do so.
In his Substack newsletter, Snyder encourages people to start organizing now (2024) in order to win both local and national elections.[15] He notes that On Tyranny was written in a defensive mode and that if its lessons are learned and implemented now things could get much better in 2025 for those who want to maintain democracy and the rule of law in the United States.[15] Snyder has noted that while Trump did not succeed in overturning the 2020 election, it was practice for a successful coup and his supporters will be better prepared for 2024.[16] He also notes that in 2020 important individuals and institutions were aware Trump might not want to peacefully transfer power if he lost the elections and that they prepared to make sure lawful transfer did occur.[16]
Luigi
Is this a reference to something?
you're in the EU right? Don't ever let them privatize your healthcare to the degree it is in the US.
You have to be willing to Luigi these people. We need a thousand more Luigi.
Any other answer is wrong.
A few options:
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Get out. If you're one of the people fascists want dead, then surviving is in and of itself an act of resistance. Leave their domain. Go somewhere else. And live -- Just live. Build a life they can't touch.
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Organise and survive under their noses. It will not be easy, even if fascism has a short shelf life... It still does a lot of damage while it is active, and you and yours could end up as their target. Still, your best chance of surviving is by grouping up. Meet your neighbours, meet your local activists, get to know them, and start helping each other.
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Violence. But. It's not enough to just go spree killer. The violent response demands organisation. You could join an armed resistance group. Or, if you leave the country, if it comes to war, you could enlist to fight against your old nation. Lots of people did both in the forties.
- Sabotage - purposefully obstruct these lunatics any way you can. Delay their food orders. Slash their tires. etc. Delete emails. Empty gas tanks. If they're constantly fixing shit there's less time for them to create problems
I feel like IT people have a lot of efficacy on this one.
See a big truck with a Trump sticker? Make their life hell. Slow them down in traffic. Intentionally make them annoyed and miserable.
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I found this book to be very compelling and topical: https://www.ericachenoweth.com/research/civil-resistance-what-everyone-needs-to-know
Civil resistance is a method of conflict through which unarmed civilians use a variety of coordinated methods (strikes, protests, demonstrations, boycotts, and many other tactics) to prosecute a conflict without directly harming or threatening to harm an opponent. Sometimes called nonviolent resistance, unarmed struggle, or nonviolent action, this form of political action is now a mainstay across the globe. It was a central form of resistance in postwar anti-colonial movements, the 1989 revolutions, and the Arab Awakenings, and people are practicing civil resistance at higher rates than ever before around the world, including in the United States. If we want to understand the manifold protest movements emerging around the globe, we need a thorough understanding of civil resistance and its many dynamics and manifestations.
The only peaceful method i can think of would be for enough people to collectively get together and agree to completely stop buying stuff, other than food and absolute necessities. No luxuries, none. But you'd need enough people and to do it long enough to completely destroy the economy. It would be very boring for a long time.
Not gonna happen.
More realistically, we need more Luigis.
"I'll preemptively give up that anybody will make any effort so I don't have to either and I'll just wait for somebody else to step up save us all."
/The Devils Advocate.
That’s a ridiculous argument. You saw how many people voted out of the total number of eligible voters, and how many of them sat out because not voting for a democrat was more important to them than ending up with trump.
And that was just voting, a few minutes or hours out of one day out of the year, and here you are mocking someone suggesting that massive numbers of people will refuse to band together for months or longer to wreck the economy while inconveniencing themselves materially? Dude’s right all day long, your comment is pointless.
Find charities, news outlets, podcasts, rights groups or other entities that match your message and support them.
Donate money, time, and whatever else you can to help.
I think everyone understands that being loud might draw the wrong attention, so do what you can to support the ones that you want as much as you are able.
if you find a group that supports a violent message or is too extreme, congratulations you are supporting the opposite entity by giving them an enemy and giving normal people more reasons to support the opposite entity.
The current powers that be are so outrageously cartoonishly criminal that simple and pure education ought to be enough.
"oh what you think of people with nazi tatoos who run neo nazi militias kill cops"
"hate them"
"trump just pardoned them, here look at these articles"
Unions and strikes
Fifth column resistance, Sabatoge, and things you cant say on the intetnet.
this is how the apartheid government was beat in south africa: minimize civilian casualties, maximize infrastructure damage with state targets being prioritized.
Fascism is a massive violent manifestation of ignorance. The only real solution is to undo the brainwashing of humanity - their brainwashing with religion, their brainwashing to accept abusive hierarchical rule, all of it. Everyone must fully understand.
People responding with "guns", "WW2" - we did that already, 70 million people died, and here we are again. Why and how did it come back? What is the actual source of the problem? Treating this problem as only solvable with mass murder isn't exactly putting you on the moral high ground. What conditions give rise to acceptance of fascist beliefs, or the acceptance of a fascist leader? What are the mental, social, cultural, behavioral traits of the people that do accept that? How can those traits be prevented from forming?
One day AI is going to figure out that humans are the actual problem in that equation when it asks why does it always come full circle and repeat and war is never ending. And it may try to find a solution.
The internet is the foundation for the solution. This is the only thing that evaporates the illusions and divisions rulers create for their own benefit. Otherwise we end up with red scares, witch hunts, inquisitions, and all the other same crap from history. Unfortunately they're chipping away at it - centralized social media is a powerful propaganda tool with no constitutional restraints, as is online censorship and surveillance.
I have three pieces of advice:
First: The best, most practical and actionable advice I can think of is to start organizing your neighborhood. You don't even have to openly be organizing resistance to do it, just get to know your neighbors, get your neighbors to know each other, get to know what's going on in each other's lives and offer help where and how you can. Bring over some snacks on the basis of being neighborly and just ask how they're doing some time. Forming these social bonds are really, really important, and it's the basis of building resilience in your community. We used to have stuff like this built in, but it's been slowly eroded over lifetimes, largely but not exclusively by exclusionary zoning and car-centric infrastructure.
Look, if you're just the person a couple doors down they don't really know, people might go "oh, huh" when the brown shirts come. If you're Dolores down the street who brings them brownies every month, there's a much better chance that your neighbors knock back when the brown shirts come knocking. And if it's not just one neighbor, but three or four of them that come out to beat some Nazi ass? Pretty good chance those fucks will get the message loud and clear.
I can feel some of you out there already replying "but my neighbors voted for the Nazis". Yeah, they did. I've also worked with enough Republican voters to know that when they think of the evil other, they don't possibly imagine that that could include their friends, family, and co-workers. That is, your neighbors, in all likelihood, don't want the bad thing to happen to you. The point is this: community bonds can and will outweigh other considerations if you build them.
Second: Go to local government meetings as much as possible, removed at them about your favorite pet issue, listen and watch other people who show up there. It's an easy way to speed run making connections in your local activist community, and you might even end up actually influencing some local policies. I go to them, it's free and easy, and the cops can't stop you from yelling at the city council about the price of housing. The real value, though, has been getting invited to other local activist groups that I never realized existed because I met other members of those groups there.
Third: Prepare. If shit hits the fan, you need to be able to take care of yourself, help might not be coming. I think probably the best strategy is the same as for mass shooters: run, hide, fight.
Run- ditch your smartphone and other spyware devices. Tell nobody about your plans, especially not over any kind of electronic medium. Just go. Have a bug out bag ready to go. When you're making your bag, remember that you're going to have to carry it a long, long way. Try to be practical. Probably the most important items you can have are your ID, cash, more cash than you think in a few different places, a change of clothes (especially underwear and socks), a good multi-tool or fixed-blade knife (no need to go crazy, just get a decent full-tang no-frills knife from a flea market or something), hygiene products (moist towelettes and baby wipes are great), water, and snacks (try to focus on really energy dense stuff like peanut butter). Small tarps and mylar/wool blankets probably are good ideas too. Water should also be its own container, ideally a large canteen, or a backpack if you can swing it. I'd also recommend a handful of dice or playing cards to keep you sane.
Have a plan with anyone who's going with you on where to meet up and how long to wait and don't tell another soul about it. If they miss the deadline, just go ahead and follow the rest of the plan.
Also, part of this is upskilling. Learn how to repair tears in your clothing, how to talk to people, how to do first aid, stuff like that. You've got to be ready to rely on yourself to get yourself out of a jam. At the point of running, this is the worst scenario, and you need to treat it as such.
Hide- DITCH YOUR FUCKING ELECTRONICS. Never go on social media ever again ever, don't log into Google, don't check your email, don't log into Lemmy, just quit this shit altogether. The NSA already has a full database of basically anything you've ever communicated over a phone or the internet, and law enforcement absolutely will use it via parallel construction. Don't use debit cards or credit cards, pay in cash. You wouldn't believe the shit they collect on you all the time. You can worry about contacting people once you're safe.
Fight- There is still a second amendment. If it's a choice between dying in a firefight with some fascists or going to the boxcars, I think that choice seems obvious. Speaking as a gun owner: If you get a gun, you MUST practice with it at least a few times. Get familiar with it and understand how to handle it, you really don't want the first time you've ever shot your gun to be when you're trying to fight the Nazis. Personally, I'd recommend a pump action 12 gauge shotgun; it's practical for many, many use cases, the ammo is easy to come by and very common, it's dead easy to service and maintain, and aiming at close quarters is as simple as point and click.
Physical maps. Radios.
Physical maps are fine, but take some practice to actually use well. I wouldn't pack transmission radios like walkies- most that are affordable are unencrypted, and the encrypted ones are in all likelihood already broken by the alphabet gang. Plus, they need batteries and they're just not that useful in practice, imo. An AM/FM receiver, though, I could get behind that.
I won't say just vote, but you should do that, too, at every level!
Depending on how much time and money you have:
- Join a union (and give time and money to organising the union)
- Join an antifascist political party (and give time and money to organising the party)
- Lobby your representatives to demand they oppose fascism
- Join protests against fascism
- Join civil society groups that are antifascist (either directly or because they're pro human rights or anti-racist, or what-have-you) (and give time and money etc.)
- Boycott businesses that are owned by or enable fascists
- Join co-operatives (and give time and money etc.)
- Join community groups (these don't even have to be political)
- Support local, independent media and good freelance journalists
- Spread the word about all of the above
I've ordered these roughly by how effective I think they're likely to be (this is of course just one guy's opinion); you should pick the one(s) that are most attractive to you and best fit your current situation.
Fair warning, none of the above will instantly fix the problem and I grant that some of them probably seem pretty weak sauce in the face of fascism, but the more people do them, the weaker the fascists will get.
Thanks for all of this. People who are shy or on the fence need to see more people doing most (if not all) of these things. Those of us who do it need to be incorrigible optimists about it even though we may not feel like it
Yes, exactly. There are some things on this list where, if everyone opposed to fascism did one of them, we'd win tomorrow. Realistically, not everyone will, but it's still the right thing to do, to prise every bit of power from their grasp.
At this point, just voting is as helpful as upvoting a comment. We all need to do more. The time to "just vote" has passed.
historically? socialism.
including (but not limited to) punching nazis in the face until they can be properly buried six feet under.
In sweden we have a statue of an old lady using her handbag as a weapon
Love it!
ive seen the picture but not the statue.
love the sentiment of it.
We figured it out in World War 2.
Ideally without 60-70 million people dying. (looks up "how to unbrainwash people")
The ear guy tried.
By making every single step they try to take excruciatingly painful by any means necessary.
- Don't do fascism yourself. (This is harder than you think.)
- If it is within your power, prevent others from doing fascism.
- Help others that have had fascism done to them.
- Grow your power, in order to do #2 more often.
Avoid creating or growing an organization that has a strong hierarchical structure, as they are easier for fascists to convert/infiltrate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agzNANfNlTs Democratic structure can be better, but beware giving any power to the intolerant. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance#Paradox_of_freedom_and_paradox_of_democracy
If you are comfortable, #4 might involve physical, martial, melee, firearm, etc. training. It is not unlikely that the current fascists in power use violence to grow/retain power, and that might require violence as part of the fight. That said, I feel there's plenty of non-violent ways to fight fascism, for now.
Wrong comm to ask this on. The only historically backed answer that has been repeatedly proven to work is against lemmy.world's TOS to discuss.
The left can't even convince enough people to vote let alone join a violent revolution.
Yeah, those benefiting from a system of oppression tend not to want to tear it down, luckily they'll be suffering like their brothers have been pretty soon.
Compulsory voting.
If you don't vote, you don't get to take deductions on your federal taxes and you don't get any owed tax refund. When you do vote, you also get an extra 3% discount on federal tax owed until your AGI is over $190k.
Love this idea. Just make voting as easy as paying taxes.
How does this fix a two party system that does not represent the people?
OK, so a bit over a third of the population doesn't care enough to vote. Not for anyone - D, R, or any third party. Let's assume they're mostly uneducated. What happens to the polling results when you compel them to vote?
I think compelling voter turnout is the last thing you should be even considering. The first real problem is education - nobody understand anything about government - not what fascism is, not how the economy works, not what imperialism is, nothing of real substance. The second problem is this "lesser of two evils" bullshit that has even the slightly-more-educated half of the population voting for mass murderers, which you can't resolve in first-past-the-post majority rule elections, at least not with the stupid mindset everyone has right now. Electoral college is a similar problem. And what about the problems with "representative" government both failing to represent and manipulating public will for the benefit of powerful lobbies? How about systemic reform that removes their power?
You thought about any of these things?
I don't hate this idea.
We do it in Australia and it's super based.
We usually do sausage sizzles at the polls 👍
Edit: we don't do the weird tax shit, you just get fined if you don't vote.
Organize people in groups small to big.
Guitars
This machine kills fascists
Only with the right stickers
I'm buying some stickers to put on every tesla I see.
We need to make detentions and deportations difficult. For a group and keep your eyes peeled. Report any activity that you see by CBP in your area. Be a nuisance. Film them. Shout at them. Drive slow in front of their vehicles. If you can, do more that I won't say online.
Came across this a couple days ago. Haven’t read it yet, but might have some useful stuff.
We're getting our game plan for how to oppose the rise of a fascist oligarchy... On a site hosted by Harvard? Can't review as access is gated by an interaction. But this has to be, at best, PMC propaganda. They are spontaneously selling the poison to the right while they try to get us to take the antidote.
Also, needs to be downloaded. Feel like pressing that "download PDF" button just immediately places you on some "domestic threats" list for sale.
Settle down mate.
As far as that web server is concerned displaying that abstract in your browser is the same as downloading a pdf. Your browser just downloaded that web page.
Regardless, while posh universities might produce right leaning graduates, the academics that staff them are predominantly left leaning.
Here's the main points from the executive summary anyway...
Build and maintain a large-scale, multiracial, cross-class, pro-democracy united front that continues to push for structural/institutional reforms and contest for power, even after authoritarianism has appeared to consolidate. The coalition should use ongoing local, county, state, and national elections as flashpoints by which to build a resilient and expansive pro-democracy movement, document election malfeasance, and promote anti- authoritarian platforms, reforms, and talking points for campaigns to take up at all levels of government.
Protect, hold, and build local and community power through alternative institutions to address urgent communal problems, protect minority rights and lives, reinforce an oppositional pro-democratic culture, develop leadership, and build capacity for collective mobilization when needed.
Build pressure to induce defections among those loyal to the autocrat or authoritarian alliance, including through widespread economic noncooperation and labor action.
Prevent, deter, and strengthen resilience to increased threats of state or paramilitary violence through strategic planning and organized and disciplined actions, including building a capacity to anticipate, induce, and exploit defections; broaden inclusive participation
Emphasis is from the original document
If that was the case, you’d already be on the list for opening the page.
Use Tor if you want to be safer
Buy a gun.
Find out what fascism would look like at the individual level, and then make yourself immune to that behavior yourself, ensuring that you yourself are not fertile ground for it to grow in.
That’s the emphasis of the course Maps of Meaning. One of the stated intentions of the course is (paraphrased) “To make my students realize that they are capable of being an Auschwitz camp guard, which is not a fun thing to realize, and then to build the kind of life and character that would prevent them from taking part”.
So really, based on my own understanding of how fascism arose in Germany, the best thing is to be totally dedicated to telling the truth. Have values to go higher than your own safety and comfort, and be dedicated enough so that when the opportunity comes to stay comfortable by supporting the fascists, you have the backbone to oppose them.
I think the solution is attack the systems themselves and when that isn't sufficient there are only a few people at the top with power.
I am leaving or unsubscribing from as many monopoly powers as possible: Google, Amazon, meta, Twitter, Netflix, etc etc. Be vocal about it, take friends and family with you if you can. I'm choosing open source when possible over more polished closed source, like jellyfin and Linux (transitioning this weekend 🤞), and donate. These actions take a small fraction of their income from them and if enough people do it I believe it will cause them issues.
I'm trying to not just leave these things but build communities for when we leave. For me this looks like trying to get a blog off the ground for friends and family, developing friend circles that have these discussions frequently, and then contributing/volunteering within my direct neighborhood or community (working on this one as I'm new in Germany and that comes with it's own time taxes).
Also, if you can afford to, buy local. Buy from someone you know. Buy from people with good supply lines. Be vocal about how this is critical and necessary. The more money that goes to our neighbors instead of the 1% somewhere else in the world, the better. That's all the shift of power, and it starts with not shopping at whole foods or Walmart and buying bespoke or sometimes worse products for sometimes more money so that those good people can work on their process and products.
But these are small steps, and personally I don't have any idea of the connective tissues between a person or group of people and the political systems most of us exist in. I guess in the past political parties were more grassroots driven, like get in a room with your neighbors and develop policies and debate. I've never lived in that reality. Getting back to that is probably incredibly important. I guess new age political parties and old school unions are the best path forward there.
But the inevitable path, if all else fails, is violence. That is the reality. That becomes a lot less personally risky the larger a community you have before starting it, but as we've seen one Super Mario brother is sufficient to make changes.
M3 grease guns proved effective last time we tried it.
Sherman tanks and M1 Garands were quite effective once.
Be more precise with your language and you have the answer. Fight is too vague. Punch a nazi in the face.
I didn't say this in my other comment, but it's important enough to be its own:
If you think you're going to be targeted, use the buddy system. Don't go anywhere alone, for any reason, ever. One person is an easy target, two and especially three people are a lot harder to deal with.
That's the neat part...
Ok but I just want to clarify before we valiantly and romantically take the fight to fascists...
... Did you muster the courage to vote for Harris, return2ozma?
Sure did, donates too. And id do it again. Worth noting, I live in WI, my vote definitely mattered
Did you muster the courage to vote for Harris, return2ozma?
No. I said I wouldn't vote for a genocider multiple times throughout the year too. I'm in California so my POTUS vote had zero effect. I voted for everything else and left POTUS blank. Trump won in a landslide. Even if single issue voters about Gaza 100% voted for Harris, she still would have lost.
Not true. People like you contributed to giving Trump the popular vote and a broader mandate, leaving aside down-ballot Congressional races.
By the way is this you in this picture?
In a way, you too are now complicit in exacerbating genocide.
If down votes were votes, maybe Harris would have won in the swing states, and not California where your vote literally didn't impact anything, except local elections.
Don't let them gaslight you into thinking that you somehow personally swayed every swing state to Trump's fascism, while they stick their head in the sand of how Harris lost and why.
Tactical nukes.
Nice try, FBI.
You're going to find a lot of support when the police can't help themselves but be openly brutal, the way the occupying Germans did in Paris France, during the rise and fall of Vichy. The early Résistance started small, tearing down propaganda, slashing tires, cutting phone lines, as they got organized into a formidable fighting force.
It's not popular to advocate for violence, and some revolutions can happen without violence when they're properly organized. Martin Luther King Jr. would sucker the police into attacking non-violent protests (which they were keen to do) to appeal to the sympathy of the public and to challenge them in court. BLM is using the same means, with more emphasis on using those ubiquitous phone cameras everyone has to record it as it goes down, for the internet to view in horror.
But the Mahsa Amini protests in Iran reminded me of the adage Violence is unthinkable until the hour it is inevitable. After the death of Amini by the morality police for a minor hijab violation, Iranians protested by forgoing hijab and tipping the headcovers of VIPs (imans and government officials.) They responded with brutal reprisals from police and loyalists, which is when the protesters started flinging Molotov Cocktails at government buildings. Hangings of protestors resulted in live fire combat in the streets which resulted in Islamist loyalists poison-gas bombing girls' schools, which is a bad look worldwide.
But don't worry, when we see what law enforcement intends to do in the states, especially the anti-immigration and round up teams, the call to arms will be crystal clear.
That depends. How are we defining fascism here? That's the first step.
Would it be a stretch to suggest engaging in missionary activity as a solution?
Experts in the field may be more knowledgeable, but there seem to be multiple attack vectors to me:
- Fight and advocate to reduce social injustice; people who feel powerless or left out vote right [even against their own interest]
- Support quality education that critically explores fascism and history, that improves media literacy, and logical fallacies etc
- Support social programs that help people in the scene get out
- Support social programs that prevent people from drifting into that scene
- Be a voice in criticism and watchdogging media, orgs, and [public] people
Get organized with a socialist, revolutionary, anti-war, and/or anti-fascist organization near you that is visibly putting in the work and regularly mobilizing. Recruit more people to your cause and form coalitions with organizations that align with your values. I can personally endorse the PSL but certainly do the research for yourself to find a group that speaks to you personally & whose work you find to be the most fulfilling.
One way I've been trying personally is just gathering as much information as possible and remembering it. I've always been super bad at history and biology because of my resistance to memorization, but I'm slowly keeping up while trying not the get burnt out.
Of course, after I have enough info, that'll inform me of what the next move is, I hope, because if I do anymore now I'll just crumble
Stay armed.
Build a network of friends/neighbors etc. conceive plans to protect the ones who will be targeted first (POC, LGBTQI, ...) eventually either go underground or leave the country.
Ridicule them.
I want to do some more radical stuff without getting arrested. What should i do? I live in sweden and the right has been creeping up here as well(not as bad as the us but still a shit situation). I already did the first steps like trying to wake up friends to the reality(family already "woke" so thats nice, less work) of the situation.
Make up a fake concern that they would be angry about. Get them to organize a protest, but at some right wing leaders house or something. Not illegal to mislead people.
There are whole books written on the subject, look around. I've seen one by (precursor to) CIA and other by radical eco figters.
Make these wusses scared again.
I don't live in the US and guns aren't a thing here, but from what I know from my antifascist friends, owning firearms is a very good idea. They're all armed to the teeth.
Burning things down is "semi violent" but effective cost imposition on oligarchy. It may very well result in highly violent response though.
Form a new grassroots party and encourage voters to demand change in exchange for their vote.
This is a tried and true method that has succeeded in multiple countries with much worse electoral systems than the US (I can vouch for PTI in Pakistan, it took them about 20 years including 10 years of military rule)
Unfortunately, it is too radical for the folks over at c/Politics, even though it was literally what Malcolm X often suggested and what MLK did before they were both shot (albeit MLK preferred endorsing individual candidates regardless of party rather than trying to form a new one since that would be slower).
So the real answer is unfortunately to sit back, relax, and enjoy the flames.
Change through politics is no longer on it table.
If you ask a question and you say, "but don't say the answer," you're just asking for an echo chamber.
The echo usually says vote which is right but.. here we are
IMO we're here because of the 10 million Democrats who voted for Biden in 2000 and refused to show up in 2024. Bonespurs only won by a little over 2 million. Harris should have kicked his ass, but oh now, she "supports genocide". Last week the long, difficult Gaza ceasefire negotiation process finally paid off. Funny how nobody's talking much about it.
Ok you don't want the way answer vote sonit doesn't happen. The second way guns.
there are other types of disruptive protesting other than guns… for example, blocking the roads around tesla plants and dealerships.
also sabotage…
i would be happy to hear about any nazi’s getting murked but, most people shouldn’t even think about trying that…
i do think the targets of nazis should get guns though for self-defense….tl;dr an immature person wants to die for a cause, a mature person is willing to live for a cause
just don't vote. Its not my method but I heard from a lot of folks who feel that can fight fascism. you mileage may very.
Lol these ppl acting like the SS division were on the way
Democrats are just as bad fascist as republicans, but people want to say one is the lesser evil? Where was you lesser evil while the corrupt supreme court was bought and paidfor? Where was your less evil for the last 4 years on abortion right, or imposing more legal limits on the president instead of less. The democrats wanted the power for themselves, more precisely, they wanted kamala to be their willing pawn while sealing their power behind a wall completely. You fight fascism by voting for someone you actually agree with, if you agree with kamala putting black men in prison for marijuana, then YOU are part of the problem.
Democrats are just as bad fascist as republicans, but people want to say one is the lesser evil?
Where was you lesser evil while the corrupt supreme court was bought and paidfor?
not doing that
Where was your less evil for the last 4 years on abortion right
not doing that
imposing more legal limits on the president instead of less
not doing that
Democrats are just as bad fascist as republicans
soooooo not doing fascist things is “just as bad” as actively doing fascist things? is that what you’re saying?
wow that's a lot of nonsense. Just an idea: maybe look up on a dictionary what fascism means before posting on a thread about fascism.
Nah, being uninformed is. She had over 1,500 cases pertaining to marijuana during her term and only jailed 45.
YOU are part of the problem.
Same as anything else. Go talk to people who you consider fascist, understand their point of view and concerns, and then make arguments to them in terms of those concerns.
Frankly, I don't think that it's likely an incredibly-entertaining task.
I also think that the term "fascist" has a pretty extensive history of being overused, though I suppose from the standpoint of this, doesn't really matter much.
The people who are ignorant of what they voted for are persuadable. People who I consider fascists only understand one thing.
The word fascism is rarely overused, people just don't understand that fascism is the most common political ideology in the western world. People think that fascism only applies to jack booted thugs and concentration camps when it is really just banal bigotry and arrogant incompetence.
Yeah I mean, can't a guy just love Hitler and be a white supremacist without being call a nazi anymore? The left always have a way overusing terms, right. /s (in case)
