Minnesota lawmakers are supporting a strike on Jan. 23, urging people to skip work, stay home from school and not go shopping for the day. More on why they support the strike here:
Sort of nullifies the effectiveness of a general strike if you agree ahead of time that its only for one day, a friday even. I’ll take whatever we can get at this point but calling this an actual “General strike” is a bit exaggerated.
A scheduled, one-day strike is not “general” strike unless it’s combined with a lot of very serious actions. Seriously, the way people treat the terms “general strike” and “civil war” and “literally” and “gaslight” you would think language has lost all meaning.
There is no chance of Americans broadly coordinating an actual General Strike, it entails the shut-down of all services, logistics and GDP in an entire country for as long as it takes for the ruling government to collapse.
I can find maybe five or six examples of this actually happening in the last century in places under totalitarian/authoritarian rule, like Cuba, Philippines, Chile and Zaire, and in most of those cases it was combined with actual insurrection/rebellion that included fighting in the streets and rebel groups actually working out deals with the country’s military leadership. We are so very far from this kind of action it might as well be fan-fiction.
In most of the places where this has been employed, the country was already basically at a stand-still, and if anyone out there thinks we’re close to that, you really, really need to turn off your feed and stop scrolling.
I mean, it’s fine as a demonstration or protest, it DOES send a signal, but the term loses weight when it’s used to describe non-disruptive actions.
There is a bigger coordination for a mass general strike on May 1st 2028 headed by the UAW. Being 2 years out sucks, and it was planned before trump won the election, but it’s a concrete date that all unions can plan for.
I find it telling and sadly predictable that despite being well-informed and in-touch with labor and politics, that this is the first I’ve seen of this.
Curious how we don’t realize how filtered our information feed is until we actually talk to each other.
Anyway, we should be pushing and sharing this a lot more, having union involvement is the only way we punch capital in the snotlocker and make them listen even for a moment.
Fair question, but you have to start somewhere. Most early strikes and protests aren’t about succeeding on the first attempt with anything, but more conditioning people to see this as a new norm, and get used to the idea of a strike.
It’s also a great way (protesting specifically), to meet others of a like mind and exchange contact details and get organized.
What needs to happen next is another folowup general strike if nothing changes that lasts for 3 days.
Then one that lasts for a week.
Then 2 weeks.
Then a month.
Then in perpetuity until demands are met.
Countries and people who are not used to striking or protesting need baby steps to get there. The US is not used to this sort of civil disobedience and need time to ramp up to this being the new norm for everyone until the fascist in chief is chased out of the office.
The voice of reason. We aren’t supposed to be finding the ONE, SINGLE mechanism that will suddenly flip the political switch from Insanity to Utopia. We need to send a continuous, growing message to those in power that we are are watching them, we know what they are doing, and we are going to change it. Big strikes and demonstrations demonstrate the growing numbers, and that terrifies them.
There has been a lot of talk of reaching a “Tipping Point,” where an idea or movement suddenly takes on a life of its own, and becomes a societal trend. It takes about 3.5% of the population to reach a Tipping Point, and that’s about 12.5 million people on America. The last couple of No Kings protests attracted over 7 million, and were significantly increasing in size. In addition, there are millions of supporters at home, who may not be able to join a protest for many reasons, but believe in the cause, perhaps debate online, but certainly VOTE.
MAGA recognizes and understands the growing existential danger those growing ranks of PEACEFUL protesters represent, and are likely to respond harshly and violently. That will betray their fear, and it only means we have to apply even more pressure.
I hope you are right, however this was said about the length of time between the protests about the obese imbecile. “It takes time” “baby steps” “we need to gain momentum”, etc etc, and look how that turned(fizzled) out.
Again, I hope so. Please, guys, do something.
To make national news all it needs to do is shut down the airport. Prolonged shutdown of airports does far more damage to the politicians and wealthy than it does to average people which is why republicans are so afraid of it.
The perfect demonstration was the last government shutdown. The Dems were willing to let their constituents literally starve, but once the shutdown started affecting the airports, and their wealthy campaign donors couldn’t move their operatives around the country, the Dems folded in 48 hours, and got NOTHING.
It was the final last straw for me. It perfectly illustrated who the Dem leadership works for. Time for The Hook for the MAGA comedy act of Schmuck & Hakeem.
The military can’t replace commercial flight crews. They can maybe fill in for air traffic controllers but if flight attends, pilots or TSA strike there’s no flights
A full day off is an effective show of force and basis for future organization. You can use it to gauge how many people are willing to actually put their money where their mouth is. If it stops here, it’s bad. But it’s a good start
A general strike should be national, not just state wide. Especially when it’s the federal government causing the problems and not the state government.
For real, if you are actually on the ground in MN, you need to be doing every single thing you can to switch the verbage to “we’re doing this until demands are met” none of this “we promise we’ll stop in a bit, please don’t go have drinks with your buddies all weekend and forget this was even planned”
2 days is short notice, but we’re just asking you to run a couple extra errands after work on Thursday and call out sick on Friday. You don’t have to be perfect — if you have an appointment you can’t move or something that’s totally okay — but it’s important to do something visible so the people around you know they’re not alone.
One of the things I keep seeing in relation to strikes-- the idea that calling out sick is good enough— is somewhat problematic, honestly. A strike is a clear picket, And holds little value if it’s not clear that you’re doing it for the cause
Sort of nullifies the effectiveness of a general strike if you agree ahead of time that its only for one day, a friday even. I’ll take whatever we can get at this point but calling this an actual “General strike” is a bit exaggerated.
Strikes don’t end until demands are met.
A scheduled, one-day strike is not “general” strike unless it’s combined with a lot of very serious actions. Seriously, the way people treat the terms “general strike” and “civil war” and “literally” and “gaslight” you would think language has lost all meaning.
There is no chance of Americans broadly coordinating an actual General Strike, it entails the shut-down of all services, logistics and GDP in an entire country for as long as it takes for the ruling government to collapse.
I can find maybe five or six examples of this actually happening in the last century in places under totalitarian/authoritarian rule, like Cuba, Philippines, Chile and Zaire, and in most of those cases it was combined with actual insurrection/rebellion that included fighting in the streets and rebel groups actually working out deals with the country’s military leadership. We are so very far from this kind of action it might as well be fan-fiction.
In most of the places where this has been employed, the country was already basically at a stand-still, and if anyone out there thinks we’re close to that, you really, really need to turn off your feed and stop scrolling.
I mean, it’s fine as a demonstration or protest, it DOES send a signal, but the term loses weight when it’s used to describe non-disruptive actions.
There is a bigger coordination for a mass general strike on May 1st 2028 headed by the UAW. Being 2 years out sucks, and it was planned before trump won the election, but it’s a concrete date that all unions can plan for.
I find it telling and sadly predictable that despite being well-informed and in-touch with labor and politics, that this is the first I’ve seen of this.
Curious how we don’t realize how filtered our information feed is until we actually talk to each other.
Anyway, we should be pushing and sharing this a lot more, having union involvement is the only way we punch capital in the snotlocker and make them listen even for a moment.
They usually end when Democrats fold, like the rail strike of 2022 or the more recent government shutdown. The demands don’t get met.
Yes.
just like protests, it was mostly ineffective and just made ICE more bold, because they know there wont be rioting or retaliation coming their way.
Fair question, but you have to start somewhere. Most early strikes and protests aren’t about succeeding on the first attempt with anything, but more conditioning people to see this as a new norm, and get used to the idea of a strike.
It’s also a great way (protesting specifically), to meet others of a like mind and exchange contact details and get organized.
What needs to happen next is another folowup general strike if nothing changes that lasts for 3 days.
Then one that lasts for a week.
Then 2 weeks.
Then a month.
Then in perpetuity until demands are met.
Countries and people who are not used to striking or protesting need baby steps to get there. The US is not used to this sort of civil disobedience and need time to ramp up to this being the new norm for everyone until the fascist in chief is chased out of the office.
The voice of reason. We aren’t supposed to be finding the ONE, SINGLE mechanism that will suddenly flip the political switch from Insanity to Utopia. We need to send a continuous, growing message to those in power that we are are watching them, we know what they are doing, and we are going to change it. Big strikes and demonstrations demonstrate the growing numbers, and that terrifies them.
There has been a lot of talk of reaching a “Tipping Point,” where an idea or movement suddenly takes on a life of its own, and becomes a societal trend. It takes about 3.5% of the population to reach a Tipping Point, and that’s about 12.5 million people on America. The last couple of No Kings protests attracted over 7 million, and were significantly increasing in size. In addition, there are millions of supporters at home, who may not be able to join a protest for many reasons, but believe in the cause, perhaps debate online, but certainly VOTE.
MAGA recognizes and understands the growing existential danger those growing ranks of PEACEFUL protesters represent, and are likely to respond harshly and violently. That will betray their fear, and it only means we have to apply even more pressure.
Baby steps.
This mutually demonstrates to each other that we are all fed up and ready to take action.
ICE aren’t taking baby steps.
Which only justifies our response. They’ll pay for it.
Exactly right. If it has some success it could light a match
I think it’s a good test to help determine how much support it has from the public and how many people will actually go for it.
I hope you are right, however this was said about the length of time between the protests about the obese imbecile. “It takes time” “baby steps” “we need to gain momentum”, etc etc, and look how that turned(fizzled) out.
Again, I hope so. Please, guys, do something.
To make national news all it needs to do is shut down the airport. Prolonged shutdown of airports does far more damage to the politicians and wealthy than it does to average people which is why republicans are so afraid of it.
The perfect demonstration was the last government shutdown. The Dems were willing to let their constituents literally starve, but once the shutdown started affecting the airports, and their wealthy campaign donors couldn’t move their operatives around the country, the Dems folded in 48 hours, and got NOTHING.
It was the final last straw for me. It perfectly illustrated who the Dem leadership works for. Time for The Hook for the MAGA comedy act of Schmuck & Hakeem.
Well the current budget expires at the end of the month. Lets see if Tim Kaine’s retiring ass will defect again to provide more funding to ICE.
I suspect this government would use a strike at airports as an excuse to take it over with military, going by the air traffic controller strike way back when
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1981_Professional_Air_Traffic_Controllers_Organization_strike
The military can’t replace commercial flight crews. They can maybe fill in for air traffic controllers but if flight attends, pilots or TSA strike there’s no flights
A full day off is an effective show of force and basis for future organization. You can use it to gauge how many people are willing to actually put their money where their mouth is. If it stops here, it’s bad. But it’s a good start
A general strike should be national, not just state wide. Especially when it’s the federal government causing the problems and not the state government.
For real, if you are actually on the ground in MN, you need to be doing every single thing you can to switch the verbage to “we’re doing this until demands are met” none of this “we promise we’ll stop in a bit, please don’t go have drinks with your buddies all weekend and forget this was even planned”
Also, not you, collective you
A Friday 2 days from now.
I’m all for a general strike, but I do need to do little things like make sure there’s food in the pantry first.
I get there’s urgency, but a half-hearted shrug of a strike that we can’t maintain for more than a day is just gonna embolden them.
2 days is short notice, but we’re just asking you to run a couple extra errands after work on Thursday and call out sick on Friday. You don’t have to be perfect — if you have an appointment you can’t move or something that’s totally okay — but it’s important to do something visible so the people around you know they’re not alone.
One of the things I keep seeing in relation to strikes-- the idea that calling out sick is good enough— is somewhat problematic, honestly. A strike is a clear picket, And holds little value if it’s not clear that you’re doing it for the cause
There are strikers who are on the frontlines, like you describe, and people who strike by staying home.
Both are valid forms of civic disobedience. One is not inherently better than the other. Both are required to necessitate change.