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[-] JollyG@lemmy.world 54 points 1 day ago

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.

[-] bdonvr@thelemmy.club 9 points 1 day ago

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.

[-] Drunemeton@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

Very well said! Thank you.

[-] masquenox@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

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?

[-] reksas@sopuli.xyz 4 points 23 hours ago

democratic party looks more like sockpuppet that is supposed to make you feel protected from the knife on the other hand.

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[-] humanspiral@lemmy.ca 1 points 13 hours ago

Burning things down is "semi violent" but effective cost imposition on oligarchy. It may very well result in highly violent response though.

[-] bstix@feddit.dk 3 points 18 hours ago
[-] AI_toothbrush@lemmy.zip 3 points 18 hours ago

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.

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[-] nick@midwest.social 6 points 23 hours ago

Tactical nukes.

[-] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 25 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

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.

[-] Damionsipher@lemmy.world 23 points 1 day ago
[-] dustywinter@discuss.tchncs.de 21 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

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.

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M3 grease guns proved effective last time we tried it.

[-] FelixCress@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago

The ear guy tried.

[-] Agent641@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago

Sherman tanks and M1 Garands were quite effective once.

[-] Zorsith 15 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

By making every single step they try to take excruciatingly painful by any means necessary.

[-] Loss@sh.itjust.works 13 points 1 day ago

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.

[-] mlg@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

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.

[-] Jimmycakes@lemmy.world 3 points 23 hours ago

Change through politics is no longer on it table.

[-] Cool_Name@lemm.ee 11 points 1 day ago

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.

[-] somenonewho@feddit.org 5 points 1 day ago

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.

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this post was submitted on 21 Jan 2025
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