What's your point? If you don't want to boycott, don't. I know I can't bring down Wal-Mart, but I can choose which places I want to support. I can't change the world. I can change me. You didn't need to criticize that but you couldn't resist it.
This hurts the working class. This boycott will directly hurt contract workers on the last day of the month. And most working class people don't get to pick which days they buy things without prep. No gas, groceries, etc with no notice?
This does not improve society. It was not organized well.
Agreed but at the very least it engages people who may otherwise not have been engaged, and could lead to future actions that could have an actual impact. I’ll take literally any win at this point.
But what if one day makes a small dent. Then people who previously thought that general work strikes etc. couldn't work begin to think, what if we do another..and another..and another. Or, at the very least, everyone sees the possibility (if not the power) of the many against the few?
I understand people desperately wanting to believe this will be some kind of “good first step” towards meaningful political action by otherwise uninvolved people but I highly doubt that it will be.
Besides the obvious fact that publicly pre-announcing the end-date of your “boycott” totally obliterates the entire purpose of an actual boycott, making me question whether we can even honestly describe this as a boycott in the first place.
This also just feels meticulously designed as the perfect mechanism for well-off middle-class people to very publicly check off their “I’m a good person, see!” boxes, like a marginally less effortless version of those black squares everyone posted on Instagram in 2020.
Posted this earlier...
So I have friends who bitch about "everything that's going on" but don't actively do ANYTHING to counter it...I get tired of listening to them bitch
maybe this is a way in for people to get radicalized idk but it feels more like people are going to sit back at the end of the day and think to themselves "i did my part!" and go back to doing nothing tomorrow. funneling a bunch of real anger into nothing. i hope i'm wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We who usually look at this type of action and offer this analysis are usually not wrong is unfortunate and it would be nice if we would learn from history
Based on what I'm seeing, it has been a good way to bring up antifascism in contexts where it's usually hard to, like workplaces. E.g. "I need to remember to bring coffee from home tmw" can be a good jumping off point to talk about harder topics. Saw two ppl do it in my new workplace!
I want to be open to the possibility is the start of something, but it has a real "posting black squares on instagram but for the tiktok crowd" vibe to at least its origin. Maybe it'll be more than that.
Basically whenever gas prices would spike too fast (9/11, Katrina, 2006 I think) you would start seeing forwarded email chain letters begging people to not buy gas on such and such day to "stick it to the oil companies".
i just think about the sheer number of those same people that were in the streets in 2016 for about a month for highly-organized parade marches, and the way they talked about autonomous actions in the past 5 years and i'm feeling disheartened. again i hope i am wrong
Oh me too for sure, I just know the libs in my life are becoming far more engaged and open to structural critique than they were in 2016, small sample size to be sure, but definitely a bright spot
There is a weeklong boycott planned for March 7-14, I believe and maybe a longer one after that. I think they are trying to organize right now with a plan to ramp people up to more significant action.
Effective action requires sustained effort and actual sacrifice. “Cold turkey is hard, so start weaning yourself off of Amazon on 2/28 and set a goal of when to stop using entirely” would be more effective than “don’t buy anything from Amazon on 2/28”. The latter is both painless and ineffective.
Right? This notion that you have to go straight from newly concerned citizen to full time anti-fascist organizer or it doesn’t count is dumb. Offer many, many on ramps to resistance.
Ok, thank you—I respect your work and your ideas but I generally think this thread missed the mark. We need all oars in the water right now and casting aspersion, however mild, on what people are already doing, seems counterproductive
Huge grain of salt, this is not an endorsement, etc, but fwiw I’ve seen this floating around which looks more like a basic plan (if not an MO/campaign)
Sure, but now you've made a communication network with an easy task - if it works, you can push for 3 days next time with the same group..plus more if you get press coverage and curiosity seekers, hopefully that works into a movement that can take more deliberative actions.
we don't buy anything today, thats 1 day.
we dont buy anything tomorrow, that's 2 days.
we dont buy anything the day after that, that's what we call a boycott.
Maybe this is your first action into anti-Trump activity, maybe a little posting leads to a little praxis and a little more work. Easy to forget that we're a full 8 years out from the organized actions against Trump 1 and 4.5 years out from the George Floyd Uprising. This will be a first for some.
This is so hard to internalize the older I get. 2016 feels like yesterday to me in terms of historical and political relevance, so I have to force myself to remember that our youngest voters now were in elementary school then.
the one that got me recently is the Don't Ask Don't Tell repeal was in 2010. Today's enlistees were like 3 when it happened, have had queer people openly serving basically their entire lives.
While I agree that this attempt at collective action may be ineffective, misguided, and perhaps a bit counterproductive, I have the same reaction to your critique which I suspect will not stop anyone, might prove to be wrong, and seems unnecessarily alienating - but don't you at least feel better?
I feel like there’s a strong argument that giving people the impression they’re “doing something” when they’re in fact “doing nothing” could be actively detrimental to any given movement
agree! which is maybe why the spontaneous idea of a mindfulness coach is a weak organizing principle especially since it is paired with fairly amorphous demands. if it activates people great but a real risk that it is seen a sufficient and that's that
When I share the "we should improve society somewhat" panel, it's because I think Matt Bors nailed the real tension between wanting better and existing in the material and social structures we have now. It's the same tension in the "hostile govt takeover but I'm going to be late for work" tiktok.
Not trying to quash anyones desire to participate today, though I'm sure my replies will insist I'm a wrecker for posting about it. Collective action campaigns are hard, they're domestic politics by other means, and just want to think about if and how those means can achieve their stated ends.
Consider a few mechanisms. 1) Companies are sensitive to marketplace risk so a demonstration of collective action even just for a day, makes them think twice about auto-obeyance of right wing expectations. 2) We need to get better at economic action and this is a chance to try it. [1/2]
3) It gets people to think critically about their consumption.
The origins may be murky and it may flop. But many folks have made their own graphics for it. So it is more of a leaderless action than not. People know the money behind politics matters, even if pundits avoid the topic. [2/2]
Look, I'm mostly just posting, but if you're looking to do more, there's going to be issue-specific orgs doing the work. I'd focus especially on abortion funds, migrant justice, & newer groups for laid off federal workers.
Electorally, badger your electeds constantly & support primaries as needed.
Agree. I'm certainly fine with anyone doing blackout Friday, but it doesn't really do much, particularly if all it means is you bought stuff on Thursday or Saturday.
Some day they’re going to do the whole “champagne socialist, hypocrite much?” schtick with a literal homeless person, either by mistake because they have an expensive item, or on purpose because the can that they live in is relatively nice.
1) I was raised by a perfectionist and my takeaway was that taking any action no matter how small is better than taking no action because nothing I can do will make Trump/musk step down
2) I was at diff times in my life close to diff people who owned stores. At the end of every day 1/
Resistance Gatekeeping is just as bad a Resistance Grifting. Coalition-building needs to encourage bite-sized participation that can feel like small victories for newcomers. Yes, it’s a marathon; and you train for those by starting with an achievable step and joining welcoming communities.
Boycotts also, crucially, often involve going out picketing businesses and publicly shaming people for buying something. There is an *active* and communal component to them.
really a big struggle vis a vis boycotting rn is the fact that BDS exists, it's probably the most organized and longest going boycott action/group, annnnnd there a shitload of states now where just saying you'll boycott israeli made products is straight up illegal
it's still an important piece of how much the shift has been made on israel at all in america, but boycotting as an action specifically is up against some big fucking hurdles
i'd probably be more confident if i saw it roped in with other actions/efforts to disrupt shit. on its own, shit's rough
specifically if i saw boycotting combined with physical disruption/blocking, that'd make me a lot more confident, both about the effectiveness and the 'are people gonna actually stick around for more or will they wash their hands and bounce'.
so i guess my ultimate take is "well, i doubt this is necessarily bad, but i'm also skeptical it'll lead to more". i'm incredibly happy to be proven wrong, though!
(made me realize what'd also make more confident here: allying and working with BDS in the first place, as they are THE boycott people)
Comments
This does not improve society. It was not organized well.
If they couldn't not shop at Target or sell their Tesla what are we doing? The bar is under the ground.
But whatever proportion of the population just not buying anything for one day is basically nothing.
But boycotts are typically sustained campaigns with clear terms that end when terms are met.
Organized action is more work than posting, & it is more effective, too.
So I have friends who bitch about "everything that's going on" but don't actively do ANYTHING to counter it...I get tired of listening to them bitch
Any uncoordinated political action is just posting! Join an org! JFC!
Basically whenever gas prices would spike too fast (9/11, Katrina, 2006 I think) you would start seeing forwarded email chain letters begging people to not buy gas on such and such day to "stick it to the oil companies".
Are you advocating an alternative line of action? What *should* people be doing?
Posting “what you’re currently doing is ineffective” w/o proposing an alternative is probably the *worst* thing one can do.
https://bsky.app/profile/colindickey.com/post/3ljam4hters2g
we dont buy anything tomorrow, that's 2 days.
we dont buy anything the day after that, that's what we call a boycott.
Funny how some people are invested in discouraging participation in this first small action
Let people have their thing. Even if it's not perfect. Because it's a start.
The origins may be murky and it may flop. But many folks have made their own graphics for it. So it is more of a leaderless action than not. People know the money behind politics matters, even if pundits avoid the topic. [2/2]
That is a good thing
Electorally, badger your electeds constantly & support primaries as needed.
1) I was raised by a perfectionist and my takeaway was that taking any action no matter how small is better than taking no action because nothing I can do will make Trump/musk step down
2) I was at diff times in my life close to diff people who owned stores. At the end of every day 1/
Summary: this is a good starter action that will get ppl warmed up to doing more, and WILL have some effect.
1. this helps people get used to the idea of taking economic action at all, it can be a foothold, an onramp
and
2. ah shit but it just as, if not moreso, can easily become 'welp, i took a day of boycotting, good enough'
i'd probably be more confident if i saw it roped in with other actions/efforts to disrupt shit. on its own, shit's rough
(made me realize what'd also make more confident here: allying and working with BDS in the first place, as they are THE boycott people)