I
The Jan 23 MN strike was the most successful such effort in the US in…decades, maybe almost a century? And it was baby-sized compared to what we’re talking about here.
I don’t know who needs to get on board to make a national strike a real possibility. But I do know that we should all be thinking about it now.
/end
I consider the Jan 23 general strike in Minnesota to be fairly successful. It didn’t happen overnight, and it didn’t just happen because people posted about it a lot. There was a •lot• of consensus-building via social networks new and old. Unions got on board, lead the charge. Local businesses goaded each other into participating until •not• participating became a sort of black eye.
4/
Lay the groundwork for a national strike, and lay it •loudly• so that the billionaires know — believe! — that it is a real possibility. Make them terrified of it.
It’s like the doomsday device in Dr. Strangelove: you have to tell them about it. And they have to believe it’s real.
How do we do that? It starts with talking to each other about it. •We• have to believe it’s real. We have to lay the groundwork.
3/
This part is especially important (emphasis added):
“If we have to destroy the stock market to save democracy, we need to accept that and, more importantly, •••the richest and the most powerful people in the world and in this country need to understand that that is a real possibility.••• There is no economic stability without democratic stability. If you take away our democratic stability, we will take away the economic stability.”
2/
This is exactly the groundwork we need to be laying right now, and I’m delighted to hear it coming from a US Senator (!):
If Trump tries to prevent a fair election from happening, then we need “a true national strike in the sense that, if they do this, if they try to overthrow our democracy, if you are allied with democracy, do not go to work . If you’re a pilot, do not show up. If you drive a train, do not show up. If you’re a teacher, do not show up. We grind the country to a halt.”
In wake of Donald Trump’s call for Republicans to ‘take over’ voting, senator Ruben Gallego urges citizens to take a stand and give the ‘ultimate response’
the Guardian (www.theguardian.com)
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@joe
The fun part is it will give 1980s C a run for its money in the implementation-dependent parsing contest
