THE ROVING PECKER PRESENTS: "What We're Fighting For" by Tu Es Fou!
Trump and his loathsome cronies wasted no time in consuming us with chaos. For the most part, the initial assailment consists of three prongs:
1. The threat of mass deportation and amped-up ICE presence
2. The attack on the federal workforce (article written by an anonymous fed)
3. The attack on diversity, equity, and inclusion*, in part, through a government data coup run by Elon Musk and his merry band of sociopath baby incels. (*say the whole thing. Don’t let the meaning be lost in the acronym)
These are just the main ones. The news feels ceaseless and that's intentional. The chaos is meant to make us feel overwhelmed and hopeless.
In Ezra Klein’s opinion piece, “Don't Believe Him,” he notes, "Trump is acting like a king because he is too weak to govern like a president. He is trying to substitute perception for reality. He is hoping that perception then becomes reality. That can only happen if we believe him."
We do not believe him.
Although Americans have always been proud lawbreakers when laws were dumb or unjust there are legal avenues to resist his authoritarian ambitions.
Here is what you can do:
1. Call your elected officials. This is the most impactful and direct thing you can do right now. The https://5calls.org/ app walks you through every step of calling your representatives. It looks up your members, provides their office numbers, and has optional scripts for specific issues.
Even if you don't get to talk to a person, leave a message - and don't forget to provide your zip code. Offices tally the number of calls they get for or against certain issues and have changed their votes/stances on things because of it.
2. Emails are not the way. They're too easy to send in bulk. Offices tend to ignore them.
If you must email them, to find the person you should contact, search for the name of the member and "legislative director." The name of the LD should come up in Legistorm. With their name, you can email the LD. The congressional emails are formulaic.
Senate: firstname.lastname@memberlastname.senate.gov
House: firstname.lastname@mail.house.gov
They will probably ignore you if it sounds copied and pasted or overly aggressive. But in my experience, they will usually answer you, or connect you to the appropriate person in the office if you speak to them professionally with a clear ask.
3. Call Their Donors. Money talks Call the corporations that fund your congressional members’ campaigns and tell them you hold them accountable. You can usually look up campaign donations at OpenSecrets.org.
Submit a complaint about Elon Musk to the FTC & SEC. He and his incels are breaking labor laws, securities laws, and data privacy laws.
Here are some instructions and templates to help you do so: https://meganthuy.substack.com/p/a-flood-of-complaints-lets-commence and here are direct links to the government pages: ftc.gov, sec.gov, and dol.gov
4. Know your rights and use them to protect the vulnerable. Chicago’s Know Your Rights campaign has frustrated ICE, so you know it’s working.
5. Protest and boycott campaign donors. Show up in person when you can. Start following local activists. Social media is still useful for some things. If you don’t know where to begin https://indivisible.org/groups can help.
There is a 24-hour Economic Blackout from Thursday, February 27th from midnight until Friday, February 28th at midnight organized by the People’s Union.
There is also a week-long Amazon boycott from March 7th to March 14th.
If you are in a position to impact the work and goals of the current regime, there are plenty of perfectly legal and tested ways to be difficult.
Don’t forget to protect yourself and stay informed. Don't plot on the main, buy a paper map, read and share news from trustworthy independent journalists (I’m sad to say there are no fully trustworthy American newspapers right now. I like the New Yorker and The Guardian), join a community mutual aid group, get a VPN, don’t become an easy target, and don't get yourself fired.
Action brings temporary relief to anguish but it doesn't change how terrible everything feels right now. So rage and cry when you must but if we stop fighting they will win. So take care of yourself. We need you.
A quote from Dan Savage has been at the forefront of my mind for the past week:
Be weird, be joyful, get through.
Photo Credits: Penne; emilycartoons; Dan Savage/Instagram
