What We’re Up Against and Where To Go From Here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RpPTRcz1no

This video discusses the playbook these techbros are using. The agenda discussed is exactly what we are seeing playing out in real time right now in the USA. They want corporate-owned “network states” to hoard more wealth and make it impossible for others to gain their wealth; as well as having a trapped workforce to extract more wealth.

We need to understand their plan, so we can work to sabotage and stop it. As several anonymous federal workers have written:

This transformation isn’t happening through normal legislative channels. Instead, it exploits presidential immunity and executive privilege to push legally questionable orders under the assumption that by the time courts catch up, the damage will be irreversible.

The playbook is really simple: act first, bury opposition in legal battles, and make sure the new system is too entrenched to reverse by the time a ruling comes down; a favored tactic used by authoritarian regimes throughout history. From Hitler’s Enabling Act of 1933, which legally dismantled Germany’s democratic structures under the guise of emergency powers, to Putin’s strategic use of legal loopholes to centralize control in Russia, the goal is always the same: overwhelm the system, weaponize bureaucracy, and make the shift to autocracy look like a slow, bureaucratic inevitability rather than a coup. The legal system itself is being manipulated too, cases are being routed through stacked courts and friendly judges, ensuring that even legally sound challenges are dead on arrival.

Their plans Will Kill People and already have.

Plane crashes lately were impacted by not enough air traffic controllers. The timing of Trump’s executive orders and actions to cripple FAA is alarming. It’s possible Trump/Musk’s actions contributed to their deaths; however, their crippling of FAA likely will cause more accidents in the future.

There is also people who will die or are dying due to the freeze on federal funds for nonprofits, USAID, state programs, healthcare institutions, and other crucial agencies and social programs that focus on the most vulnerable.

More will die from the active purge of studies and health data on CDC.gov. A lot of health workers use that data and study results to improve health outcomes for patients. Also, the purging of data for infectious diseases will result in an even steeper rise in diseases, less vaccine availability or research from which more people will die.

Due to the purge of documents and sites pertaining to LGBTQIA people, Black Indigenous and People of Color, and any terms related to us such as transgender, gender, sex, pregnant people, Black, Indigenous, etc., we are seeing a digital book burning across a massive scale.

Musk and his cronies are hacking the US government’s agencies and US Treasury Payment System without being confirmed by Congress nor hired as a federal worker. They’re often acting in secret and seem to be installing private servers to download massive reams of data. They are pushing untested code into the Treasury’s Payment Systems with little to no understanding of how the system works, which is massively dangerous and could destabilize the entire system. All of which is illegal, unconstitutional, dangerous, and massive security risks.

The massive firing of fed employees is putting all of us at risk. For federal employees, this guide here can help plan for what is coming.

They are even making ‘target lists‘ that list anyone who has been involved with Diversity and Inclusion or used pronouns in their bios. These lists are incredibly dangerous for marginalized communities, particularly Jewish, Black, Indigenous, Disabled, and LGBTQIA people, who are often the first to be harmed.

It‘s great that lawsuits are happening now, but they won’t save us. We need mutual aid, community support networks, caring for one another, learning and using security/safety culture techniques, stay decentralized, focus on a few things to avoid being overwhelmed. Protest and protest some more. Our community care and mutual aid will save us.

On the ground in Washington D.C. and federal offices, what we need is people to march in, kick out these goons, and blockade them from entering again. FBI could do this, but instead they’re suing Trump which is good but not enough. Senators should be doing blocking access physically, but instead they do speeches and write strongly worded letters.

So it’s up to us to sabotage the techbros vile plan as much as possible. They are fascist, tech-nazis, and they don’t care who they destroy and kill in their thirst for power.

SO WHAT NEXT?

We need to engage in care toward one another and ourselves first and foremost. We can’t survive a fascist/Nazi coup unless we have energy and health to do so. So make sure you take care of yourself and your friends/loved ones.

For other actions to take, there’s a lot to consider, and below is just to get people started.

We need to make sure we do not become too overwhelmed. Part of the fascist goal is to overwhelm us by the sheer magnitude of their actions, in order to force us into compliance. So we need to focus on a few strategic points (each of our groups taking different ones) and staying decentralized to avoid them cutting off the head of our resistance (or co-opting it).

Make a safety plan first, which I cover in the below post (Censored Secret expanded on mine here):

Remember, If We Do Not Have Our Health, We Have Nothing From Which To Fight.

I highlight this as why it’s crucial to incorporate infectious disease mitigations such as Masking (N95, KN94, p100s, etc), air filtration devices (HEPA filters, Corsi-Rosenthal boxes), Testing (Covid tests), vaccinations (if they exist), and other mitigations must be layered atop each other so that we can best protect ourselves and one another. We should not cede this to the far-right fascists who want us to stop all mitigations, because that means infectious diseases will cull our ranks and our ability to fight back.

Our government choose to keep us in the dark about LongCovid in particular, so we need to make sure we’re informed about it and how to care for those who do have it (I’m one of those millions) and try to avoid more contracting it.

Long COVID is blood vessel damage, brain damage, organ damage, immune system damage, and mitochondrial damage. It is real, it is devastating, and it is happening to people every day. And it can happen to you, after any infection.

So take care of your health and the health of your community. And build up a safety plan too!

https://www.tumblr.com/thatonebirdwrites/774367966546526208/thanks-for-that-right-up-i-didnt-have-the-spoons?source=share

The following are other actions to consider taking. It can be helpful to have people you trust to have your back work through the safety plan and the list below with you.

We are not alone, and although the US culture tries to instill this rugged individualism, that isn’t true to human nature. We’re naturally cooperative creatures, and we can work together collectively to stop the fascists and build up better.

• Archive documents. Archivists right now are working to archive and save thousands of government documents, especially those pertaining to health and other scientific studies. Create your own archives. Here’s two sites that explains how to do that: Practical Guide to Fighting Censorship AND Archiving 101.

• Read up on How To Move Forward In Moments of Crisis, where I detailed a list of actions to explore that include research and supporting local Mask blocs, repair libraries and libraries in general, community support groups, mutual aid groups, activist groups, and other ways to support one another.
• Join the General Strike Movement! They are working toward massing enough people (3.5% of people in US) to do a general labor strike in protest.
• Start your own personal boycotts and work with your community on some. This website tracks which companies bended their knee to Trump’s Eliminate DEI order, which ones stayed committed to DEI, and which ones helped fund Trump’s rise to power: https://www.dei.watch/ (This may be helpful in choosing where to spend your money and who to boycott.)

• Make a list of your skills and capacity. Make it a skill list party with friends, where you all work on your lists together. (Can do this with crafting safety plans too.)
• If you’d like a guide on how to fight back against fascism, this activist made a blog post that lists dozens of guides from various Leftist and progressive groups. The list covers a range of topics from “fighting the Far-Right at home or  schools or libraries” to “organizing protests” to “security culture 101.”
• Find like-minded groups such as local mutual aid groups, protest groups, mask blocs, etc., who are doing the community care work. Offer to help and follow through with the tasks you agree to do. (Note: is particularly important to make sure to mask at events/protests to not only make it harder to be identified but to make the event/protest accessible and less likely to cause spread of infectious diseases. Please do not cede this ground to the far-right-eugenics/anti-masking approach. Mask blocs are crucial for helping distribute masks to support us in the fight.)
• When working with a group/org, make sure the group has some sort of delegation system and accountability. Draft a mini-constitution. This video has a good overview. Also, check out the short but thorough Anarchic Agreements by Ruth Kinna, Alex Prichard, Thomas Swann, and Seeds for Change.

• Plan and/or Engage in Community Grief and/or Community Care sessions. Be creative! Use the arts or writing or talking in a circle (where whoever holds the stone speaks). This can help avoid burnout.

• List people you trust that have your back and make sure you have their contact information in a secure offline location (go-to bag from safety plan for instance).

• Learn some new skills such as first aid, archival work, gardening, etc. Be open and willing to learn from others who have done the work for awhile. Be open to offering to teach others your own skills. A skill-share can be crucial.

• Write up and get notarized an Medical Power of Attorney and Will to avoid your safety and wellbeing doesn’t fall into the hands of people you don’t trust. Make sure you and your loved ones have copies.
• Do a credit freeze on all three credit companies: equifax, experian, and transunion. If you are not actively working to get a mortgage or student loans, this is a great way to make sure no one can open any accounts in your name. With Musk gaining access to social security numbers, this is a way to combat potential identity theft.

• Have your group/org work on building up mini-libraries for repair, books, food, essential supplies, and other items. Andrewism has some excellent videos about this here.

• Check on your most vulnerable folks and find out what they need then follow through. Ask for their consent and only assist in what they ask for. Never presume to know what another person needs.

• Do a Digital Cleanse (this site has actions you can do daily to work toward this). Secure your data using encrypted tools, such as encrypted email, Signal, community bridge (alternate to zoom), and tools like cryptpad.org for any organizing/protest conversations.

• Defend your community by organizing together for safety and care — this site has a good guide. Books on disability justice, transformative justice, and climate justice often have good organizing strategies and action items.

• For more tips see an easy-to-read version in CensoredSecret’s Post, my How to Move Forward in Moments of Crisis, and my Archiving Works Offline post.

Andrea Pitzer on Next Comes What covers a lot of good tips and ideas to consider in order to survive and fight fascism. She digs into past examples as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwFZpROLvX4

For another good video, check out Imani Barbarin, a disabled activist and writer, who discusses how to establish a Progressive Media Apparatus: https://www.patreon.com/posts/establishing-121218731

For ways to build up library ecosystems, Andrewism has some good starter videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOYa3YzVtyk

Books and articles to read about organizing and mutual aid:

• Surviving the Future edited by Branson, Hudsen, and Reed.
• Imarin Barabarin has a set of videos on how to organize.
• Mutual Aid by Dean Spade (also in anarchist library).
• How We Show Up by Mia Birdsong
• A People’s Guide to Abolition and Disability Justice by Katie Tastrom
• The Sea is Rising and So Must We: A Climate Justice Handbook by Cynthia Kaufmann
• Creative Interventions Workbook
• Building Accountable Communities by Project Nia
• eBook repositories may have the above books if one can’t find at local library or have funds to purchase.

Protest Tips (I wrote in this reblog/post but copying here):

Protests rely on the movement of large amount of people. Signs can be made for them, plans on routes can be done (keep offline or use encrypted tools for planning), and assigning roles to help keep it organized.

When organizing sit-ins, it’s even more crucial that people be trained to NOT talk to random folks pretending to be journalists. Have a designated communications role with people trained on what to say, and direct all journalists to that group. Stick to your assigned role’s tasks.

If the care work for a sit-in is on a rotating schedule, make sure you are aware of that and pitch in your part to keep the sit-in safe, secure, and fed/watered.

Below are tips that focus on safety and security:

• Wear a mask with and safety glasses. (Harder to identity you and it protects you from smoke, tear gas, and diseases.
• Do Not Bring Your Phone. Or at the very least Do NOT turn it on as it can be used to identify you or obtain your location.
• Do NOT advertise the full details of the protest and who is coming to the protest all over social media. Share about the protest’s start locations as needed in your groups, but don’t advertise it’s march pattern or its end goal location or who is attending. These conversations about the march route, goal location, assigned roles, and etc need to happen either in-person with all phones off OR use an encrypted chat. You want to limit what the surveillance state can pull from posts.
• Have designated medics who can help in case of injury or if Police try to shoot people or throw tear gas.
• Have designated frontline people. These are the people at the front of the protest, the ones that are most likely to deal with police and/or fascists first. Use make-shift shields to help protect frontline people.
• Have designated communication roles for people who are educated/trained on how to speak to journalists/news and who can keep the message consistent.
• Have designated people who assist those with disabilities to make sure they care able to stay safe and escape if things turn sour. Stay with your assigned peeps!
• Have a designated protest partner to help watch your back. Stay with your assigned peeps!
• Have designated suppliers, who carry supplies for medics and/or frontline and/or other roles.
• Have a plan in case the police try to kettle protesters. A kettle is when police block off routes to escape, thus trapping protestors in a smaller area. This is done to shut down protestors, demoralize, frighten, and mass arrest. Make sure everyone knows the plan and abides by it.
• Write on your arm the numbers of lawyers and/or people you can contact in case of arrest.

We’re in a fight for our right to exist and for survival.

Be safe all.