Speaking of imbalance, in the USA, Black and American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) people have the highest firearm mortality rates of any racial or ethnic group. The U.S. also ranks at the 92nd percentile of all countries and territories for child and teen firearm mortality.

Source: Evan D. Gumas, Munira Z. Gunja, and Reginald D. Williams II, “Comparing Deaths from Gun Violence in the U.S. with Other Countries,” chartpack, Commonwealth Fund, Oct. 2024. https://doi.org/10.26099/1t4e-7h62

When I’m sitting at home, I am not living in constant fear of fending off robbers and rapists, or fantasizing about murdering them with a firearm.

A perpetrator with a victim complex.

People are more scared of the boogeyman than the people literally kidnapping folks off the street and sending them to concentration camps merely because they belong to a 3 letter agency with authority.

Also, know your limits before the protest. If it escalates, know what you are or aren’t comfortable with. Do not let anybody convince you to do something that you are not comfortable with in the heat of the moment

I fully agree with everything you’re saying except that boycotts are not worthless.

There are many great reasons to prioritise mutual aid and workplace organizing that you have laid out since it has much more value.

But it’s a waste of time to discourage people from the most low-effort actions and it only causes unnecessary conflict.

Arguments over the “best”, most pure way to oppose fascism and capitalism only sow division in an already fractured left and discourage people from potentially taking their first step.

Make a good case for the action you want to prioritise, then embrace a diversity of tactics where people can make their own informed decisions on the action(s) they want to take.

Check out the new community !canada@50501.chat

I agree that fascism cannot be overcome by boycotts alone, but discouraging boycotts doesn’t benefit anybody. And in this case, boycotts are actually helping to chip away at Musk’s power - Trump just had to do an infomercial at the White House for Musk because his stock is tanking so hard.

We need a diversity of tactics.

I’m suggesting that instead of saying don’t do X, do Y. Just say do Y with the great reasons you provided.

Yes, and. Boycotts are one of multiple tools that do work. Do not discourage people from one tactic in favour of another. They can both be done together and people can choose. We need options and to go at this from more than one angle.

It is still a great idea to unionise and join mutual aid orgs and I encourage everyone to do so.

Can we stop it with the low effort dunks?

Obligatory !fedibridge@lemmy.dbzer0.com

There is !50501@piefed.social but idk if it’s the same mods

Reddit has a lot of censorship based on certain keywords right now so you’ll need to be creative when sharing Lemmy/Bluesky/Mastodon as alternatives. Pictures, maybe?

Also, !fedibridge@lemmy.dbzer0.com is relevant.

i.e. hardship

I actually disagree.

There is a tipping point when MAGA followers are forced into situations where they must rely on their neighbour and mutual aid. They’ll be forced out of necessity to interact with people across the aisle who are giving them compassion.

You’re already seeing republicans flipping before that point from the DOGE cuts. Also, the governor of Kentucky is already flipping after their largest purchaser by a long-shot, Canada, took all their booze off the shelves.

Sharing tactics does not mean people will suddenly show up at the next protest lobbing paint. Ideally, nobody ever has to do that.

But if cops escalate against peaceful protestors weeks, months or years from now. Then at that point you either resist or lick the boot. Knowledge is power.

Protest however you want. Direct your energy towards organizing against the fascists instead of wasting it on acting like a cop towards people sharing resources for if things get worse.

Cops will make up any excuse they want to deem a protest a riot and use riot munitions.

People in the USA, however, need no excuse to protest right now.

A big part of the plan was that in addition to reducing car usage, the revenues collected by congestion pricing would be used to make huge investments in improving public transit, thereby reducing car dependencey even further. Win-win!

Cars should not need registration, licensing, or insurance.

Waaaaait a minute, what?