I love that we’re finally getting to general strikes, but they’re gonna keep doing them right? And not just on Fridays? (especially when the said Friday is already going to not be busy as it’s going to be below 0F (high of - 7F)
In that weather a general strike is more sane than a march. It will also be harder for police/ICE to disrupt, what are they gonna run house to house ordering people to work? Every food venue should be closed, and especially anywhere they’re staying should have no employees that day. These are the guys who kidnapped the men who had just made and served them Mexican food.
I agree that announcing an end date for a general strike removes a lot of the threat that a general strike implies, and limits its effectiveness. I’m really holding out for just getting a bunch of people who wouldn’t normally take the day off work to go protest out into the streets to meet the real organizers. I think there are a lot of people who want to do something to help Minnesota from outside the state but don’t know what, and “go grocery shopping on Thursday after work and call in sick to work on Friday” is a very concrete and achievable goal.
Is this the one they originally said 10 days?
I think you could strike for ten days too. I think they’d be okay with that.
I bet they’d be pumped if you struck indefinitely.
I can hope with all that’s going on that they’ll get more people interested, just the cold gonna be a blocker. Midwesterns know cold, but it’s gonna be very hard to stay out for those that picket.
The cold is not a blocker! It’s super easy to stay home from work, school and shopping when it’s super cold out. Most of the actual meetings are via zoom
Edit: here’s one if anyone’s interested:
We will get a four day work week by any means necessary
We have AI, why not have it just take one of the 5 days?
A strike with an end date is not a strike
That’s categorically not true. Strikes with end dates are utilized as shows of force by actual, serious unions, to put pressure on the company without the same level of economic damage. They should never be the end goal, or the final strike, but they can be a good starting place to measure support.
This is a way that if it’s successful, they can plan much longer strikes in the future successfully and better know how far they can leverage power.
This lowers the bar of entry to acclimatize people to a future indefinite strike. Is one day of action going to be enough? Most people know, probably not, but if for whatever reason it is, great! Otherwise of course people will be at it longer and with better preparation.
Examples of strikes in Canada
There are examples of strikes that come about too quickly that don’t bring about change. All my examples here are Canadian because solidarity strikes are banned in the US due to Taft Hartley and rugged individualism has made Americans not really test it en masse.
One day strikes have made big impacts in the past as well, like in BC in the 1980s.
One of the biggest and most successful strikes in Canada, yet very rarely talked about appears to me as the Québec 1972 strike. It followed many years of unrest including the October Crisis of 1970, where the Prime Minister put down separatist militias. It didn’t just randomly happen, it took months of planning and preparation, long exposure to a repressing force, and a populace with a mind and purpose for collective action.
The point being, complaints like this come across to me as shallow and unthoughtful. Each of these actions are a step towards a stronger, more robust resistance that with each additional participant become more difficult for any fascist administration put down. They keep doubling down but they are failing miserably to achieve their aims, which was ostensibly to subjugate and silence the people of Minnesota. I ask you to nurture and encourage people showing solidarity instead of writing it off as insufficient.
That’s how I felt about the Reddit protests. (Also that a sub going private was counterproductive, but that’s another issue)
Exactly this will not even slow ICE down. What fucking waste of a perfect opportunity here. A strick until this ends would be the only way to make a difference.
Seriously. You’re supposed to strike until you get what you are demanding. Otherwise its just… nothing.
Are people in other states planning on participating in this? I’m definitely in
Yes from Colorado, several of my friends are joining. I already don’t work on Fridays (and I own my own business anyway), so my contribution is to not buy anything or eat out.
I for sure am.
Do it, nothings stopping you from doing it constantly even.
Hurt the economy and stack paper, although I do advocate for people buying guns these days if you haven’t yet.
Minnesota is and you can too
I’m newly retired and I’m in San Diego, but fucked if I’m spending any money that day.
Hey congratulations! ignoring the world for a sec, I hope you have a good retirement
Oh hey Americans actually trying to do something! Good job.
We do what we can because we must
I mean you gotta do way more than this. But its a kind of start. I didn’t realize it was a general strike for… like a day or ten days or whatever. Kind of defeats the purpose of a strike.
Do not underestimate our ability to seemingly do a lot while simultaneously doing nothing.
Like I doubt it will do anything. But it’s better than a peaceful protest once a month and telling people to vote harder.
Heres the reality though. A general strike will be hard to coordinate, and has to have major support, and has to assume that a lot of people can afford to not work, and are willing to suffer for it.
And the wealthy can and will outlast you anyway.
It’s a step in the right direction, but a more useful and respectable one is what happened to Jack Lang. And those leftists in Minnesota brandishing guns. That is the proper, reasonable, responsible action that needs to be taken. It is the only option left at this point, if you want to actually save your country.
