Friday is “ICE Out of Minnesota: Day of Truth & Freedom,” a general strike supported by Minnesota’s unions, progressive faith leaders, Democratic lawmakers and community activists. The “ICE Out” day proponents are encouraging all Minnesotans to stay home from work, school and refrain from shopping — suspensions of normal orders of business to protest the […]
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.