cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/59378754
The calls for a nationwide (US) shutdown this Friday (Jan 30) are growing louder
So how did the general strike go?
Never even heard of it till now, so it probably didn’t work the way they wanted it to.
honestly where the fuck r the unions? we need them
literally illegal in the US for unions to call for a general strike, its insane
It is and I wasn’t saying this in expectation of them calling for a strike right out of left field like this but unions have political weight and i haven’t seen any union leaders stepping up and speaking out in a meaningful way.
They were captured decade ago, first by organized crime and then by the industries. Unions have never modernized for the digital age.
There has also been a huge, prolonged campaign of union busting specifically to weaken their power in these political scenarios
But that has been happening since unions first started, when they burned strikers and their families alive.
Even if the unions aren’t involved, this is a walkout/boycott, not a general strike.
There need to be actual demands before life returns to normal for the government to feel actual pressure.
There is no union in my industry.
I am in the pot industry. None of those will help me.
AFL-CIO is the umbrella = every industry falls under it
Ysk, this isn’t a general strike. It’s a protest, at best.
It’s not a general strike if it doesn’t come from the Generél region of France. Otherwise it’s just sparkling absenteeism.
Obviously its both
A general strike is much longer.
Do you have a copy of the rule book by chance?
“The largest general strike that ever stopped the economy of an advanced industrial country—and the first general wildcat strike in history—was May 1968 in France.[105] The prolonged strike involved eleven million workers for two weeks in a row,[105] and its impact was such that it almost caused the collapse of the de Gaulle government.”
This entire wiki article is a list of HUGE events in history that were affected by general strikes and what was involved in organizing and challenging them.
A one-day protest is fine, but it’s not a “general strike.”
With the amount of indoctrination that has happened in the US, it makes sense that most don’t know how to adequately protest or strike.
At this point in time, it finally appears people are slowly understanding protests as a means to signify discontent. However, the line remains blury as to what is a protest and what is a strike.
A general strike should leave a long lasting mark resulting from halting of the economy - but a single day will only reinforce the fact that strikes which are effectively just protests aren’t going to work.
I started watching network nightly news again after throwing it away for years and years, because I want to see what the average American who isn’t stuck online sees every night while cooking dinner for 3 screaming kids and having to juggle two jobs. NBC, ABC, even CBS.
It’s so bad. It’s dishearteningly bleak when you realize how much of the population catches blurbs and snippets of actual issues sandwiched between stories about weather and a local boy-scout who grew the biggest pumpkin, and of course the required nightly “true crime” story about a spouse who murdered their partner and had an affair.
I have nobody to scream at, nobody to shake. They didn’t even MENTION the strikes (protests) so far on any network, they have not shown the scale of the marches and the chaos on the streets of American cities. To say nothing of the neutral, blameless tone they use.
They only just barely started taking the people’s protests against ICE like an actual news story after Alex Pretti was murdered, because at a certain point, even the hand of the state can no longer dismiss or avoid actual reality.
This is because there are three forces of political capital in the country broadly. The strongest is the liberal masses, the majority. Farmed cattle used for the labor and attention spans and purchasing power. Middle-class America holds ALL the power because they have the most money and keep the system moving… as a result, they are manipulated and sedated the hardest.
The second force is nationalism. About 20% - 30% or so of the population are illiterate, rural or wannabe-rural grown toddlers screaming and waving guns and hating everything that moves, while worshipping the flag and kissing the king’s ass. Armed groups of nationalists have been the driving force of political capital for thousands of years, it’s no different now.
The last group is progressivism. Arguably the weakest, almost not worth mentioning it has so little power now, but is still technically on the list because we’re still here, still trying.
But it’s all shifting, as leftists start taking up arms and marching in larger and larger numbers, the networks and marketing companies have no choice but to notice it. This is because the liberal middle class is now noticing it, and when THEY shift, everything shifts.
To this end, I support continued protests and marches, even if they’re utterly pathetic by historical standards for moving systems.
General strikes aren’t things you can use your PTO for to get a three-day weekend. That’s like protesting a brand by buying their product and then destroying it.
One day “general strike”, or as we in Germany call it: “Regular Sunday”
Finally it’s on a day I actually don’t have to be at work. I can do this one.
I have a doctor’s appointment on Friday. But I can avoid going out for dinner or groceries.
Is it better to skip work entirely or go and just goof off? Probably the former?
No call no show sends a stronger message if you’re privileged enough to be able to do that. If not, call in sick. Or go-slow all day. Do what you can.
privileged enough to be able
My European mind can’t comprehend this. Strikes are a right for every single worker, even the most unprivileged ones (with very few exceptions for public safety reasons)
Where in Europe? General strikes are illegal in Germany
I’m from Italy. Here general strikes are common. I know that France also goes strong on strikes.
I’m surprised they’re illegal in Germany. You should fight to change that.
People who can strike should also go to places of work that people can’t and contribute to sit-ins and slowdowns.
Depends where you work, I suppose.
Let’s get it boys and girls. I’m ready
Should also add to not use any social media platforms at all too.
I’ll check here to see if everyone is off…
Last I checked lemmy isnt a corporate shithole, yet.
Would like updates on a platform like Lemmy tho! A pic of folks in the streets can go a long way
Thank you for this. Sucks the local chapters are primarily organized on discord. Seems pretty risky that they could all be shut down in one fell swoop.
I don’t think it’s a good idea to put any of your information in a “protest” form…
Yeah, not going to be effective. Make it a week, and you might turn some heads a tad.
Consider it practice.
Just saw a thing yesterday about what china calls the “kill line” it’s basically how most people are paycheck to paycheck and one expense can topple people into poverty and homeless. I’m thinking the tariffs goal was to move that line so less people can take action.
I roll my eyes that these all are on Fridays 🙄
I mean, it’s fine. Go ahead, it will help, but it’s not really a general strike. It’s a day of protest. Come on America, you don’t really get how this works. You can’t use your PTO to challenge authority. It’s the same as protesting a company by buying their product to destroy like MAGA does.
Turns out it’s hard to orchestrate hundreds of millions of people spread out over 9 millions square kilometers isn’t exactly easy to do, but I’m sure you have a better strat
Turns out it’s hard to orchestrate hundreds of millions of people
spread out over 9 millions square kilometers isn’t exactly easy to do,who are blissfully unware of anything happening around them and are comfortable sitting at home consuming media and games and don’t want to risk their jobs because they don’t have the security of community, because everyone has embraced being rugged loners as personality traits and not an obstacle to better lives.FTFY
Yes that is part of the difficulty of organizing them—that and theres many millions of those people and they are spread out. How do you reach them over such vast distances and impact them? Would love to hear how you would have achieved it?
My original comment was only to clarify that a friday protest isn’t remotely a “general strike” so I wish that outlets, forumgoers and media would stop using the term because it’s reducing the power behind the word. Actual general strikes have been performed in our modern world and have crushed governments. This isn’t doing that, and I fear too many naive people are going to think that a couple friday marches on PTO are going to make anyone in seats of power cry.
I never said it’s bad to march and protest, it IS having an impact, but by itself it won’t move anything because the people in power don’t actually care about the will of the people, if all you’re doing is saying you’re unhappy, well great. They WANT you unhappy.
I don’t know how to get hundreds of millions of Americans to understand this, neither do you. None of us do, but we can keep trying and we can keep making sure that our language isn’t getting watered down because we want to believe in things that aren’t real. This is all going to get worse before it gets better, and people will point to it and say “See? General strikes don’t work!” when we haven’t even done one yet.
Are the semantics really a hill you are gonna die on? Alright guys, go get the organizers to change all the banners to reword it so this guy is satisfied—sorry but that’s what’s needed in this moment!
I’m being snarky, but what’s your desired goal? What does success look like to you here, if people listened to you instead of calling it a 1-day general strike?
Some day in the future:
“Hey guys, we’re going to do an indefinite general strike!”
“What’s that?”
“Remember that one day thing you all did on Jan 30? It’s nothing like that!”
“Sweet! I’ll go to work then!”I don’t think you agree that the above scenario is your intended goal, so enlighten us with a corrected conversation
Nah, you’re too reactionary, I’ll pass.
Then make it a week. It starts with someone. It could start with you.
It can start with any one of us. I’ve started, but seems easy for me, if everyone puts in a little effort, and some of us put in a lot, we can make an impact.
It’s this, or bloodshed.
Either way, our comforts are lost. I’d rather suffer on my terms, than theirs.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a Pretti Good idea/start. But, there needs to be more, like a definded list of demands. Otherwise, it’s just an ignorable protest.
That’s not a strike, that’s just called being unemployed.
On the eve of government shutdown
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