Just some additional advertising for todays boycott.
Ok I know about the other ones but what’s the bad stuff target did? Besides the general capitalistic crap.
Todays is broad based. A drop out day. You will see folks making fun here saying everyone will buy the stuff tomorrow but that is fine. The ideal thing is the metrics show a massive crash in economic participation for one day. Todays lean systems rely on predictive patterns and it is a message even if they get it later. Messages like these can be powerful.
So the metrics show that our is it just wishful thinking?
no its the goal. We won’t know for sure until after today.
Only thing I’ve heard about is cutting all their DEI programs.
That’s good enough for me
They pulled their pride month merchandise and cut DEI programs after pressure from conservative groups. So if they’re gonna choose them over us then we have to actually make it a choice and punish them, otherwise they’ll just cave to conservatives every time since the liberals will just buy stuff any way.
No Restaurants? What? We’re afraid the authentic turkish food place down the block is colluding with Trump, now? Idiocy.
Yeah dude didnt you hear? If you dont spend money at your local mom & pop shop trump will get impeached
First I’ve seen extending this to restaurants. That seems a bit much. Most restaurants around me are small businesses. Not cool for the folks trying to keep a single place afloat.
I think it means more applebees and tgif and chilis and such
And if you go to a locally owned restaurant, pay with cash. Fuck visa/mc/banks and their merchant fees.
Small business owners are for the most part Republicans and are a large reason trump got elected. They may have closer ties to the community but fundamentally they still are capitalists and will vote for and support monetarily the party that cuts regulations and taxes. Restaurant owners, big and small, are the backbone of the campaign to stop minimum wage increases. They need to know, just as much as the big business owners, that austerity like this has consequences.
If you want to support the staff, which may struggle through this, buy the cheapest thing on the menu and leave a huge tip.
“small business owners are for the most part Republicans”
What?
It’s true, according to this poll, three times as many support Republicans over Joe biden. If you’re looking at it from an economic view, you as a small business owner stand to gain when regulations are cut, and wages, taxes, and labor standards are lowered. Some of them have moral proclivities that push them towards democrats, but most just look at the bottom line and vote republican.
People like to romanticize and sympathize with small business owners, especially in america, but their politics don’t actually differ that much from their big business counterparts.
A single day isn’t going to do shit
Especially if you just shift when you buy something by a day. You still bought it.
it will for the weekly meeting where they go over metrics. its not going to solve all the problems we face. its not boom do this one thing and done. its just a thing for today for those who want to be part of it. obviously most of the whiners will not, at least I assume. maybe they whine and participate I don’t know. likely a mix.
I’m sure this one day boycott will be just as effective as the others were.
If you want results you need to put in time and have a target. Conservatives didn’t boycott beer, they boycotted Bud Light. They didn’t do it for a day, they did it until Bud Light gave up. Say what you will about the “why” of it, but it was effective.
I posted another comment but they are effective if strong enough. If their metrics crash today it will worry them. Later if it can be followed up by two days, three, a week. Its a message. There are some more targeted ones on the calendar to. Might have actually been more effective for the artist to do a remember one yesterday but then again its nice to do a solidarity one today. We shall see how much people care to send a message or not.
You’re assuming anybody outside of Lemmy even knows about this. I haven’t seen any indication of that.
I don’t hang on other social media but im on them. my condo has a facebook page and I am looking for work on linkedin. I have seen it on these. but I can’t speak the the popularity because I only use these things the minimum necessary although the fact I saw them at all maybe says something.
I’m a cashier, I was pleasantly surprised when a customer mentioned the blackout to me on Monday. I didn’t think anyone was talking about it offline. I’m hoping with all my heart that work is dead slow today, but knowing how backwards the people in my town are, I know it’s a Pipedream.
My boss’s boss mentioned it to me last week. I would be astonished if he was on any social media. Then again, he surprises me pretty regularly.
I have, I received texts from friends and family about this protest that don’t even know what the fediverse is.
It’s a little bigger than that friend. It was on NPR this morning, FYI.
yup. all the news broadcasts. this is day of though and outlets had articles over a week ago about it.
A co-worker’s parents asked her about it and my coworker asked if I heard about. I think it’s spread further than you think.
The reality is that this blackout might not change the world, but it can send a message about how united people are.
Doing boycotts like this one is putting in time and having targets. No one thinks a single day of boycotting will change the world, it’s part of the process.
One thing that definitely won’t get results is listening to people like you who shit on every effort to get a movement going, which is happening. There will be a next step, and another, and maybe one of those steps could be boycotting a single company or product like the Montgomery bus boycott or Pepsi during apartheid.
Be constructive and not negative.
I laid out what an effective boycott looks like with a specific recent example that accomplished what it set out to do. I’m not sure how much more constructive I can be. What would you consider to be constructive if not that?
Maybe, “This is good but y’know . . [example]” more than “this is dumb, a real [example]”
People have absolutely gotten to a point where they don’t want any criticism even if it is meant to help us come up with plans.
No plan or idea should be single in origin and it’s by the back and forth we find plans… But people are either right or wrong with no in-between in western culture.
I appreciate the effort and am participating, but if we aren’t willing to be uncomfortable, this doesn’t really accomplish anything. We squeeze, they squeeze back, we buckle… What have we gained? Do it for a month and let’s see them sweat…
If you cant get people to do it for a day, you surely cant get them to do the planning necessary for a month.
why not boycott all major corporations every day? it does require a bit of work, but the more money you spend locally, the better your local communities will be
Im guessing many folks or at least more than the usual percent on the fediverse do this to some degree. I have seen other comments about it and have done them myself. Its really not to much work to me but its a continuing thing. Regularly thinking about what else you can cut out or if you think you can finally cut out a particular thing. So im not where I would want to be and im past low hanging fruit and it will be slow going forward of where I am not but I will continue.
That’s just not how our economy works. “Local” business is not making toilet paper from trees they cut down in their backyard.
I’m probably getting downvoted for this but I hate hate hate this “consumption is power” bull shit boycotts. Consumption is NOT power. LABOR is power. If you work at these large companies you have a million times more power and influence by organizing.
Boycott today if it makes you feel good. But it’s so incredibly missing of the point that I have to assume it is purposely missing the point of collective power.
Your power is in your ability to withhold labor. Not withholding consumption for one day that you’ll just buy the next day. Hell, if these planned organized single day boycotts, if they actually had an impact, would be a way to maximize profits to reduce labor requirements for those days. It’s so silly.
Organize your workplace. That is where your power is!
An example of spending as power being a fallacy is high-quality products that everyone who buys them loves them. Then, to boost profits the company uses a lesser quality metal (like pocket knives, guns, etc.). It is short-sighted, but it may increase profits. If buying exerted power, companies wouldn’t trade out materials that people liked.
Would it be wrong to view this as economic accelerationism? Even if businesses can adjust to consumption cycles, not all consumption needs on one day translate to the next.
Skipping lunch at the diner might mean you increase demand for pb&j sandwiches, but you’re putting the waitress and cook out of a job. Maybe that’s just freeing up their labor to be put to more… productive endeavors.
Honest question, what’s your stance on hunger strikes or other protests outside the workplace? I’m of the opinion that, in 2025, any disruption is good disruption.
I’m not going to tell people how to organize. But a single day boycott with no demands or goals is not organizing. It’s almost alienating in a way. Now, if you got together with friends and did something else like made sandwiches and went to a park. Awesome! You did something and probably all talked about issues together today. That’s positive.
But if you sat at home and said nothing to anyone and hoped for some news story about a massive drop in sale and economic instability. Well, that didn’t happen. And so people can have different reactions to that. My problem is that I think the net reaction is negative. It makes people feel like collective actions are useless. And they are when it comes to single day consumption.
But collective actions and organization are the fundamental power of working class movements. But the working class has its power in labor.
Now, economic boycotts can have power, but not in the way this is being done. Take South Africa BDS movements for example. These put real economic pressures on companies associated with South African apartheid. But these movements had clear demands and no time limit on the boycotts.
Single day boycotts are essentially useless in my eyes. I don’t think they can ever reach the scale to do so. At least they never have historically.
Hunger strikes are only as useful as the attention that they can bring. I’ll use Gaza as an example. The people of Gaza on March 2018 protested they Apartheid state of Israel in a peaceful march towards the walls around Gaza. Hundreds of men women and children were slaughtered by Israeli snipers. And nothing changed. Acts of peaceful protest like hunger strikes or civil disobedience are only effective if they put public pressure on a population that is inactive. The Gazan people have no one that cared of the injustice being placed upon them.
When these types of peaceful protest are met with violence and silence from the media the only actions that oppressed people have left are in violent revolution.
Labor organizing is the only real alternative to violent revolution that has been proven effective historically. But those movements are often met with violence from the state.
I don’t know if that answered your question. But I think I hit some of it.
Very well answered, thanks.
I think there’s generally poor discourse around protests. I appreciate the long form opinions that you and others have put together, but a lot of commentary is very reductive.
I get the “net negative” sentiment, but the only thing worse than feeling like you didn’t make an impact is feeling that while being berated as naive. For something as low stakes as a one day boycott, not much is lost if you use it as a case study to teach from. Here’s why it didn’t work and what we can do better. The important part of the discussion should be on building goals and organizing, and detaching those from the endorphins of political action.
I’m of the opinion that the only truly performative and useless protests are digital. If you went somewhere or did something (or changed plans to avoid either) you’re infinitely closer to making a change than putting a hashtag into the digital void.
The truth is we’re in uncharted territory. What does or doesn’t work may be unintuitive. Protests haven’t really happened:
- in the 21st century western world
- & against the massively expanded tools of surveillance
- & the highest wealth disparity in history
- & most communication channels and social spaces replaced by digital corporate platforms
- & the rapid fascist takeover of a government looking for their Reichstag Fire
The George Floyd protests in 2020 were the closest thing we’ve seen but today is different beast.
As an example, I get the feeling that organizing at your workplace won’t work for long. The administration would smash your legal right to unionize without hesitation. Similarly, signing up with the DSA might have been effective political action 4 years ago but put you on the no-fly list today. Maybe clandestine but highly visible protests (vandalism, sabotage, etc…) will have more impact than marching on Washington DC out of the gate? Time will tell…
We need maps of what helps, and how much.
No more saying stuff doesn’t work and misses the point. Only pointing to where it is on the map. Better for organizing.
We need maps of what helps, and how much.
political ground campaigning, probably.
Okay, what helps? Standing outside Starbucks, Walmart, amazon warehouses, anywhere non-union, and spend your time trying to convince their workers to join a union. There’s a reason that, when the Nazis took over, “First they came for the Trade Unionists”. Don’t say nothing. Let’s Make More Trade Unionists
Sorry. If you’re actually asking but I thought I was pretty clear. Labor organizing is where power is. This starts at YOUR workplace. There are plenty of resources and “maps” to get you started but that is often very unique to your location and place of work. There is not a single meme image that I can post. This takes work. The start of that work is looking for labor organizing movements in your area and place of work. If there are no existing unions or labor movements you can contact the AFL-CIO or other organizations in your field. They can help you learn more about your resources.
This takes work. If I could post a meme image like the OP I would. But it doesn’t work that way. You need to be ready to do work. Talking to your coworkers, agitating, etc.
Chris Smalls is your inspiration but we need 1000 more Chris Smalls throughout the country. Not one day of a consumer boycott.
This is not about being a downer towards any movement. It’s about understanding that class war is always filled with distractions like these single day consumer boycotts that do absolutely nothing. People that are downers about them are trying to direct people towards what should actually be done. It’s not one massive movement out of the blue. It takes a lot of local and small work to even get to having any leverage at that scale.
Once we actually have a massive labor organizing movement in this country THEN the leaders of major unions can call for and organize something like a general strike. But that doesn’t happen on its own because someone posted a “general strike” meme on reddit. It’s takes a lot of work, organizing, and very specific demands, and strike funds.
But this all starts with you and the organization of labor in your workplace.
We are fighting capital. It doesn’t just end up with a bunch of peaceful protests and the capitalist class rolling over and saying “ok you can all have healthcare”. They have all the power of the police, state violence, and media agitating. It’s why you need massive organization, solidarity, and funding for your cause. And most of all very specific and united demands. Otherwise these movements quickly die when people can’t pay their rent or buy food.
I’ve never been in the US but I had the idea that a big slice of the working class in the US fits more the definition of slavery rather than workers. These slaves need to work to provide food and a home for themselves and their family and they can’t mess with their workplace. Wouldn’t it be easier to make voters aware when they vote against their own interests, starting with Trump supporters?
Oh trying to get class consciousness with maga has been going on for awhile and it is/has not been easier and its still ongoing. It actually goes way beyond a slice of the working class to. You have to be pretty high up to not be screwed if you get a medical condition that does not allow you to work and that was before this administration. There are for some reason a lot of folks in this country that firmly believes other people doing worse will make their situation better somehow. Its crazypants.
The engine of the modern economy is mass consumption just as much as labor, especially since a lot of labor is done overseas these days. Everyone not buying stuff from Amazon is just as much an existential threat to it as the entire work force striking. Either way you deny them there profits and force them to pay there fixed capital costs with no revenue.
You could argue it’s less feasible to organize the mass of consumers then it is to organize a workplace, but the power is still there either way.
Bottom 60% of earners in the US represent less than 25% of total consumption. The power is in labor and labor only, there’s a reason why we have plenty of historical examples of successful labor movements, not so much of consumer movements.
Not always possible. In rural areas, Walmart in particular is a mom and pop shop killer. Restaurants maybe, groceries and the like, this is not that universally possible.
It only Bugs them if enough people stoppen getting specific stuff alltogether. Like no Nestlé, Selling the car and stop the need for Gas (if possible of course).
One day off is just another days top. Doesnt hurt them at all.
Hahaha this boycott was Dead on arrival
“One day boycott with no terms or conditions, that’ll show em!”
I mean, I’ll still do it because why not? It’s easy (which is part of the issue), but like…this will do nothing.
A one day boycott is a start. It will get people thinking about where and when they buy stuff. And maybe thinking about other things and the possibility of doing them. Like a general strike.
The way I see it, you have to start small before you can go big. Get people used to the idea so when you call for a general strike later, it doesn’t seem totally outlandish.
Then there should be a stronger focus on getting people to organize and unionize in their workplace. Cause a general strike won’t work without a strong organized work force and this kind of action focuses much more on individual action that makes you feel like you’re doing something when you’re really not. I’d rather direct the energy that people have right now towards things that will actually have an impact like providing resources and pushing people to unionize to build the base needed for a general strike.
I think the bad guys are actually making it easier to have an effective strike. The bad guys are cutting employment to the bone and beyond- so it’s way worse for them if even a small percentage of their workforce doesn’t show up, and stuff doesn’t get done
It still has to be organized though with a union, you need things like strike funds and the small amount of legal protections that come with having a union such as preventing them from just firing the workers who don’t show up. It has to be a large amount of people that are organized, otherwise the companies can just fire them and find replacements and the strike will be over.
I suppose that’s a decent point. Like I said, I’ll still participate and I’m not trying to be defeatist about it. Let’s see where things go!
Organizing around denying consumption is the exact opposite of what a general strike would do. This does nothing but make people feel like nothing they do matters because it’s focusing on the exact opposite of what we should be organizing on. We should be organizing around labor.
I can’t tell if these online “consumption power” movements are just a reflection of the complete lack of class consciousness. Or if they are planned distractions that are designed to fail to make people feel powerless. I think it’s a bit of both.
I get this, but as a small business owner who is already struggling, I worry about this and the other upcoming days.
I think the complete blackout is misguided. If we want to make a real difference, stop shopping at Amazon, Walmart, Target, Whole Foods etc. and replace them with locally owned businesses. I am not going to not get lunch from the mom and pop vietnamese restaurant down the street as a way to stick it to the oligarchs. It makes no fucking sense.
Did you check with each of those businesses to make sure their supply chain and product offering is clean? Are those pho ingredients from a locally sourced farm? Does that farm run off of any big brand farm equipment? Hope they don’t need to buy new pots and pans off of Amazon to keep up with demand…
The point of a blackout is you can’t really choose which parts of a fundamentally broken system you want to support. These oligarchs didn’t gain total economic control by producing a single widget you can avoid or a single store you can boycott.
nope but I would not worry to much at a certain point. If you get your hair cut today the effect on their purchasing would likely not happen today. if the farm uses equipment. same. the pots and pans make no sense honestly. unlikely to happen and not today unless like a handle happened to break or something. I think you can but you do have to be real with yourself as its a slippery slope. There is a different between a local place where you know the owner and how they do things and something that looks local. It helps to buy local to begin with so you know what your dealing with.
The point is that every dollar in circulation still gets the billionaire tax at some point. So the question shouldn’t be “what are the things I can efficiently avoid while maintaining my lifestyle” but “what is the minimum consumption I need to keep a livable life”
The reason eating at the Vietnamese restaurant is more expensive than eating at home is because running the business consumes more resources. Instead of paying the market price for pho ingredients you’re paying for the gas that goes into employees cars, the lease for the business, HVAC, equipment, etc…
If you’re worried about the livelihood of the business owner, you could direct your resources towards supporting him instead of his entire business (mutual aid, charities or direct financial support).
The answer to how much austerity you can stomach is personal. You don’t have to grow your own rice and beans if its not feasible. But any organized action is going to be disruptive; you have to ask yourself how much you’re willing to give
I agree as I am like that but the thing is once your perm out it won’t really show up. Honestly the biggest effects is if very consumerist people do it. Its sorta a threat that they may become like us if they don’t change their ways.
If you make handmade items or refurbish things or do services there is a good chance people will not boycott you. This is more about corporations. If your a retailer I would ask that you participate although may be a bit late. Close for sales, don’t put in any orders, and instead say you will be open for people to hang, discuss, play games, whatever.
I am a retailer, and unless you are going to pay my bills, I cannot afford to participate.
thats fine but im likely not one of your customers. If your customers do not talk with you about it then likely they are not participating anyway. Unless your business is such your customers don’t really know you then you just will have to check your own metrics.
Don’t worry, you’ll make it up tomorrow.
I’m supporting my local businesses!!!
…by buying an eightball
There’s a boycott today?
Yeah, take all the money you would spend today, and spend it tomorrow. Power to the ….
Didn’t you heart it? No gas! That will show them!!
A boycott should be held until the brand changes position, if only for economic gain. A day of boycott would affect next quarter reports negligibly, if at all.
Maybe our boycott should be to choose one corporation at random and boycott for an entire quarter. Amazon would be the first obvious choice. And the quarter than contains prime day would be a great option.
If you can’t convince people to not shop for one day, (even when they can go shop tomorrow) then you’re definately not going to convince people to boycott a specific company for months.
This is the lowest of all bars to see how many people actually care enough to participate. Encouraging people to not participate by dismissing it’s effect decreases how many people will participate in future action.
I don’t know, man, I would sooner boycott Amazon than stop buying everything for a day. It’s Friday and we do pizza every Friday. I’m not gonna sacrifice that for a boycott. But you tell me to shop at Walmart instead of Amazon for 3 months and it might have a meaningful impact? I’m down.
It’s Friday and we do pizza every Friday. I’m not gonna sacrifice that for a boycott.
If you’re unwilling to only buy pizza 51 weeks out of the year instead of 52, and unable to plan ahead to have purchased a pizza on Thursday, then you sure as fuck can’t be relied upon when more meaningful action that will actually be difficult is planned such as a general strike.
Not making a purchase today is the lowest possible bar and you are still unable to clear it. If that minor inconvenience is too much for you then you shouldn’t be criticising the people putting in effort to try to do something.
I think the difference is that I don’t see any value in this. Skip a day of purchasing will have zero effect on anything. People don’t spend money on Christmas Day and guess what, zero impact on corporations. Cause they plan for this. And the day after Christmas is a madhouse.
I’m not going to skip pizza day with my family for something that will have zero impact. It has nothing to do with planning or willpower and everything to do with the nature of the plan.
maybe but thats not this one. I will say that prime day and black friday would be the most difficult for the poor. The problem with the one corp at a time is what are your demands of them. These general strikes is because of the direction of the country in no small part do to corporate manipulation. Its to get them to push the administration they helped get installed away from this dismantling of the country. Its also not a bad idea to save money so you have it for an extremely bad economic situation.
Yeah, but if I don’t spend money today, I’m spending it tomorrow. I don’t need less groceries and gas for the week because I didn’t spend money today.
yeah im not sure now who all might have seen my other comments but companies gather constant metrics. Its about a one day dive. So some folks may by stuff the day before, some after, or some days either direction within a week in most cases. Its a show of force. Like a warning shot. If it works and the news is talking about how companies showed a massive drop in purchasing today then it will have the intended effect.
The 10th - 14th is an Amazon blackout. No purchasing from them specifically for the entire week.
I love this idea, but I beg that it be fully random.
Because I want every board of directors to all have to write a contingency plan against a Union organizer’s monthly spinner outcome.
We could raffle off the right to be the one who makes the spin during the live stream.
I want to hear the billionaires pretend they have all the power while they still have to tune into our live stream of the big monthly spin. Lol.
I have mentioned this in a few comments but metrics are constantly being collected and a one day effect does send a message. On its own its limited but its the first shot across the bow.
I’m permanently boycotting Amazon, Walmart, Target, U.S. automakers (that includes parts purchases as I do repair vehicles from time to time.) Facebook (including marketplace) and starting a local online forum. I never did use anything else much and I’ve been boycotting Reddit obviously. Online streaming companies. Finally taking steps to completely degoogle, although yt will be difficult, but i’ve been leaching off of them ad free for, since the site started, so I’m costing them a lot of money I think. I could just auto download into my seedbox so they can’t track me. I’m going to make sure to buy used items when I can. Go to my local shops more and the farmers market. I’m also going to plant more variety in my garden this year, it’s usually not worth it, but this year I’m full of spite.
I honestly got lazy about avoiding these companies, and it’s time to take it seriously again.
my big sins currently are amazon and google with a dash of microsoft given linkedin and github. I think that is it but I could be missing something. I don’t plan on stopping were I am at with reducing.
You could always make a personal website instead of linkedin. I deleted mine as it never yeilded anything worthwhile for me.
The main reason is I existed before linkedin and the thing with workmates is you don’t necessarily get their email or phone number. So I have no connection to people I worked with before 2000 but now I have this tacit connection. I also search for jobs on it but that is a bit more of effect that im on it already. Also I would have to host the personal website or if I did not then im getting the worst of both worlds. my stuff is on some other system, but I have more management I have to do, and it does not really get me what I want.
I wasn’t going to buy anything today anyway, easiest boycott I ever saw.
I think doing a “Whiteout” would be better, where people only shop at pro-humanity or mom n’ pop stores. Costco, Winco, ect. People must spend money for their necessities and to enjoy life, but if that spending can always be directed into the pockets of decent people rather than Bezos, that would be far more impactful than a day of blackout.
In that vein, I think incentive programs to switch people would be ideal. Something like CostCo giving a free membership if you buy an amount of goods equal in value, and a free pizza/rotisserie/hot dog(s) for buying $15 of stuff.
I’ve seen other infographics for this protest encouraging that local business is still OK, not sure why it’s not all of them saying that.
Some are advertising this as anti dei so that would open up some. Like anything there are many grassroots around it so its not a single voice. im on the nothing from me today except for places were its so local I know the owner and their views and how they operate. That being said we are doing nothing today except my wife has a doctors appoinment which ah. we are not going to boycott healthcare as much as we sorta wish we could.
You wish you could boycott healthcare?
yeah its horrible but there is no real choice in it. Sure you can maybe find another doctor or such but in reality you really can’t.
You’ve lost me. Maybe because I’m not American and it wishes differently there.
Why do you want to boycott healthcare?
My partner is a clinical nurse and the local clinic is holding on by the skin of their teeth. Surviving on grant money, and if they go down it’ll be a 30 minute drive to the next town for medical assistance.
our healthcare is privatized shit. you get insurance through work mostly with no choice in what you have and then find a provider that takes it and then they ask for a credit card because the insurance system for billing is hard and they will not work through any issues and charge you but have a maximum out of pocket and if it does not show as coming from insurance it essentially dings you double and oh then they charge 10x the price because the insurance pays 1/10th the price but if they go after you for it they will be looking for the full inflated price and maybe cut you a deal and reduce it 20%. Im sure I missed a whole lot of other horrible things with US healthare but there is so much its hard to keep it all straight. oh every single hospital thing is going to create phone alls and work to get the payment done on the level of doing taxes that is also something you do not really know how bad it is till you do it american style.
Yeah sorry but I gotta go buy grape jelly today.
Organising is now just posting the day of
