Big Rallies and a Sliding Scale of Nonviolent Resistance
How We The People will end fascism and restore sanity.
Let’s simplify this. I love Indivisible and they are a key factor in saving our society but maybe they should simplify their explanation of strategy so that people can simply get on with shutting down authoritarianism.
Before I get to that, let me URGE you to find the upcoming NO KINGS protest near you, part of the nationwide series of protests scheduled for October 18, 2025.
Indivisible and other coalition-building groups (I’m looking at YOU, Fifty Fifty One!) are doing a wonderful job of organizing giant rallies and awakening people to realize that they are not alone in opposing tyranny.
And, in their training sessions, they are right as they teach how nonviolent noncooperation works and how to do it effectively. But we also need to be able to explain this briefly and without jargon.
Here’s my attempt:
Ordinary people remove tyrants through nonviolent noncooperation with the regime. They rally to establish their presence to each other, and their numbers, and especially their power.
People power is the power to NOT do things. Tyrants are completely dependent on the cooperation of the people they oppress. We need to begin withdrawing our taxes, our labor, and even our attention from the regime. This may be slow and subtle: quiet quitting and paying taxes late or shorting the government on payments. Or they may be bold—the tactics will vary depending on the situation of each person. But the direction will be to broaden and embolden our noncooperation.
We tell our friends and loved ones, and even strangers, to quit the regime. To quit ICE, to quit DHS, to quit any military unit used domestically. To quit tax collection jobs. We want operational people—people who do the work—to stop helping the tyrant. We don’t care about the bosses. They do nothing anyway.
This is an approach that works and that has worked time after time. The People ousted Milosevic, Marcos, Ceaușescu, Mubarak, Bosonaro and so many others. Yes, sometimes the new boss looks like the old boss. But getting rid of dictators is the first step and we know how to do it.
Let’s do it here and now. We have begun.
We Need Some Imagination and to Start Now
While we can and should draw inspiration from earlier successful movements (my personal favorite is Otpor!), we will need to develop our own style and tactics.
The proven framework for successful resistance must be adapted to our time and our circumstances. Indeed, you as an individual participant will have your own way of doing things. Embrace it!
There will be naysayers. We must never give in to them. A difficulty is a challenge to be overcome. All of the criticisms are simply (understandable) pessimism but history itself shows that nonviolent noncooperation can work. But we need to DO IT or it doesn’t happen.
Here’s some rough ideas that someone might be able to organize, promote, and shape strategically to help end the dictatorship.
Declare 2026 a Jubilee Year.
Why not simply declare next year to be a year that all debts are forgiven? We The People are sovereign, so this should be our decision. We don’t recognize the “authority” of our failed public servants. Yes, lets tear up mortgages and college loans and—hey—the national debt. Will it cause problems? We already have problems! Let’s finish off both plutocracy and fascism. We refuse to be exploited by any would-be masters.
A Day Late and A Dollar Short
What if millions of us disobey the tax laws, albeit mildly. We don’t pay our taxes on April 15th. We pay them on April 16th. And we short the check to the government by $1. Let’s see the IRS try to fix that mess. Let’s see what enforcement can do about millions of mildly disobedient taxpayers. Let’s expose weakness. Simultaneously, perhaps thousands of others refuse to pay taxes clearly stating that they are unwilling to fund concentration camps and government-run domestic terrorist groups like ICE.
Free Mondays
Yes, your boss isn’t necessarily a stooge of the fascists. But we live under a system that treats us inhumanely, that robs us of our freedom and autonomy. This is most clearly demonstrated by the imperative—everywhere!—that you go to work on Monday to do work that primarily serves elites. (We do this because we are starved if we don’t.) But what if We The People phase this out, and begin shrinking the workweek? We can do this within the system or in direct defiance of it. You choose your personal comfort level of risk. Read about Free Mondays HERE.
This is just a small sampling of ideas. We need to devise and implement as many of these as possible. The old order must be overwhelmed by a widespread decentralized wave of noncooperation. Simultaneously, we need to win over their “enforcers” who—after all—are just ordinary people who are working for the government for the money. Only a small percentage of them are actual conscience-free thugs.
If you relate to or approve of this kind of thinking, I invite you to read about our group, The Saners, and perhaps even sign up to join us.
We do not raise funds. We raise consciousness and inspire action. Thanks for reading.
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