Channeling our Rage into Action
August 2nd’s Rage Against The Regime brought together over a dozen organizations to help us learn how to step up our game using nonviolent resistance. When 50501 announced the name of this National Day of Action, that was the spark we needed to light the steady flame of a more active, day-to-day noncompliance against the regime. Yes, rallies and protests have been and will continue to be an important tool to help raise awareness of the discontent we collectively share towards the horrific actions coming out of this federal administration—but, our “Rage” needs to be channeled into tangible action. These tangible actions include various forms of fiscal noncompliance, which will not always be easy for people to participate in. We wanted to use this resistance festival to demonstrate the ways that we can support each other through the difficult days ahead.
How do we prepare financially for boycotts and general strikes? How can we care for our communities as times get tougher and marginalized communities are hit even harder? And how can we stand up for our immigrant neighbors, who continue to be targeted and abducted by an over-funded gestapoesque brute force? A force that is terrorizing our communities.
We must put consistent pressure on this tyrannical regime to force them to retreat on their attempts to destroy our democracy, demolish our rule of law, and trample over our Constitution. And we must make sure that our community—and particularly those within our community who are most at risk of being negatively impacted by the administration and by our resistance—are supported through whatever the future brings. We are committed to fighting for our communities and making America a safe, healthy, and prosperous country that serves all of our people.
We went into this event with three public calls to action:
Support mutual aid. We call on all Americans to prepare for the long struggle against the regime now, by redirecting their spending from corrupt corporations to their own communities.
Minimize overall spending. We must undertake a practice of voluntary austerity now in order to avoid forced austerity forever under the merciless boot of the Trump regime.
Speak up! Speak out! Get in the way! If the regime hurts us, then we must use the power of our voices and our wallets to make sure the regime hurts with us, through nonviolent action and peaceful defiance.
Here are just a few of the lessons we learned from organizations during our community event on Saturday that support those calls to action:
We dug into the research on the efficacy of nonviolent civil movements and how they are most effective when we put consistent pressure on the regime and specifically target the pillars that keep them in power.
We learned where to get training on how to be effective using nonviolence.
We learned to call LUCE when we see ICE in Massachusetts and how to take action and train watch groups in our own communities to support our immigrant neighbors.
We learned now is the time to be saving our money so we are prepared for sustained boycotts and strikes. We also learned that if we are going to spend money, we should be mindful of not supporting businesses that financially support this fascist regime.
We learned how important it is to financially support the many nonprofits and mutual aid organizations doing this work every day. Here are just a few places you may consider donating to:
We learned more about why people are in this fight with us through their contributions to our community art piece (which, if you’re looking for a resistance memento for your walls, we’re auctioning off to help recoup the costs of the event!)
We learned that more and more people are waking up every day to the atrocities being committed by this federal administration and that we will come together and stand up united for our country!
Photo via Mass 50501 Volunteer
Lastly, we were able to learn all of these lessons through the positive vibes of amazing performances by local artists who helped remind us what we’re fighting for. We give tremendous thanks to the artists who donated their time to rage with us:
Grace Danqing Yang
It’s important to remember that authoritarian regimes, like the one in the White House right now, control through oppression. They want us to be poor, sick, desperate, and left feeling hopeless and helpless. When we come together in joy and uplift our communities we are actively engaging in resistance. Rage Against The Regime embodied this practice of joyful resistance. We encourage you to hold similar events in your communities and to continue pushing back against authoritarianism every day with every cell in your body. We will succeed together.
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