Welcome to Progressive Politics! A place for news updates and political discussion from a left perspective. Conservatives and centrists are welcome just try and keep it civil :)
(Sidebar still a work in progress post recommendations if you have them such as reading lists)
Go get involved in your local left leaning political groups! If your answer to the question, "Would you have tried to stop Hitler's rise to power?" is yes, go and get involved irl.
Hitler didn't start with mass killings. He started with mass deportation efforts. https://www.theholocaustexplained.org/how-and-why/how/deportation-of-german-jews-september-1941/
NOT political parties either but mutual aid groups that actually do things.
Or this. My goal is to get people who are not already connected to their communities involved. The more resources communities have, the better they can respond to the coming actions and displaced people.
How to get on a list and paint a target on your back.
if you're posting on the fediverse that target is already there. the question is what are you going to do about it?
The powers that be barely know we exist. As to what I'm doing? Totally unrelated, but here's tonight's project. $150 fold-down, (legal) sawed off, single-shot 12-gauge.
Still figuring out a red-dot sight/adapter and some more wood/metal work to make it fold tighter. Should be a solid backpack gun when done.
On an unrelated note, it shocking the hell you can unload with a single-shot, with very little practice. Also, 12-gauge ammo is stupid cheap. (Did I say that out loud?!)
On another unrelated note, ordered two more 10-round mags for my AR-15. Hell, Democrats want to make standard 30-round mags illegal? Fine. I prefer 10 and 20 round mags for weight and reliability. Ugh. Force me to buy more reliable and usable gear. The horror...
Those are your only options.
The upside is that, in your own little corner of the world, you can do little good things that are legitimately helpful to other people. Here in Kansas City we had a blizzard two weeks ago and a week ago I helped a neighbor push their car out of a parking spot. Shit like that. You can do it, just be willing.
Also, just a small nitpick, but we don't actually have a democracy. If we did, there would be at least five people on the stage at every presidential debate, but no. One has to be obscenely wealthy AND pledged to making the wealthy more obscenely wealthy in order to have a shot at it.
Step 1: invent a time machine
At this stage, I'd argue that we already failed to protect democracy, and now is the time to resist. There are a ton of different ways to resist as an everyday person. Ultimately, it comes down to small ways to impede, slow down, annoy, etc. the current regime. Malicious compliance and incompetence are the easiest, lowest level ways to resist. In the end, make it painful for them and work for every inch.
You can get some ideas from the old OSS Simple Sabotage Field Manual from WWII.
Support local independent news (e.g. public radio), also I’m thinking about buying a gun. Just in case.
I think it's also important to create spaces for people. Places where they can be free and thrive. Both in real life and on the internet. That's halfway mentioned in #8 but I think this is far more important than the author thinks it is. Lots of space has been taken from us. And you need some normalcy, people to talk to and exchange your true feelings. Friends etc. That is something that gives back, brings stability.
And it has to be something where you can just be yourself. Not necessarily connected to news, politics and volunteering for some cause.
This article is kind of crap. imho
More like "10 Things We Can All Do to Protect the status quo".
What useless liberal slop, exactly the kind of "opposition" that got us here (liberals exist to provide an illusion of choice to enable fascism, both them and conservatives serve capitalism, not society, and urging people to support them is worse than useless, it's actively harmful)
E: for people who actually want change, try these:
Don’t Panic, Organize: Meeting the Moment of Trump’s Second Term
Don’t Just Do Nothing: 20 Things You Can Do To Counter Fascism
Don’t Doom Scroll, Organize: How To Get Active In The Current Terrain
Are You An Anarchist? The Answer May Surprise you!
What is Communist Anarchism? Now and After: The ABC of Communist Anarchism
We still have that?