The 2024 US Presidential Election and Activism

Gemini post: gemini://gemini.moosadee.com/blog/20241106_ElectionAndActivism.gmi

    > I already knew from the 2016 election that this (federal) government won't take care of us, won't protect us, won't do the right thing.
    > Don't lose hope, if the government won't do its job to take care of us, then it falls to us to take care of each other. Get active with local government and community. Feed people. Protest for tenants' rights. Get to know your neighbors.

    > Stop buying into our shitty economy of overconsumption and low value. Build value together.
    > Learn to make things. Trade. Borrow. Loan out. Watch each others' children. Make sure your neighbor is fed.
    > We don't all need our own weed-wackers or power tools, we don't need to buy the latest things.

    > This country wants us separate and alone because isolation creates a problem and they can sell us a solution... But the real solution is community, in defiance of the isolation our government wants for us.
    > Most homes are zoned as single family housing... If multiple families lived in one house they could split the cost and not everybody would have to work full time to survive and provide for the household.
    > Isolated, it takes two adults working full time to make ends meet, if even that. Keeps you desperate for work, makes you spend more on time saving products and food and services and childcare. It's by design.

    > A captive labor force with no alternative.

    > Lack of govt support for homelessness is on purpose. If there were a safety net you wouldn't feel quite so desperate to work any job that'll have you, for long hours and shitty wages, just to survive.
    > Abortion ban is by design. Keeps people and children in poverty with no upward mobility, no option but to work jobs and barely survive.
    > Racist rhetoric is by design. Distract from those in power siphoning all value from us, find a scapegoat. Fear is profitable.
    > Lack of gun control... If you're scared, you're going to buy a weapon. Fear is profitable, manipulatable. Isolation is profitable.
    > If they wanted to reduce crime they would provide essentials to everybody, but jail is profitable. Selling you security is profitable.
    > Schools become worse and worse, because building private schools is profitable. And they don't want an educated populace.

    > If the government wanted to protect us it would.

Resources

If you have additional suggestions feel free to email me at rachel AT moosader DOT com.

Kansas City Metro groups

Focus: Palestine

Focus: Local businesses and artists

Focus: Gardening and growing food

Grow Native! Missouri Prairie Foundation

Non-local

Focus: Independent media

Alternatives to proprietary social media

Also: Learn about Zine making (indie magazines)

For your safety

DON'T USE PERIOD TRACKER APPS. Save it on paper.
Download Signal (https://signal.org/download/) for encrypted messaging. DON'T DISCUSS SENSITIVE INFORMATION ELSEWARE.
Assume that everything you do or post online will be scrutenized by this government and future iterations.

Specific actions

These are of varying sizes, but a combination of a lot of small things builds up.

Donating

Some suggested places to donate from https://princess.industries/@vyr/statuses/01JC0AJC548NAGD7YGTHJZFAEK:

Don't be advertised to; don't be a product

Your data, attention, and money is highly coveted. Control who and what you give that to. Protect your data.

Cancel your subscriptions to services. Spend money on indie movies, music, and games instead.
Purchased USED physical media (music, movies, games, etc.) instead of digital, use library services for ebooks and audiobooks.
Block brand accounts; refuse to have your social media used to advertise to you.
Minimize your engagement on proprietary social media. Keep in touch with texts, emails, postcards, letters. Start your own blog. Make an indie website.
Use Firefox (not Chrome-based browsers), set up ad blocks and script blockers.
Unfollowing brands and various pages on Instagram so I can see updates from these activist groups more easily.
Use DuckDuckGo as your search engine instead of Google.

Mutual Aid

Give money to someone panhandling.
Carpool, offer students rides to their college if it's along the way on your commute.
Grow a tomato plant. Give everybody tomatoes. You'll have so many tomatoes. Give free food to people.
Join an org like Food Not Bombs. Support your community.
Join a local community garden.

Being part of a community

Get to know your immediate neighbors.
Join a local community based around activism; build up contacts and resources that way.
Work on borrowing and trading with others in your community instead of buying new things.
Learn to make things.
Tutor others.
Make meals for people who are going through difficult times in life so they don't have to worry about food.

Support nature

Plant native plants that nourish the soil and attract and support native creatures - especially polinators. (See https://grownative.org/ for some good lists.)
Shop at farmers markets and local independent businesses instead of chains.

Allyship and support

Put pronouns in your email signature and social media bio, especially if you're cis - normalize this.
When you hear somebody expressing racism, sexism, transphobia, etc. - CALL IT OUT. Don't just sit by then apologize to the targeted person.
Mentor students and families.