In union activism, we have a concept of "low," "medium" and "high" level action.
Low level actions are things that mostly publicly broadcast support: signing your name on a letter to management; participating in an email reply-all action; wearing a union tee shirt or pin on the same day; attending a lunchtime rally in the break room, etc.
Medium level actions are things that are more confrontational and might actually inconvenience management: an email action designed to overwhelm a manager's inbox and make it unusable; doing a work-to-rule day; participating in a march on the boss.
High level actions are things that are even more confrontational or involve withholding labor: public shaming, a sufficiently heated march on the boss; a lunch time "practice picket"; a limited-duration work stoppage; and, of course, an indefinite strike.
Obviously strikes are the thing everyone thinks of, but here's the thing: even the most ideologically committed union member will not be willing to go on strike the first day of your contract campaign.
They just won't. You need to work up to that. You need to get people comfortable with doing less intense things first, and once those seem normal to them, you move up the scale.
People need to see that nothing bad happens after they participate in an action, and they need to see all their co-workers participating, too. They need to see that, yes, this was uncomfortable and maybe even scary, but it was fine and other people here had my back.
This is a lesson the labor movement learned many decades ago that I think other activist groups and activist-minded people would do well to absorb, too:
The Low Level Stuff Is What Makes The Big Stuff Possible
Don't assume that "when it gets bad enough" you'll step up then. Because by then, things will be even more intense than they are now. The needs will be greater and the risks will be scarier. And you will think to yourself, "Everyone else has just been going along with this, so if I take a stand, I'll just get crushed."
Take a small stand now. Go to protests; call Congress; donate money; attend community meetings; join a local political group or get involved with your local democratic party; join or form a tenants union; become a clinic escort; etc. etc. etc.
Take a small stand now and do it over and over until it becomes normal to you.
That's how you become the person who takes bigger stands someday.
stormborns
ellievsbear
blakekathryn
tangentwithtanner
prguitarman
