ok the cover photo on this article is an abomination BUT THE CONTENT IS REALLY GOOD https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/10/election-protests-alone-wont-stop-coup/616895/

Breakdown:

1. Taking to the streets is good but not sufficient to stop a potential coup!

2. It also takes strikes & mass support from civic institutions (religious, cultural, & business leaders)

3. Strikes & civic support are ready to go. US unions are on standby.

A surprising lesson from looking at regime changes around the world:

Nonviolent movements are TWICE as likely to get what they want, compared to those that use kidnappings, bombings, & destruction of infrastructure. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190513-it-only-takes-35-of-people-to-change-the-world

This is counterintuitive. The political scientist who found this? The whole reason they were comparing nonviolent vs violent regime change was they thought nonviolent movements were a waste of time.

sometimes your data slap you in the face & say "surprise bitch"

What flushes autocrats out of office? It's not violence or fear. They're ok with that. They dgaf about mowing down their own citizens.

Fun story: the National Guard forced my great-granddad back into a coal mine at gunpoint. Not even the Pinkertons. Harlan County KY represent.

What dislodges autocrats is ECONOMIC disruption.

When their cronies aren't making money anymore.

Aka when the autocrat becomes a liability to the folks holding them in power. And for that, you have to cost the cronies $$$.

This is why strikes are so effective in regime change.

This also helps explain why nonviolent movements are twice as successful at achieving their goals.

To cause ECONOMIC disruption, you need a fucking shitton of people in your movement. Violent movements tend to sift out everyone but students w no dependents.

That's a big part of why 3 out of 4 violent uprisings fail.

They can't get enough participants to threaten the regime's pork-barrel machine.

Autocrats value money over human life. They dgaf about violence or popularity. They care about their money. That's it.

To really fuck shit up you need little old ladies. Young parents. Nurses. Dentists. Sanitation workers.

Enough working people with day jobs to gum up the works when they leave work for the streets.

ngl it slays me that this is one of the most effective ways to purge dictators

A lot of the masses you need for a mass uprising have dependents at home. They can't get beat or go to jail bc they have people who are fucked if they're not around for day-to-day care.

Violence excludes them from participating in a movement.

In a similar vein, disabled folks have been talking about how the "get rowdy in the streets" model of mass movements is inherently exclusive for a while.

The good news is, we've already done this.

Despite a lot of sensationalized press coverage, the BLM protests this summer worked the inclusive, non-violent angle really effectively.

Attempts to brand BLM as violent riots weren't as effective as they normally would have been, because too many rank-&-file people were actually IN them

and could see for themselves that most of the violence was coming from the police.

Today's going to be a nail-biter. I'm spending it in the assumption that whatever the ballot outcome, a mass movement is likely coming next.

And we've been practicing for four years. We're ready.

We know how to take to the streets in an effective way. Unions are on standby.

Tyrants' best tool is to isolate us and diminish our faith in our strength and each other.

But we know how to do this, and we're ready.

You are not alone.

We are not alone.

We are not alone.

Hold fast to each other.