How To Be A Dissident– About 1,000 words! Maybe more!!
Read with the Big Dogs, don’t stay on the porch and nap.
Hi All!
Today, May 17, is the 72nd anniversary of the 1954 Oliver Brown, et al. v. Board of Education of Topeka, et al, better known as Brown V. Board of Education, which ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, even if the segregated facilities are equal in quality.
When our family drove to Florida in 1963, there were still billboards in the South calling for the impeachment of Chief Justice Earl Warren, then Chief Justice of SCOTUS, over that ruling. The people paying for those billboards have morphed into the maga movement. They still want to go back. They’ll accept a dictatorship and the death of our Constitution to get it. They’ll climb over the corpses of those they victimize to win. This is who we’re up against, but with a new twist. They now also want a Christian Nationalist dictatorship.
It’s difficult to motivate people into action, even when it’s in their best interests. I look for any direction on that, and came across an interesting list*. I pass it along, with my notes, in the hopes that all of you, some of you, one of you, will reach out to others in this truly serious situation we’re in.
Be yourself:
You don’t have to lose your individuality. We’re not an anti-maga cult, monolithic, or inflexible. You don’t have to pay to play yourself with me. You don’t have to agree with me. We have an uber unifier: We want our country back. That’s it.
Be pessimistic:
Something catastrophic will probably happen if this regime is left alone. Bad things are already happening. What’s your responsibility and role in this? Will leisurely regret be a pleasure for you?
Be funny:
What do you call a dissident who remains silent? A missident. Use humor in your signs, your posts and comments, your interactions with others. Humor and joy can be found in the darkest moments. They are the fuel of persistence.
Be rational:
What will be demanded of you to do/not do under an authoritarian regime? Think about what will change by referencing past fascist regimes. The information is out there. Will you be able to watch your neighbors punished for their resistance? Will you turn your neighbors in to the authorities for disobedience or resistance? Are you comfortable with having a Big Brother? What do you think all those data centers are for? Why do you think Doge was handed all our information? You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.
Be watchful:
Pay more attention. Look back to authority’s response to Civil Rights struggles, like the Children’s Crusade (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Crusade_(1963)). Acceptable to you? We’ve already seen ICE murder 16 people, citizens and noncitizens. If we accept that, what’s next? What is the moral calculus of turning a blind eye and doing nothing? Doing nothing is unforgivable.
Be reckless:
Put yourself out there at rallies/protests, council meetings, social media, democratic club meetings. Wear tee shirts that promote democratic values and resistance. Be the public face of dissent. The police know me by name, as I made a point of making myself the one responsible for hosting our No Kings and weekly protests. Be brave enough to make yourself known in your community–stand up, fight back, and bring others in to do the same. Realize that we’re needed commodities in the hellscape of end-stage capitalism, and that is a form of leverage.
Be loyal to your values:
Don’t shilly-shally. Wrong is wrong. Win or lose, that won’t change. If you can change your values with the rules, what is the emotional and psychological effect of that? What will adapting to authoritarianism with a white supremacist twist do to/for you? In Vermont, they “Live free or die”!*
(Correction, “Live Free or Die” is New Hampshire’s motto, not Vermont’s. Sorry!)
Be presumptuous:
Make demands of those who are also against this regime, missidents who are sitting on the sidelines. When lives and the future of our country are on the line, politeness is beside the point. Feel honored that you can be an activist warrior on the right side of history. Be the voice of democracy.
Be human:
Do not be alienated from your best human qualities. We all have them. Are you intimidated? Maybe. History provides us with countless examples of courageous fighters. You are not alone. Use numbers as your shield by being one of the numbers and engaging others to increase our numbers.
If you made it to the end, I love you!
Come see me at one of the closterpatriots’ protests:
Friday evenings, from 5pm to 6pm, at Piermont Road and Vervalen Street, Closter, NJ.
Saturday midday, from 12pm to 1pm, at Piermont Road and Vervalen Street, Closter, NJ.
There are 24 weeks before the midterms.
A Magnificent Seven were out on Friday evening, our first Friday protest. We had 20 attendees at our Saturday protest, and it was a grand day out there! Three people parked their cars and asked me how they can participate. Thanks to all who came, knowing how dire the situation really is and stepping up and out.
Bonnie
* This is based on a book by Gal Beckerman, How To Be A Dissident. You can listen to his interview with Anand Giridharadas on The.Ink, on Substack. If you haven’t read Giridharadas’s five chapters on The Epstein Files on The.Ink, listen to Giridharadas’s interview with Joanna Coles, on The Daily Beast.