this was a dogmans concept with a gun lol

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.

[IDs: Bluesky posts by Chad Loder @/ChadLoder.bsky.social. The text from each is below.

Image one: Most people imagine they would know what to do if armed nazis began going door-to-door rounding people up.

"Ah, this is it. This is the moment where we use force."

Leaving aside people's capacity for self-delusion, I'd also argue that threats do not present themselves clearly until far too late.

Image two: Examples of direct action tactics in the middle of the spectrum:

• Physically blocking an ICE deportation bus with your bodies
• Working with a tenants' union to do eviction defense (blocking sheriffs or security guards from evicting a family)
• Organizing an "Underground Railroad" type network

Image three: The purpose of mid-spectrum direct action is to increase the cost & complexity of the enemy's operations, while putting the enemy in a dilemma.

Their dilemma is: "How do we achieve our objectives without overreacting so much that we galvanize more resistance?"

Basic counter-insurgency doctrine.

Image four: No enemy has infinite resources. Not even the US government.

If resistance is widespread, at multiple levels, your enemy will achieve fewer things, at higher cost and more slowly.

Resistance over here means they have to shift focus from over there, taking pressure off other resistance groups.

Image five: It's unfortunate that the history of the Civil Rights movement has been rewritten as "We marched peacefully until our enemies grew a conscience".

MLK and SNCC accomplished a major shift in policy using a deliberate, low-grade insurgency carried out with incredible skill and decades-long strategy.

End IDs.]

Can you swap their heads ?

omg you can

Their meeting was foretold in the ancient texts

@elodieunderglass

These are AMAZING, thank you!