Activist Calendars and Resistance Tactics

Knowledge is power. Power to the people. No change can come without joy. Build ecstatically. Look at the leaves, trees and forests. Listen. Step aside (that means long time held beliefs, too) to reach a goal. Be unconditional in your love. Love and take care of yourself.

Actions you can take from home or on a break at work:

Call your state representatives voicing your opinion about daily legislation which is privatizing government, rolling back protective regulations and civil rights (U.S. exit from the U.N., Trump’s plan to kill NEA, PBS, NPR, EPA, REINS, voter suppression, making marijuana illegal, expanding private prisons, Personhood bill, Public Education).  Here’s a website where you can look up current congressional legislation and find the issues you care most about. Here’s the best guide on how to be effective when calling and one for people who are shy on the phone.

Is Congress on recess? Here’s how to take advantage of that time.

Articles and Manuals for Organizing:

The Ideology of the Young Lords Party (PDF)

Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire (PDF)

The Black Panther Party: Service to the People Programs, edited by David Hilliard (PDF)

Blood in My Eye by George Jackson (PDF)

Peoples’ War, Peoples’ Army by Vo Nguyen Giap (PDF)

Poor People’s Movements by Frances Fox Piven

Policing the Planet, edited by Jordan T. Camp and Christina Heatherton

American Civil Liberty’s Union: Know Your Rights

Seattleites Form Neighborhood Groups to Resist Trump

In the Shadow of the Shadow State

Black Riot

Against Innocence

Nothing Short of a Revolution

A Concise History of Liberation Theology

Organizing Lessons from Civil Rights Leader Ella Baker

After Trump

Black Study, Black Struggle

The Jackson Kush Plan (by Cooperation Jackson/MXGM)

Fuck Trump, But Fuck You Too: No Unity with Liberals

the past didn’t go anywhere — making resistance to antisemitism part of all our movements

De-arrests Are Beautiful

10 Points on Black Bloc (Text or Youtube)

On Blocs

How To Set Up an Anti-Fascist Group

On Strategic Non-Violent Conflict: Thinking about the Fundamentals

Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom’s The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations

Nonviolent struggle: 50 crucial points

Rick Falkvinge’s Swarmwise — The Tactical Manual To Changing The World

198 Methods of Nonviolent Action

Pussy hats, Black Lives Matter and Black Bloc: How To Build Power to Counter Trump- America’s Dictator in the Making

How to resist Donald Trump from 9 Leaders

Reflections on the recent election

In Times Like These by David O’Bryant

How cities can protect people threatened by Trumpism by Arun Gupta

Nunca Mas! People Powered Strategy in the Time of Trump by Doyle Canning

Autocracy: Rules for Survival by Masha Green

The Left Can Win

Living and Surviving in the Partisans: Shelter

America Needs a Network of Rebel Cities to Stand Up to Trump

Shock Waves: A Syllabus for the End Times by Fuck Theory

Learning from Grief, Learning from Rage- Progressive Survival under Donald Trump will Require Both

So You’re Going to Protest, Here’s How to Do It the Smart Way

15109541_10154048353521485_3736790891657668122_n

Self Defense:

How To Survive A Knife Attack: Part 1Part 2Part 3, and Part 4

Assertive Responses to Street Harassment

Dealing with Street Harassment

R.A.D. Systems

IMPACT Self Defense

Conflict Resolutions/Alternatives to Calling the Police:

What To Do Instead of Calling the Police

Safe Party Toolkit – Toolkit on preventing and addressing different types of violence at parties

Navigating Crisis (The Icarus Project) – Crisis response toolkit for people with mental health problems

A Practical Guide to Stop Interpersonal Violence (Creative Interventions Toolkit) – Staying Safe includes concerns, plans and actions all meant to minimize the current, potential and future levels of harm or increase the level of safety.

The Revolution Starts at Home – (an updated version has recently been published, but this version is still pretty good) community accountability, experiences of folks who’ve survived intimate partner violence in radical community, etc. Definitely applicable to other kinds of in-community violence.

Hold your elected officials accountable:

We need the support of local and national politicians. They need to be held accountable. Know who they are. Put their phone numbers in your contact list.

Emails and online petitions are great. But, they don’t get results. Take a few minutes and call your representative.

How to make your congressman listen to you by a former staffer

Call the Halls: Contacting your Representative the Smart Way

Indivisible: A Practical Guide for Resisting the Trump Agenda. Former congressional staffers reveal best practices for making Congress listen.

How to Call Your Reps When You Have Social Anxiety

Here is a list of very detailed sample draft resolutions and ordinances that local governments can pass to protect all those under attack by Trump and Trumpism.

Resources for Allies:

On being an ally or comrade:

Being an ally or a comrade means understanding and checking your white privilege. It means standing up and being a shield against racism. It means listening. It means putting your ego and fragility at the door. It means stepping up and refusing to allow your privilege to harm others. It means white women understanding intersectional feminism.

White privilege: unpacking the invisible knapsack by Peggy McIntosh

Intersectional Feminism 101

Discussion Guide for Moving White Women to Take Action for Racial Justice

White women, you need to talk about racism

Syllabus for White People to Educate Themselves

If you’re white, don’t call yourself an “intersectional feminist” and don’t use “intersectionality” for white people

What to Do if You are Witnessing Islamophobic Harassment

Class is More Intersectional than Intersectionality

Gender spectrum glossary

How to be an LGBTQ+ Ally

The New Civil Rights Movement

Know Your Rights:

If an Agent Knocks (Center for Constitutional Rights) – Federal law enforcement; available in English, Spanish, Urdu, and Arabic

When the FBI knocks (Muslim Justice League)

CUNY CLEAR also provides know your rights trainings on the following issues:

Law enforcement in the street and in home encounters (materials here in English, here in Arabic)

Charitable giving (materials here in English, here in Arabic)

Traveling while Muslim/No Fly List (materials here in English, here in Arabic)

KYR! Learn how to protect you and your family during immigration raids

KYR In Case of Immigration/Police Raid (INCITE!)

KYR: What To Do If You’re Stopped by the Police, Immigration Agents, or the FBI (ACLU)

Survival Guide for Trans Women in California State Prisons (TGIJP)

KYR in home and street encounters with ICE (Immigrant Defense Project)

Self Care:

Why it’s important

45 Tips

Tools for self care and community care

Tools for navigating mental health crisis

Exercises for practicing compassion for oneself

Grounding exercises

Women of Color self-care tips

Self and Community Care for LGBTQ+ and POC

Mad Maps guide designed to help you understand power structures and the effect they have had on you

You Feel Like Shit