COMMUNITY ACTION

Actions speak louder than words. The other categories we’ve highlighted here under CELDF’s Community Resistance + Resilience framework all include action components. Yet, we choose to highlight certain kinds of community actions that people can get involved with in the name of resistance and resilience because the value of action is so high. Some of what is presented here may feel unnerving. But in light of what the system is currently doing to people and the environment, and how people have effectively faced down injustice in the past, the topics covered here are logical means for defending and advocating for your community.

Protest – In 2023 there were nearly 30,000 protests in the United States. It is a clear indication that people see viable reasons to gather in numbers to demonstrate, march, and rally. So how effective have protests been in contributing to change? What kinds of protests are worth the time and what kinds are no better than talking to oneself? How we approach, when we choose to engage, and where we decide to be seen and heard through protest makes a difference. It also matters when these moments emerge what else they are connected to in the name of deeper change.
Direct action – What do we do when we’re facing a crisis, and yet education, public commenting, voting, and other established political channels for making change fail? The answer is direct action. This has been seen throughout history. In 1989 a lone person stood in front of a row of tanks in Tiananmen Square. A small group of young people sat at a lunch counter in North Carolina in 1960 and refused to leave until they were served. On October 11, 2016 at five different locations along the US and Canadian border, oil pipelines were illegally shut off to stop the flow and call attention to climate change. Direct action is a powerful tool to stop harm and/or call out the injustice and violence of the system as a means to more permanently change behavior. Effective direct action requires training, planning, and a multitude of other details worked on before and during an action. When a system removes and/or blocks all other means to effect change, it is not only understandable that such action occurs, but it is justifiable. CELDF can provide various resources and information to prepare help communities to engage in this necessary defense, if that is the path they choose to take..
Strikes – There is a reason the US military was called in to help put down labor strikes in the late 1800’s: the workers were winning. If there is anything that those who most benefit economically from the system understand, it is money. Shut that system down effectively and suddenly there is leverage that did not exist before. The organization and execution of strikes – economic and others – can help open up new opportunities and move the needle towards greater fairness and justice. As systems remove more and more means of political mobilization and speech, tactics like strikes — whether legal or not — will be necessary to both resist and build resilience.
Mutual aid – Extreme weather events, man made disasters, political instability, breakdowns in the system, and deliberate withholding of resources are all increasing. One viable response is the mobilization of mutual or community aid (i.e. food, clothing, healthcare, home repair, etc.) amongst neighbors and strangers in a community. The increasing frequency of all these challenges have led to a massive increase in mutual aid activities in communities around the world. Some of these mobilizations are temporary while others are more permanent, filling the gaps that the system can’t or won’t fill. Coming not just to understand these methods but also to be proficient in how communities can support each other via mutual aid is vital as we go into an increasingly unstable future.
Community defense – Historically, many have come to understand and even support people and communities who have employed force against oppressive actions of governments, corporations, authoritarian groups, and vigilantes. Armed resistance as a form of community defense has taken place against slavery, unfair and unjust taxation, violent suppression of labor strikes, occupying governments, settler-colonists, environmental destruction, land theft, genocide, and racism. Understanding the context, the means, and the ways in which these events occurred is important to fully see the scope of what community resistance + resilience could look like. We share this, like all the information as part of this program, as information for learning and consideration.